So, I set up my little art and comic table at my local comic shop on Saturday for Free Comic Book Day. Real quick for any newbies: Free Comic Book Day is an official day, set aside by the comic industry to give away free comics, literally to anyone who wants one. No questions asked. It's to get people young and old back into their local comic shops. Comic publishers use the event to promote new and upcoming comics or highlight certain writers or creators. Comic shops use the event to push sales and often have special deals and guests in-store. I was the special guest in my local shop, which was awesome.
In the past year or so I've tabled at many events, even some small comic cons, and I didn't get the reception like I got at this local comic shop. The people were great. And I've officially sold out of the first print run of The After Death! All the books I had left (which were few) have all been bought. I also sold out of my initial print run of We Were All Lions that I published at the beginning of the year! And I sold some prints on top of that! It was a really good show. But this also means, I'm sold out of The After Death!
And I've got two big shows coming up this Summer!
Rhea and I have talked and I think I'm going to go ahead and self-fund a small print run of 25 or so more After Death books to have in time for the next show. The next big comic-con is in Dallas at the beginning of June. We're thinking if I can get 25 more book in inventory, and if I were to sell out of all of those at that show, I can turn around and use the profits from that show to fund a third print run.
This wasn't quite the plan I had. I was planning on using the next Kickstarter for Book Two to help fund a second print run of Book One, which I still plan on doing, but I need books for these next two shows! A small print run is affordable for us, so that is the short term plan. Then, when the next Kickstarter gets funded, I'll use some of those funds to make a larger, more substantial print run for Book One and get my inventory numbers back up.
It feels like I will be playing leap frog from show to show, trying to keep inventory up. But I'm chalking it up to it being a part of owning your own small business and trying to make my little cartooning career work. Here's hoping I sell out at the next show! and keep your eyes peeled for the next Kickstarter! I hope to be announcing that soon!