telophase | Breakdown of A-Kon sales

Ordered by number sold.

Piece	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Spindrift	7	10	5	22
Project Blue Rose	7	8	5	20
Keychain - Angsty	2	8	2	12
Keychain - Snarky	1	5	3	9
All the Fishes Come Home to Roost	4	4		8
Keychain - Advent Children	2	5	1	8
Keychain - Can I Keep It	1	5	2	8
8 x 10 - Baby L	4		3	7
Keychain - Cute	1	5	1	7
Keychain - Naruto/Hogwarts	4	3		7
Keychain - Sephiroth	3	4		7
Discontinued prints	3		3	6
Keychain - L	1	5		6
Keychain Sesshoumaru	2	4		6
Keychain - Brooding	1	3	1	5
11 x 17 - Can I Keep It	2	2		4
Keychain - Hiei & Kurama		2	2	4
Keychain - Mello		1	3	4
11 x 17 - Advent Children		2	1	3
11 x 17 - Bunnysuits	2		1	3
11 x 17 - Naruto/Hogwarts		2	1	3
8 x 10 - Bleach Spa Day		2	1	3
11 x 17 - Saiyuki Band		1	1	2
4 x 6 - Advent Children			2	2
4 x 6 - Lust	1	1		2
8 x 10 - Advent Children	1	1		2
8 x 10 - Baby Gaara	2			2
8 x 10 - Jiraiya/Tsunade	1		1	2
8 x 10 - Naruto/Hinata	1	1		2
8 x 10 - Naruto/Hogwarts		1	1	2
8 x 10 - Saiyuki Band	2			2
8 x 10 - Sesshoumaru		2		2
8 x 10 - Yuu Kanda		1	1	2
11 x 17 - Baby L			1	1
11 x 17 - Gojyo		1		1
11 x 17 - Hiei & Kurama	1			1
11 x 17 - Mello	1			1
11 x 17 - Sephiroth		1		1
11 x 17 - Sesshoumaru			1	1
11 x 17 - Yuuko		1		1
8 x 10 - Genma & Kakashi	1			1
8 x 10 - Goku	1			1
8 x 10 - Hiei & Kurama			1	1
8 x 10 - Itachi	1			1
8 x 10 - Jin All Tied Up		1		1
8 x 10 - Kenpachi & Yachiru			1	1
8 x 10 - Kurogane		1		1
8 x 10 - Lust	1			1
8 x 10 - Mello	1			1
8 x 10 - Naruto & Iruka		1		1
8 x 10 - Renji	1			1
8 x 10 - Roy Mustang		1		1
8 x 10 - Sanzo	1			1
8 x 10 - Tohru Honda			1	1
8 x 10 - Yazoo		1		1

	64	96	46	206

For some reason, the Angsty keychain sold more than any of the other bishounen. We couldn't figure out if people were responding to the character design or the title.

More analysis in a minute - have to leave the ref desk.

ETA: Sold 83 keychains, and gave one away to someone - the back fell off and the Sephiroth print fell out, so she came back and we replaced it for her. (You have to get the back in the right way, and sometimes it fools you into thinking it's in the right way.) Good idea, and I'll definitely have them next year and maybe try some magnets, too.

Lots of people kept coming by, flipping through prints, and saying "Hiei and Kurama! Nobody here has Hiei and Kurama!" and then walking off without buying it. Yeah, dude, you think there might be a CONNECTION there?

The Baby L print (L looking at the pastry case) sold well, and the Baby Gaara (sandcastle) one did, too, by which I take it to mean that people like cute stuff that makes them go "Awwwwww." I put a print of each in the art show, and they both sold there, too. Sold one of the two wee!Naruto/Iruka prints, and sold out of the Naruto/Hinata one, and the Sanzo/Goku/kitten one, which are my other "Awwwwww!"-inducing pics, so I expect that cute stuff is a good bet. :) Despite that, Cute came in under Angsty and Snarky in the keychains, and just ahead of Brooding.

Must draw more cute stuff. People like it. I only sold one of the Kenpachi/Yachiru ones at the table, but the print I put in the art show went to auction, so there was a response to it and at least two people fought for it.

The Naruto-at-Hogwarts picture continued to wield its mysterious attention-grabbing powers, and the Bleach Spa Day also showed attention-grabbing power. It wasn't as popular for buying (well, I didn't expect it to be), but it got people's attention and made them flip through the book, so All is Well.

I think overall this year people wanted cheap. Last year I sold many more of my 11 x 17" pics, but people went for the keychains this time. I finally sold the big Hiei/Kurama original in the art show - after dropping the price on it each time it went to a show - as well as another big one that I can't remember right now, and the Sephiroth original went for $60. Nobody wanted Yuuko, which is OK by me because I still like it right now. :D

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Interesting....Dunno if I ever told you, but I have this crazy tiny craft business selling dog collars and cat toys, and I found that whenever gas prices jump, sales shoot waaaay down for the mid-range priced stuff. The under five dollar stuff goes like hot cakes, anything giftable at ten bucks flies off the table, and the really spendy stuff seems to weather the tide. But the ten-thirty dollar buy it for yourself just sits there.

Makes sense. I shall keep a weather eye on gas prices for future cons, to see what to focus on. XD I also ended up pushing the keychains at people - after I told them the price of whatever large print they fell in love with, if they started getting that "I can't really afford that..." look, I'd show them the keychain of that print, which they often bought. I don't know if any of them would have gone ahead and gotten the big print if I hadn't done that.

I read a book called, I think, Garbage, about archaeological-style investigation of garbage dumps, to compare to what households self-reported on survey. Naturally they found that people underreported their consumption of beer, but the interesting finding was that in tougher economic times, the consumption of expensive cuts of meat went up. I can't remember the theory they formulated for it. I should see if this library has that book; it was fascinating.

I dunno, I figure a small sale is always better than no sale, and sometimes next year they come back with a plan and extra cash to get whatever they didn't last time.

That's fascinating about the meat. Wonder why? I've been told by various bar workers that bar business goes up when economies go down, which, no real surprise.

Yeah, I make a point to be extra nice to the people who say they don't have any money, because I've had people come back and tell me they didn't find my table until they were out of money the year before, but they made a point of finding me before the spent their money this time.

I don't think I'd remember anyone in the artist alley for an entire year, but some people do. XD

Ah! It was Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage by William Rathje and Cullen Murphy. And we have it; I think I'll go get it off the shelf and read it during lunch. XD

Must be nice to have things things that one would actually want to read on the shelf ... ours are almost all securities law and related stuff ...! :D

So did you say which of your art show pieces sold, and which didn't? (None o' my beeswax, of course, but I'm curious ... .)

I'm vaguely embarassed to admit I don't remember what-all I put into the art show, since half of it was leftovers that hadn't sold previously. P) When they send me the check and the copy of my forms, I'll know for sure. XD

What I know went in (and I'm remembering them as I type, actually):

Originals:
Sephiroth (16 x 20" mat) - sold for minimum bid
Yuuko (16 x 20" mat) - unsold
Hiei & Kurama (16 x 20" mat) - sold for unknown amount
Goku ( 16 x 20" mat) - unsold
Renji (11 x 14" mat) - sold for unknown amount
Loz - Advent Children (11 x 14" mat) - unsold

Prints:

Baby L (11 x 14" mat) - sold for unknown amount
Baby Gaara (11 x 14" mat) - sold for unknown amount
Kenpachi and Yachiru (11 x 14" mat) - sold at auction $15

All of the ones that sold, except for the Kenpachi & Yachiru, I *think* sold for the minimum bid, but I don't remember for sure.

Of my print shop pieces:

The Rose Garden (Utena & Anthy, 8 x 10" mat) - sold 2 copies (unsold last year)
Advent Children (5 x 7" mat) - unsold
Vash the Stampede (5 x 7" mat, 1 copy I *think*) - sold
Sephiroth (5 x 7" mat) - 1 copy unsold, but I can't remember if I put in 1 or 2 copies.

Hmmm ... let me know about the fate of the Yuuko original when you figure it out. (I've read xxxHolic through vol. 8 but haven't got 'round to blogging it.)

I looked at the table, and all I could think was, "holy SHIT, yer gon be RICH"

It looks that way until you realize how much money I had to spend on ink cartridges (at $50 a pop for a color and black cartridge set), printer paper ($37 each for a pack of 20 11 x 17"; something like $25 for a pack of 50 8.5x11"), and keychain blanks ($65ish for the blanks and shipping). And the prints called for multiple ink cartridges and packs of paper. :) And then there's the hotel room, cost of table and badge, and food ~~and dropping $100 on swag and Copic marker paper and supplies at the con~~.

The profit is nowhere near what it seems to be from that table. :)

my bubbble, you burst it ;_;

Commenting on year-old post, yay! (Thanks for pointing me to it!)

What kind of printer do you use? I'm wondering what kind of printer is good enough for what you do :)

Thanks for writing all this info down! I'll do the same if I ever sell anything again. Someone needs to start a convention art wiki or LJ community where everyone can post data like this...

I've got an HP Deskjet 9650 printer. It prints up to 11 x 17" borderless (and will take 13 x 19" paper and put an 11 x 17" image on it), and is good enough for convention art, basically. I wouldn't do fine-art prints to show in a gallery on it. :D Its major problem is that it uses a 3-color cartridge for the colors, so if one color runs out I have to toss the whole cartridge and get a new one, which runs $25-30.

There's at least one convention artists comm around here somewhere, but ISTR that it wasn't very busy.

Oh, so the inkjet holds up well enough for the keychains and stuff? I was worried that it would bleed or something. Cool. I have an HP inkjet that does well enough for keychains or something...maybe or maybe not for prints. I'd have to test it. Thanks!

Yup! I let the prints dry a few minutes before doing anything to them, and I haven't had a problem yet.

Breakdown of A-Kon sales

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