After applying to get into Phoenix Con a few times, I finally got in as a vendor. Now that the con has wrapped up, we get a recap!
Phoenix Con is in Appleton, Wisconsin. It’s their fifth year and it takes place in a pretty nice hotel*. Personally, I had lived in Appleton for a few years and it was nice to visit the town again. Part of this trip allowed to me some pals that live there.
The short version of this recap is: The good news is I met cool people and had some great conversations. The bad news is I didn’t make that much money. Read on for more!
*While the hotel was nice I didn't stay there, that's just my impression from the main lobby and walking around. I do feel like I kept smelling a bit of mildew smell in the hallway leading into the vendor hall though.
As for it's size compared to other conventions I've vended at, I believe Phoenix Con is about the same size or maybe a tiny bit smaller than Midwinter Con. It's much larger than NEW Gameapolooza.
It was larger than Chupacabracon, though the big difference with that con was it was way more packed with Savage Worlds players, so the amount of potential purchasers of a majority of my stuff was smaller.
I didn’t have a ton of contact with convention staff, though they did have a person offering to get snacks and drinks for vendors for free and that was a really nice touch.
Side note before I go on: One thing that Phoenix Con did this year that was very cool and I would like to see elsewhere is they had “Spectator Badges” that allowed people to walk around and look at stuff for free. My friends were able to come visit my booth (and buy stuff from me) without having to pay to get into the con, and they are not ttrpg folks so otherwise they may not have.
Top Sellers and Sales Thoughts
The top sellers by catagory were:
- My games:
- 3rd party books
- Everything else
I wasn’t sure what to expect for sales, but I used my Midwinter experiences (I’ve done it twice) as a base line. I made more at Phoenix Con by a couple hundred bucks, so that was cool… except with Midwinter I have zero hotel costs because it’s only a twenty some minute drive from my home. With Phoenix Con I needed a hotel for three nights.
One thing that was interesting sales wise was that one very cool guy bought a bunch of books late Friday. That was my main source of income this convention as it accounted for half of my total sales ! If he hadn’t shown up, things would have been really, really bad.
This is the second time my own games have hit the top selling category over dice and third party games. That’s primarily because I have less third party games as I weed them out and add my own stuff to the pile. Still, it's very cool to see my books take that top slot.
Monster Truckers took the lead for individual title with most sales with Street Wolves spread out across the various Street Wolves offerings.
It was a little bit of a let down that out of my books, I only sold one copy of Wicked King, which is usually old reliable. I’m going to chalk it up partly to my terrible selling techniques, but it also might be due to the crowd who might not vibe as much with the aesthetics. Who knows.
Dice sales were a disappointment again. This seems like a trend now, I only sold only 2 sets of dice! I am going to keep carrying them to get rid of them, but I don’t have to order any more for a while. I’m not sure the answer why, except maybe with it being a small con and there being several dice options, including from higher end makers, the ones I carry weren’t as appealing.
I would like to note that I’m not the only person that didn’t do amazing numbers. Another vendor I talked to (who I’m keeping anonymous) was running a booth for a fairly popular (yet still smaller) publisher and he said that he was doing just as bad as me. That actually made me feel better as a nobody, that a pretty well known publisher wasn’t doing so hot either.
Making Connections
I was able to meet up with some folks I’ve talked to before, including James from Curious Crypt Games and Anne from Midwinter Con. I also met some new people, like Nick from Breaker Press Games. The weird thing is that I discovered that Nick and I live about five blocks from each other in the same neighborhood in Milwaukee.
I also had a visit with someone who works with NEW Gameapolooza (I don’t want to name names and out anyone) and we had a great conversation. He brought up the recap I had written for when I vended there and that was neat. I forget people read these things!
New Things
I like to try new things at each con I go to. This time I had enough room to do a L shaped booth. I’ve had them before where the main table is up front and the L wraps around the side. This time I pushed the table to the back and had the side table be to the left if someone came into the booth.
I like this set up. It does make it a little harder for people to be drawn in, because there’s a few more feet between you and where they’re walking in the corridor, but also I feel like I’m in my own little storefront rather than right in the alley bothering people who walk by.
Another new thing I tried was putting a few books on sale on the last day. I hand made a couple of signs for Monster Truckers and Street Wolves. And while Heart of Glass was on sale the whole time, I made a sign to emphasize it. This worked to get a couple of extra sales on that final day and it’s certainly something I’m going to make a habit out of.
Lessons Learned
Again, every con there's the same lesson that I need to do something about. I need to have someone running games at the conventions I’m vending at. I’ve gone over this probably every convention update, so I’m not doing it again here. If you’re a GM going to any of these cons, let’s team up, just contact me!
Honestly, I feel like I could have done some better sales pitches. This is always something I struggle with. I don't necessarily feel bad about it, I got in this to make games and not to become a salesperson, but I understand you have to do both.
Something Weird
Okay, I’m only bringing this up because it was kinda weird that it happened twice. There were two different people at the con that I’ve interacted with in the past that have purchased my games who did not stop by the booth at all, and in fact they seemingly ignored me. The one person I’ve seen at like three conventions. Odd stuff. Maybe they didn’t recognize me, but wow it was kinda weird.
Wrapping Up
I’m totally willing to attribute some sales woes to the economy, which according to official government sources is better than ever, but in reality it is not great. Other factors are probably at play, such as the lack of demos on my part (yes, this is a thing I need to address) and most of my product line up being a Savage Worlds based setting.
Will I return? I have to put Phoenix Con into the solid maybe category. My budget for cons is pretty much non existent. Three days plus setting up the day before… that’s a lot of time and cost. HOWEVER, I did get to hang out with a couple of friends and I had some excellent ramen at Studio 91. So like, I”m tempted to come back just for that.
Would I recommend Phoenix Con? Like other cons I’ve vended at it’s a “yes, but.” I think if you have some sort of nerdy, gaming adjacent product that sells well (like the tea vendor next to me) or you are a creator with some sort of larger pull you might do well. If you’re a barely known indie ttrpg designer, maybe not.
And I wouldn't fly in, it's def more of a regional con at this point.
If you consider that tabling at these things is also a marketing event and not just a pure sales driven thing, then it also could be worth it if you're a semi local.
I think the thing that would get me to reapply to come back is having Street Wolves: Zero Hour out. Having it be it's own thing along with Monster Truckers could be more appealing. And if I can get someone to run some games for me...