Fear The Con 2024 Convention Lessons Learned

My second convention where I was a vendor was Fear the Con 2024. And while it is very small as conventions go, I was still able to get some XP to gain some important insights and lessons. I’m sharing them here in case you’re new to conventions or are just interested in what goes on behind the booth.

The Street Wolves USB Cassette Tapes Were a Hit

During the Street Wolves Turbo Edition Kickstarter I did a run of USB drives shaped like cassette tapes. The response to those was great, but I realized I needed to order more of them for both fulfillment and future sales.

I brought a few of the ones I had already made to Fear the Con as a test to see how well they were received in order to help determine my order quantities. Guessing and getting it wrong could either put me in a deep financial hole if I get too many or I could lose money ordering too small of a batch (thanks to ordering in larger quantities, which saves you cash).

The Kickstarter version of the tape will be loaded with Street Wolves Turbo Edition, the Jumpstart, and the upcoming synthwave songs that were funded as a stretch goal. This version had the “old” version of Street Wolves, but to make it more tempting for those buying I offered a free download on Drive Thru/itch.io, so they can get the updated version when it is available to the public.

The tape was the most eye catching and conversation prompting item I had. In fact, people who had no interest in Street Wolves bought it simply because they liked the concept.

As a test, it was a huge success. The tapes outsold The Wicked Forever King and the Street Wolves Jumpstart. They propelled my games to be the top seller for me at this convention. Now I know I should order a pretty large quantity of tapes and the other stuff that goes with them (stickers/cards/cases)!

Forever King Did Great

While The Wicked Forever King Hungers came out of a successful Kickstarter, it’s sold well on Tabletop Bookshelf, and people have enjoyed it, it doesn’t get much buzz online. Almost none, in fact. That’s why it’s incredibly satisfying to see folks at a convention pick it up and a lot of times buy it without knowing much about it other than the cover and the info on the back (my pitch is really just highlighting what’s on the back). I have to say, HodagRPG’s art of the King on the cover does most of the heavy lifting here.

People’s positive reactions help keep up my enthusiasm to to return to the world of the Wicked Forever King with a more robust game in the future.

The Street Wolves Jumpstart Isn’t as Hot

This is the second con I’ve done and the second one where I didn’t move many copies of the Street Wolves Jumpstart. I think the biggest factors are: Cost and the way I’ve been selling it.

Jumpstart is 18 bucks, because it’s a bit more meaty than The Wicked Forever King Hungers, but also the printing cost is higher. With it being graphic novel size, that’s not something Mixam has on their standard sizes, so I’m forced to charge a bit more for it. And while I think $18 isn’t too terrible of a price, it can be a bit intimidating for something that is a “taste test” of a setting. And if someone is interested in Street Wolves, they may be likely to skip over the Jumpstart to get the full book when it comes out.

The other problem (I think) is with my marketing. The first thing I tell people about it after explaining the premise is that it is a test drive. Reflecting on this, I feel like it makes it a lesser thing. I think I need to focus on the neat stuff in it (like a robust, exclusive adventure). I could be wrong though. I’ll have to continue to refine what I say about the Jumpstart.

Individual Prices Work Better

The first con I vended at I had a couple of price lists on the tables, but not many individual prices next to items. For this one I created little signs and individually priced the dice. People asked me less questions about what things were and they informed those who were afraid to ask (some people just don’t like talking).

I also realized afterwards that I needed a small info sheet of what is included on the tape. I had to explain that every time.

I Really Need to Make More Games

Having a wider variety of game options for folks visiting my booth would really help me out. At the moment they have three choices: Wicked Forever King, the Street Wolves Jumpstart, and the USB tape (and in the future the full Street Wolves book). If I had just a few more games it could help increase the selection and maybe hit something they’d like. Or if they like my stuff, they can buy more of it.

I Need to Get a Cheaper Hotel Room

The biggest killer of profit at this con was the cost of the hotel. It basically absorbed almost all the money I made in sales. Part of that is my fault. I went with a fancier room for reasons that didn’t really pan out (I was anticipating hanging out in the living room like portion that the fancier room had and not making guests sit on a bed in a tiny room). If I downgraded to a standard room I’d have saved about 30 bucks a night, which is nothing to sneeze at.

This is something I need to keep an eye on in the future and weigh factors like hotel to convention proximity, cost of the base level room, and niceness of the hotel. And of course, if I think I can make enough money to justify the cost of a stay at a hotel in the first place.

Running a Booth is Tiring

Who knew that running a vendor booth at a convention almost twelve hours straight in a day would be so tiring?! I was exhausted each night. It wasn’t just physical, it was socially draining from having so many conversations. They were great conversations, don’t get me wrong, but I have a small battery.

Fear the con has long breaks between customers, because they’re gaming and only visit between sessions. I can’t imagine what a high traffic convention must be like. I dread it now!

I brought a ton of used games to the con.

Extra Merch Roundup

I had a number of other things that weren’t my own games. Let’s explore how they did:

Used Games

I decided to sell a bunch of ttrpgs and board games that were used/never used that were taking up space in the house. Some of them I realized I’ll never play, others I had just purchased to absorb the graphic design details (mostly the ttrpgs), so it was time to let them go.

I managed to get rid of about half of them, which was awesome. They were my second top seller of the con.

Now this is not a market I’d really like to get into. Hauling these things around is a huge pain in the butt and I don’t want to get into having to track down copies of used games to resell. It’s really nice to know I have an outlet to get rid of stuff I don’t want without resorting to eBay though.

Dice and Dice Bags

I bought some wholesale dice the first convention I went to and they were my top seller. This time they were 3rd place in sales, so not as good, but still worth carrying.

The bags were made my partner and are a bit higher priced because they’re hand sewn. They didn’t go as well, but they’re more of a niche, luxury item. They don’t take up a lot of space or weigh a lot, so they’re totally worth bringing just in case someone wants one. And my partner is the one that keeps the money made on them, so she gets paid for coming with me to these conventions and for her hard work making them.

Snacks/Pencils

My partner wanted to carry pencils and snacks. Unfortunately, she ordered way, way too many snacks. We sold a few and now have a better idea which kinds to carry and in what quantities.

We sold a few pencils, because people were gaming and forgot to bring some. This is another item that doesn’t take up much space and weighs barely anything, so we’ll keep these in stock.

Magnets/Pins/Earrings

I only sold a couple of magnets, buttons, pins, and earrings so I’m not going to order any more for awhile. So far they haven’t done as well as I’d hoped at either convention. I think I need a real test of a convention with a lot more foot traffic.

The goal right now is to sell what I have and start adding Table Cat Games themed magnets to the display in the future.

Stickers

I carry a few stickers from my games. While not doing spectacular numbers, they don’t cost much and have a much higher profit margin than something like a pencil or a snack, so they’re totally worth bringing and I am going to look at getting a bigger variety of them in the future.