Coulee Con, a gaming event in La Crosse, Wisc, was my first major event of the year. (I don’t count the flea markets or one-day setups as major.) This was also my first year attending in-person. I was a vendor last year when it was online-only due to covid. While that gave me an early chance at communicating with and meeting new people, also sharing my book covers, there are relatively few sales at online events.
I brought the kids with me too and they enjoyed the games they played. They journeyed on mostly Dungeons & Dragons events. Both had a chance to match chess wits with another vendor. I heard them having fun and laughs at an Exploding Kittens tournament. It’s nice to go to places like this and my kids can have enjoyment even if I’m busy selling books.
A vendor next to me sold “Dice Jails” for a good deal and I managed to snag the last one. I found out I missed out on a Kickstarter for “The Surgeon”, graphic comic issue #4, but I was able to get in as a late backer. A Cataan tournament and a cosplay contest got a lot of attention. There were also drawings for some pretty cool prizes…but I didn’t win any.
My books tend to sell well at game conventions. My newest release, “Misadventures of RPG Dice”, was of course aimed at the tabletop RPG community. I sold a good number of books, including to other vendors. I had a drawing for free books at the end of the weekend, drawn by a random member of the con staff that walked by. One of my buyers for the weekend also reassured me that she was good about getting reviews out. That’s great news, because getting a good book review is nice recognition for your hard work and helps you sell more books. Not enough people realize how important good reviews are to indie-authors. At many conventions, I think it’s fun to see which book has the most book sales. At Coulee Con, it was hard to say that there was a clear winner. Misadventures did sell well, but a lot of people also checked out “The Widow Brigade” and “The Earthrin Stones” trilogy.
I’ll certainly return next year.