Calm before the con…

Around this time last year we were in a crazy whirlwind of preparing for exhibiting at San Diego Comic-Con due to a last minute cancellation. I mean not literally last minute, but close enough. I blogged about it. I expressed confidence despite the short notice. And hey, I was right! It went really well!

Then, for the first time ever, last December brought us the notice that we’d been approved for a return outing for 2017. Oh, the sweet luxury of not being on the wait list, right? Months to prepare, rather than weeks or even mere days.

So of course we procrastinated.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s not that bad. We’re ready to go. I mean last year we proved to ourselves we could pick up and go in a week, so I suppose it’s more accurate to just say we scaled back ambitions and decided to be somewhat zen about things. There’s only so much you can do with a 6×2 table space and a height limit (table included) of six feet, after all. Small Press at Comic-Con is not a place you bring out all the bells and whistles, for fear of a floor manager instructing you to put the bells and whistles away — and then you brought all those bells and whistles for nothing. Also you may have aroused the ire of your neighbors, and that’s another thing about Small Press at SDCC… the placements tend to stay the same, or at least the same a lot more than at other cons we’ve experienced. Getting into a bad blood situation with a neighbor at SDCC is not good because you’ll more than likely be seeing them again next year. That or someone pesters the con staff for a move, but the last thing you want to do is be too much of a nuisance to the guys who have a huge list of people waiting for an opportunity for any space to open up… if you get a bad enough rep they might move you, sure… right out of the convention!

I’m pleased to say that our neighbors last year seemed happy enough with our presence, and we want to keep it that way. So we’ve got some new product, including Dawn’s “duckiecorn” pins and a print run of Issue #11 that just came in! Slowly but surely catching up, there. Issue #12 print for sure by the end of this year, and maybe more depending on how our sales do for reinvestments.

In the meantime, calm. Preparation, but calm. The storm comes soon enough.