This weekend, I got in a car with Iris and Nero and went up to Vancouver for VanCaf. I brought twenty copies of the Rita omnibus, and 24 of book 1. I came back with, um, two copies of Book 1. And a wallet full of Canadian money that we didn’t get a chance to exchange up there because it’s a bank holiday.
I dunno if I made any connections, though I had a few “Morning, Ralph.” “Morning, Sam” kinds of conversations with the people I see at every single comics con. But I definitely made some new fans, and that’s a lot of the point of going to cons.
Watching the stack of the omnibus shrink throughout the show was pretty exciting. Would I sell out? Would I wish I’d brought more? Would I have to pack these awkward huge books home? About an hour before the end of the second day, I got down to nothing but the one copy I’d unwrapped and put on my table as a reader copy, and decided I was done; I put out a post-it saying “hey you can have this reader copy for $20” and went for a walk outside. When I got back the book was gone and Iris directed me to another $20 she’d taken and stuffed inside my pencil case. I even ran into the guy who got it and signed it for him, and told him the Illustrator Pencil Tool Secrets – I find I usually tell a few people that over my table, and I really should just get some stickers or cards made up with them to be honest.
Anyway. Now I sleep for a day or two. I might get up and go use some of these funds to buy the electric guitar I’ve been wanting the past few months, after I exchange all this maple-scented plastic for boring American dollars…
I woulda swung by and picked up an Omnibus at some point over the weekend, but I work nights so 10am-5pm is not exactly super doable. Alas!