Indigo Comics at Baltimore Comic Con 2015 Part 1

Baltimore Comic-Con 2015 was last weekend at the Baltimore Convention Center and we were set up in Artist Alley, selling (or for the most part giving away) books and posters, and just generally chatting with the crowd about Indigo. We offered the book for $4 which is basically at cost for us, or if one wanted to share our FB post we gave them the book for free! It was interesting that while many took advantage of this offer, many didn’t. For the most part, people were interested in the book and perusing before becoming aware of our “deal” and in many cases it certainly was appreciated. I think we pushed about 50-60 books like this, which makes sense when you think about it. In this day and age, most con attendees have already spent at minimum ~$30 just to get into the place, which certainly takes a bite out of the average joe’s budget. So by the time they have reached our table, no matter how interested in the book they were, you could certainly sense the reluctance of many attendees to part with their hard earned cash. So an offer of a book for just a little bit of free advertising for us worked out great for many of our new readers (many of whom returned with such nice things to say after reading the book!)

This reticence to spend we observed not only at our booth, but at many of our neighbors, and aislemate’s stations as well, most of whom were return exhibitors and multiple annual con exhibitors. Anecdotally, we saw far more attendees carrying recently purchased “Fan Art” than we did independent (or even mainstream) books. This is a theme it seems of recent cons, and as a long time con attendee, I found it interesting how many booths were basically Fan Art mills, and find myself wondering how long the bigger companies will continue to “look the other way” with regard to the legality of this practice.

Perhaps more concerning were the discussions of the changing relationships of the shops with the larger publishers, and news of higher order quotas for alternate covers, usually an easy kick back for shops. Being a “Digital First” studio, it has perhaps unexpectedly been a goal of Indigo Comics' to hopefully establish a relationship with shops. We view the traditional shop as the optimal place to connect with potential fans of our books, and are working on some interesting ways to provide content that benefits shops we are partnering with while providing the lifeblood traffic this endeavour needs to thrive.

With that observation, we found that people had a very positive response to what we were offering. Not just in that they were “getting something for free,” but that they overwhelmingly took the time to stop and discuss not only the book we offered, but also other projects of ours in the pipeline. Many expressed a fatigue with mainstream publications, and a desire to seek out new, interesting projects. Having a low barrier for entry (free digitally, free print if you share) certainly endeared Indigo to many passers-by in a way some “for sale only” booths didn’t.

To continue reading about adventures at BCC check out part two of this post here.