I’ve been vendor at movie conventions for well over three decades. I’ve never done this for a living, meaning I have a regular day job, so whether I do good or not at a show isn’t going to break me. I know plenty of vendors where that is there day job, so it is pretty important that they make money. But for me, and a lot of other venders, it’s a little different. Some might think that being a vendor is pretty simple. Just getting a table and some stuff to sell and you’re good to go. But what they don’t tend to realize is the expenses. Let’s say the table costs you $300 and the hotel for two nights is another $300, that means you need to sell $600 worth of merchandise before you even cover those costs. Not to mention the cost of getting there, and food for the weekend. And that still doesn’t include the cost of your product. And if you are making whatever you sell, then there is your time/cost spent doing that. So, if you only made $600, that means you basically gave away $600 of product for free. And if you’re okay with it, that’s fine, just makes it harder to substain.

So, there are times when I look at how we’ve done and wonder if it is all worth the trouble. And honestly, I’ve been thinking of that more and more as of late. I love having the opportunity to pass on horror reference books to eager fans, that are excited to dive into some history about our favorite genre. It’s one of the reasons I chose to deal in these books as opposed to just being another toy dealer or T-shirt vendor. But when you compare how I do at some shows compared to others, it makes me think. Am I wasting my time? Or am I just set up at the wrong shows?