So I went to New York City yesterday (New York City!) to attend the very first First Con-Tact put on by Engima Books. I opted to take an Amtrak up (still waiting on that residency application approval, y'all), spend the day, then take a late train back. I decided to bring twenty-five beautiful copies of Double Life, plus one copy of Alliances for contest winners who signed up for my newsletter.
 |
| Bag of beauties right here |
So, the alarm went off at 4am and I was on the road to Union Station by 4:15.
Post by S. Usher Evans.
I got on the train and spread out and got just a little shut-eye:
Soon, the sun was coming up over the eastern seaboard and, I'll tell you: I hate getting up early, but damn that sunrise was some kinda pretty.
See? #trainthoughts @amtrak pic.twitter.com/iWHudg6VHC
— S. Usher Evans (@s_usherevans) February 14, 2015
We motored along until I saw it in the distance. That skyline that causes such a bevvy of bittersweet emotions. Last year, when I attempted a trip to NYC, I had a full-blown panic attack when presented of memories of my ex, who is from Brooklyn. I think it was the combination of going there around the time of our break-up-versary and some other, me-focused-things that drove it. And also I guess I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to face this city which is so quintessentially him.
But this time? Totally prepared:
Post by S. Usher Evans.
Since I only had an hour to get to Queens, I took a cab and took in the sights of the city for the brief moment I was there.
 |
| Literally the only NYC picture I got |
Excitement over and that 4am wake-up time started to drag. But I knew that the hoards were coming!
Post by S. Usher Evans.
The start was kind of busy, and I talked to a few folks, almost four hours passed before I sold one book. I had gone from hoping for a sell-out to hoping I'd break even to hoping I'd sell one book. I'm not sure what the situation was, but it just felt like a weird con. Nobody seemed to be buying anything; they were just there to walk around.
With the weather deteriorating around 5pm and the con attendees trickling to the same few people I'd already tried to sell to, I decided to call it a day. With only 10 books sold, I was woefully not even going to think about breaking even--and that was before I decided to change my train ticket to 5 hours sooner to avoid the winter storm and take a cab back to NYC.
Unfortunately, it is illegal in New York to call a cab to come to you--you have to hail them (yay unions?). Instead, the hotel offered to call me a car, which was supposed to only be about $10 more.
The guy shows up and is like, "Sorry, all we have is a stretch limo."
A
STRETCH
LIMO
Post by S. Usher Evans.
Of course, when the limo dropped me off half an hour later, I was informed that the price was almost double what the cab cost me. Then again, a limo picked me up from a convention and dropped me off in Penn Station. Suni, having no cares for money, was thinking that this could be my life one day, being shuffled around in limos to and from conventions. Whit, already hyperventilating from how much money we'd not made and spent today, was like, "Limos are inefficient modes of transportation!"
Such is the war in the head.
With a phone almost dead, I popped into the TGI-Fridays where I awkwardly told the guy at the counter that I needed a table for one (then ruminated on how terribly sad and alone I must look asking for a table for one on Valentine's Day), which was quickly drowned out by two margaritas until my train left.
Really, though, I'm super glad that I ended up switching my train ticket (and eating the additional $70 in fare), because that storm that blew through wasn't kidding. I also am glad that I opted for a train instead of a flight or a bus, as the snow and the winds would have made for a cancelled flight, and the bus might have encountered difficulties as well.
The train doors are freezing. I feel like I'm in the day after tomorrow. #yikes #Neptune
— S. Usher Evans (@s_usherevans) February 15, 2015
At the end of it, I made it home by midnight, and passed out like a lamb.
So was First ConTact a success? This is something that I've been thinking about (with and without tequila) since about midway through. Of course, I had a bit of sleep-deprived fun and met some new folks. I did make some money, although as I said, not even halfway to covering costs. I passed out my business card to some people and saw a bump in downloads. Might even be able to finagle a marketing and editing job or two.
Still, it was definitely a lot of effort (not even counting investment put in, it was still a 20 hour day) for not a lot of reward. Then again, I can't expect to have gangbuster weekends like I did in Richmond last week where I expected to sell 10 and sold nearly three times that amount.
The lesson from this convention is the same one I learned from ChattaCon. Although I am glad that I ended up switching my train time and took the train in general, there were infinitely cheaper options of travel (BoltBus being one). If I'm going to do these events, I can't do it on a Consultant Budget. So yeah, I'm going to have to stay in shittier hotels and take less-efficient modes of transportation. But I also need my business to succeed.
I kind of knew in the back of my mind that this one wasn't going to be a success. 200 people total expected, and I thought, "Eh, maybe I can squeeze 20 sales out of this." But this is the first con I've been to where the people just were not buying. And on top of that, the weather situation threw a wrench in the plans by forcing me to bump up my train time and take a car from the hotel (I was considering using public transpo).
The question remains: Success or not? I'd give it a "Waiting to see" rating, just like with ChattaCon. But perhaps that's the way it should be - with ChattaCon, I was able to nab a potential new client (which, if solidified, pushes the event into the "broke even" category). I also established relationships for when I return in June for LibertyCon. So perhaps First ConTact will result in some unknown awesome thing down the road, and these fifteen books that I did not sell will be reserved for some other time when I need them.
I think I said it best on Twitter:
My day in NYC:
Books sold: 10
Panic attacks: 0
Limos ridden in: 1
Margaritas drunk: 2
#success
— S. Usher Evans (@s_usherevans) February 15, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment