Like the title of today’s blog says, AwesomeCon was a humbling weekend for yours truly, but not without its disclaimers and reflections.
Let’s get the humbling part out of the way first.
I spent much of AwesomeCon weekend feeling invisible while watching Garth make sales of his new comic book, A Polycule of Mars. Attendees would wander over to our table, glance over the Dominic Deegan series of books, then become intrigued by all of Garth’s adult offerings. The first show of the year is traditionally a solid showing for us both, but AwesomeCon was a stark reminder that black-and-white DIY style comics like mine are not for everyone.
Now the disclaimers and reflections.
Garth absolutely deserved every sale and praise of his work. He works so very hard and gives every piece of art he creates everything he has. I’ve watched momentum build for Polycule ever since the piece that inspired it went viral, and Garth is a smart man for capitalizing upon that wave of notoriety. And finally… Garth is really good at erotic art. Combined with his years of comics experience, it’s no wonder that A Polycule of Mars moved as well as it did.
The Dominic Deegan series has never been popular at AwesomeCon. Prior to the pandemic we exclusively exhibited Star Power books, and they sold quite well. Post-pandemic I tested the waters for my very different fantasy series, and it never quite caught on with that crowd. This weekend continued that trend, and even though a few books of both The Legacy and Oracle for Hire sold, it was not what this crowd was looking for, and never has been. But there are shows where the Dominic Deegan books have historically moved quite well. AwesomeCon is not one of them.
And speaking of those shows where my books move well, there have been plenty of them where Garth has been in my shoes: watching me make sale after sale of my books to both new and established readers until I’ve run out of what I brought along to the show. It most recently happened at DragonCon last year! So while it was humbling to have it happen to me this past weekend, it’s not the first time it’s happened.
But as humbling as the weekend was, I still enjoyed myself. I hadn’t seen Garth in person since DragonCon and it’s always a joy to spend time with him. I also got to catch up with my friend who owns a walking tour company in the DC area, and her elderly cat curled up with me for the first time ever. I had some of the best Ethiopian food I’ve ever tasted. The crowd at AwesomeCon is always friendly. Despite the little black cloud over my mood, there was sunshine that managed to poke through.