Was Emerald City Comic Con Worth it as an Indie Author?

Ever since I first attended Emerald City Comic Con in 2015, I’ve dreamt of the day I would be on the other side of the booths. This last weekend, that dream became a reality at Writers Block booth #17, where I spent four days chatting with ECCC attendees about books, cosplay, and all things nerdy. I’d read before that while conventions can be a lucrative space for authors to reach new readers, comic-cons have a reputation of being not-so book friendly. Because of this, I went in with carefully-managed expectations. I told myself it was okay if I didn’t sell many books. It was a marketing opportunity at the very least. It was a chance to connect with members of the community in a new, exciting way.

Admittedly, it was a lot of money up front. The booth itself cost several hundred dollars. Then there’s the printing and shipping costs of the books. In the weeks leading up to the con, I wondered more than once, “Will it be worth it?”

I’m happy to report that exhibiting in Emerald City Comic Con’s Writers Block was worth it all.

I exceeded my sales goals, and I brought in a profit. Thursday was my slowest day, while Saturday was my biggest day for sales— which makes sense considering is the most heavily attended day in Emerald City Comic Con history. Sunday was a close second, and though Friday started slow, it did ultimately yield more sales than Thursday.

For transparency’s sake, I ended up selling a total of 127 books. 67 of those were my first book, Beta. Three of Beta’s sales were audiobooks while the other 64 were paperbacks. As for books 2 and 3, I sold 30 paperbacks of each.

Better than that, though, I connected with readers (old and new), authors, LARPers, cosplayers, narrators, and so many more over the course of the four day convention. I got to swap books with another author in attendance (go check out Andrea Fink! She’s the nicest). Rebecca Yarros walked by my booth not once, but TWICE (she didn’t stop by, but that’s okay because she had her own things going on). I’ve been a huge fan of ECCC for so long, and it was a delight to discover that it is just as fun as an exhibitor as it was as an attendee.

While I kept to my booth for most of the weekend, I broke free for a bit on Sunday to be on the Demystifying Booktok for Authors panel. I was joined by authors Elizabeth Stephens and Robin Jeffrey to talk about the ins and outs of using Tiktok as authors. It was a bit stressful being away from my booth for the hour, but I ended up having a lot of fun, and, as a heavy Tiktok user, I enjoyed passing along my know-how to other writers.

Overall, the weekend was a huge success, as exhausting as it was. I already have ideas for future conventions, and I hope I’ll be back at ECCC sooner than later! Thanks for incredible weekend, Seattle!