What it's like to run a small Anime Expo Artist Alley Booth, the cold hard cash and numbers

Hello everyone! This is a very different video from what I normally make, but I felt it was important. We've been going to Anime Expo in Los Angeles for a while now. I decided to talk about the process and our experience running it. Hope you guys enjoy!

End music credit, from the Youtube Audio Library: "Sunshine Samba" by Chris Haugen

[danielhale]

Ladies, Puffin is taken. I'm sorry you had to find out like this.
Hey Puffin! Congrats to both of you for running a successful booth! I'm sad to hear the end profits come to about nothing, but if it's subsidizing a convention visit, then it sounds like it's filling a solid role for you. In the past when I've imagined running a booth, that intrusive thought was met with dread, rejection, and vitriol. I am... not a people person. Not naturally, at least. It can be quite draining for me to engage with people, especially assertively in order to make sales (I would suck as a salesman). I fear I would go bonkers and start biting customers.

[thebirds]

MY PRAYERS FOR A PUFFIN FOREST VIDEO HAVE BEEN ANSWERED! HALLELUJAH!

[lstndamned]

On the issue of end-of-event discounts, I wonder if the fact that most folks will be running low on money by that time is having an affect too.

[CrownePrince]

No, the thing you say about prices is absolutely true. It is so hard to drill this into artists' heads too. People don't buy art like they buy other things - they're not going to flock to your booth or your commission book just because you set a price way lower than everyone else's.

[XthorgoldX]

I think two critical issues you didn't comment on are 1) Fan awareness and 2) Market analysis

Now, this is a blind spot for me because I don't follow Puffin on other platforms, but did your or your GF's followers *know you had a booth?* A lot of artists I've followed very explicitly and publicly advertise what cons they'll be at and where they'll be. While it's a doubt that anyone's going to travel to the con just for the artist, considering the overlap in communities, odds are that even for an artist with a moderate following there will be a handful of people at that con who know of you (heck, in this very comment section someone said they could've gone!). Those folks will come - and they will be WHALES compared to casual shoppers, and they'll be more likely to pick up the artist-specific stuff that doesn't have as much broad appeal.

Market analysis was kinda touched on in the "No one got the MTG reference" issue: who's AT the convention, and what do they like? Especially for a booth with limited space, there has to be consideration of what content is most likely to draw eyes and sales for the given market. Sure, there might be a lot of MTG fans at AX, but you're already taking a handicap because MTG isn't the least common denominator at AX - anime is. So, all else being equal, it's more efficient to bring the anime fanart to Anime Expo but bring more Star Wars art to Comicon.

[craigh]

All this was just Puffin flexing that he has a girlfriend.

[margibso]

5:25 This is a good explanation for the differences between competing on 'margin' and competing on 'uniqueness.' Art is clearly in the second category, and the competition is over who has the most evocative and interesting art for a particular customer. Price is not as big of a factor.

[REDMDavyd]

As someone who has a significant other who is about to run their first booth at a con, this is both timely and informative! Thanks!

[Gray_Falcon]

Wife and I do con booths every year along with several smaller shows. We opt for the crafter booths that cost less at our local ones. This year was our 8th year attending and we love doing it. In the last couple of years we have expanded from a singe to a double table space. She does crochet Hats, plush and lots of other things and I do wood working. Between us she defiantly makes up nearly all the sales. I make wood deck boxes, D&D/Warhammer terrain, coasters jewelry and other knickknacks. Nearly every year our sales increase and we never know what is going to end up being the hot item. Sometimes we have things sit out in inventory for years and all of a sudden it will disappear. This year she made a hat that has historically only sold online and this year it blew up this year on both online and show site. My stuff, especially the knickknacks and jewelry sell better at smaller shows and my more expensive woodworking product such as deck boxes sell better online. A lot of it simply has to do with the expectations of customers at the even your going to. For instance I expect my woodworking would sell significantly better at something like Gen Con or Origins but those shows don't offer crafter tables you have to pay the same price as a vendor. Since none of our stuff can be mass produced. its harder to justify a space that can cost 2x as much if we don't expect 1.5-2x the sales. We also hit a limit on product because its all handmade as well. Since we both have regular day jobs, we can only produce so much product. My wife currently has tennis elbow from all the crocheting and currently has a ton of orders that need made that she is currently working on getting some local help to get them all out on time. The worst part of all of it is what it costs to produce. She made a dragon that probably took her 20 hours to make. We once had a person look at the price, make a discussed sound and throw it on the table. I "gently" explained to the person how much time it took and all the effort that went into making the product and that she didn't even make minimum wage to produce the item she just rudely threw onto the table. There are also people that understand the difficulty and time that go into the craft and are happy to spend up. We regularly sell to celebrities who are walking by in the early morning or after a show closes. Its also where I proposed to my wife during Geek Prom. Overall the experience is great but it is defiantly like have a second job that we use to support our love of cons, yarn, wood and gaming. Anyway if anyone wants to know more just let me know and I will be happy to chat about it. I just deleted half of this because Its already way longer than most people will read at this length.

[muzunomi]

I recommend selling mousepads that are the same size as a playmat, then you can have 1 product that appeals to two different markets!

[JamesThatcher]

Ben, an idea might be to set up a specific red bubble store front just for the con, and have a QR code for people to order their shirts direct. That way you don't have to carry a bunch around...

[MrFlame-zkcy]

WOW just thinking about it i never considered how difficult it must be picking what to sell for the spacing purposes that angle never crossed my mind next time im at a con im gonna have to look at the booths and imagine them packing their suitcases and determining how much space they have to actually sell things and whats space efficient

[Shatterverse]

If she doesn't already have one, I'd recommend an online merch - or at least an Etsy - store for her merch. That way you can print up flyers or business cards to hand out at cons too, and stick a plug at the end of your YouTub vids for it so interested parties who don't/can't/won't go to LA or cons in general can still opt to get merch they like.

[MTGeomancer]

Oh man, this reminds me of me and my wife. She makes crocheted and knitted stuffed animals, which are big and bulky haha, so we can only do things in driving range. We've been considering doing the large multi-day craft fairs but the cost has always thrown us off because at the smaller local fairs they never work out all that well. She makes back the booth fee, but not much more. My wife gets really discouraged that quite a lot of people actually do stop and look, and they gush about how cute something is, say they'll come back around, but then rarely do. We've always been curious if the foot traffic in the large well known ones would offset the hundreds of dollars to get in. Plus there is the consideration that if you make those kind of sales, it gets reported to the tax man who will want their cut as well.

Was interesting to hear your take, I can really see the advantages of art especially the prints. For the stuffed animals my wife makes, they take ~10 hours of labor to make each and sell for only $30. To make a duplicate, it's another 10 hours. It never could be considered profitable if labor was considered. I've been trying to convince her to instead create a book of patterns for her custom designs.

[Sauce_Doc]

Yay! You’re still alive! More Puffin Forest videos!

I want ‘em now!!!

[ericness]

Thanks for being so open with numbers and impressions! This video was very interesting giving some insights to running a booth that I never would have thought about otherwise.

[bofurlong]

The fact those MTG references were not understood is criminal. They were so good!

[finchhawthorne]

The only thing I’d add from my and friend’s experiences is: sort your taxes! Know what’s a business expense, and even if you’re not earning much what you are earning and how that connects to your income. It’s boring and probably more confusing than it should be, but it’s kinda the last thing you want to forget or do wrong.

[nocturne_imp]

Honestly was always curious about how running a booth would work, you gotta be smart with what you're doing as a small business and hope that your products are desirable! ngl I thought everything shown here was just really cute and adorable, wish I could have been there to buy stuff from your guy's booth!

[drpeeperpoppins]

All praise the mighty and legendary puffin forest, I skipped my daughters birth waiting for the next upload, my extended family hasn’t seen me in years waiting for uploads.