#your first show

[howtobeaconartist]

Hello, I'm selling at my first con in December. I'm planning on getting a Square card reader bc theyre marketed as "easy", but signing up for it confuses me. Do I have to create a business name? Or can I sell under my own name? Can purhcases be sorted by type? What if Im selling with another person; how would I separate purchases from tips? What about fees, banking, & tax info? And how do taxes even work 🤯 This is a lot, but I'm hoping at the very least you can point me in the right direction for resources to learn this stuff 😅

Kiriska: Okay, so,

You can create a business name or sell under your own name. Either is fine. The Business Name/DBA (Doing Business As) name you use in Square may show up on customer receipts and bank statements. If you're registering your business with your city/state/feds/bank/whatever, it may be helpful for your DBA in Square to match, but you can also update/change your Square DBA later.

You can create item categories and variants in Square to help categorise sales. For example, you can have a Prints category and put all your prints in that category. Within each print, you can have variants for different sizes, if you offer the same print in different sizes. Most general Square questions can probably be answered via Square's documentation for Square POS (Point of Sale).

If you are selling with another person, I would highly recommend they have their own Square account, device, and hardware, tbh.

Square automatically separates tips out from normal sales in its reports.

#legal stuff, #sales tax, #income tax, #taxes, #permits and licenses, talk to an accountant. :) You can also try to find a small business association in your area that may do free consultations.

[howtobeaconartist]

How to Start Selling at Conventions 101

Note: This series was written assuming conventions will happen again similarly to how they were before after a Covid-19 vaccination is developed. Additions will happen as things start to change in practice. Stay safe and wash your hands! Have you ever seen gone to your favorite convention and seen all the people sellin

[howtobeaconartist]

Me and my friend are trying to decide if a con is okay to be our first selling convention. We don't know much about the con and its a new one to town (second year). 1) Is it better to start at small cons rather than jump into big ones? 2) Whats the risk of giving a new con a try as an artist alley seller?

Kiriska: My usual recommendation is start with small cons. This is because small cons are typically 1) less stressful, 2) less costly. There is nothing wrong with starting with a big show, but for those, you should be doubly prepared with ways to deal with various stressors and be able to take a possible financial hit.

The risk of trying a new con is primarily in that new, untested conventions may or may not have the marketing prowess and know-how to attract a sizable audience. Many new shows, especially new big shows, over-promise on attendance and over-book vendors, leading to too much competition and not enough customers. 

There are also plenty of new con horror stories where the show runners had no idea what they were doing, made poor financial decisions, and/or otherwise provided a terrible experience for vendors and attendees alike. (See: DashCon, Las Pegasus UniCon, Fyre Festival, etc, etc.)

 A con in its second year has at least proven it can survive year one, but I’d definitely look around for reviews from that first year, especially if tables are costly. Good luck!

[howtobeaconartist]

Should I start showing at conventions? How do I know I'm ready? What if I don't make any money? How can I start small? I am in now way a convention veteran. In fact 2017 was the first year I did more than one. But I thought I'd share what I have learned so far. Get your feet wet Go to s

Long, excellent post.

[howtobeaconartist]

Hello! So my first convention will be in September of next year ( a long way away) how early should I start making prints? I’m nervous about making something now and it completely falls out of popularity by the time the convention hits. Also how do you decide what may be popular fan-art wise before the convention? I’m struggling to think of popular shows or anime’s.

Kiriska: It’s good to be prepared early, but there’s no point in actually printing prints until maybe 2-3 weeks before your show since they’d just sit around until the show.

As for producing the art for prints, if you’re able and inspired, you should always be producing. Making art is something you like, right?

You can gauge the popularity of individual designs to some extent with online reception. It’s easier to get attention in real life than it is online, so online response to a piece isn’t necessarily indicative of how well it would do at a show, but it’s still one of the few ways we have of gauging interest before making an investment.

I don’t like the “what’s popular” question.

If you’re very concerned about a particular subject falling out of favour in a year, then it sounds like it’s probable that that thing will indeed crest in popularity in a year. It may be better to focus on more “timeless” subject matters.

Also, Tumblr tracks fandom popularity in tags.

Further reading: “popular”, #fanart, #your first show, #first convention, #how much to bring.

[howtobeaconartist]

How do I know if my art is good enough? I don't want to be the laughing stock of an AA but, I've been wanting to have a table for years! I keep thinking I should just go for it and stop making excuses but I also don't want to embarrass myself. I've asked friends and family and they all think my stuff is good enough, but they're likely to be biased. Any advice on the matter? (Apologies if this has been addressed before! And thank you in advance!) P.S. you all are amazing and I love your blog! <3

Nattosoup: On an existential level, all artists struggle with knowing when they’re good enough, or if they ever are.  Sometimes you just have to take the plunge!

 If you can be objective about it, I recommend strolling through a few alleys if you haven’t, and take note of what sells, what speaks to you, and the skill level of the creator.  I also recommend you buy a few things- see how the artist conducts sales.  If you can’t make it to a live Artist Alley, why not browse the con recaps here on this blog- most of them include photos of the artist’s table, as well as other tables at the con, and can give you a good idea of skill level.

If you can’t be objective about it (and this is something I struggle with), bring a friend you trust, or your parent with you, and frankly discuss with them how your art stacks up, skill wise.  Even if you’re a little below average, don’t let that deter you or lose hope- we all have to put our time learning how to do conventions and sales, figuring out what works, and it’s fine to learn the ropes while you’re leveling up your art.

Kiriska: Most Artist Alley artists are too busy worrying about themselves to pass harsh judgment on others, and those that laugh at others behind their backs aren’t folks you should be concerned about anyway. There will always be judgey people, but there will always be people willing to support you, too.

Go for it. And even if the first time doesn’t go as well as you might hope, at least then you have some concrete experience to go on and a solid place to improve from, instead of second-guessing yourself based on nothing.

[howtobeaconartist]

Hi! I'm super interested in doing conventions, but honestly do not know where to start. I am a complete and total fetus in this world. I've tried to read previous posts, but sometimes they are too advanced for my poor convention-fetus brain. How do you START doing cons? Could I have some SUPER basics on where to begin? What are essentials in terms of where to get prints done and how many to order? I'm sorry if this is redundant, I couldn't find what I was looking for in terms of beginner tips!

Kiriska: Good tags to start with: #your first show, #first convention, #printing, #how much to bring, #lists.

The really, really short version of “how to start” working conventions:

Find a convention you’re interested in. I highly recommend starting with something small, cheap, and local. There’s a “How to find conventions” section on our Resources page. 

Invest in start-up set-up supplies: tablecloth, PVC or grid cubes, business cards, prints binder/portfolio. Nattosoup has a great “AA Essentials for Under $30″ blog series.

Figure out local/state sales tax licensing, if applicable. If the convention you’re interested in doesn’t have information for you, or even if they do, google “[your state] sales tax license”, find the relevant .gov site, and go from there.

Create stock. It sounds like you’re a print artist. Standard printer rec is Catprint (referral), “print 5 of each design,” and “don’t put the same design on different sizes.”

[howtobeaconartist]

5 Tips for Selling at Your First Artist Alley

vvvVvvv All the good stuff vvvVvvv Check out more tips in my newer video here: https://youtu.be/PfZrcT2NAVc While preparing to be an artist at the Silicon Va...