It’s now four days since the San Diego Comic-Con has ended. During the time since the convention started until the show finally closed on Sunday at 5:00pm has been nothing but a whirlwind of activity and interaction with numerous individuals on multiple levels. While so much has gone better than expected, there was still second-guessing on my part over some decisions made, the key one of which was the decision to move from Artists Alley to the Small Press section.
On the plus side, there was definitely more space to spread out and display my art and books, not to mention more space for Bernie and myself to conduct business. On the minus side, I was listed in the con programming as being in Artists Alley at Table II-24 instead of my new location in Small Press at Table O-01, so that made it difficult for people to find me. Still, having experienced life in the Small Press section, the pluses outweigh the minuses. When I was purchasing some acrylic paints from a vendor located next to Artists Alley, the sight of everyone so crammed in next to each other along with their prints and original art made me grateful for spending the extra money for the new spot.
Also on the plus side, people did make the effort to find me. Even better, they made the effort because they wanted to acquire my new book THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS. The numbers don’t lie. The book generated more than two-thirds of my sales during the convention.
A comparison with my convention sales from 2022 and 2023 shows the majority of my sales came from selling copies of SONIC ARCHIVES, SONIC SELECT volumes, copies of BEST OF SONIC and SONIC LEGACY, aided by sales of original art and prints featuring Sonic, Knuckles & Lara-Su along with Lara-Su T-shirts and patches.
I didn’t bring most of the items I did to previous conventions for a number of reasons. With regards to the SONIC reprint collections, I’m sold out of a number of items and getting close to selling out on the rest. With regards to SONIC back issues, I decided to bring what I didn’t use for the Lara-Su book promotion and sell at a uniform cost – $10 per book – to avoid getting into hassles over the issue of collectibility and grading. What I did bring – original art, prints, assorted Lara-Su items – made up the rest of the sales on top of what the Lara-Su BEGINNINGS book sold. With the exception of original art, everything sold to some degree. Usually one or two individuals spring for a big ticket item such as original art every convention, but that didn’t happen this year. The closest was the one commission I did on the Thursday of the convention.
This definitely was a transitional year for me. While people stopped by because of my association with and the work I did on the SONIC comic series and related projects, they definitely showed their support for THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES, whether they bought something or not. (Hard to buy an app when it hasn’t been released, and more than a few made it clear they’re waiting on the app.)
The sentiment why the stories I wrote still resonate to this day is that I respected the readers and didn’t dumb things down simply because the majority of the readers were children, and now they wanted to share those stories with their kids, or wanted to simply see the story continue in one form or another.
At this point, thanks to the convention, I’ve sold close to a third of the copies I’ve printed with orders coming in every day. I haven’t decided yet what I’ve do once I sell out, but that’s a decision to be made at a later time.
In addition to meeting with the people at the convention, I also met with Almond Ko, the man who sought me out years ago to entrust his company with the printing of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS.
True to his word, his people delivered spectacular results, the proof of which is the reaction I’ve been hearing from everyone who’s purchased a copy or even simply checked out the contents.
While enjoying a delicious meal at the Water Grill restaurant in downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp Village, we discussed working together on future projects such as KEN PENDERS’ KNUCKLES OMNIBUS Vol. 1 and other projects from the Floating Island Productions MOBIAN LINE.
It was Almond who suggested printing a Variant cover for the first 100 copies as an incentive for the early pre-orders.
So the image you’re looking at is under consideration for the Variant edition. I’ll have Cover B ready for viewing before I go live with the pre-orders so I have some idea what to base my final decision on.
We also discussed presenting the 3-cover format as a 1-image fold-out, which he said was doable, as well as sending us blank prototypes from which to base the decision on the final format before going to press. Our concern is weight for shipping purposes as well as cost. We don’t want to limit our audience, but we also want to grow as a company organically, rather than shooting for the moon all at once.
I also met with Andrew Pepoy, who had a table a couple of aisles down from me. He confirmed what I’ve been hearing from many freelance creators concerning the subject of royalties. Most of the publishers, and that includes Archie & IDW, are not paying anything when it comes to reprints. Todd McFarlane’s toy company just released a CAPTAIN CARROT action figure, which Scott Shaw! hasn’t seen a dime from, let alone even a hint of any potential royalties. Not even a box of complimentary figures.
Overall, Bernie and I had a great time, enjoyed meeting with everyone who stopped by, and look forward to appearing at upcoming conventions elsewhere.
A couple of quick notes before I sign off for the moment:
The cost of shipping THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS here in the states is going up an additional $2.00 starting Sunday, August 10.
The cost of shipping book rate is not worth the cost from my perspective, which shipping via Priority Flat Rate has proven to be an overwhelming success in getting the books to the customers in a timely manner with the books arriving in the condition expected upon arrival. I’ve had only 1 book per hundred sold where I had to take additional action to ensure delivery to the buyer, resulting in everyone receiving the copy they ordered.
Overseas shipments – including Canada and Mexico – will be going up an additional $3.00 on September 1, 2024. I’m happy to report everyone has received their copies outside the USA, and I’d like to keep my track record going strong.
I will be adding more items to my store page, including the new prints I unveiled for sale at Comic-Con.
I’m also trying to figure out how I’ll present later this month an advance peek at the next chapter of SHATTERED TOMORROWS without spoiling anything for those who haven’t had a chance to read BEGINNINGS yet.
As usual, if anyone has any questions or comments, send them to me at my email address. I do read everything and try to respond when I can or need to. Take care until next time.
I’m thrilled to hear that Comic-Con went so well, especially with The Lara-Su Chronicles: Beginnings selling like it has! You’ve done a great job of making sure Sonic fans who love the old stories don’t feel left behind, moreso than I think people often give you credit for, but my primary hope for the release of TL-SC: Beginnings was that people would accept the new material instead of eternally longing for the old days. I’m so glad people have been embracing this first step into the world of The Lara-Su Chronicles. 🙂
Nice that you got to see Andrew Pepoy! The lack of royalties for creators is one of my biggest gripes with the comic industry, much as I love comic books overall, so I’m as heartened as ever you’re attempting to remedy this from your corner of the industry with Floating Island Productions’ upcoming Mobian Line reprints.
Speaking of! Loving the cover for Ken Penders’ Knuckles Omnibus Vol. 1! ^-^
I’ll continue to keep an eye out for updates on when the Lara-Su app is happening, as well as when we get more info on the Mobian Line reprints and their availability. I know you’re busier than ever, but I hope you’re able to navigate these uncharted waters as well as you can.
Things went much better than I expected. I have yet to hear anyone complain the story is no good moving forward because Sonic and/or Knuckles are no longer a part of it. People who enjoyed my stories back in the day are enjoying the story as presented, accepting how I’m handling the transition from the original era to the new era along with the mix of new and established characters. Yes, there are questions where I’m going with this, but I believe once people get into the story more, they’ll stay for the entire ride. The transition was always my biggest concern as people either bought into it or they didn’t, and so far, it’s working.
The big thing now is getting the app completed and released. Once that’s done, I can spend more time moving the main story forward while supervising the production of the KNUCKLES OMNIBUS. (I haven’t even touched on the intricacies of establishing Floating Island Productions as a fully legally recognized company or getting my website updated with additional material. Definitely no rest for the weary.)
As for those who predicted nothing but doom & gloom for me and this project, I have yet to see any sign of them these days. Except for a couple of people who complained about depiction of certain visual elements, no one else has raised a fuss over those same elements.
Overall, I’m in good spirits, and generally pacing myself much better after the marathon sprint I experienced this past week. Comments such as yours are most appreciated as well as therapeutic. It’s a relief from the previous negativity. Thanks and take care until next time.
Honestly, art for cover looks good, but those text needs to be changed, because it looks cheap. I don’t want to offence, just give feedback.
No offense taken, Max. I even agree with you. You’ll notice I did not refer to that cover art anywhere as the final version. I was simply trying to give people some idea what the variant cover would look like. I still have to put forth the cover version most people will end up with.
Glad everything seems to have gone well!
TL-SC Beginnings is a great book and I’m sure everyone who bought a copy will be satisfied. Hoping you continue to get plenty of orders, but also hoping they’re staggered out enough that you don’t get too busy with shipping day-on-day!
At this time, I’m very encouraged by the reception the book is getting.As for shipping out books to those who placed an order, it’s much more manageable these days. Any order that arrives after 12:00pm PST gets packaged and ready for shipping as my last act of the day before calling it a night. I then take care of any orders arriving during the night into the morning between 11:00am and noon PST before taking everything to the post office. Then rinse and repeat. In the meantime, I’m currently getting my office more organized as I was more focused getting things done as opposed to keeping things neat. It’s going to take a week or so before I have everything back on track, but I’ll get there eventually.
Glad you had a good convention
The variant cover and 3 covers to 1 image is a really incredible exclusive for the omnibus, I will for sure be one of the first to pre-order
Wow. Sounds like a wonderful time at the comic con. I love the photos. Everyone having a great time.
I will have to look up the word “royalties” and “shipping book rate”. Not sure the definition of those words. This has nothing to do with you, I’m not good at math. Hard to visualize and understand. “Priority flat rate” unsure what it means. “Uniform cost” never heard that word before.
Business involves alot of math.
It’s not a criticism just struggling with my own brain limitations.
But if it comes time to order something in the future, I will let my mom handle as she can understand business and money better than I can.
I really like the first photo of the hallway in comic con. All those circles . It reminds of the hallway in a spaceship.
What is the Knuckles Omnibus going to cover numbers-wise? As in, Sonic the Hedgehog issues 1-16, Knuckles the Echidna 1-6, 8-19, etc. I’m asking in the sense of if there were going to be someone new to the overall story, could they theoretically pick up the Knuckles Omnibus and be perfectly set as far as learning everything lore-wise without any gaps?
The KEN PENDERS’S KNUCKLES OMNIBUS VOL.1 contains the following Knuckles stories in chronological order:
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG issue 13 – First appearance of Knuckles
SONIC & KNUCKLES SPECIAL – all stories
SONIC TRIPLE TROUBLE SPECIAL – FIRST CONTACT
SONIC issue 30 – 2 pg sneak preview of KNUCKLES CHAOTIX SPECIAL
KNUCKLES CHAOTIX SPECIAL – all stories
SONIC issues 31 thru 33 – 2 page interstitials featuring Knuckles & friends
SUPER SONIC & HYPER-KNUCKLES SPECIAL 1 – FATHERS & SONS
SONIC issues 34 thru 36 – A SENSE OF HISTORY Parts I, II & III
SONIC’S FRIENDLY NEMESIS KNUCKLES 1 thru 3
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG issue 44 – BLACK & BLUE & RED ALL OVER
KNUCKLES THE DARK LEGION issues 1 thru 3
KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA issues 4 thru 6
Everything listed above is a lock. What’s yet to be determined:
Potentially including KNUCKLES issues 7 thru 16 plus stories from SONIC issues 53, 56 & 58.
KNUCKLES QUEST chapters from SONIC issues 42, 45 & 46 as well as SONIC LIVE! SPECIAL
Any stories involving KNUCKLES and Athair written by Mike Gallagher (I don’t consider these essential to the continuity but I understand many would be disappointed if they’re not included.)
I’m still gathering details regarding page count and production costs which will have an affect on the decision-making process. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Everything listed above is a “Lock”?
I’m not sure what that means.
In this case, “lock” means the items I listed are not subject to change, that at a minimum you can be certain the stories listed will see print.
Thanks for explaining . “Lock” has more than one meaning so I’m glad you clarified that.