Do you sell/promote your VNs in cons?

[v3-kei]

I want to know how often people who have made commercial VNs sell or promote them offline, such as in stores or events like anime conventions, etc.

I actually have been holding doujin market event in Indonesia, where people can sell their individual works (those not under major labels), and of course people can also sell VNs just like in Comiket. However, the third event is going to be held this December and I only know one VN (yaoi, by Black Monkey Project) sold here before and in other similar events. I think this kind of event can be a good incentive for productivity, so maybe we haven't reached to enough people who will be assured that they can sell their works here... But maybe people tend to release them for free. Online. Which is a bit shameful, since I know there are people who can make good quality VNs that can be considered a sell-able quality.

But maybe it's different in cons, say, in USA or whatnots. Just tell me what you think.

[PN04]

While I haven't sold any VNs at cons, I have been to quite a few in my time selling art and comics. These days though I find it hard to compete, a lot of people think digital distribution is the future and seem all to happy to download things online (at least in the U.S., getting a person to buy a doujin style product felt like pulling teeth last time), so it seems hard to convince someone to buy content from an artist alley table where it should be easier with face to face communication. I suspect when equal quality content can be acquired online from various digital sources (often for free), or if there are official products being sold at the dealer room tables.

Indonesia seems a lot more friendly a market to doujin content in general, very similar to Japan in that way. I know a lot of people that have sold books at conventions there and seem to do well. I'm surprised your event hasn't seem much activity, but then again I've also seen a LOT of well made product being given away here for free in the last week or two that I've been lurking here. Not knowing the full extent of your market though, maybe you just need to create more awareness of the potential of the venue?

[v3-kei]

It's doing well, I just don't see much variation besides common merchandises and doujins. There's a group that is selling Touhou doujin music, another group producing Vocaloid songs, and that one yaoi circle, but that's about all, I haven't seen much variation (if at all) in the formats, compared to the variety of contents/fandoms each participant creates fanworks of. Speaking strictly in terms of selling VNs, do you see anyone selling them when you participate in the venues?

But then again, I agree that Indonesia perhaps is still a friendly country to sell doujin stuffs in such events, as compared to online/digitized products. Perhaps because we're not fully exposed to ways of buying things online? The international standard is to buy with Credit card, and the age range of Indonesian who are willing to buy these stuffs are considerably young = no means to acquire CC unless one asks parents. It's also why I haven't bought any commercial VNs no matter how much I want to. :/

Awareness! That's also one thing I've been thinking... How effective reaching out to high schools would be? There are high schools here with illustration extracurriculum or Japanesque appreciating community. I've been thinking to expose this event to them, but don't know a starting strategy. We've been communicating with art communities here as well, but I'd like to tap to a wider scope of the market; the consumers, so to say, instead of the producers.

Contrary to full-scale events like AFA, though, I and my friends are starting with no sponsors. It is still a small scale events stuffs with specific niche (strictly doujin/indie label stuffs) instead of other cons with other appeals like bands/competitions/cosplays/guest stars etc. That's our main challenge, to gather the masses with this kind of content, I think.

[papillon]

I do sales at Fanime every year generally, but the vast majority of my sales are online. I'm starting to wonder whether it's entirely worth it, though, because it's a lot of work and pretty exhausting to run a booth. I pretty much miss out on the con other than a few stolen moments because I'm working.

I posted a sales report from one previous year on my blog somewhere. It pays for itself, but after all the costs involved with getting two people to a convention the profit is not much.

[v3-kei]

Thank you for your comment, papillon!

I can see why it's not really profitable (one circle may have more profits from selling pins and straps than doujin books, from my experience.) but what about the psychological aspect? Do you feel rewarded when you interact with the players directly? Or does it feel no different than getting comments online? Does the less profit completely outweigh the experience? I understand that people with jobs cannot help but to miss the date sometimes, though.

[papillon]

It might be different if I were a more extroverted personality. Dealing with piles of strangers in person is stressful. And nice letters from fans that tend to go into detail and I can reread later are more memorable and rewarding to me than someone waving "I LIKE YOUR STUFF!" as they go past, who I probably won't remember anyway.

Might take a year off at some point, I don't know.

[Tsundere Lightning]

I do sales at Fanime every year generally, but the vast majority of my sales are online. I'm starting to wonder whether it's entirely worth it, though, because it's a lot of work and pretty exhausting to run a booth. I pretty much miss out on the con other than a few stolen moments because I'm working.

I posted a sales report from one previous year on my blog somewhere. It pays for itself, but after all the costs involved with getting two people to a convention the profit is not much.

It's worth going to cons just for the chance to sell people on your game face to face, especially if you enjoy the convention scene to begin with. Papillon, is there any way for you to track how many people visit your booth, then visit your website and buy it? I know that I have definitely met people at cons and bought stuff from them weeks later because of it. The concept artwork I commissioned from Susan Lau of this wizard who is definitely not a unicorn comes to mind; I saw her work last Fanime and that's the only reason I knew about her and liked her work.

I do promote my games at cons - hell, I'm going to ConVolution 2013 to pimp Bliss Stage (and Unwoman, who's in Bliss Stage and performing live at Convolution) for all of those reasons, and because I like cons and running games, and want to cosplay as Harry Dresden.

That said, choose what cons you go to carefully. CV is a general fantasy and sci fi convention, which is better for the BSVN than general gaming cons. Likewise, the theme this year is dreams and the Faerie, and the Bliss Stage world is among other things a sci-fi take on faerie attacks and the old Dreamworld concept. This shit wouldn't fly nearly as well at, say, PAX or Kubla-Con as it does at Fanime. Apply this to your own game concept to suit.

[PN04]

Papillon is right, expense is a big issue. The few times I went to Otakon it was fun meeting people and I didn't mind missing out on certain aspects of the con if it meant potentially making back my expenses, but if the tables are super costly on top of the production costs making it very stressful and important to make sales. I had nice experiences meeting like minded people and for introverts it can be a rough road, but rewarding when you can pull off a successful personal interaction. People tend to form a bond if they see you in person and may become repeat customers if they feel a connection to you or your work. Granted that can be done online too but in that circumstance you have to get them to your website or interact with them on their's first. At least with a con they're basically funneled right to you at some point. But yeah, New York Comic con is going on right now and when I look at the pictures of the crowds it makes me glad I skipped this year.

Speaking strictly in terms of selling VNs, do you see anyone selling them when you participate in the venues?

I see import groups selling official VNs, many of the independent developers seem to make more of other types of games, platformers and shooters, but I've seen a few random indie VNs, and people trying to put a new spin on digital comics. Lots of iphone games/apps too lately. The bigger the convention the wider the selection, but harder to sell when there's a giant professional company or distributor selling content too since people tend to blow their money with them first.

Perhaps because we're not fully exposed to ways of buying things online? The international standard is to buy with Credit card, and the age range of Indonesian who are willing to buy these stuffs are considerably young = no means to acquire CC unless one asks parents. It's also why I haven't bought any commercial VNs no matter how much I want to. :/

Makes sense, a kid in the US could get a paypal account to buy things online as long as they have a bank account, that instantly opens him/her up to dozens of potential purchase options as long as they have a way to put money in their account.

Awareness! That's also one thing I've been thinking... How effective reaching out to high schools would be? There are high schools here with illustration extracurriculum or Japanesque appreciating community. I've been thinking to expose this event to them, but don't know a starting strategy. We've been communicating with art communities here as well, but I'd like to tap to a wider scope of the market; the consumers, so to say, instead of the producers.

I've a friend that has had success with posting flyers at colleges that helped bring anime fans to his store, since they tend to have people of an age that have usually have a small disposable income and are looking for related content. The more you reach out the more likely you may find people who want to be on both sides of the table, both buying and selling. His tactic for building community helped his business and he started creating events like raffles and art contests, so even giving out small trinkets seems like it can improve the level of participation for little to no cost. Maybe even offering incentives for students might help.