auckland zinefest 2023 report
i tabled at zinefest today. it was alright...
sales
i've been looking forward to zinefest for a while because in terms of 'artist alley', i consider myself to be a dojinshi artist. i might only sell three dojinshi per convention (and mostly to people who don't realize they're fanart), but i'm still happy having fun making comics. i was disappointed in my attempt to sell original comics at the local manga-based convention though, which is why i thought that zinefest would be more receptive to them. however, i didn't sell a single comic!!!
(except for one copy of everyone's semester of anthropology to a father who was looking for zines for his daughter. still, as anthropology was soon approaching 50 sales i had excitedly drawn a commemorative picture of kiyo, hoping to give him to the 50th buyer...)
furthermore, my original mini art zine anchovy did poorly as well and only managed two sales. i was most disappointed in this because i thought the artwork was really nice and it was an original work rather than fanart. i drew it back in 2018 for a high school assignment, but it doesn't look bad, does it? scrapbook 2023 did alright though and sold seven copies. when i think about what kind of zine i like to buy at zinefest too, that sort of collage or photography zine appeals to me the most, so i kinda understand it.
i decided to be very on trend this year and draw new barbie and planet of the bass stickers specifically for the event. ken sold out and barbie did good too! planet of the bass sold a decent few as well. for once, the biggest portion of my profits came from stickers despite how cheaply i priced them. usually i rely mostly on prints which have a way higher selling price, so it was a big difference.
i think the location i had was absolutely terrible though. it felt like no one knew that part of the venue existed even though the main section was so busy.
zines
i don't have any interest in creating zines for the sake of selling them to others, so despite getting zero sales on my comics i still want to make comic zines.
still, it's disheartening to sell so few zines actually featuring my own original artwork (i don't care that the fanart zines didn't sell; they're just space-fillers here that sell better online). i really want to do another comic anthology zine next year, but given that it'll probably be an original topic, i have no hope of selling it here or online. it's not even the price that's the issue. people just don't pick it up. if i do make another original anthology, i'll make a more appealing cover at least. i want to take advantage of the medium and do something more interesting than just a black-and-white anime woman. i'm interested in doing a circus or vampire or victorian ladies theme.
i keep a scrapbook anyway, so scrapbook 2024 will most certainly be a thing. aside from that, i'm not sure what to do. i think that people like personal zines, but i really hate injecting myself into my artwork, or at least doing that and associating that with my face that is right there in front of them. i have a frigid relationship with art but no one needs to know about that. i don't even share that much about myself online nowadays, so for the sake of my privacy, please believe that i'm just a shallow man who cares about nothing except following trends and cute girls.
gets
i didn't walk around much. i managed to buy two zines, two stickers, and one roll of washi tape (the other two were traded with a friend). apparently i'm at 22 rolls of washi tape now which is kinda ridiculous. i don't know why i'm so weak for what is just colored sellotape.
hopefully i can get more next year once i've saved up. overall it was a pretty short event, and i had a fine time!