“So, how was the APE?” you ask.
Kinda like last year: slow but steady. Saturday seemed really dead. I made slightly more money on Saturday, but I had twice as many people come up to my table and buy something on Sunday. While big spenders are nice, I prefer more readers. Even though the hall closed at 7 on Saturday, it was basically dead by 4. At 5, I saw some exhibitors packing up and leaving. It was really only the hour between 3 and 4 that the floor seemed to be moving. Sunday was steadier. At 4 there was a mad dash by the people in the hall to see every table. Or so it felt. I did slightly better monetarily than I did last year, but, more significantly, I moved a lot more books.
One nice change from last year was the security. Last year, the security people seemed either disinterested or anal. For instance, they wouldn’t let us use the side doors at all last year. The side doors of the convention hall lead directly to the parking lot, so for exhibitors it’s really convenient to be able to use them. But last year we weren’t allowed to go in or out of them even though it was raining. This year, we could exit through them at any time and we could enter through them for set up on Sunday. Much more civilized. And the security people were much more friendly. Actually, I think I could have gotten a date out of one of them. He kind of looked like a short version of Terrence Stamp.
Even though the majority of the show was me trapped behind my table looking around listlessly, I did get a lot of nice feedback. A lot of people told me how much they liked my art. One woman who bought Kit Kaleidoscope last year said that it was her favorite book. I don’t know if she meant “of all time,” or “of the APE,” or if she was just prone to exaggeration, but it was still nice to hear.
But after this APE I’ve realized I need to reassess by business plan. That is, maybe conceive of one. I’ve done the APE for a long time now and I’m kinda doing it out of habit. It’s nice to see people who actually read my work, but I think I should have a bigger reason for why I’m there. This has nothing to do with the show itself, just my own musings on my relationship with my art. For so long, I’ve just been focused on doing work that’s any good. While I still have a ways to go, I’ve made a lot of headway there and I need to think more about what I want to do with my work. I saw all those youngsters parading about and it really hit me how the years have gone by. I need to wake up a bit and get more serious about the career side of things. Words like “career” and “business plan” rub me the wrong way, but having a more clearly defined goal is probably a good idea.
I was glad to see you again at APE and get your most recent books–on Sunday, like most people seem to have done. If you’re thinking of getting a business plan, you might take to heart what Keith Knight said on a panel at APE that day. He credited his German wife for helping him get more organized and coming up with a business plan. After Keith said this, Shannon Wheeler sounded out while writing a reminder note to himself: “Get married to a German.”
Oddly enough, my first year at the APE I shared a table with Keith Knight. He’s a great guy. And it’s been the insistence of my wife as well that has encouraged me to get clearer about the career side of things. That and realizing how many years I’ve been sitting there and realizing that everyone seems to be getting younger and then realizing that it isn’t the attendees getting younger…