Is running a convention booth worth it for creators? In Utsudo’s experience, not really. After printing, travel, lodging and booth fees, her second booth roughly broke even, and the exposure fell short of expectations; unless it’s popular fan work, most creators struggle to profit from booths. Still, meeting fans face to face and having products entirely her own made it a wonderful experience. She’s decided to pause for now, and may later choose the closer Kaohsiung events to cut costs.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

My decision after my second booth

Having just finished my second convention booth, I’ve decided to hold off for now.

The core reason is revenue. Also, the exposure didn’t seem as useful as I imagined. I don’t know if it’s my approach or the finer points of running a booth that went wrong. I may need to dig deeper or ask others for their thoughts to understand.

This time, printing the books plus travel, lodging and booth rental roughly broke even—not counting what I’ll later sell through mail order. And that doesn’t include the costs of “time,” “book editing,” “cover and illustrations” and so on. My friends sponsored and helped a lot, which saved money; if I’d had to hire people, I’d definitely have lost money.

The satisfaction of making a print book

Making a print book is a lot of fun—it feels like “producing a dream.” Holding the finished product feels just like publishing with a publisher, an incomparable sense of achievement. No wonder so many creators want to turn their work into books.

But honestly, as a newbie who’s only run a booth twice, breaking even is pretty good. Many creators, unless they’re doing popular fan works, mostly lose money—simply put, they’re running on love.

Booths aren’t only about revenue?

A friend said booths aren’t always about profit; what’s more valuable is interacting with your fans in person and building a more cohesive community. You might also meet other exhibitors or reach audiences you couldn’t before.

That makes sense, but that’s for people who “can’t reach their audience in person.” I not only livestream but also hold offline meetups now and then, which don’t come with booth costs or require preparing lots of stuff. So for me, it’s not so clear-cut.

But one thing is certain: running a booth is really fun. I might consider the occasional Kaohsiung event instead of traveling all the way north, which might cut many costs.

By the way, booth displays can be done with a lot of care. I didn’t put much effort into that, which may be one reason I couldn’t attract new audiences. If you want to run a booth, try putting more effort into your booth’s presentation. Also, having a suitable illustrator with their own fan base do your cover may help you reach new readers.

The precious experience of meeting fans face to face

In any case, I got to interact with fans who usually exist only on the other side of the screen. Seeing their eager eyes and big smiles made all the hard work worth it.

Chances to meet fans face to face are rare, and creators tend to be shy, so talking in person like this is a wonderful experience. It feels a bit like a small fan signing event. Maybe this kind of connection matters more than profit.

And thanks to the booth, I finally have products that are entirely my own—an important milestone in running things. Even if they don’t sell out soon, that’s okay. I can post a store link and wait for the right buyers, and spend the rest of my time creating, hoping my work reaches more people in the future.

I may need to think carefully about what went wrong, keep improving and share my experience with you. Maybe after a while I’ll suddenly want to print a new book again (?

Anyway, I look forward to your continued support!

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Further reading

• Previous: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #218: Smartphone Addiction
• Start from the beginning: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #01: Utsudo’s Debut — A Road to the Dream Covered in Frost
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.