Arisia is behind me, and unfortunately, I mean that in a larger sense.

Event organizers warned us that attendance would be down this year as people were still squirrelly about attending large gatherings (especially if they were resistant to mask and vaccine mandates while attending). They were right and the foot traffic in the dealers room was not what it usually is, which meant sales were, to put it diplomatically, disappointing.

If this was a one-time occurrence I might be inclined to try and ride it out and return in 2024, but frankly, my ROI at Arisia has been falling for the last few years. Breaking even is acceptable, but doing the show at a loss several times, even a small loss, is simply not good business sense. I’ve always said that if you’re serious about making a go at writing professionally, you can’t take a loss at conventions just because they’re “fun to do.”

Now it’s time to take my own advice.

It’s not an easy decision because I do enjoy the show. I like the social aspect, I like talking shop with other writers, I love doing panels, but I don’t love paying that much in membership fees, dealer fees, parking, gas, and food to do it.

With that in mind, I have also decided to withdraw from Boskone next month. Boskone went ahead with the 2022 show despite the Omicron surge, and everything I heard from folks who were there was that it was a ghost town. I can’t imagine this year will be any better, especially in light of how thin Arisia was, so I’ve cancelled my appearance there too.

Will I ever return to either event? Can’t say. Maybe things will improve and I’ll be willing to give the shows another chance, but for the foreseeable future, I’m done with them and moving on to other adventures.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Awaiting cover art. Scheduled for an early 2023 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Untitled Seventh Book: First draft underway.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

• None scheduled

MISC.

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