So, I went, this time with my books and my standup banner and all that jazz. Took my place in a row of actual authors and really enjoyed these two days. My kids went about, playing table top strategy games against whoever and I told people about my book series and sold all ten collections of stories I had brought. Could probably have sold twice that but I hadn't had a clue how much would have been realistic and also I was above budget for this whole thing anyways. So I can say that it went great.
It's interesting to see how other authors do things. All of us had "real" jobs. Conventions are the place to sell books. Online is dead unless you really like playing the social media game. Community was really nice. Christian Günther borrowed me a table cloth right when I showed up and without it, my table would have looked like crap. Laurence Horn (and his son) and Finja Stoldt (with her brother) were my direct neighbours – and rather nice as such. I was in good company. Even did a little reading session in a literature jam. Five minutes is a really tight timeframe and I was somewhat nervous and a little too fast but I think people liked what they heard.
I'll be hitting more conventions like this in the future. Let's at least make this hobby pay for itself.