So it sounds like I have had a bit of a different experience and approach, so I'm going to put in my two cents!
Your table needs to be a marriage of eye catching visuals and substance. I've seen booths that have a lot of cool lighting and video rigs that gain attention, but have nothing of quality to offer. I've also seen a lot of quality products get passed by because there wasn't anything invested into the look of the table. Both of these extremes tend to crash and burn--You've got to attract people and keep them there!
For our first convention (4000 attendees), we had a lot of upfront costs, so we actually ended up in the hole. However, also understand that--especially with the books--we bought a lot in order to last us the entire year. We started by ordering 250 copies, and by the time the same convention rolled around the next year, we needed to order our second set of 250 of Issue #1.
Things like your table supplies are also reusable for the most part, so they don't end up being recurring costs.
Issue #1 (250 copies, 48 pgs, $3 per) ~$750
Prints (between 25-50 copies depending on the print. I now know this is too many, lol) ~$200
Marketing materials (Banner $24, Business cards $16 (500), Postcards $35 (250), Flyers $15, shipping $30) ~$120
Button maker ~ $350
Table supplies (wire cubes, table cloth, cash box, misc office supplies) ~$100
= $1520
Amount sold at con = $1100
Profit? = --$420
Despite being "in the hole", I considered our first convention WILDLY successful. It blew our expectations out of the water. We had focused a lot on getting the word out and building up the event, and it was cheap to do so since it was a local convention. It really paid off.
My co-creator and I also split the cost of the initial investment and consider it a donation until we as a studio can stay afloat. That meant that the $1100 we got from the con went straight into our studio bank account and it allowed us to afford more conventions throughout the year. The unfortunate truth is that you can't make money without spending money.
Even if you don't have a lot of money right now, here are the essentials that I personally think you'll need (and that sometimes I forget about):
- Change & cash box
--> How much you need and what kind of bills largely depends on the price of your merchandise. If you're keeping your products in intervals of five, ($5, $10, $15) stock up on those tens and fives. If you have more oddball amounts, keep a healthy collection of ones. Depending on the size of the event, my starting drawer can fluctuate between $75 and $125.
- Card reader (+smart phone or tablet)
--> Personally, I use Paypal. It has a slightly lower rate and the first 3 readers you get from them are free (they'll reimburse you if you buy it in a store). Square is another good option, however, and I haven't heard bad things about it.
-->If you're using Paypal, set up a business account at LEAST two weeks before your first event. Most of the time everything will process in a couple business days, but if there are any problems verifying your identity, it could take longer.
- Business cards (and holders for them)
--> These are a MUST. There will be people who can't buy your product but will want to check you out online or contact you for commissions later. I personally have one for myself as an artist and one for my comic. List your name, email, website, and relevant social media. If you want good quality ones on a budget, check out Gotprint. I'm always super satisfied with them, and if you use their templates, the color comes out perfect. You can even have them send you a sample packet that lets you feel the different kinds of paper they offer and whatnot.
- Sales tracking / Inventory
--> Make a table in Word or another word processor to print off and track items sold at the convention. It's really important to track sales and keep tabs on what products are doing well!
--> You'll also need to keep a solid inventory on your computer. Excel is great for this if you know how to set up the formulas. This way it's easy to know how much of something you have and when to restock items.
- Painters tape (blue, weak), electrical tape (black, strong), zip ties. (all of these are just useful for securing things on the fly)
- Writing utensils; pens, sharpies. Make sure you have a silver sharpie to sign dark things.
- Table cloth/table skirt (latter is optional, but they look nice. Sometimes the convention will provide these for you, but not always)
- Portable storage (places to put your products and supplies. Choose containers that will easily fit in a car and under a table)
- Table displays (even if all you can afford are the easels to prop up your book vertically, that's better than nothing! Totally agreed with Cyndi that it's best to build vertical if you can)
- Signage
--> Make your prices visible in multiple places! I have one master list on the table, but I also split it up into multiple signs near the actual product. If you have commissions, have a sign for that, and if you're accepting card have a sign for that too. Even then, sometimes I resort to sticky notes to put prices on some of my individual items because people just keep asking! You'd be amazed how easy it is for some people to miss a sign right in front of their faces.
--> It's a good idea to laminate these, but if you're unsure on your prices, you can wait until you test it out and finalize them.
- Portfolio. It gives people something to look through! Strut your stuff.
- Elevator pitch. Be prepared to explain what your comic is about in 2-3 sentences.
- Hoodie or jacket. Since there's a lot of people at cons, they usually drop the temperature!
- Snacks & drinks
- Smile! Be friendly! Greet people and show an interest in them. Don't have your nose in your sketchbook the whole time.
- Have a helper. You're going to need to run to the bathroom sometime, and it's nice to be able to send someone out for actual food.
I think that's all the essentials I can think of off the top of my head. Hopefully that's helpful!
My booklets (letter size folded in half and stapled) ended up being 48 pages total with around 42 pages of content. The rest was cover space, credits, etc. It cost us about $3 per at a local printer. Online avenues are usually cheaper, but remember you also have to pay shipping and it'll take longer if there are any mistakes to fix. (Always get a sample first)
Stick to small-medium cons or events, starting out. There's less competition and it's easier to get noticed. If you don't have a big following already established, you'll get pretty drowned out in a huge vendors hall. That's what happened to us when we went to Anime Central--it had 30,000 attendees, but it was our worst con to date. It was simply massive, and we didn't have the chops to make it there, especially since we had mostly original content.
Personally, I also suggest starting local if you can, as it's so much easier to just go out and post flyers and spread the word through friends and the comic/art community. It's a lot cheaper, too, without the cost of hotel or gas.
Make sure to make it known that this is an original comic, and if you're local, even better. People LOVE supporting upcoming creators. On that note, try different kinds of conventions. People at anime cons tend to go there to buy merchandise of established material and it caters to a specific style. Comic congoers tend to be more open to trying things out and picking up something new.
I got a booth at a local comic shop for free comic book day, and we ended up selling as many books in that one day as we did at one of the anime cons we had been to. It was quite the eye opener for me... so now we're going to try our luck and comic centric conventions and see how we do.
Also, branding is pretty important. Create a look and feel for your material and stay consistent. Choose the colors and textures for your booth depending on what you want to convey... make it something that'll stick in people's minds and be recognizable.
Lastly... make sure your comic is the most appealing thing to pick up at your booth. Prints and other merch are the bells and whistles, and most people won't be getting that unless they're already fans. Get enough money for it that it'll cover your costs, but don't inflate it too much that people will pass on buying it.
For example, we price ours at $5 a booklet. People are usually pretty open to dropping only five bucks to try something new. And once issue #2 came out, I offered both for $8... and they sold like hot cakes. Our posters are between $8-10, depending on the size, and our buttons are $1. This gives people a variety of options depending on their financial situation and it makes our booklet look reasonably priced.
On the flipside, I've seen one guy sell his prints for $8 and a comparably sized comic (60 pages) for $12. He got virtually no sales because $12 isn't something people are willing to drop for a new comic, let alone a tiny book. That's about the price point of a graphic novel right there.
Personally, I'd rather make less of a profit margin on my books and get it into the hands of our readers to breed a community. They'll get invested easier that way and will come back for the higher tag items.
Oh! And I almost forgot. Get some cheap flyers printed both for places around town before the event and then for inside the event itself. It depends on the convention, but they're usually okay with me hanging up posters in the convention halls to urge people to visit our table. Painter's tape is especially useful to have around for this, as it's usually the only type of tape that won't leave residue on the walls.
I know that was a doozy, but I hope all this information helps. You definitely don't have to go as big or bold as we did our first time around--we did it because we had enough confidence in our product and the community we had already built before launch. Find what balance works for you and your material!
Here's an image of our current booth if you're curious! I also cosplayed my lead lady to help tie everything together. We had a few fanart prints, too, but it's definitely centered around our comic.