A practical guide to preparing for, surviving, and profiting from your first convention table.
Your first artist alley table is exciting and overwhelming in equal measure. There are a hundred things to think about, and most of the advice online is either too vague ("just have fun!") or buried in hour-long YouTube videos.
This guide covers the practical stuff: what to bring, what to sell, how to set up your table, how to price your work, and the mistakes that almost every first-time vendor makes. It is based on what convention artists consistently say works after doing dozens of events.
Most conventions open artist alley applications weeks or months before the event. Larger conventions (Anime Expo, NYCC, Fanime) are competitive and juried, meaning they review your portfolio before accepting you. Smaller local conventions often accept anyone who applies.
If this is your first time, start with a small or mid-size convention in your area. Table fees are lower ($50 to $150 vs. $300 to $600+ at large cons), the stakes are lower, and you will learn a lot without the pressure of a major event.
When applying, read the rules carefully. Many conventions have restrictions on what you can sell (fan art policies vary), whether you can share a table, and what display equipment is allowed.
The most common products at artist alley tables are art prints, stickers, enamel pins, acrylic charms, keychains, and postcards. You do not need all of these. Many successful vendors start with just prints and stickers because they are cheap to produce and have high margins.
What tends to sell well at conventions:
What tends to sell slowly:
This does not mean you should only make fan art. It means your first convention is not the place to test whether people will buy a $40 original zine from someone they have never heard of. Lead with what sells, and use that income to fund the work you are most passionate about.
Bring more than you think you will sell, especially for your cheapest items. Running out of your $3 stickers on day one of a two-day convention is lost money. A good rule of thumb:
If you are not sure how much you will sell, look at the convention's attendance numbers and ask other artists who have tabled there before. Artist alley Discord servers and Reddit threads for specific conventions are great for this.
Before you commit, do the math. Add up your table fee, travel, hotel, food, and production costs. Then estimate how much you would need to sell to break even. If the number feels unrealistic, it might not be the right convention for you yet.
We built a free convention profit calculator that does this math for you. Enter your expenses and products to see your break-even point and projected profit.
You do not need an elaborate setup for your first convention. Here is what most vendors consider essential:
Your table needs to be scannable from 5 to 10 feet away. Convention attendees walk past hundreds of tables. You have about 2 seconds to catch someone's eye before they move on.
First-time vendors almost always forget at least one of these:
Convention pricing is different from online shop pricing. Buyers expect to pay convention prices, and underpricing your work does not make you sell more. It just leaves money on the table and can actually make your booth look less appealing.
Look at what other artists charge for similar products at similar conventions. If stickers are typically $3 to $5 in your area, price yours in that range. If your 11x17 prints cost $3 to make, do not sell them for $8 when everyone else charges $20 to $25.
Keep your prices in round numbers ($5, $10, $15, $20). This makes cash transactions faster and mental math easier for you and the buyer. Avoid $7 or $13 price points. They slow down every transaction and make bundles confusing.
Bundles are one of the highest-leverage things you can do at a convention. "3 stickers for $10" (instead of $5 each) or "any 2 prints for $35" (instead of $20 each) give the buyer a reason to spend more. Most people at a convention are already willing to spend. Bundles give them permission to buy more than they planned.
Keep your bundle pricing visible on a sign. If someone has to ask, the bundle is not working. A simple sign that says "STICKER DEAL: 3 for $10" will sell more bundles than verbally offering the deal after someone picks up one sticker.
A significant number of convention-goers only carry cards, especially younger attendees. If you only accept cash, you are turning away sales. A Square or SumUp reader costs under $50 and pays for itself in a single convention. Processing fees (around 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction) are a small price for not losing a sale entirely.
You do not need to be an extrovert to sell well at conventions. Most successful artist alley vendors follow a simple approach:
The vendors who sell the most are not the loudest or the most aggressive. They are the ones who seem approachable and genuinely happy to be there.
This is the thing that separates hobbyists from artists who build a sustainable convention business. If you do not track what you sell, you are guessing about what to bring next time, which conventions are worth returning to, and whether you actually made money.
At minimum, count your inventory before and after the convention so you know what sold. Better yet, track sales as they happen so you can see which products are moving and adjust your display mid-convention.
You can use a spreadsheet (we have a free inventory template), a notebook, or a dedicated tool like Conventory that tracks sales in real time and calculates profit per convention automatically.
Every convention has dead periods. Mornings are usually slow. The hour after lunch can be quiet. The last hour of the last day is often the slowest of the whole event. This is normal. Do not panic or assume the convention is bad based on one slow hour.
Use slow periods to reorganize your table, restock items that are running low, eat, or walk the floor to see what other artists are doing. Some of the best ideas for your next convention come from observing what works at other tables.
Convention days are long. You are often sitting in the same spot for 8 to 10 hours with limited breaks. Eat real food, drink water, and take bathroom breaks even if it means asking a neighbor to watch your table for a minute. Most convention artists are happy to help. You will burn out fast if you skip meals and push through on adrenaline alone.
Do this before you unpack at home, while everything is still organized. Compare what you brought to what you have left. This tells you exactly what sold and how much. If you wait a week, you will forget what you started with and your numbers will be wrong.
Add up everything you spent (table fee, travel, hotel, food, production costs) and subtract it from your total revenue. The number that is left is your actual profit. For many first-time vendors, this number is lower than expected, and that is okay. The first convention is a learning experience.
Use our profit calculator to plug in your actual numbers and see where your money went.
After every convention, take 10 minutes to write notes about what worked and what did not. Which products sold fastest? What did people ask about but not buy? Was your table layout effective? Would you return to this convention?
These notes are incredibly valuable 6 months later when you are planning your next event and cannot remember the details. The artists who improve fastest are the ones who treat each convention as data, not just a one-off experience.
Post your table setup or a thank-you post within a day or two of the convention. Tag the convention account. People who visited your table will recognize your work and follow you. This is how you build an audience between conventions. The artists who only post during convention season miss out on followers who would have bought from them online.
Underpricing everything
New artists often price low out of insecurity. Your prices should match the market, not your self-doubt. If everyone else charges $20 for a print, you should too.
No price signs
If people have to ask how much something costs, many of them will not. They will just walk away. Label every product or product group clearly.
Flat table with no vertical display
A flat table full of prints is hard to browse and easy to walk past. A grid wall or display stand that shows your work vertically catches eyes from across the aisle.
Only accepting cash
You will lose sales. A card reader is one of the best investments you can make as a convention vendor.
Bringing too many different products
A table with 50 different items often sells less than one with 15 focused products. Too many choices overwhelm buyers. Start with a focused product line and expand from there.
Not tracking sales or expenses
If you do not know what you sold or what you spent, you cannot improve. Track your numbers from day one so every convention informs the next one.
Skipping small or local conventions
Big conventions are exciting but expensive. A $50 local convention where you learn the basics is a much better first experience than a $400 out-of-state event where a bad weekend costs you real money.
It depends on the convention. Small local cons charge $50 to $150. Mid-size conventions charge $100 to $300. Large conventions like Anime Expo, NYCC, or Dragon Con charge $300 to $600 or more. Some conventions also require a separate badge purchase.
This is a gray area legally, but fan art is widely sold at artist alley tables and most conventions allow it. Some conventions have specific fan art policies, so check the rules before you apply. The general expectation is that fan art is your own original artwork inspired by existing properties, not traced or directly copied.
Many conventions allow table sharing, and it is a great way to cut costs for your first event. You split the table fee and share the space. Make sure you coordinate your display setup and pricing in advance so the table looks cohesive.
Give yourself at least 4 to 6 weeks before the convention. You need time to create or order products, buy display equipment, plan your table layout, and test your setup at home. Rushing the last week leads to forgotten items and unnecessary stress.
This is extremely unlikely if you have a reasonable product mix and visible pricing. Even at a slow convention, most vendors sell something. But if your first convention does not go well, treat it as a learning experience, not a failure. Look at what other artists sold, talk to your neighbors, and adjust for next time.
Requirements vary by state and city. Some conventions require a business license or sales tax permit as part of the application process. Check your local regulations and the convention's vendor requirements before applying. Many artists start by getting a basic sole proprietorship or DBA, which is usually inexpensive and straightforward.
The sooner you start tracking inventory and sales, the sooner every convention starts informing the next one. Conventory handles live sales at your booth, per-convention profit breakdowns, and automatic inventory updates from your phone.
Try Conventory Free30-day free trial. No credit card required.
Convention Profit Calculator
See if a convention will be profitable before you apply.
Free Inventory Template
Spreadsheet with built-in profit formulas for tracking products.
Conventory is an inventory and sales tracker built specifically for convention artists. Learn more