Next week, I’ll be attending my very first convention as a vendor. I’m nervous and excited–I think I have a pretty comprehensive list of what I need to bring, but I deliberately picked a fairly low-key, small con for my first experience.

I’ll be setting up shop next Saturday at Grape City Con in Lodi, CA. It’s a one-day con; we attended last year and had a nice time without the overwhelming crowds at some of the bigger ones. It should give me some good practice at working as many bugs as possible out of my process before I hit the larger cons (FOGcon in March, followed by the local Big Kahuna: Silicon Valley Comic Con.) I have no idea if I’ve ordered enough books or too many–that’s another thing I want to gauge.

I’ve got some very spiffy looking banners, some signage, the all-important candy bowl (to be filled with the all-important candy that I still need to buy), book stands, some decorations, a cool occulty tablecloth, and my trusty Square reader all set up and ready to go. I’ve got a seller’s permit and a form for temporary sales offsite. I’ve got my cool official Magespace Press T-shirt. Still need to pick up a few things before next week, but I think I’m on my way.

I just hope somebody buys books. Otherwise it’s going to be a long day. Guess I’d better get working on my pitch!