For context, Reed also owns BEA, and PW covers that with proctological detail. So it’s not a new situation.

I’ll be posting my final take on the show and addressing this entire issue in The Beat later today. I am well aware that there are many compromising positions here, but I have tried to be as upfront about them as possible. For instance, the SDCC is a sponsor of The Beat, and I’ll probably make more money from that relationship this year than from my NYCC consultancy. Milton Griepp is also covering the show on ICv2 and he was one of the principle organizers of the show. So hats are being juggled left and right. I leave it to the intelligent reader, as always, to make their own informed choices about where the bias lies.

Rose, I can’t speak to the PW articles, but I recall Heidi mentioning her work with them in her blog quite frequently. Perhaps PW has a different policy?

Easy question. Heidi, why didn’t you disclose your paid participation as a consultant in your Publishers Weekly coverage of the upcoming con?

Having just finished reading through the Engine thread, I was glad to see a few people in there with an actual understanding of the bigger picture and how things work in NYC, and offering a more balanced and informed take on things. Your audience would perhaps be better served, and your post much less slanted towards the negative, had you pulled a few of them out of the thread, too.

I’d like to hear more stories of “huge success”, but I haven’t seen them out there. The closest I’ve seen are cases like Bob Greenberger’s, which I linked to yesterday, and he was just happy about making some connections. Or there’s the fans who are glad that they managed to see some of the show even in the chaos. Good experiences? Sure. Huge success? Not so much.

As for San Diego, that’s a bit of an unfair comparison, no? How long has that Con been around? And was it originated in anywhere near as bright a spotlight as NYCC?

I’m not trying to defend the Con here. They dropped the ball, badly; they’ve admitted as much and are taking steps to rectify the situation. But I am calling for a bit of perspective on the whole thing. The reality is, for as many horror stories there are from people who got screwed over, there’s at least twice as many for whom the event was a huge success, exhibitors and attendees alike. That’s not an either-or thing, that’s a let’s not lose of the good because the bad’s a juicier topic thing.

I also disagree that the problems are “easy to fix” based on what some people have said about the inherent limitations of the Javits center and how hard it is to book the space needed in the right timeframe.

You might have a different opinion if you had been to San Diego. I’ve only gone twice in ten years, but it handles many more people in a much more professional fashion.

I was there all three days, so I know firsthand the problems people had. Getting in on Friday morning had its own hiccups, and I had trouble getting in on Saturday morning because I was running late and didn’t get there until almost Noon. That was with both a professional and a press badge, so I know regular attendees got a raw deal. A couple of creators appearing at our booth had trouble getting onto the exhibition floor, too. As it was, I never left the floor once I got there for fear of not getting back in and didn’t catch a single panel on Saturday, and I’ve seen several reports that attendance was low on Saturday for several of the high-profile panels because it was taking so long to get people into the show. (Sunday flowed a lot more smoothly, which is when my two panels were.)

At the same time, I saw thousands of people file past our booth, and mingled with thousands more as I walked the floor each day, and the mood inside was generally positive and upbeat. Of course the people who didn’t get in are in an uproar. I would be, too. But rational people look at both sides of a story and make their judgements on the big picture, and that was my point.

As I said here and more specifically on my blog, the problems with the event were purely logistical and easy to fix, and I’m confident Reed will get it right next year. Even with their problems this year, though, I’ll take them over a Wizard produced event any day.

As for San Diego, having never been I can only speak anecdotally, but I’m willing to bet that most creators would say being the main attraction here in NY was much better than being lost in the sideshow comics have become out there. Several indie creators have said the Friday trade-only period was actually the best part of the show for them, because they’d made industry contacts they hadn’t imagined making beforehand.

Clive, was Keiron Dwyer on that panel? Wasn’t he the one who tried to do that Starbucks parody comic?

[...] Perhaps I shouldn’t even bother, since anyone who is in comics has probably already had their fill of show talk, bitching, and spinning from the mountain of blog reports and all the other forms of coverage that the show has produced. But since 90% of the folks reading this particular blog is into video games, I may as well give my two cents. And like everyone else, I too feel that the show was both a tremendous success and a cluster-fuck of epic proportions. [...]

The crowds meant that many of the people behind the tables stayed there, and I never had to wait more than 2 minutes in the bathroom before getting in a stall (they had bathrooms in the front and the back of the hall).

We did get calls that even exhibtors were having trouble getting back in the room, but the really persistant ones did — although one guy had to wait for a half hour with his parents (who came to visit him and got exhibtor badges).

I was in the back with the CAG group which included Phil Clark, Rich B of Sentinels among others. Honestly, the indies didn’t sell a lot of their books… and again that might have been because it was the first time a lot of the attendess ever saw indies.. but everyone felt they got lots of exposure.

The indie party that Phil and CAG organized at a near by upstairs loft of a bar had the feeling of those great Heroes Con parties where everyone is there mingling, talking and chatting. There was a book display table in the loft, and lots of artists hanging out in the downstairs area drawing in each others books until 11pm or later. I got there around 9pm when many of the press had already left for the next party, but there were still a few indie reporters there, and had a great time.

Not so much of either the movies people or the toy licensing people on Friday, but lots of librarians — and getting your books in libraries is a good way to build a following and get to the next step.

I’d be interested in finding out if anyone has direct sucess stories. For me it was being able to promote my stuff and hoping that some of the people I gave comics and DVDs to will report about them or add to the word of mouth. Library orders would be cool, too.

On Sunday I had a great time talking to April Doster at Desperado Comics, a company with great talent and good production that needs to get more press attention and sales.

Anything that helps grow the industry is probably a good thing, but I do agree that the convention should probably had more of a sevice approach to the people who couldn’t get in — like adding a last minute Sat night party for them– there’s plenty of places in Manhattan for that!