Guys, this post is going to be negative and I’m really sorry about this, but I have to get the word out.

I went to MoCCA Festival last weekend, which is a comic convention focusing on small-press comics in Manhattan. Since many of you reading this blog are comic creators who exhibit at conventions or will exhibit in the future, I write this report to address the issues I had with MoCCA so that you will have an informed opinion if you are thinking of attending.

1. Cost of the table very high. It was over $400 for a full-sized table. To compare, S.P.A.C.E. was only $55 and TCAF is (I believe) $150. Toronto is also quite a large city, so I wonder why MoCCA charges over twice what TCAF does? None of the people I talked to made back the cost of their table.
2. Cost of attendance very high. Customers must first pay $15 for one day or $24 for the weekend to even enter the festival. Customers repeatedly told me they were short of money and they rarely had books in their hands. Other exhibitors said they also weren’t selling much. Compare to TCAF, which is free for customers to enter.
3. Not enough advertising for the event. The whole weekend, I only saw two people with press badges. These kinds of events are critical for small press creators like myself to advertise our new books and for comic journalists to find out about them. I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes and how hard MoCCA tries to advertise for their event, I can only look at the result, and the result was not good. In contrast, I was interviewed about my work at S.P.A.C.E., and so was the woman sitting next to me. And TCAF has sent out multiple press releases tailored to different media (I was included in the LGBT-focused press release) to support their exhibitors.
4. No space for us to put free postcards or business cards. At all other conventions I’ve been to, the front of the dealer room has at least one table where creators can put free things. It’s great advertising because comic fans can look through all the art all at once and take your business card or postcard and look you up online later. At MoCCA, there was a small table, about three square feet, in the hallway on the way to the bathroom. With over 200 creators present, most of the free postcards were falling off the table. It was a wreck. More insulting yet was the fact that the first quarter of the dealer’s room, about 10 tables, was taken up by a display advertising…MoCCA! Though these 10 tables were mostly empty, we weren’t allowed to put postcards on them.
5. Publishers placed at the front of the room. This is more of a minor criticism, but well-known publishers like Fantagraphics, First Second and Drawn + Quarterly were placed at the front of the room, creating a traffic problem for customers who wanted to see the creators themselves. I had though this was going to be a creator-focused event, so I was surprised to see that publishing houses got the best table positions.
6. What after party? Another minor criticism, but the scheduled after-party was held at a very small bar which had no space for any MoCCA people. When we arrived, there was already a crowd of about 20 exhibitors outside the bar who eventually decided to go somewhere else. I didn’t see any MoCCA staff at the bar. Contrast to S.P.A.C.E., which had a party before the con where I met lots of wonderful creators and even the administrator of S.P.A.C.E. himself.

In short, I won’t be attending MoCCA again. And if you are thinking about attending, ask yourself these questions: If your goal is to make a little money, or even make back the cost of your table, it’s a bad choice. If your goal is to advertise your work, it’s a bad choice. If your goal is to network and make friends with other creators, it’s a bad choice. If your goal is to funnel money to the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art at your own expense, than MoCCA Fest is the convention for you.

On the other hand, S.P.A.C.E. was great and I’m really looking forward to TCAF!