Registering for Artist Alley, is it worth it?

[Hachimitsu]

I seen artist happily sell their works and earn a small income..
I am one of those artists who wishes to have a great time selling, drawing and making new friends...
Now that fanime has raised it's stakes, I began to question if it's even worth it!

This came to mind when I invited my sister and realized she has NOT sold a piece of artwork on fanime. I wont say what happens after but I question myself, Has other artist applied for artist alley actually became Happy!

I mean:
your buying a badge at $40 (hopefully if you pre-order it during last years convention)
your also buying a $60 table registration
and your spending about $X.xx on making posters/supplies to resell them.
-and your spending to pay off taxes After the convention is over

In the end, I know how I smile and sold works, but it felt like, i spent too much to get something back in return...
if I was a not so serious person I would be happy but now after realizing the income im spending (for the hotels and food).
I don't think im getting anything in return...

I wanna ask you, is this even worth it? I mean I get the fun part, selling, making, creating.. but I really do miss participating on events like cosplaying gathering and dealers hall. (don't worry, i have friends to take care of me, but they are too sometimes busy at some point)

*I know it's hard to believe me being the only person to know this but I sometimes wonder if there are any other hard working artists who failed to meet expectations!*

[djmonolith]

I think this is a reasonable and valid question that artists must ask.  The resources it takes to be a part of Artist Alley are pretty outstanding.  For me, Artist Alley is my favorite feature of Fanime (and other cons).  Meeting the artists, commissioning portraits, buying art, and seeing all the amazing creativity and talent is what it is all about for the guests.  But it is different for the artists... you are working hard!  And you are spending so much time and money.

From my perspective, last year was a success... the Artist Alley room was always packed and it looked like most of the booths received a lot of attention! 

If an artist is trying to network, meet people, sell some stuff... then I would imagine it is worth it.  If an artist is just trying to make a lot of money, I doubt this is the best way to do it.  I would imagine one hard day of working in the Alley and the rest of the weekend spending time enjoying the Con might be a good compromise. 

My only frustration with Artist Alley is that there is no good way to network before the Con.  Fanime Forums, Twitter, Deviant Art, Facebook... it is all over the place and it is frustrating for me to try to see who will be there and start planning my weekend.  I wish there was one place for artists and fans to go to see a map of the con, see examples of art, links to artists sites, stuff like that.  If the artists could start getting people excited early enough, perhaps more people would be prepared to meet and spend $$  come Con time.

I dunno...

[phr34kish]

It may just be me, I think a lot of weight has to be given to how seriously someone is going to be taking their booth. Not that EVERYONE doesn't already take it seriously, but is this just a fun adventure? Or do you run and plan your time at AA as a business and treat it as such. There are quite a few artists I know personally (including myself) that more than make back the amount of money I spend as a "cost of business" and an additional bit on top. Hell, I even keep my receipts for EVERYTHING at the convention, and write it off on my taxes later next year. But then there are other groups, like the girls who run the "Teahouse" comic who have stopped coming to Fanime all together because they were not getting enough return on their investment.

But how each person judges what is "worth it" is entirely up to them. It's a uniquely individual experience for everyone, and what YOU decide is worth it may not be for someone else.