Conventional Wisdom

(Historical Notes: Ah yes, here we go.  Only Past Me knows for sure, but I THINK this page was where I first came right out and openly told everybody that I wouldn’t be selling in Artist Alley any more after this.  What’s funny is, back before the world shut down, I actually HAD started to rethink this resolution… sort of.  I’ve been saying for ages that I wanted to print up a real version of the Pre-History book; like an actual, professional-looking book with commentary and extra pictures, not the glorified fanzine I used to sell.  After I went to that little local one-day con here in town, the thought occurred that I might be up for selling books at something like that.  You know, a short local event with no travel expenses to worry about or anything I’d need to leave the table for.  It’d HAVE to be something like that, because AUSA 2016 was the last time I’d deal with indignity of going to a con to make money but leaving in the red because of how expensive my share of the hotel room was.  And we’ve already established what my thoughts on staying at hotels are.  All that aside, I’m curious if Past Me related any anecdotes about why everybody ELSE was doing poor business.  It’d be one thing if I just didn’t have anything to offer that anybody wanted, I’m used to that.  But I seriously did hear EVERYBODY complaining about bad business all weekend.  I don’t recall it being such a problem the previous year, so it doesn’t seem like the issue was just a bad location.  Anybody out there have any insights on what was going on?)