Leo Nocedo: What is your name, and what do you go by at cons?
LEX: My name is Alex. As a cosplayer I go by the_craftgoblin, and as a vendor I go by In The Cards Tarot by Lex.
Leo Nocedo: How would you describe what you do?
LEX: I am considered an entertainment vendor, but I do also provide a small selection of handmade crafts.
Leo Nocedo: What is your primary medium or product?
LEX: Tarot readings.
Leo Nocedo: How long have you been vending or tabling at comic cons?
LEX: Less than one year.
Leo Nocedo: How many cons do you typically attend per year, and which ones?
LEX: I have previously only vended at markets but am hoping to branch into more conventions this year. I was able to do Syfy Bartow this year, but I kind of consider that more of a market.
Leo Nocedo: What draws you to comic cons specifically, versus other markets or shows?
LEX: I’m just a nerd with a niche. The people that like what I do like what I like, so it’s a win-win.
Leo Nocedo: Walk us through what a typical con weekend looks like for you — from setup to teardown.
LEX: I am an army of one — much to my own detriment at times — so I’ve got my load-in and load-out pretty much down to an art when it comes to my bare bones. But the setup of what ends up on my table varies show to show as I find out what works with each environment.
Leo Nocedo: What’s the most rewarding part of tabling at a con?
LEX: It sounds horrible to say simply because I can’t think of a better way to word it, but when someone is openly emotional or cries during my readings. A lot of the times this happens, it’s because I’m helping provide people with some level of closure they’ve been needing, and that means a lot. Plus, it also validates to myself that my readings are on point.
Leo Nocedo: What’s the most challenging or underrated difficulty of doing cons?
LEX: Working alone. If I’m lucky enough to find coverage for a food or bathroom break, I’m having to rush because I’m the only person who can actually make a sale for the table.
Leo Nocedo: Is this your full-time income, a side hustle, or something else entirely?
LEX: Hobby — I break even or accept a loss.
Leo Nocedo: Has the cost of tabling — table fees, travel, supplies, etc. — changed noticeably over the years? How so?
LEX: The cost is one of my barriers to entry when it comes to cons. Markets are easy — $50 to $80, I can easily make table and at least a little bit of profit. Cons are charging anywhere from $120 to upwards of $600. And sure, that’s two to three days of vending, but come that second and third day, if I haven’t made that sale, I’m not going to when it’s the same guests. That’s not even including travel, food, and lodging if I need to travel.
It just seems like there are more and more event runners that are pushing off their costs onto the vendors, who are already fighting uphill to survive.
Leo Nocedo: How has the rise of online selling — Etsy, Instagram, conventions going digital — impacted your business, if at all?
LEX: I have tried multiple times with multiple crafts to establish an Etsy, and every time I have lost money on it. In more recent time, if I had tried to do readings on Etsy, my shop would have been shut down due to their terms and service. It’s sad to say, but from what I’ve noticed with my friends’ businesses as well as my own, if you didn’t make it in during the TikTok boom, you’re almost never going to make it truly beneficial.
Leo Nocedo: What does a “successful” con look like for you — is it purely financial, or are there other measures?
LEX: Success to me at this point would be at the very least a consistent income from vending, even if not a substantial income, because I know this is always going to be a part-time thing for me.
Leo Nocedo: How would you describe the vendor and artist community at cons? Is there a sense of camaraderie, competition, or both?
LEX: I have been incredibly lucky that I have always had positive interactions with my fellow vendors. Even meeting other tarot readers, no one has made it seem like it’s a competition. Quite the opposite — they’ve been completely supportive.
Leo Nocedo: Have you noticed changes in what attendees are buying or interested in over the years?
LEX: I know we’re all — myself included — tired of seeing resellers, AI slop art, and 3D print slop, with the obvious exception to actually original creations that aren’t just mass printed but also finished. I feel like I have seen a burnout in buying in general, though. Sure, we want to shop small and support local artists, but if we don’t have the money to spend, they don’t have the money to make, and we can’t expect them to drop their very valid prices to those of mass production companies.
Leo Nocedo: What trends in fandom or pop culture have most impacted your work or what you sell?
LEX:I feel like I’m in such a bubble with my offerings that unless there’s a cultural uptick in witchy media, my sales stay pretty unaffected.
Leo Nocedo: Is there anything about the vendor or artist experience that you wish attendees better understood?
LEX: Unless the vendor you are talking to is your friend or you are talking actual business, please try not to hover and hold a full-blown conversation. It’s really a read-the-room situation, because I have both lost out on sales and come across as rude for cutting people off to take a sale — all because they just wanted someone to talk to. I know it may sound harsh, but we are just trying to do our jobs.
Leo Nocedo: Looking ahead, what concerns you, if anything?
LEX: The capitalism of it all. It’s becoming harder and harder for us to make it out here, and the buyouts and consolidations of for-profit conventions are drowning us out even more. No real thought is being given to artists and smaller vendors when it comes to the companies that can afford to buy out large and/or multiple spaces throughout a con. Last year at Mega, there was one mass production dice company that not only had massive 20×20 booths, but they had three of them throughout the floor.
Leo Nocedo: What advice would you give to someone thinking about getting their first table at a con?
LEX: Be prepared to be in the red. A show can be super profitable one year and you get your hopes up, only to come back the next and not even make table. It is incredibly unpredictable. Also, make sure you have a booth buddy! At least one. Even if you think you can do it by yourself — no, you shouldn’t.
Leo Nocedo: Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about your work or the vendor and artist experience?
LEX: Give us a chance. Every vendor. Even if we don’t have something you like, take in what we have to offer, because maybe a friend of yours will want something. Also, please understand that 99% of the time we haven’t priced things to make them inaccessible. This is truly the cost of our hard work, and a lot of times there are products that we create at a loss just because it’s something we want to make.
Alex Cage vends as In The Cards Tarot and can be found on Instagram at @inthecardstarot.
NocedoPhoto Media Group
NocedoPhoto Media Group is an innovative and creative consortium that unites photographers, writers, cosplayers, event promoters, vendors, costume and prop makers, and other creatives under one roof to use their collective skills to maximize their distribution and presence on digital media platforms. Their goal is to create a well-rounded and successful network for all involved.
