Running a sale that lasts longer than a week is an interesting thing. Running a sale that lasts three weeks is all but predictable, at least for me.
When I first announced the return of my annual holiday sale on December 1, the response was pretty swift. I received a few book orders and a number of commissions, and by the week’s end things had tapered off to the point where I could catch up on orders and ship everything out.
The second week? Nothing. Not one book order. Not one commission request. I was a bit disappointed, but the previous week had done well enough that I was prepared to be happy if all my holiday sale’s activity was relegated to that first week. So last week I was able to concentrate fully on comics and working on December’s exclusive art for my Patreon supporters.
This week? The final week of the sale? I’ve seen a flood of commission requests. I dedicated all of Wednesday’s work time to fulfilling the batch of requests I received from the previous two days and I still couldn’t fulfill them all. I am so very grateful for this last push of interest, but the other part of me would have liked all this to have been spread out over the previous week!
It’s a microcosm of how these things go, whether you’re running a sale or a crowdfunding campaign or anything that lasts longer than a week’s time:
The start will be strong, as the folks who want to be the first to “get in” rush to offer their support; the middle will be slow, probably worryingly so, as the excitement of the announcement wears off and people go back to their daily lives; and then there’s the last-minute rush, where folks who don’t need to be first are met with the possibility that they may miss out altogether and rush to include their support.
The response to this year’s sale has been very flattering and I’m so grateful to all of you who have had the interest and the means to support it. And for those who don’t, you can always spread the word because that is an equally helpful show of support.