Illustrators Fair Market

When I applied for the Illustrators Fair market, I assumed I wouldn't be accepted. They said they usually have a 300% application rate, so naturally being the pessimistic person I am, I really didn't think that they would choose me.

But they did! I got accepted into the Illustrators Fair Market at Kings Cross alongside 100+ other illustrators, and was really excited for it!

And this past Saturday was the market.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting...

But in hindsight, I can see where it wasn't quite the outcome I'd hoped it be.

I also want to iterate this is my personal experience of the event. Everyone will have different experiences.

The event itself was organised, I had all the information needed beforehand, bar the floorplan. I didn't particularly like not knowing where my table was and it wasn't immediately obvious who was working for the event. As someone who has social anxiety, it really does put me on edge, but I guess that's a me problem? Also, customers were allowed in, so there were already people browsing whilst everyone was setting up. I found this a little off putting, ngl.

It was busy! There were loads of people, footfall was constant, even when it ended, people were still around. It was also a free entry market, right near Kings Cross/St Pancras and a great part of London to mooch around with lots of food places and whatnot. A lot of people will have wandered in not knowing about the event beforehand. These people are more than likely would not have any intention of buying. Tourists (particularly from outside the UK) might have been more willing to buy though I reckon.

I made £188 in sales. Now £188 is not bad, obviously it's better than nothing, but it's not amazing either when it's near enough the same cost that it took for me (and my husband) to be there. It's not great, at all.

Here's a proper breakdown of costs and sales etc., (for transparency, this includes train and food costs for my husband too as he always helps me with these events):

So yeah, was it really worth spending 12 hours out to earn £5 in profit? Not particularly. I don't usually get public transport to markets, but because where it was, literally a five minute walk from St Pancras, it worked out a little cheaper to do so, especially once you take petrol, parking and congestion charges etc. into account if we were to have driven. London is not cheap!

The fair of course was filled with lots of amazing illustrators, and that was another aspect that I hadn't quite considered - I was essentially competing against over 100 other people. All the markets I have done before this have been filled with 1. a lot less stalls and 2. a mix of types of products. I was literally selling among over 100 other paper product businesses. Usually there's jewellery, candles, food and all other sorts, so my competition is a lot less! So I think that this is also possibly a major factor in lower sales than what I've experienced as smaller and more diverse markets.

One achievement though, was that I managed to get this entire setup into a suitcase, and a couple of backpacks. Not bad!

All that's not to say that it was a bad day, it wasn't awful or anything and I don't want to come across as being too negative, but hopefully being realistic sharing that not all events you might do will be a success. Maybe I had my hopes up too high? The main positive that I am taking away from it is that I did still have 24 individual customers buy something from me. That's 24 more people that know of my business, plus all the other people browsing who picked up a flyer. It's not a huge amount of people, but it's more than if I had sat at home doing nothing.