In this 50th episode of Bald Ambition, three indie science fiction authors — Mookie Spitz, Ingrid Moon, and Greg Sorber — break down the mayhem, lessons, and human magic of LA Comic Con 2025, held at the LA Coliseum. Over three exhausting, exhilarating days, they shared tables, stories, and caffeine, surrounded by 120,000 fans, stormtroopers, holograms, and hopeful artists trying to make their mark in a city built on imagination.
The trio came away with a shared revelation: the real power of Comic Con isn’t the sales, but the tribe. Amid the chaos they found a rare kind of harmony. Everyone belonged. The crowd was wildly diverse, with no politics or ego, just pure participation. The authors describe the event as a temporary city built on acceptance, imagination, and freaky joy — a place where being weird wasn’t tolerated, but celebrated.
Best Practices from the Floor
- Engage or Vanish: Don’t wait for buyers. Talk, laugh, wave. The con floor rewards momentum, not modesty.
- Layout Sells: Your booth is your battlefield. Arrange books and signage for maximum approachability from all angles.
- Covers Over Everything: Visuals are currency. A great cover is worth more than a thousand clever blurbs.
- Ask Before You Pitch: Use consultative selling. Find out what readers crave, then connect your story to their hunger.
- Personalize Every Sale: Add the event name (LA Comic Con 2025) when signing — it turns a purchase into a keepsake.
- Create a Crowd: People attract people. Fill your booth, even if it’s with friends pretending to shop.
- Network Like a Pro: Swap cards, talk to artists, talk to editors, talk to cosplayers — you never know who’s watching.
- Experiment with AI: Use it where it amplifies your vision, not where it erases your voice. The line between tool and theft is drawn by intention.
- Celebrate the Tribe: Remember why you’re there — to be part of something bigger, stranger, and more human than commerce.
The group also tackles how artificial intelligence is reshaping creative production, from marketing visuals to potential full-fledged story adaptations. Together, they conclude that AI is inevitable — not a replacement for creativity, but another tool in the evolving arsenal of the modern storyteller.
Ingrid Moon
Ingrid Moon is an author, editor, and science teacher. She currently has four science fiction novels, three audiobooks, and three science reference books for worldbuilding, with more on the way. Ingrid is a Southern California native who can't surf because she spent most of her youth navigating mountains and watching sci-fi television, all of which inspired her writing career.
Greg Sorbel
"I’m a lifelong fan of science fiction, fantasy, and comic books. Some of my earliest memories are of Land of the Lost, Speed Racer, and The Six Million Dollar Man. Seeing Star Wars in the theater for the first time in 1977 was a life-changing experience. An avid reader from an early age, I’ve always loved books that engaged my imagination. Reading The Hobbit in 7th grade English class and writing a short story that same year set me down the path of becoming a writer. I live in Riverside, California with my family and two dogs."
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