Post-COVID, it feels like more and more people are going to furry conventions. Attendance is rising in unprecedented rate, with some cons being stretched thing. Naturally this is only drivin

g the need for more cons to open up, and spread out throughout the country, which would be a welcome relief to both the existing cons (who are stretched beyond capacity), and to people who now has the option of attending cons that’s closer to home, especially with the way the fuel cost is rising.

So when I heard about Nashum Fur Con happening in Nashville, I was psyched. Not only is Nashville a three-hour drive, but I have a sister there, so it costed me considerably less to travel there. It was held at Sheraton Music City Hotel (near the airport) from May 22 to 24.

I arrived one day early so I could set up my Dealers booth. I had a lot more books this year; in addition to my past titles, I released five new ones in 2026 (Lauren Ipsum the Queen of Cringe, A Witch Named Koko, Lauren Ipsum’s Sunday Best, and The Fuzzy Princess volumes 3 and 4). My table was packed with books, which left me little room for anything else, but it was presentable and I was happy with it.

The Dealers Room was not big, there were only about 20 other tables besides mine. Only three other tables sold books: Fenris Publishing (my booth neighbor for the first day only, more on that later) as well as Blue Canary Gallery, which sold hardcover reprints of Disney comics.

I didn’t expect much for a first-year con, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. I made sure to pitch my comic to anyone who was remotely looking at my booth. My elevator pitch for Lauren Ipsum is always the same: “It’s about a rabbit librarian who writes very weird fanfics. Please check it out” and I would then hand them my business card with my comic’s info. Initially I would say “self-indulgent fanfics”, but I was worried it made people think my comics is NSFW, so I changed it to “weird fanfics” instead. There were a number of kids walking around with their parents, so I needed to be careful of that.

Which is more than what the people running Fenris Publishing have thought about. They had two full tables at the convention, and while they had some SFW titles (mostly Foxes in Love and Awoo), a full two-third of their space were dedicated to porn comics. This caused problems with the people running the con, who started getting complaints from attendees about the content. I don’t know how many, but it was enough that they had to talk to the one guy who was running it. It was ultimately decided that Fenris would move to the separate 18+ Dealers Den after the first day.

I felt bad for the guy who was manning it. He was pretty chill, and approachable. I learned about how Nashum operates, convention-wise. They would do about 30 shows a year and have multiple people all across the country manning it. This is how Fenris was able to have a booth at Anthrohio, which was occurring in Ohio the same weekend as Nashum. He even bought a book from my table.

After Fenris moved elsewhere a couple of people who had booths in the 18+ Den moved next to me, as they had enough SFW goods to be in the area. I got along with Cameron (aka @neondoppel), who is also working on a webcomic of their own. They showed me some they have completed on their phone, and I am already a fan. They also drew me a Lauren which I loved.

Aside from the hiccup with Fenris, the Dealer’s Den was run pretty well, I thought. The foot traffic was reasonable, and I did pretty well with selling my books. I made sure I spoke clearly when giving my elevator pitch for “Lauren”, which paid off on the final day when a couple of people stopped by my booth because they heard my spiel multiple times throughout the weekend and got curious about the comic. Repetition works, folks!

If there’s one area that I think could use some work, it’s how they coordinate the panels with the people hosting it. I signed up to have couple of panels at the con: a Webcomics Meetup and a showcase of my pandemic-era animation. I received an email saying that both got accepted, but I never heard back afterwards about the time and schedule. The webcomics meetup in particular ran into trouble because it was originally scheduled during the Dealers room hours; I was able to get them to change it so it’s after the Dealers Room closes.

Then there was the animation screening; I only learned that it was happening when a couple of people approached me saying they are looking forward to it, which is how I learned my animation panel ALSO got accepted. Luckily, Erik from the Blue Canary Gallery offered to let me use his laptop to help run my animation. I quickly sent him Dropbox links so he could download it. It went on without a hitch, although I’m ashamed to admit I ended the screening early because I got too embarrassed by my animation, even though everyone present seemed to enjoy it (even coming to my booth because of it). Even with that in mind, I don’t think I’ll do another animation screening at cons ever again, at least as long as I have to be present.

Even with the hiccup, the con was surprisingly well run for a first-time event. There are plenty of horror stories about conventions that went badly, so I’m glad this one didn’t end up like that. In the end, 1,137 people showed up, which is much more than I expected. Turns out, it IS possible for a Tennessee furry con to take off! I know I’m happy about it.

Altogether, I sold 48 books at the con (16 on Friday, 18 on Saturday, and 14 on Sunday). Sundays are usually the slowest for Dealers Den and Nashum was no exception, but for the last few cons I’ve been doing well selling books during that day, mostly for people who looked through my comics the previous days and decided they want to get it after all at the last minute. This is why I try to stick around until the Dealers Den closes. Gotta take last minute sales to account!

All in all, I was very pleased with the con. Will definitely try to come back for 2027. My hope is that it won't conflict with Anthrohio, which I am hoping I can also attend in the future.

I’ll be present at the following conventions this year (info subject to change):

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