Having to Cancel a Show For Lack of Sales

Well it happened. I went to a big city and, despite normal promotions and personal emails, social media and money behind marketing, I had to cancel a show for not selling enough advance tickets. This has happened a couple times in my life, but its been a while. It sucks.

After I found out, I just stood in the hot hotel shower for what may have been 30 minutes, then laid on the hotel bed afterwards, thinking about what went wrong. I went for a walk and responded to the folks who actually bought tickets or maybe planned to go and heard about the cancellation. It took me a few days to feel normal again. It was possible that we would have had enough people to have an intimate show (20) and the venue gave me the option of still having the show but I decided to cancel a few hours before.

For the last few shows I have been using LinkedIn promotions with mixed results. I used to rely heavily on Facebook and Instagram but the effectiveness of ads and promotions there has weaned in recent years. I also have hired PR folks who basically got me the same opportunities I could have obtained on my own from my contacts in media. I am working on building a draw but for now, I am gonna limit the cities I headline to the places I know will be sold well or have a built in draw so I am not performing. I hope people like you reading this and others who enjoy my comedy will spread the word about my comedy tour and even just sharing a clip does wonders for the algorithms on social media.

In the meantime, if you plan to go to a show and can afford to buy tickets in advance for the artists you like, buy the ticket. Don't wait to get tickets at the door. Its usually cheaper and it helps alleviate so much stress for the artists. Unless the artist is selling out theaters. (Then never mind. LOL) If you want to learn when I will be in your town, please sign up for my mailing list in the comments below. #standup #ups #downs #formerlawyer #livecomedy #support