Small-press publishers don’t slack off. Over the weekend at SF Zine Fest, the County Fair Building’s two halls and a reading room were filled with independently produced artwork and literature. And if that weren’t testament enough to their productivity, many of the artists passed the time with notebook and pen or paintbrush in hand. Although we don’t know what the final numbers were on sales, this offered a much more engaging selling technique than any “pitch” could be. Nothing’s more awkward than being sold to by someone who not only cares about what they’re selling but who’s also the one who created it. The perfume spritzers at Macy’s can be a nuisance, but you know that when you decline to buy a bottle of the latest Eau d’une Nuit Régrèttable from Tommy Hilfiger you’re not rejecting their babies. There is perhaps no more poignant consumer experience than to have to pass over work presented to you by the artist who made it, and this colors the interaction that begins the moment you hesitate right as they catch your eye. One needs a Puccini to capture all the doomed optimism of that initial, “And how areyou doin’ today?” (continue reading)