It’s June. Comic Con International is only weeks away. Many of your readers are out of school and enjoying summer. And maybe your own kids are, too. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s get cracking.

Comic Con Checklist

• Ship your books for Comic Con. If you do it this week, you should be safe with Media Mail. Just remember to spring for Delivery Confirmation.
• Call the hotel and double-check your reservation.
• Arranging a group get together? This would be a great time to make a reservation at a restaurant.
• Announce your Comic Con appearance. Include a floor map that highlights your location. Promote your merchandise.
• Table prep: Double check banners, signage, book stands, etc. Are you using QR codes yet?
• Start saving one-dollar bills for your cash box.
• Ask attendees if you can bring anything specific (a particular piece of original art, for example) to the convention for them to purchase.
• Print out a travel checklist (more on that later this month) and have it ready for when you pack.
• Shoe check. Got some comfy ones? You’re gonna need ’em.
• Flying? Go to your airline’s Web site and read their baggage restrictions. Find a bathroom scale to weigh bags so you don’t get any surprise surcharges for “heavy” luggage.
• Make last-minute additions to media kit.
• Last chance for ordering merchandise or giveaways.

Non-Comic-Con To-Do

• Update your “About” or “New Reader” page
• Make it a goal to expand your buffer this month. You’ll need it to recover from Comic Con and survive the summer.
• Print out six or seven strips from February. Put them on a table. Upside down. Stare. What’s working? What needs to be fixed?
• Look at your ad revenue from May. What can you do make that 10% better in June? Do you need to adjust your minimum bid in Project Wonderful? Do you need to generate more readers? Do you need to ad another ad source? Make a plan, and then plan to check your progress by the fifteenth.
• Experiment with this: The next time you set aside time to work, work with the Web browser on your computer completely off. Do not turn it back on until your allotted work time is over. Did you get more done? What does that tell ya? (iPhones and Blackberries are cheats and you know it.)
• Father’s Day is coming up. Don’t get so immersed in buffers and conventions that you blow it. Use some of that creativity and get the old man something nice for a change.