Authors and conventions
I’ve been avoiding writing this post for the last few days. Now I’m glad I didn’t write anything straight away as there’s been so much negativity out there that very fine people are getting upset.
I don’t want to add to that.
I went to both CONvergence and Worldcon this year and had vastly different experiences at both. I was thinking about comparing and contrasting, looking at why certain things delighted me and why other things made me stressed and upset but you know what? I don’t think that matters any more.
What matters is how we go forward – and by we, I mean writers as part of the SFF community.
Yes, I have a tonne of thoughts about how I think things could be done better but I don’t feel I have a right to moan because I don’t organise events. I can’t imagine how stressful it all is, how much time it takes and then for it all to result in lots of people complaining? Soul destroying springs to mind. Whilst it’s good to feedback, I don’t have anything new to add on that front.
So, what I’m going to do instead is outline why I feel going to conventions is important, speaking from the only perspective I can: my own, as a writer at the beginning of my career. Then I’m going to have a bit of a mull about what I do at them, and then I’m going to ask some important questions.
I am nervous as hell about doing this, in light of how heated and, quite frankly, personal things have got over the past week and I’m afraid I’ll only make things worse without realising it. Please know that is not my intention.
Why I need to go to conventions
Firstly, these are the events where I feel I am amongst my tribe. I can geek out without people giving me strange looks. I can make jokes and pop culture references that everyone around me understands. I can have conversations about stuff I’m passionate about, rather than having to either feel utterly detached or trying to be polite about stuff lots of other people are into but I’m not.
In short, it’s my cultural home.
But I can’t ignore the fact that this is part of my job now. I’m a professional writer, so I need to be out there, visible, and hopefully encouraging people to read my books. In no sense do I go to these events actively shilling my work – heavens, no! – but there is always the hope that if I say something on panels that resonates, people will check out my work.
I feel dirty just writing that, but I have to tell the truth here. Otherwise I’d be better off working on my next book.
As an extension to that, I want to be around for anyone who has already discovered my work and wants to ask questions, or for me to sign books or just to see if I’m mad – whatever reason. This is when I can be social with readers in person and many have gone on to become friends.
These events are also important in two other ways. One: it gives me the chance to hang out with other authors. Believe me, having friends who are also published has been such a help to me. They know exactly what this constant fear is like. They understand all the weird neuroses. I’ve taken to saying that the collective noun for us is a moan of writers (affectionate, of course) but in all seriousness, we give each other a safe space in which to worry and grumble on common ground. Just like anyone else in any job. Conventions and similar events are the only time we get to do this in person and with alcohol.
The other thing is meeting other people in the industry, such as editors, agents, publicists, screenwriters, whatever – other professionals with whom we might end up working in the near or far future. I met my current editor in a bar after a friend’s book launch. It wasn’t the reason he went on to acquire my books, but it triggered a series of events that meant I was published by Angry Robot several years earlier than I had dared hope for.
I know of many, many people who have had their manuscripts fast-tracked out of the slush-pile thanks to meeting someone at a convention. Note: their book still had to be great.
Where things can get difficult
I pay for conventions out of my own pocket, just like any other attendee. This year I have been to so many I am worn out, but could only do so because three of my books are coming out in one year. Next year I will have to be very careful about which ones I go to as there simply isn’t as much cash in that pot. I made a decision to go to so many this year because I wanted to give those books the best shot I could, as well as all the other reasons outlined above.
Investment isn’t only in money but in time. For me personally, big events like trips to the States for Worldcon aren’t just the 5 days of the con, but several days of travel, jet lag, anxiety and sleepless nights before leaving and illness afterwards. It can disrupt my writing for three weeks instead of one. No-one’s fault but my own, I’m just laying it all out here. It’s another reason why I have to pick my conventions carefully next year; I can’t lose the writing time.
Now, that financial outlay (in the case of the US cons just the flights alone are almost a grand – hence only possible because of book deal lump sums) means that on some level, I want a lot more from a convention than it’s necessarily fair to expect. CONvergence was everything I wished for and more, but I can’t expect every convention to be like that. Why? Because I am one of many, many authors and conventions aren’t just for us. Also: they are run by volunteers who have lives. I know other conventions are different, but I’ve only attended fan-run ones so far. (Apart from the sci-fi weekender, but that’s something else in my mind.)
That being said, I consider my job at these events is to entertain people. To add to debates, to make people laugh, to provide another perspective. I’d like to think that what I can bring doesn’t necessarily conflict with the reasons readers and fans (as opposed to writers who are also fans too) go to these events.
Even as I write this I’m worried there’s an “us and them” thing emerging – I’m just trying to outline how the convention experience is different for a writer as opposed to someone who doesn’t write. Even when I went to conventions before my book deal I was aspiring to be published – I had differing needs and hopes from a convention to someone who has no desire to be published.
Which leads me on to the next bit…
What authors do at conventions
Generally, this falls into the following programme item types:
Panels / games like Just a Minute
Readings
Workshops
Kaffeklatches
Signings
Talks on specialist subjects
I have been on quite a few panels now. I’ve given a few readings and signing sessions, I’ve given two workshops and intend to deliver more. I’ve never put myself forwards for a Kaffeklatch because I’m a newbie on the scene and feared no-one would sign up. Those are for people who are far more established than I.
There are also interview slots for Guests of Honour, but not for the rest of the programme participants.
Panels can sometimes be great, sometimes they are awful and all places in between. Readings entirely depend on the number of people who turn up and thankfully, I’ve never had so few people that I’ve wanted to cry. That will happen at some point. Both of the workshops I ran were full, which was a huge relief.
As an aside, I think panels need to be better – they all need to be as good as the best ones are now. We need consistently good moderators, we need panellists who put the needs of the audience before their own, we need questions at the end, not five minute long comments. Why? Because then everyone gets a chance to shine and everyone gets their questions answered.
The non-programmable items
There are room parties and bars in which everyone can mix. There are private parties too, of course, but there are lots of opportunities to socialise. One thing I’ve read post-Worldcon that made me sad was that an attendee felt the hotel bar was unwelcoming as it was constantly packed out with pros in groups. It was. We need this, as I mentioned before, but it breaks my heart to feel we excluded people. Can this be handled better? I don’t know. At some conventions the hotel bar has been so expensive only those with company subsidence and budgets for socialising could afford to buy drinks – with us poor authors grateful recipients, so it’s not just a social thing sometimes, it can be financial.
There’s just being spotted in the corridor, there are the times you pop over to your publisher’s booth/table or the people selling your books in the dealer room and people meet you there. There’s the time after panels when the conversation extends into the corridor and on the way to the next item.
Extras
I ran a Split Worlds game at Nine Worlds this year involving puzzles and LARPing. It wasn’t part of the programme but was fully supported by the organisers who were kind enough to give us a room over the whole weekend to run the game from. However, it took a HUGE amount of work, wouldn’t have been possible to do without my husband, best friend and two other friends which makes it impossible to roll out on the same scale at other cons and is not something that everyone would want to do.
I also plan to run a live “Tea and Jeopardy” at a future event. That would be pure entertainment – something more akin to a performance than the usual programming. Authors/guests would be interviewed, so it would give as many people exposure as a panel would in an equivalent time slot.
But is this enough and is this what fans and readers want?
I was on a panel at Worldcon at which only myself and the moderator turned up. As it was about social media and the moderator, Karen Anderson, was a gracious and generous expert, she decided to effectively interview me and sprinkle in her own advice along the way. It was an amazing opportunity – thank you Karen! – and made me appreciate that interviews can be great in a way I hadn’t before. It enabled more dialogue with the audience and the atmosphere was fantastic. I’d like to see pairings of authors (or other type of professional) where one interviews the other and then switch half-way through. I know this is usually reserved for Guests of Honour, but I do think they could be just as enjoyable when featuring other authors/artists etc.
A downside is that it gives only 2 people a crack per hour, so I’d like to see them alongside panel stuff too. (Says the woman who’s never organised one – again – I’m trying to be positive and look forwards.)
So, here are the questions – for convention goers or people considering it:
Are you satisfied with the things we authors do at events?
Is there something else you’d like to see authors do?
Is there something we do that’s just become a tradition that no longer feels relevant?
And on a more personal note, if you’re reading this because you like my books and my other work (e.g. Tea and Jeopardy), is there something else you would like me to do at conventions you’re attending?
I ask because whilst I don’t have any solutions for the problems that have been expressed by many others, I do have control over what I can personally offer to the programming people or alongside programming, depending on what you want.
Thanks for reading all of this. And for what it’s worth, thanks to all the people who give up their time and resources – be they creative or financial – to give authors like me the chance to meet readers and fans and friends.
Great piece. I know that Worldcon received a bit of flak and some of the stories I’ve heard are scary, though again they are hearsay. I’m a writer and an event organiser myself and am running Andromeda One on 21 September in Birmingham. As you’ve pointed out we rely on the goodness of people’s hearts to get stuff done and there will always be complaints but we hope we are offering an event that does something to challenge the barriers in the SFF/Horror community such as gender race and disability. And we will be seeking feedback on the day and after the event.
I hope it’s a great success Theresa!
Convergence was such a good experience at what Cons could be that I am disappointed when Cons don’t reach that bar.
Places like Worldcon need that youth and energy and enthusiasm…or they will wither. Panels are just a part of what can and should be done at cons. (Just a Minute was *hilarious*. Your author reading was enchanting and ensorcelling. To have you and, say, Emma Bull interview each other would be awesome.
Thanks Paul! I’m thinking about asking Loncon 3 about the interviews idea, and another idea I’ve had thanks to it being in London.
Emma, what a great post. Very informative, and constructive – we should all of us think of ways to move forward and hopefully act on them!
And just because it bears repeating, it was so lovely meeting you in person at last!
Thank you, and it’s entirely mutual. I so hope you can come over to Loncon next year! Or maybe CONvergence if I can afford to go next year.
I’ve only been to one convention ever, this years sci fi weekender. While there were many problems there, for me the most interesting and fun part was attending the author panels and Just a Minute. I bought Between Two Thorns because of your appearances on them and also went on to read books by several of the other authors. My attendance at future conventions is really going to depend on the authors and other contributors to panels as I think they offer the best experience for me. I get to hear from people who I am already familiar with and also get to find out about new things or things that I’ve missed.
A live Tea & Jeopardy would be fantastic!
Thank you! The Weekender is an odd beast and the one you went to was very different to when SFX Magazine was involved. I hope you can go to Nine Worlds as I think they offer a purer geek experience that I think you’d really enjoy.
I am very excited by the thought of a live Tea and Jeopardy. I am going to make that happen 🙂
The chain reaction interviews at the BBC maybe a good format to follow.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006sf81
I will check those out, thanks Ben.
I’m a fan with no interest in being published or anything like that, so it’s definitely interesting for me to hear about an author’s experience! I have to admit, having only attended fan-run cons for the fun of going to a con, it’s been a little disheartening to read quite a few blogs/tweets/comments where an author or performer has said that if they don’t get anything out of a con – either publicity or money or whatever – they are disappointed. I understand how expensive cons are , but when I’m going to a fan-run event, I feel a bit unsure about being seen as a money-making opportunity by other members? Especially as there’s no difference in ticket prices – I pay just as much as anyone else to be there, and other than social good times, I don’t exactly get anything out of it (not that I don’t highly value social good times!). I’m not saying it’s wrong to treat something like Worldcon or Eastercon as an opportunity like that – that would be ridiculous when there are so many pros and up-and-coming pros, but ONLY seeing it as that strikes me as iffy.
On the other hand, I’m really happy to hear that you see it like I do – as a chance to be social and to do fun things with people who won’t side-eye an enthusiastic reference to pop culture. I actually bought your book at the last Eastercon because of the buzz I’d heard at panels and on Twitter about you, and I was more pleased to do so knowing there was a tenuous connection because we’d tweeted a couple of times and we existed in the same location for a little while, haha. I also don’t see much of a “I’m here because I want your money” attitude from any of the con attendees whilst at the con, so maybe you’re all hiding your Monty Burns impressions really well…
At fan-run events, I think that so long as the pros there are there because they’re fans as well, or looking forward to seeing their friends like all the other attendees, there won’t be too much of an us and them divide, which I would hate to see at a con! I really hope that fans and non-pro experts are always allowed to be on the programme at cons, partly because being on programme is a fun thing to do and if you pay your money and have something to say, you shouldn’t be excluded, but also because it means you get a wider variety of opinions/experiences.
I totally agree that we need more strong moderators on panels, and if I never hear, “My name is X and I don’t know why I’m on this panel.” again it will be too soon! I also think your idea for non-GOH interviews would be a really good thing to see – I so rarely give even one fuck about the GOH, I would love to hear from authors I’m actually excited about! Perhaps it could be combined with readings? Like, half an hour reading and 30 minutes interview or Q&A? I don’t know how reasonable that is, but something like it would be cool to see.
I feel like this has been a long and rambling comment o_o;; Basically – great post!
Thanks for that comment, it’s all interesting stuff.
I can only think of a handful of pros I’ve met who aren’t just as geeky and in love with SFF as we are. Indeed, many of us go on to carve careers in the field after many years of reading, watching and adoring SFF in a variety of forms. One of my favourite things about cos is discovering how many of my fellow authors are roleplayers, and being able to share that we so many people that it no longer feels like an obscure past time!
I like your idea about mixing interviews with readings. It might be tricky in a 45 min time slot shared by 2 authors, but Nine Worlds has longer slots so it could work there.
And thanks for buying my book!
Evening Em
Great post.
I only do about a handful of cons every year. I could do more, but my restriction isn’t money, but time. (Makes me sound like a rich prick, but I aint either.) I run my own business (which is incredibly time consuming) and a writer.
I went to one convention purely to see my favourite writer. From there I met other like minded people, and have since attended cons because of this.
In some respects I see pro and con angles on cons. Pro because of like minded people, con, because after a while they can get very samey. So only being able to attend a few helps.
Being in business, I know how much it helps networking. The good cons are a great way of networking with publishers & etc. I know of one editor who told me that the main reason he attends cons to to discover new talent. So the networking goes both ways.
As for advice on cons, I would be no help. I’ve never helped at one, and any constructive criticism would be from a business angle, not a con-goer angle, and boy are they different angles.
Any hoots, great article. Keep writing as I love your books and I hope to catch you at a con or two next year.
Sean
Thanks Sean. They are different angles, but it doesn’t mean that cross-pollination of ideas would necessarily be a bad thing. See you next year!
I’m glad you came to WorldCon and you’ve got a new fan because of it.
There was a lot of talk about the panels, and I certainly had feelings about it.
My first thought was we need a bottom up panel creation process ala SXSW, a huge music/film/Interactive festival in Austin. I’m so passionate about it I’m already planning the software solution. You can read about my idea on my blog. http://bit.ly/15VAdzf
I also think we should have some variety in the presentations. Sometimes just one person speaking is fine, like Mary Robinette Kowal’s Schmoozing 101. An interview style presentation could be good. Live podcasting would be another idea.
Also what about taking questions via twitter? That would force people to be concise.
I went to the TED vs WorldCon panel and there were a lot of things we could learn from TED too. Like maybe recording panels and making them available through out the year.
Ron
HI Ron, it was lovely to meet you there!
Those are interesting ideas. The only issue with accepting questions by Twitter is that it excludes those who don’t use it (I adore Twitter but there are many in both fandom and pro circles who avoid it). I’ve also been to many conventions where the signal is too poor in certain rooms, or the wi-fi collapses under the weight of 1000s of geeks. In the States I can’t access it on my phone either.
But I do like the principle of encouraging concise questions! In all fairness, I think a good moderator who outlines question guidelines at the start and just before opening to the audience can achieve that. I loved Mary Robinette Kowal’s approach which was a very firm and clear reminder followed by “I love you all” which was perfect.
Hopefully see you at another con!
Great write up of a writer’s perspective, Emma. Will tweet it out.
I made it no secret that seeing you was a highlight of both Worldcons. With my health, attending London next year is questionable, but meeting you again (and perhaps Peter for the first time) would be a prime reason. You make rooms brighter and conversations happier. If more guests treated conventions like yourself, they’d be even more joyous. Finances restricting next year’s travel makes total sense to me.
I’d love more one-on-ones, though finding space for them could be tricky unless it’s about huge stars. Then again, at WorldCon the Reddit folks did AMAs at their table. I bet some tables in Exhibition would love to host that kind of event.
Awww, thanks John! It was an absolute delight to see you too and I was very pleased that we got to spend some time together rather than the fleeting moments in Chicago.
The Reddit guys did a great job at this Worldcon and I’m so glad I got to meet them.
The “Interview” format you suggested is a very good idea – possibly calling it “Dialog” would be more accurately describe it. I saw Lezli Robin interview Jay Lake at LoneStarCon – was Jay a GoH there? I didn’t think so, but there was much in the program about him and his struggles.
Ben above mentions “chain reaction interviews.” What is that – does each of the mutual interviewers than go off and interview others?
I hope you weren’t too embarrassed when I flogged your books on the “What to Expect at British Cons” panel. Perhaps instead of panelists displaying their own books on (US convention) panels, each writer could show off/promote their neighbor’s.
We’ve long needed new panel/discusson/presentation formats and ideas for cons – this discussion could be a big help.