However, several people have mentioned going to Worldcon and it being their first con, or first big con. Here on Making Light is some excellent advice for the newbie.
To which I will only add, to the writers among us:
1. Don't take your 500 page ms to the con expecting to hand it to an editor unless that editor has already invited you to do so as a mutual convenience. You might get a chance to meet editors, you might get a chance to talk to editors, and they might invite you to describe your novel. Great! Usually what happens next is they say, "It sounds interesting--send it to me at work."
The chances are that you'll see and hear editors, but not get close, because several thousand other people are trying to get a portion of their time--including their pals from fifteen years ago, who've traveled all the way from another continent and here's their only chance to face-visit.
2. You can learn a whole lot by attending program items featuring editors. These panels can be the most useful career booster of the con, so take a notebook and pen. The editors on the panel will tell you what they're looking for, what they're not looking for, and all kinds of other nuggets of inside info. You cannot get more immediate data on buying trends than this!
3. If you find yourself at a party with Famous Editor from Big Publisher, you might get a whole lot more out of the experience by listening as they speak informally to a circle of people, than by trying to edge in and claim their time for your project.
4. If you do see one alone, look into their face. If their eyes are tired and their faces stressed, do them a favor, and yourself a favor: wave and pass on by, even if you've been introduced. It probably means they were up until three this morning, after three hundred conversations all day and night yesterday. You do not want to be talking to someone about your cherished project of years in the making to someone who is feeling like two week old kitty litter, and desperately needs caffeine.
In short, if you don't go with the expectation of making that fabulous connection at the bar that results in a six book offer on the spot (and such things were rare even back in the boom years) you'll have a great time just meeting interesting people and learning a whole lot about the SFF world. Cons are tons of fun--inspiring--tiring--nothing else like them. But you do need to go in sorta knowing what to expect and what not to expect.
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sartorias- Sherwood Smith
- Sherwood Smith
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2. Some of the people you will meet will become important in the field, one way or another. You will not be able to predict who, so don't try to screen them.
I would never have predicted that Charlie Brown would become editor/publisher of the leading news journal for the sf field. Nor would I have predicted that Andy Porter would become editor/publisher of the second-runner.
And they also have loyal, dedicated fans.
Such a lovely man, with a slight troll exterior. I learned so much from listening to him just lecture about the field.
Zhaneel
To me, the first cons are always reconaissance or an anthropological assignment. You have to learn the lingo, grok the culture and intuit the rules of engagement before you can successfully join the stream of people already in the culture.
But then I had two things against me: one, a writer I won't name went on and on about those bar deals during a conv. back in 1977, giving me a totally erroneous idea of how things worked. I had been to cons during the early seventies, but stopped during grad school as I never had any time off, so I got out of the swing of things until the mid eighties.
Two, I am a comptele and total social dork. So put one and two together and I assumed that I was being shut out and everyone else was off in secret conferences getting the goodies, my expectations crashed my already wild mood swings even further, and yadda yadda. (And of course that meant I was a complete pain in the tuckus to be around. Now I have slowly learned to be just a minor pain in the tuckus to be around. There's hope!)
As Sartorius said, take notes. Read them.
And have fun. There is always a lot of fun things to do that don't involve selling yourself or your book.
So equipped with fear and wariness, I went to conventions and did a lot of listening. The advice wasn't perfect (for Heaven's sake, people aren't that mean, usually!), but it had a salutory side effect.
By my second Worldcon I'd hooked into the "chat with anyone who seems cheerful and interesting" line that
I am looking forward to this year. :)
Friends, yes. That's the real worth of a con, the friends!
(Though I still have yet to attend a WorldCon)
Hey Sherwood. Was pointed here by Making Light. Good to "see" you around. I remember your name from Critters and from "Mom & Dad on the Home Front" (one of my favs by you).
You probably don't remember me: Dawn (Castner) Burnell. *shrug*
Anyhow, I've added you to my friends list and wouldn't mind "meeting" you at WorldCon if you've got time. I'm going to be there Thrusday night through Tuesday morning. I'll also be stalking John Scalzi of Whatever (who was so kind as to post his con panel list) and trying for the kaffeklatch with Ellen Datlow. And hanging out with Jay Lake & Frank Wu. So, if you plan on being at any of those, I'd love to see you.
Dawn/Zhaneel
Zhaneel