Ailing Cons
Last Saturday, Annie & I went down to Williamsburg on a day trip to MarsCon. We couldn’t get in the dealers room as a vendor this time but we wanted to support the con and do a little networking so we headed on down the road (an arduous journey, donchaknow, all of about an hour) and forked over our $25 per body registration fee for the day.
We did see some of the same folks we see at all the fantasy/science fiction cons and that was a pleasure. Didn’t get to any of the panels but we enjoyed (with a few groans) the open mic in the bar and we made the rounds through the dealers room a couple of times. Got my obligatory T-shirt, this one saying something about the English language.
The dealers room at this con is too small because the hotel doesn’t have a bigger space available that isn’t in use for other things and the con doesn’t want to relocate to another hotel for valid reasons. Anyway, the cramped room makes it a little difficult to navigate but, more noticeably, it gets too warm. Actually, it gets really hot. We noticed, though, that it wasn’t quite as bad this year.
That was not for a good reason; rather, it was symptomatic of what we’ve seen at several fantasy/science fiction cons in the last couple of years. Plain and simple, it wasn’t as hot because there weren’t as many people wandering the aisles. Con-goers are not shopping the way they used to but they’re no different from anybody else—we’ve all reigned in our spending because we’re all hurting economically.
I’m not complaining about the lack of shopping so much as worrying about it. These cons charge very low registration fees, usually $25 to $40—mystery cons, by contrast, charge anywhere from $100 to $300 for a variety of reasons—so one way they make up other costs is with the table fees the dealers pay. If sales are too low, the dealers will stop participating and that hurts the cons. Not only will those who want to shop not be able to but the cons will have to find other ways to cover costs.
This sort of follows along with the “Buy Local” initiatives since con dealers are rarely chain or online stores; they’re independents. Just as we all need to be mindful of what’s happening on Main Street, we also have to be aware of the no-shopping effect on cons or they won’t be around for us to enjoy. So, the next time you go to one of these delightful weekends, please, buy a paperback book or a small piece of jewelry or a pair of dice.
Now, please excuse me while I climb down off my soapbox 
January 22, 2010
Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller
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