Is Worldcon Worth It?
After years of hearing other people talk about attending science fiction and fantasy conventions, I finally took the plunge this year.
I didn’t just attend my first convention, I attended the big daddy, Worldcon. Flying from my home in South Florida to this year’s location, Seattle, I left my three kids and husband for nearly a week – the longest I’ve be away from my children since they were born.
So, yeah, this was kinda a big deal.
Now I’m back, smiling but exhausted–and ready to share some con-wisdom. Before I committed to the con, I debated whether it would really be worth the time and cost.
So was it? For me, yes. It was fun, inspiring and a nice reward for a year of hard work. I met some amazing friends and enjoyed being star-stuck while in the same room/party/hotel bar as some of my favorite authors.
That said, whether it make sense for you would depend on your goals, expectations, budget, and whether you know anyone else going.
Here’s my advice on how to have a positive Worldcon experience, with some alternatives at the end if you want to start smaller.
- Keep Expectations Manageable
The first time I heard about Worldcon, it was from established authors on the Writing Excuses podcast saying it’s where they’d made important connections –meeting their future agents and editors over drinks, in their hotel lobby, etc.
I had no such illusions of grandeur. I advise, unless you’ve already laid the groundwork for some of these relationships beforehand, you don’t go in expecting career-changing moments. I just wanted to make more writer friends. (Florida does not have the most vibrant of literary scenes and no literary SFF cons except one on academic research.)
That said, I’m not great at socializing, and I have trouble remembering names, especially under pressure. So I focused on what I could control. I knew I’d enjoy the many excellent panels on writing, science, and technology. I attended a wonderful workshop on Identifying Your Story’s Theme taught by editor/agent/author Arley Sorg.
I purposefully chose to attend during a year when I was not trying to find an agent, sell/promote a novel, or speak on a panel. That may seem counter-intuitive, but I know myself: being new to a con and having that sort of pressure would have been too much.
Instead, I kept it simple: I made a resolution to attend at least two social events each day. Going and introducing myself was the goal, and if I did that, I considered it a success–and so it was.
2) Consider Your Budget
Worldcon can get expensive fast. Most of the people I met this year were from the Seattle area, and that makes sense to me. Adding the cost of flights and hotel can quickly balloon your budget. If you’ve never been to a con before, I’d recommend starting with one close to home, so you can get a feel for it before going all in.
My city, Fort Lauderdale, is about as far as Seattle as you can get in the United States, but I decided to pull the trigger anyway because: a) I’m crazy, b) everything is far from Florida, it takes seven hours just to drive out of this stupid state, and c) I was lucky enough to have credit card points that could be converted to free stays at the hotel where it was hosted.
I considered the event a sort of vacation and reward to myself for sticking it through a lot of rejections since the pandemic, which killed the local writer’s institute I loved and used to attend pre-Covid. I suppose if I was trying to justify the cost in a more business-like way – I must gain X from this trip or else it won’t be worth Y – I might have experienced more sticker shock.
I also imagine that as authors level up in their career, the amount they get out of a con like this increases. If you’re an author sitting on a panel instead of simply attending one, it boosts your visibility and potential readership while facilitating introductions to other professionals. Maybe that’s a goal for future me.
3) Know Before You Go
One thing that could make Worldcon intimidating: if you go alone and have no connections with anyone else attending. It’s a huge convention. Having a writing buddy or fellow SFF fan to occasionally pair up with, meet for dinner, or even split the cost of a hotel room, would be the ideal plan.
I went solo (see: three kids and one wonderful husband who held down the fort). But beforehand, I looked into whether the writers’ groups I belong to, Codex and SFWA, were hosting any events. They were, and those ended being the best social experiences – breakfasts, brunches and meet-and-greets I RSVP’d to in advance. These get-togethers were great in that I finally got to meet people I’ve only interacted with online. They also started conversations that could then be carried over into less formal settings later in the day and evening. Everyone was incredibly nice and welcoming.
4) Consider Alternatives to Worldcon
If the time, travel requirements or cost of Worldcon seems a bit much, there are lots of alternatives.
For those who wish to attend an all-online con, Flights of Foundry is a free, fantastic speculative conference held around September each year. And TBRCon is another online conference streamed at the start of each year. Both post some of their panels on YouTube after the fact, and you can read more about them in my post about free writing resources and tools.
If you’re looking for an in-person SFF writer’s conference that’s a bit smaller and less overwhelming, WisCON was recommended to me by fellow writers at Worldcon as a conference that is a little more personal but still of the highest quality. (I’m eyeing it for next year, although right now I am … very tired.)
Otherwise, there are dozens of other cons around the country and beyond. Locus magazine publishes a list of SFF conventions if you want to see what ones will be in your area soon.