An anonymous person — anonymous to you, not to me — wrote to ask…
I see you're a Special Guest at WonderCon this weekend. Perhaps you can enlighten those of us who will never have that honor what it's like. And is there a difference between being a Special Guest and just a Guest?
Yes, when you're a Special Guest, you get the harem of dancing girls (or boys, if that's your preference) and they scatter rose petals ahead of you wherever you walk. That is, if you deign to walk because you can also order anyone on the premises to give you a piggyback ride anywhere you need to go. Mere Guests don't get any of that and no, actually I don't think there's any difference per se but these days, some convention guests are booked via agents…and agents may ask for certain billing or perks for their clients. So do some unagented folks.
I don't have an agent for this kind of thing and I've never paid any attention to what kind of Guest I am at any convention. I just looked at my WonderCon badge and it says I'm an "invited guest." The adjective seems meaningless unless they're taking the position that someone who pays admission is an "uninvited guest."
More seriously, being any kind of featured guest at a convention is not the big deal a lot of folks might think it is. We don't pay admission. We usually don't pay for meals, travel or accommodations though in some cases, we may. Beyond that, some guests demand and get appearance fees or guarantees that they'll do X amount of business but not all conventions will pay that.
WonderCon and Comic-Con don't. There are celebrities who are paid to be there but they're not paid by the con. They're paid by some company promoting a certain TV show, movie or product. I've recently been e-mailed by a couple of folks asking me which agent books me as moderator of all those panels I host. Like I said, I don't have (or want) an agent for conventions and I've never been paid a cent for hosting panels. There are perks but not checks.
I suspect anyone who's been a Convention Guest much can tell you behind-the-scenes horror stories of not being treated well. There have been a number of small, usually-new cons that were counting on a massive turnout of badge buyers to enable then to honor all their commitments to guests. Then when the turnout is way below expected numbers, they can't pay promised fees or meal or travel reimbursements or even, in one case I know of, a guest's return air fare. I have a few of those stories myself.
If you're a guest who is there to move products or "merch," including a fee for your autograph, you may go home with tons o' cash. You may also just break even on the Ubers you had to pay for to take you to and from the airport. Depends on who you are, what you're offering but also — and this seems to be key — if you're at the right convention. The right one is the one that attracts the kind of person who'd buy what you're selling.
A comic book writer friend of mine once found himself at an autograph show that turned out to be for sports memorabilia and didn't make a dime. How did he wind up there? One of the organizers was a comics fan who wanted to meet his favorite writer.
I haven't had that kind of problem at conventions since I don't sell anything at conventions. I have though had problems with inconveniently-booked reservations (they want me to fly when it's cheapest for them), bad hotel rooms, no-shows by folks who were supposed to pick me up at the airport, nowhere I could get an edible meal, etc. It's one of the reasons I don't go to many. Another is that there's not much for me to do at many of them. I know it may look glamorous to some but whatever glamour there was wore off a long time ago.
