Thread by @seananmcguire

Well, this is coming up again; it's a flatteringly evergreen topic around here. So:

I go where I am invited. I don't (usually) charge an appearance fee, but I'm a full-time author; I can only afford travel that's subsidized in some way, usually by a convention.

This is the case for most authors, full-time or not. When we appear at a con near you, it's because someone said "hey, invite _______," and we were offered travel costs, room, and a certain amount of cash for food in exchange for being your hired entertainment.

We don't choose where we go in the sense of "hmmm, I think I'd like to visit Scotland this year." We can decline invitations (and do, when necessary), but we don't set our own travel schedule.

(This is also why I say I don't go to cons to "have fun." I enjoy myself, absolutely, but I am all too aware that my presence has been paid for, and I want the con--and its attendees--to get their money's worth. I'm not insulting your con by not having fun. I'm doing my job.)

I tend to book cons about a year out, with some exceptions. It's cheaper for conventions when they ask me far enough in advance that we can watch for airfare sales, for example.

My most common reason for turning a convention down is "I have been booked on that weekend for six months, why are you asking me less than ninety days from your con."

I often have cons booked that I can't announce yet, because politeness says I don't say anything until THEY say something. This is partially because they know when the announcement will have the most "bang," and partially polite to their current guests.

(I did one convention where I arrived to find the ENTIRE HOTEL plastered with signs bragging about how OMG WE GOT GRRM for the next year's guest. How do you think that made me feel? Yeah. It was harder to smile and gambol when I felt like I was just a filler.)

(And yes, there is always always always someone bigger and better than you, but imagine showing up for your own birthday party, only to have all the guests talk about how Muffy's party was going to be SO MUCH BETTER.)

If you want me--or any author!--to come to your area, you need to ask for us! Suggest us to your local conventions; suggest us to your local libraries. We are like vampires. We go where we are invited, and where the food is.

(I mentioned before that I don't usually charge an appearance fee. Libraries are sometimes the exception, as many are not set up to handle room/board, and would rather write a check for a flat fee. I go with what the municipality wants.)

I would LOVE to come to you. I would LOVE to see your area. Travel really does make me happy, when I'm not so tired I can taste time. But you need to help the people who issue the invitations know who has a local audience.

Cons are EXPENSIVE. I do @Comic_Con on my own dime, every year, and between air fare, hotel, and food, I'm about $1.5k in the hole even before I enter the dealer's room and start shopping.

As someone who only gets paid four times a year, paying my real bills and paying for more than one or two "I do this because I want to" cons is just not going to happen. The resources aren't there.