From: "Ernest Lilley" <elilley at mindspring.com> To: "'WSFA members'" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> Subject: [WSFA] Re: Nattering on 'znies and Worldcon, was: Re: Is the WSFA journaleligable for fanzine Hugo? Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 13:00:57 -0500 Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> Oddly, Mike Walsh said: <<As much as I like what Ernest & Mike are doing with their publications, I do not consider them fanzines. Semi-prozines perhaps, but not fanzines.>> I say oddly because Nth degree is listed in the Semi-Prozine category in my post...and the Hugo committee, has in the past confirmed that they at least think SFRevu qualifies as a fanzine. I've read the rules. Nobody gets paid for content, except on rare occasions when an author insists for legal reasons, and then it's only a minimal honorarium, it certainly doesn't support me, and I haven't declared it a semi-prozine. That all being said, I don't really much care to run it in the Fanzine category anyway because, though I'd love to get a nomination for this year's special category, Webstite. By the by, I don't think it's worthy of winning a Hugo at this point anyway. Locus Online, Sci-Fi.com, and SFSite, and SFCrowsnest are all much better publications. But I think an "e" for effort would be swell. Ernest Lilley Home/Office: 703 371 0226 EJ: 757 581 4146 email: elilley at mindspring.com -----Original Message----- From: Michael Walsh [mailto:MJW at press.jhu.edu] Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 11:37 AM To: WSFAlist at WSFA.org Subject: [WSFA] Nattering on 'znies and Worldcon, was: Re: Is the WSFA journaleligable for fanzine Hugo? > twhite8 at cox.net 3/6/2005 1:23:16 AM >>> > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net> >To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> >Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 1:01 AM >Subject: [WSFA] Re: Is the WSFA journal eligable for fanzine Hugo? > >[...] >> >> I do have one nitpick, however: Ted says "To be competitive for a >> Hugo, a fanzine needs a *minimum* of 300 circulation -- worldwide. >> 600 or more is better." While I only print 42 copies of each issue, >> the median number of hits of the issues that have been online for over >> a year is about 1100. Some issues have gotten over ten thousand hits. >> That's a fair number of readers. > >True, if you equate "hits" with "issues read." I don't, and I doubt you do >either. Nor do you know how many hits are from the same person making a >return visit. > >Dave Langford's ANSIBLE is probably the widest-circulated fanzine, >especially when you include its internet readership. This has insured him >a Fanwriter Hugo for a number of years now, but ANSIBLE itself (a two-page >newszine) has won far less often. That's because most voters want more >content than a couple of pages of witty newsnotes. > >The real question, though, is how many of those who do read the WSFA >JOURNAL online are qualified Hugo voters -- that is, for nomination >purposes, a member of last year's or this year's Worldcon, and, for >final-voting purposes, a member of this year's Worldcon. To influence the novel nominations: not enough To influence the fan categorys: maybe enough to be a tipping point. To that end let me "suggest" that there are two folks in the Balt-Wash area worthy of Fan Artist nomination: Alexis and Steve Stiles. The fact that Steve lost to Sue Masaon and then Frank Wu is just so wrong (I'm sure they're fine people, but...). As much as I like what Ernest & Mike are doing with their publications, I do not consider them fanzines. Semi-prozines perhaps, but not fanzines. I've been involved with WSFA since 1968 or so. I am in awe of folks who put out fanzines, folks like the Dick & Nicki with Mimosa come to mind. Warhoon 28, the 614 page hardbound mimeod fanzine is a testament to faanish insanity (which NESFA Press sells for a paltry $30.00, it's not a NESFA Press book, they just sell 'em). Read THE BEST OF XERO (http://www.tachyonpublications.com/book/Best_of_Xero.html) for incredible fan writing. There's an intro by that fan boy Roger Ebert. At the next 1st Friday, take a look at the fanzines Alexis receives. They're a typical bell curve of quality. Also, here's a link to a number of essays on fandom & fanzine by rich brown <http://trufen.net/~DrGafia/>. Food for thought. > Since it costs >close to or around $50 just for a *supporting* (voting-eligible) >membership, to say nothing of what it costs for an actual membership, few >fans will join a Worldcon just to nominate and/or vote for the Hugo Awards. >(But don't get me started on the outrageous costs of Worldcon membership >fees. The Worldcon has become a genuine money-making racket, its fees >*far* in excess of what is needed.) Oh, now there is a can of worms. The more cyncial would suggest that if membership prices were dramatically lowered, then the membership would dramatically increase. Many see the problem with Worldcon costs being that Worldcon is the wrong size. It's grown too big to put under one roof of a hotel, & it's not big enough to take full advantage of a convention center. Here's a set of recent Worldcon financial reports for y'all to go nuts over: http://www.noreascon.org/wsfs/financial.html . Looking at MilPhil, of the $755,239.51 in expenses, the largest chunk is convention center rental: $254,842.65. & "Adjusted Net Income for Calculation of Pass Along" is $107,116.43. According to http://wsfs.org/wclist.html MilPhil had 4950 attendence (be sure to read http://www.nesfa.org/data/LL/LongListNotes.html#Attendance to understand what the numbers mean - and don't mean). So, getting out the old calculator, that works out to a surplus of $21.64 per attendee. And if one reads the Notes, it's probably even less per attendee. Now, this is not to defend the staus quo. I do think reexamining the rationale of Worldcon is a good thing to do. Con fandom has seen two examples of regional conventions do the "Let's Downsize" game (Boskone & Minicon) and both resulting in lots of hurt feelings and cranky people kvetching. Downsizing can be done, but there are non-financial costs. Personally, I'd prefer for Worldcons to have a surplus. I'll be heading to Portland, OR in a few hours, attending a conference for JHU Press, won't be back until laaaate Friday. mjw Offered for your consideration for Best Related Book Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature, 2nd edition http://www.oldearthbooks.com/pratchett.htm > >--Ted White >