Photo © Hugues Leblanc Nancy Kilpatrick

Cons invariable have income and expenses. The expenses include these and more: GoHs must be transported to the convention and home again. They must have hotel rooms, and be fed enough to keep them alive for 3-4 days. Deals must be made with the convention hotel, securing a block of rooms for attendees, the con organisers signing on the dotted line that if X # of attendees don't reserve rooms that said organisers will cover the short-fall. Hotel deals also secure space for the convention itself, which includes the panel rooms, dealers rooms, art show, special event rooms, reading rooms, con suite, etc. Publications and mailings, which include not just the progress reports and advertising and convention schedules and badges etc., but sometimes, as with 2007, a souvenir book of material written by GoHs and others. There are free drink chits given out, and finger food made available, both purchased through the hotel, the con suite to stock with solid sustenance and beverage, and various and sundry other expenses that build to a considerable tab, all of which the convention organisers are responsible for paying.

Photo © Ellen Datlow Lisa Manetti & Nancy Kilpatrick

On the income side? Attending and supporting membership fees; paid advertising in various publications produced for the convention; booths paid for by dealers and space used by art show exhibitors and a percentage of their sales, raffles and other income-generating events which help the convention committee get going.

There are more expenses and more income but these are the big ones, and get the idea across. I haven't ever run a convention (and never intend to!), but I imagine it's like starting a business that will build and go for one year only, knowing all the while that you likely won't make a profit, you praying steadily that you won't incur a loss. Which would have to be paid for by you, the con organiser(s), that person or persons who won the bid to hold the convention.

This year, the WHC 2007 organisers decided that everyone needed to buy their membership if they wanted to be on panels, do pitch sessions, workshops, attend signings, etc. etc. We all know that some people come to conventions and do not buy a membership, but manage to benefit from the event anyway. They hang out in the bar. They "borrow" a friend's badge and check out the art show and dealer's rooms and the odd panel. They schmooze with the Big Names and whatever publishers, editors and agents attend. Some of these people are writers with piss-poor incomes who just cannot afford to buy a membership, or stay at the convention hotel. Others are simply cheap. Some probably think that they should get in free, because they are a Somebody. Or because they want something for nothing. Whatever the reason, when people do not buy memberships, it makes life difficult for the convention organisers.

For instance, if the block of rooms set aside by the hotel for attendees at a special rate are not reserved by attendees, the organisers either have to pay the difference, or pay full-price for the space where the convention will be held (not the discounted deal based on the block of room reservations being met). That means a great increase in expenses. Since the organisers are running the convention for everyone in the field, it doesn't seem right that they should have to pay for things themselves. Fortunately, this year's convention did not have this issue. The number of paying attendees was high—the bulk of the income for a convention—and the block of room reservations met.

Photo © Ellen Datlow Michael Marshall Smith & Amanda Foubister at the Stokers

But let me tell you a little story from my own experience, so that you can see how a convention might turn out. Names and dates will not be mentioned and in truth, I present the bare bones here, just to give you the gist of things. If, one day, you and I are face-to-face and you slip me a Bloody Caesar, I might be persuaded to spill details but, for now, you'll have to read between the lines.

I've been a GoH and a Special Guest before, at a variety of conventions, including WHCs. Most of the time it's been fabulous. Once, it turned into a disaster. I ran my Horror Editing Workshop for that convention, which I've done a few times now, and in exchange I was given a complimentary hotel room by the con organiser. Two months after the convention I found the hotel bill on my VISA, a figure close to $1,000.00. The con organiser sent an e-mail saying that there had been a dispute with the hotel over an amount they charged which he/she did not agree with and refused to pay. Consequently, to recoup their loss, the hotel billed seven of us who had received complimentary rooms. Don't worry, the con organiser said. The money to cover this was available. A cheque was In The Mail.

The cheque finally arrived, and I deposited it into my bank account. The cheque bounced. Not to worry, the organiser said, and assured me (and I suppose the other six people surprised by the hotel bill on their credit card statement) that it was a misunderstanding with the bank and another cheque would be sent. I suggested that the money be put into my PayPal account instead, and another couple of weeks of back and forth calls and e-mails about this went on until the money appeared in PayPal, its status listed as: "Pending". It remained "Pending" for more than the usual four or five days. In fact, it was "Pending" for two weeks, then, suddenly: "Cancelled".

Photo © Derek Sullivan Sephera Giron & Nancy Kilpatrick

As I say, this is the skeleton of what occurred, none of the madness that transpired over the four months it took for me to be paid in full for this fiasco. It absorbed a lot of my time and energy, and took an emotional toll on me as well. Had I not been waiting for five extremely slow-paying publishers to fork over what they owed me, I would have weathered this storm a bit better, but it did put a burden on me. The offshoot is that it also put a burden on the convention organiser, both financially and personally. I know that at least one other person settled with the con organiser for one-half of what was owed him. As to the rest, I have no idea if they were ever paid. It was a horrible time. The convention committee more or less washed their hands of everything at the start of this problem. The board that oversees WHCs was emotionally supportive and individuals on the board were above-and-beyond generous in their offers to me personally for financial and legal assistance. By the finale of this drama, I was convinced that I would never again hand over my credit card to a hotel for "incidentals".

This example shows who is responsible for a convention. The organiser. The person or persons who won the bid to run the convention. The board that oversees WHCs does not have, as some conventions do, any back-up money for shortfalls. Everything sits on the shoulders of the organiser(s), who must keep a tight rein on the dough. Such large finances coming in and going out can be a daunting if not terrifying monster.

Photo © Ellen Datlow Mandy Slater, John Picacio & Stephen Jones

Despite not being objective, I'll say this anyway. World Horror Convention 2007 was an amazing convention, and there is not enough kudos available for Stephen Jones, Mandy Slater and Amanda Foubister. Steve is a guy who insists on quality in everything he does, and it showed in this con, which leapt up several notches to demonstrate to all of us what horror has been in the past, and what it can be again. I think his idea was simply this: Present the horror genre as important and classy and successful, and it will again be that way in the publishing world—a self-fulfilling prophesy. Mandy is a woman whose honesty and integrity are legendary, and she brought that to the convention. She is, above all, fair in her dealings with people, and I can attest to this because she applies the same rules to her friends as she does to strangers. Amanda is a workhorse who will make sure it all clicks. She gets it right, with style, and she is tireless in that. The entire committee put on a convention that sparkled.

Photo © Derek Sullivan Sephera Giron & Friend

It was such an honour to be in the company of so many prominent writer and editor GoHs, Special Guests and Mistress of Ceremonies. And to be surrounded by attendees who are amazing best-selling authors as well as the newbies, plus editors, publishers, agents, film-makers and so on, all of whose efforts to attend paid off in a spectacular event that profiled horror as the unique genre that it is. I can tell you that it affected me deeply to know that our field is still top-notch. That there are still rungs up the ladder of success to which writers can aspire. The fact that HWA held the Bram Stoker Awards at WHC this year only added to the astonishingly sophisticated event, and gave horror even more clout in the publishing world.

To everyone who attended: your presence contributed and clearly you care deeply about horror and the ongoing revival of our beloved genre. In my view, this was a major step in the right direction. And, as far as I know, the 2007 World Horror Convention doesn't owe anyone a dime, Canadian or other currency!