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No FWA This Year
3 years ago
General
It seems I've been Waitlisted for the Furry Weekend Atlanta Dealers Den this year, so I wanted to let y'all know now that I won't be attending. FWA is essentially my local con being only 2 hours away, and it's been a solid mainstay in my yearly 6 conventions for over a decade now, so it's a real blow being unable to attend and vend. But I can't go if I can't sell, that's just how it is for us. Especially this year, when we just bought a home. Things are really tight.
I checked to be certain, it's not their registration bug - we genuinely just didn't make the cut. I am going to look down the line for early 2023 to see what alternate plans we can make to get us to summer, maybe an online sale, but I will probably be asking to be taken off the waitlist in the coming week. We can't hold out hope for something uncertain that is so critical to our financial planning for a year.
I'm sad, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, I haven't not cut the mustard for their jury process in a decade, so it's making me wonder where I went wrong. Anxiety brain is in overdrive. But it seems fruitless to flail about it. I'll miss Atlanta this year, we always have a restaurant we like to go to and we usually visit the Aquarium. I will miss seeing a lot of folks I only see in Georgia every year, as well. If you're one of 'em, you know who you are! And I'm really sorry if you were expecting to see me there this year, get a book, chat... like I said, close though it is, we just can't attend without a table.
Trying not to panic XP I'm not sure what I'll do in the spring to make up for the loss, but we'll find something. We always do.
*UPDATE* Folks I can't believe I need to say this, but please do not harass FWA Staff over this! If I was ever going to do this convention again, this is certainly seeding ill will, and it's immensely frustrating to me that I might be painted as a troublemaker now because of this crap. You aren't helping! You are just causing undue pain for staffers who have no control over these outcomes, and ensuring I never get into this convention again. It is stressing everyone involved. STOP, please.
I checked to be certain, it's not their registration bug - we genuinely just didn't make the cut. I am going to look down the line for early 2023 to see what alternate plans we can make to get us to summer, maybe an online sale, but I will probably be asking to be taken off the waitlist in the coming week. We can't hold out hope for something uncertain that is so critical to our financial planning for a year.
I'm sad, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, I haven't not cut the mustard for their jury process in a decade, so it's making me wonder where I went wrong. Anxiety brain is in overdrive. But it seems fruitless to flail about it. I'll miss Atlanta this year, we always have a restaurant we like to go to and we usually visit the Aquarium. I will miss seeing a lot of folks I only see in Georgia every year, as well. If you're one of 'em, you know who you are! And I'm really sorry if you were expecting to see me there this year, get a book, chat... like I said, close though it is, we just can't attend without a table.
Trying not to panic XP I'm not sure what I'll do in the spring to make up for the loss, but we'll find something. We always do.
*UPDATE* Folks I can't believe I need to say this, but please do not harass FWA Staff over this! If I was ever going to do this convention again, this is certainly seeding ill will, and it's immensely frustrating to me that I might be painted as a troublemaker now because of this crap. You aren't helping! You are just causing undue pain for staffers who have no control over these outcomes, and ensuring I never get into this convention again. It is stressing everyone involved. STOP, please.
Surely knowing you're gonna be there selling books/prints/possible commissions is what drives some folks to actually attend themselves?
inb4 "don't write for other people, write because you enjoy it!"
I used to enjoy it, and don't anymore because of the pavlovian reinforcement of it being not worth my time, hence I don't anymore.
But I'm sorry you've had food taken out of your mouth by what looks like an arbitrary decision.
Furthermore this con is now up to three hotels, there’s simply no excuse whatsoever that they can’t afford to rent more space and open another den! Having a limit of 100 tables for going on 10k attendees is just stupid!
I now live on social security and don’t have as much as I once did but I will do my best and help you as much as I can if you decide to do a sell this spring. It is the very least I can do.
Keep your head up and stay strong!
For this fandoms endless patting itself on the back for being “welcoming” I’ve been told more than once that I was too old to be part of it more than once! The term “no country for old men” definitely applies here.
I’m personally hopeful for that the con in Asheville NC keeps on going as it’s much more the type of place I feel comfortable (the Appalachia) and it’s not far from Gatlinburg TN (my second home and a place very close to my heart) and Cherokee NC where I have family and spend a lot of time growing up. Perhaps you could check it out sometime, it’s not big but it still might be worth your while only being around two hours away for you.
Rest assured I’m here for you and will do my best to help you however I can. This sucks big time but maybe when one door closes another opens, sometimes you’ve just got to look for the key first.
In the end I guess it’s a sign of the times, many don’t read books like the once did and for this this is just disheartening as it was once so important for this fandom.
I stopped doing dealer's dens a few years ago when I had the sense that con staff were clumsily prioritizing their cliques and friends over running a successful and fan-pleasing con. This meant I could not guarantee a consistent table, and that much of my financial livelihood was dependent on capricious and unpredictable decision making. At the time, I felt like a curmudgeon for making that decision and hoped that I was wrong, but with more and more stories like this coming out? And the fact that YOU weren't picked for a table? ..Sigh.
It's very possible that this childlike behavior on the part of the staff will start leading the the implosions and eventually ends of several major cons. It simply isn't sustainable. I don't think many of con staff, especially the younger ones, know how to handle the sudden "power" that they're given. Instead of using this power to make decisions that benefit the con and its attendees, they fall into the same unthinking patterns that every high-schooler falls into where they make decisions for the purposes of instant, social gratification within their clique. It's fine when a high-schooler does this, but not fine when multiple professional grown ups who are working for a larger organization do this, especially an organization that many longtime artists depend on for their livelihood. I would -love- to be wrong.
I'm really sorry, Rukis. I hope very much that they'll turn this around for you.
Just a few days ago I seen comments being made by others demanding that staff be paid to work at conventions because in tier mind they were employees and therefore entitled to the money the convention earns like it’s some sort of Fortune 500 company. While I don’t wish to label whole generations and make myself look like some sort of grumpy old man who longs for the “good old days” there’s a clear difference between Generation X who startled most of the major conventions that are still around and Generation Z today. We did it for free and when spent countless hours and nights with little rest (while still paying for our own expenses, hotel rooms, and uniforms), our reward was making others happy and that was enough. We strived to have an open, fun and drama free environment for everyone, even those whom we might of not liked or agreed with.
I simply do not know what will become of this fandom much less it’s conventions when we’ve all become to old to run these gatherings anymore. I’d like to say things will be fine and younger people are exactly like we once were when we were their age but I’m just not seeing it. Perhaps I’m wrong and hopefully I will be but I just don’t see it.
I think the poor space planning has a lot to do with the drop in sales last year.
Good luck with improving cash flow, hopefully TFF will bring in excellent sales and help tide you over to the next "big one"
My best wishes for you Rukis. I don't doubt that you will make it through this setback relatively fine given how much people (including myself) enjoy your work.
So don’t stress on the why, as it isn’t likely to be you.
I went to TFF every year up until 2016 when I moved back to Atl.
I went to FWA - ONCE. Just once.
It was so cold and cliquish that I not only did not feel as if it was a con, a gathering of like minded fans and creators, but if you weren't in a clique you simply were not welcome - at all.
Haven't been back since.