>Fan-run cons are well-known, are non-profit 501(3)(c) organizations, are
>run by long running organizations, etc. JMS should know this, but for
>some reason he asserts that his test of their legitimacy is whether they
>are organized enough to pay him a large fee. He says, as I recall, that
>the test of gathering a large sum of money tests their organization. Or
>somesuch. I hope I have that wrong.

Yes, you have that wrong. You have that MASSIVELY wrong, on just about every
conceivable level. I never said what you represent above.

Further, the majority of the conventions I do each year ARE fan run
conventions. From Marcon to LosCon to Stellar Occasion to WishCon to a small
fan-run con in Calgary last year...from big ones to small ones, they are nearly
ALL fan-run cons.

As for fees...there are usually fees because I'm being asked to take away a
weekend, the only time I have a chance to rest up, and fly somewhere to,
essentially, perform. It's a very strenuous thing for me...I often lose as
much as 5-10 pounds over a weekend convention because I'm running my brains
out, sometimes from early morning to late evening with maybe a half-hour for a
fast bite at lunch and often going straight through dinner.

Even so, even with all that...it's a token fee, maybe one third what folks like
Bruce get (or even less), and it's a function of distance traveled. For
LosCon, and Gallifrey, and other local cons...there's no fee at all, because I
can go and come back. If it's cross country, then yeah, the fee goes up with
distance, because if I'm going to travel that far, I need to make sure that
there are going to be a reasonable number of people there. So that mitigates
toward cons that can afford a speaker's fee.

And again, I deliberately keep my fees to a fraction of what is generally
required by cast members for the very reason that it puts me in reach of
smaller conventions. I do this as an act of respect toward the fan run cons
across the country and elsewhere...so I take your comments here as a personal
slap in the face.

I never, ever, at any time said that a given fee somehow legitimizes a
convention. It's a stupid thing to say, and I never said it, never implied it.


Please refrain from attributing to me things I never said. I have a hard
enough time handling what I DO say to worry about all the ones I didn't say.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com