emcomicsphotosnstuff asked: What's your opinion of people who charge for autographs or photos at cons? It just comes across super douchey to me since as I understand it and I could be wrong the con's pay for their accomodation and flights and the people paying are already supporting their projects. It's not as common among comic book people but it's common at cons. When did the thread start?
Not every con pays for the accommodations of every guest. And even if those guests are being paid for, they are giving up their time to be in attendance. As individuals, they are free to charge whatever they think is fair for whatever—and you as a consumer are free to choose to pay that price or to forgo.
The people paying to attend the convention are paying for just that—to attend the convention. And often, the folks who would like an autograph or a photo or a sketch or whatever aren’t people who are supporting their projects—they’re simply people who like free stuff. Not everybody, of course, but enough of them. All you need to do is to go to eBay to see how many signatures and sketches that were done at conventions are being auctioned off by those they were done for.
So everybody is entitled to charge what they want, and everybody is entitled to partake or not.
I’ve written about this a great deal. Long story short, there’s two points:
1) Inker Gotta Eat.
Not everybody makes millions at comics. Especially the older creators whose con appearances may make up a good chunk of their income. A convention appearance is a LOT more expensive than it was in the days of the Fred Greenberg shows. Total up the cost of a table/booth and travel to the con if the con’s not paying and there’s a lot of money that needs to be made up.
2) People are making a mint off those sketches.
every artist has a story about a guy claiming they wanted a sketch for their kid, only to see the sketch up on eBay that night. It’s much like the lucrative aftermarket for sports stars’ autographs - the main reason people started charging was they knew people were flipping the items to other collectors at a profit, so the players figured they should get a cut up front.
I wrote about it (as well as some tips) at comicMix a while back.
QUEST OF DRAWERS: HOW TO BE A CONVENTION SKETCH COLLECTOR
I think people misinterpreted me. No issue with artists charging for original sketches. It’s the signings. I’ve already purchased the book and supported the writer. I don’t see why I’m being charged to get it signed. From a business point of view I question it too because I think a good experience with a writer at a con is long time more valuable to a writer. I met Kelly Sue a con. I’m not a fan of the western genre but I gave Pretty Deadly a go because I’d liked DeConnick’s other work and I liked her when I met her because she was so nice that it encouraged me to give something a chance that’s not in my area of regular interest.
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vbartilucci reblogged this from emcomicsphotosnstuff and added:
I think the same rules still hold - people are making a lot of money on signed books and photos as well, and it still...
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emcomicsphotosnstuff reblogged this from vbartilucci and added:
I think people misinterpreted me. No issue with artists charging for original sketches. It’s the signings. I’ve already...
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