kevin_standlee | Worldcon Vs. Comic-Con?

SF Signal has published one of their "Mind Melds" about What Worldcon and Comic-Con can learn from each other. Like Cheryl says, I think anyone proposing that Worldcon should settle down in one place so it can Get Big has missed the point. The Olympics have had similar arguments. It's very inefficient for the Olympics to be in a different place every four years; it would be much better if they picked one place and built a permanent Olympic facility. (Greece would be traditional, but I bet Sydney would work out better and be more comfortable.) But part of the point of moving around is to bring the event closer to different people. Comic-Con may be wonderful, but it's always in San Diego, and if you live in (say) Glasgow, it's always going to cost you a fortune to attend, whereas a Worldcon can be expected to sometimes come within relatively easy striking distance.

But what do I know? The last time I attended Comic-Con, it was merely 30,000 people.

That doesn't mean that I think Worldcon is Just Right. It isn't. If we could get it up to or beyond its historical peak attendance of about 8,000, it would work better as a convention without destroying the management paradigm Fandom developed for running it. And it would cost less per person and we could charge less for membership, too -- on the order of $100 less at the door than we currently charge.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Comic-Con is different to Worldcon in so many ways but then again so are all the major conventions such as Dragon*Con. The biggest con of them all, Comiket in Tokyo has no membership or entry fee and it exists mainly for amateur manga artists to sell their stuff. There is some promotion done by professional publications there but it's run mainly for fans by fans. I don't know how it's paid for though...

One of the biggest sources of funds for the semiannual Comiket/Tokyo is their sale of advertisements or promotional spaces in their directory, think of it as the Comic Book Buyers Guide on a massive OD of steroids, and the subsequent sale of the directory. The other source of income for the show is that they do charge for table space "roughly $65 + $8 application fee" and a small amount for use of the changing rooms for Cosplay also $8 / person for the day.

As for the directory is about the size of the NY city phone book and features approximately 50 or more small square advertisements per page. From what I recall from talking with some of the Japanese fans at Nippon 2007, each square advertisement is roughly $20 and the book is about $10. I am told being listed in it is almost mandatory for success as a manga artist and no true Japanese fan would be without one. Given its shear size, I suspect that one or more of the major companies also helps with its publication.

I only wish I had realized that in 2007 the summer version of Comiket 72 was August 17-19, as I would have gleefully gone early rather than stayed later to attend. For English details on this massive show see: http://www.comiket.co.jp/info-a/WhatIsEng080528.pdf (What is Comic Market (aka Comiket)

For comparison purposes: Comiket 72 attendance was reported as 550,000 over 3 days (which if you assume is 1 person x 3 days = approximately 183,000 average daily attendance, with a potentially much high total number of unique attendees). Using this method of counting San Diego Comic Con 2009 would be 4 days x 125,000 (sold out / membership cap) - 500,000 + preview night attendance (unknown).

"I only wish I had realized that in 2007 the summer version of Comiket 72 was August 17-19, as I would have gleefully gone early rather than stayed later to attend."

I spotted this coincidence some time before Nippon2007 and made my plans accordingly, spending a day at C72 and then touristing before finishing off my trip with the Worldcon at the beginning of September.

As for attendance, I would presume that only a small percentage of Comic-con attendees turn up for a single day or two and most attend for all four days i.e. similar to Worldcon attendance patterns. From what I have been given to understand very few Comiket attendees turn up for all three days of the event and only a few more even make two of the three days. Each day is themed to a certain extent and people interested in, say, BL/yaoi doujinshi won't necessarily bother to turn up for the shonen day. I do know that I only managed a single day on both my visits to Comiket in 2007 and 2008. For one thing the endless queuing in high heat is very exhausting.

My own guesstimate for recent Comikets is 160,000 different people each day, maybe 30,000 who make two days and 5,000 hardcore types (costumers, probably) who make all three days. From observation I'd say the audience is 99% Asian and probably 98% native Japanese.

Worldcon Vs. Comic-Con?

no subject

Comiket finances

Re: Comiket finances