• Three comic anthologies: Storytime (2000?), Broad Appeal (2003), and The Girls’ Guide to Guys’ Stuff (2007) (Neat looking through these and seeing early work by names I adore — Raina Telgemeier, Faith Erin Hicks, MK Reed, Becky Cloonan, and so many more)
• The 1997 Retailers Handbook, “How to Get Girls (Into Your Store)”, edited by Deni Loubert, with illustrations by Mary Wilshire
• The February 1997 Diamond “Friends of Lulu Suggests” catalog
• A smattering of minicomics: “The Women Who Made Comics Great” (1997), “Comics Are for Everyone!” (1995, Joan Hilty), “The Perils of Mr. Comics” (1995, Liz Schiller & Donna Barr), the NY Chapter Omnibus promo (1996)

And the newsletters. Here’s where I hope some reader(s) can help. I have the following:

• Volume 1, #1-4
• Volume 2, #1-3
• Volume 4, #1-3
• Volume 5, #1-4
• Volume 6, #1-4
• Volume 7, #1-3

Was there a Volume 2, #4? How many Volume 3 issues were there? How many more issues ran after V7 #3 (Spring 2002)? More importantly, if you have any issues I’m missing, I’d like to buy them from you, if you’re willing to part with them. (It’s that need to complete, you know.) I’m also interested in acquiring any other archival material you may have — flyers, minis, etc. Please let me know if you can help.

The Met really impresses me, because there are just so many amazing things there! You can focus just on your interests — Egyptian art, for instance, or modern works (which are defined as after 1920, which is within the last hundred years) — and still spend an entire day. Once you figure out the map system and the navigation, which for me is based around finding the three-digit numbers on the wall that tell you which gallery you’re in.

I arrived just before lunchtime, so I was greeted by a LOT of people on the steps. The gentlemen with their backs to the camera were entertaining the crowd with an a cappella version of “Up on the Roof”.

Before I stopped for lunch at the American Wing Cafe, I took a picture of this light fixture inside a courtyard area. This is one of two that stood outside the museum for years. Also of note: the facade behind it used to be the front of a bank, but now it’s inside the Met (which surprised me when I stopped to think about it), to mark the entrance to the American art wing.

Religious art is neat, especially when it’s as beautifully displayed as these stained glass windows. It’s a motivation that drove a lot of creation for a very long time.

Another exhibit that I took in was “After Photoshop: Manipulated Photography in the Digital Age”, a collection of photographs created through computer technology. Here was the one that stood out, in that it combined a model with art manipulation to look like manga:

I neglected to take any pictures in the gallery of another special exhibit, “Plain or Fancy? Restraint and Exuberance in the Decorative Arts”. That one was a bit more interactive, encouraging the formation of the viewer’s own opinions and illustrating through contrast how definitions can change over time. It was neat, because I like relativism.

Overall, and getting back to this post title, once I saw how many different objects were in the museum, I realized that almost anything, particularly given enough time, could be art. I really enjoyed seeing the Impressionist paintings in the special exhibit — although it surprised me that I liked the lesser-known names more than the works by the better-known Monet and Degas (Also cool: they had paintings of a particular model and others BY her. Yay for women artists!) — but I more enjoyed seeing the crafts and design objects, like this wacky foam chair.

Maybe it was just that I was getting tired, but that looked like it would be surprisingly comfy. More to the point, I like thinking about the effort someone put into making something for whatever purpose: ornamentation, worship, functional use. Putting all these objects from so many time periods under one (gigantic) roof was very impressive and illustrates just how wide-ranging the definition of art is. Anything can be art, particularly if you give it enough time.

The new Sony Cybershots will have WiFi capability so they can be controlled by a phone or tablet and transfer images wirelessly. I’ve been using a Cybershot to take pics here, and connectivity was about the only thing it was missing. By the way, all the Handycam camcorders are now HD; no more SD. And they’ll have HDMI inputs to project from external sources as well as WiFi for wireless control and transfer.

In headphone news, since Sony is also an audio and music company, the new X10 line of headphones came out last year. Now the Next Gen X is slimmer, in more colors.

But on to the TVs! Sony demoed a gorgeous OLED 4K 56″ TV prototype, the largest 4K OLED in the world.

Some random factoids: The upcoming science fiction movie After Earth is being shot in 4K. So is Oblivion starring Tom Cruise. Sony 4K systems are in more than 13,000 movie theaters worldwide. This summer, the first consumer 4K distribution service is coming to provide 4K Sony movies & other content to home users. They’re also working on a 4K line of Blu-ray titles coming this year, either using master film or digitally rescanning. The 4K TVs also have built-in upscaling processors to make HD (such as Blu-ray) content look even better. Sony announced two new 4K TVs coming this spring — 55″ & 65″ models at more affordable prices.

That’s a comparison of a 4K TV to a high-end HDTV. The 4K Ultra HD has four times the resolution, to the extent that you can read text easily on screen.

I’m staying at the Mirage, home to the Beatles Cirque du Soleil show, which I unfortunately don’t have time to go see. (I wouldn’t want to go without KC, anyway.) This is their ticket booth in the lobby, isn’t it cute? They also have a lounge area behind those giant letters.

The show officially opens to the industry this morning, but I was wandering around the Sony booth yesterday afternoon as it was being set up. It takes up several rooms’ worth of space, the better to show off the TVs, cellphones, cameras, and accessories. This is the opening display. It’s really white, but they were testing lighting. The slogan says, “Feel the Beauty BE MOVED”, which is Sony’s emphasis, to move their customers and create Wow! moments.

Inside the booth, the giant white strip is all projection screens. The booth itself is all white walls and carpet. During last night’s press conference, which is where a lot of this information comes from, giant images surrounded everyone gathered in the area showing the products and responses to them.

Kazuo Hirai, Sony President & CEO, kicked off the event. You can find out more at sony.com/ces. His message was that Sony products are “unparalleled in the industry” by combining design and function, usefulness and elegance. The company focus is on digital imaging, games, and mobile. Here he is later, talking with the press.

Xperia Z cellphone

One of the big product announcements is the new mobile phone, the Xperia Z from Sony Mobile. It’s lovely. It has a 5-inch 1080p display and a 13 megapixel camera that does HDR video. It runs on 4G LTE networks and comes in black, white, and purple.

It’s dust and water resistant. They had cases giving the phone a bath to demonstrate. That’s a pool of water underneath.

There were lots of the phones around. Here’s me (hands shown reflected) trying to take a picture of the mirrored main display.

U.S. carriers are still to be announced. Their previous phones were on AT&T because they’re GSM. With T-Mobile’s coming refarm for their “bring your own device” program, it’s possible the phone would operate on their system. I hope.

One thing Sony is big on emphasizing is connectivity. They’re using one-touch NFC to allow products to connect easily, with one tap. There’s a cute little ball speaker as well as wireless headphones and a Bluetooth converter that allows any headphones to connect with the phone. You just touch the phone to the item, and they pair.

VAIO computers

Touchscreens are big, of course. In more ways than one. The family-centric mobile desktop Tap 20 is a giant touchscreen that can handle multiple users at once, so, for example, two people can draw on it at the same time. Or you can use it to play air hockey against another person. It’s got three hours of battery life and weighs about 11 pounds, so it’s not a laptop, but it is moveable. And it has an adjustable kickstand.

The smaller Duo allows control by either stylus or finger — if it detects the stylus, then it disables the touchscreen part, so you can rest your hand on it while drawing or taking notes without the computer getting confused. You can use it flat as a tablet or propped to the keyboard, as shown here. It’s now available in silver as well as black.

OK, that’s all I have time for now. More on cameras and TVs still to come.

Can you guess during which period I lost my job, got a new one, and moved halfway across the country? Since then, I’ve also had more to do around the house and out in the city, which accounts for why the latter part of the year hasn’t hit the heights of the first part.

I only made it to 775 posts this year (a little over 2 per day, on average), a decline from last year’s 895, but I don’t mind — I’ll aim for 1000 again in 2013. Total posts at the site since December 2005, including this one: 6,459.

There were 50 manga reviews and 55 graphic novel reviews, which makes me think I should do more talking about the good works, since that’s only 13% of the content. However, they’re not the posts that get feedback, either because people agree with me, or because there’s nothing to say about a comic you haven’t read. In contrast, the most popular posts this year, based on comments, were the following:

1. Win John Carter on Blu-ray! (June, 44 comments)
2. Comic Fans Need Patience: Thoughts on Lengthy Kickstarters & Incomplete First Issues (June, 41)
3. Win Friends With Boys! (February, 37)
4. What Happened to Comic Book Ads? (March, 29)
5. What Is DC Thinking? Sex, Violence, Racism, and Marketing (January, 27)

The site this year was just me and hubby KC, who wrote 48 posts this year, and I’ll reiterate what I said last year to close: “I couldn’t do this without him. Nor without you, dear readers. Thank you for stopping by, and happy new year!”

Anime Studio Pro (list price $200) has “an intuitive interface, a visual content library, and powerful features such as a bone rigging system, bitmap to vector conversion, integrated lip-synching, 3D modeling, physics, motion tracking, a character wizard and … advanced animation tools to speed up your workflow.” (There’s a Debut version of that as well.)

The grand prize winner, selected by random draw, will win one copy each of both of these software packages. Four second prize winners will get a copy of one of the programs. To enter, leave a comment telling me what you’d like to make with either version (and which would be your choice if you get second place). Software will be delivered by download, so the contest is open to anyone. A winner will be picked randomly from all entries on Monday, December 24. Happy holidays!

1. The final volume of Omaha the Cat Dancer, with the long-promised conclusion (reprinting began 2006)
2. The ability to own all of the digital comic files you purchase, not just rent them from a licensing company
3. More Oishinbo volumes
4. A translated print version of Fumi Yoshinaga’s What Did You Eat Yesterday?
5. The next U.S. volume of Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga
6. To find out what was behind what was going on in Colonia

What’s on your comic wish list?

Update: James Vance says that the final Omaha volume is due late summer 2013.

Back in 1987, Cliff Johnson released a game for the Macintosh called The Fool’s Errand. Using the framework of a tarot deck, the game combined logic, word, and graphic puzzles. It was like nothing else out there, and one whole Thanksgiving break, I and my friends were all engrossed in it. I also adored his later release, 3 in Three, which postulates a number 3 run amok in the computer’s guts after a freak electric serge knocks her out of her spreadsheet. (You can download those games from his website, but it requires installing an emulator, since they only run in PowerPC Classic Mode.)

Ten years ago, Johnson announced he was working on a sequel, The Fool and His Money. Two weeks ago, it was finally released. I’ve just bought my copy, and I’m looking forward to another gaming Thanksgiving. It’s $39.99, which seems like a lot, but then I realized that I never paid for that original game, so amortized over the years, it seems worth it. Here’s another review, by someone who’s already started playing the new game.

It’s sort of a trick question. I get people emailing me whose book is clearly aimed at young adult males (like themselves), for example. You’d think that they might realize that a middle-aged woman like myself may not be the best reviewer for their book, but they get starry-eyed imagining the press coverage instead of thinking through the marketing. The right person talking about your book is more valuable than more wrong people talking about your comic, I think.

Which is my point of asking the question. What I said above aside, I’ll read almost any comic, if I have the time (which is the limiting factor these days). I just want to know that I’m dealing with someone who’s thought about selling their comic successfully. I want to deal with professionals, not hobbyists, and not opportunists. Who wants to sample a promising new title only to never see a second issue because the artist put all their effort into creating the first issue instead of realizing that this is a business and you have to think about surviving the long haul?

Honestly, these days, if you want to tell continuing stories, put it on the web. No one’s going to be able to find issue #4 of your self-published serial once Diamond drops it or you get overwhelmed by the bills from #1-3. If you love print, tell a story that works for that format *as it is today*. That means something that’s satisfying in one package, in a format that you can easily ship and sell online.

But I’m digressing. I started rambling on this topic because I read another great piece by First Second’s Gina Gagliano. (I hope the publisher considers collecting all her advice to creators in one volume — it would make a terrific how-to book.) The latest explains target audiences, how they’re determined, and why they’re important. An excerpt of her advice:

If you’re in the middle of writing something and you’re not sure whether it’s a serious non-fiction project aimed at adults or at three year-olds, probably something pretty strange is going on with your brain. … As people immersed in the publishing industry 24/7 who have target audiences categorization modules at the front of our brains all the time, we at First Second definitely recommend that if you’re sitting at a table with your pen and a blank sheet of paper going, ‘I’m going to write a great teen novel!’ that the first thing you do is put down your pen and go read some teen novels and then interact with some teenagers.

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, where every night we returned to find a cute creature made from washclothes. There’s a penguin, a ghost (the parks were celebrating the upcoming Halloween holiday with decorations), and a bear.

Since we were staying at one of the hotels on the Seven Seas Lagoon, we also got to see the nightly Electrical Water Pageant, where they’d bring lighted barges around to electronic tunes.

The high point of the trip was our Segway tour of World Showcase one morning, but I don’t have pictures of that, unfortunately. It was great fun zipping around the countries on the Segway, though, after the training class. Another morning, we made it to the Magic Kingdom in time for opening, where characters rode out on the train and waved hello.

Particularly exciting about that visit was that they were holding a “dress rehearsal” (sneak peek) at the upcoming expansion of New Fantasyland.

On the left is standing on the bridge to Belle’s castle, with its odd square turret. On the right is the framework for the coming-in-2014 Seven Dwarfs Mine Train coaster.

The high point was getting a chance to ride the Under the Sea ride. It’s a continuous-loading dark ride, like Peter Pan’s Flight, but it tells the story of Ariel, the Little Mermaid, through animatronics (robot fish).

Here’s a view of one of my favorite rides, the Haunted Mansion, from the Riverboat.

We rode this one twice, because there’s so much to look at. Both Under the Sea and the Haunted Mansion have enhanced queues. They’ve added games and things to do while you wait in line for the ride (although we were there at a slow time, so we walked right on). In the Mansion, they’ve built a cemetery section with ghostly instruments and a haunted bookcase. With Under the Sea, there are animated little crabs that carry objects; if you point at them, they take them away. They’re so much fun to play with that I wished there was more of a wait.

We also stopped off at the Contemporary just so I could visit the Mary Blair murals. She’s one of my favorite artists and why we rode It’s a Small World twice, just to view her designs. Here are two of the multiple panels.

Can you find the five-legged goat?

We also spent a day at the Hollywood Studios, where I rode Tower of Terror again after vowing not to, just because I like the theming so much, and one at the Animal Kingdom. It was a wonderful trip, although I’m glad to be back home as well.

I know it’s poor timing, given that I was nearly absent for most of August and September, but I’ve had a vacation planned for a long while, so the site will not be updating until the end of next week.

I’ve taken to keeping my review copies on my spinner rack, and as shown here, the poor thing’s full. I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to talk about such good books in more timely fashion, and I appreciate everyone’s patience with me — I hope to be more caught up by the end of the year (which isn’t nearly as far away as it sounds).

(The fun of using the spinner rack is that it’s much more decorative than my previous Pile o’ Guilt. The downside is that if you leave books on there too long, the wires put dents in the page block. Another incentive to write about them more quickly, so I can store them properly.)

What started this off was Lea Hernandez’s Kickstarter for The Garlicks, which ends tomorrow. Since it’s only about a third of the way towards the goal of $40,000, it looks like it isn’t going to make it.

(Update: Be sure to read Lea’s comments below, where she explains more about her effort. And Alex, who’s also run a long-term Kickstarter, has a good list of why some projects don’t succeed in the comments.)

I’m part of the reason why. While I love her work and will buy her next book, I didn’t contribute, because the project is set up to support her while she creates it. That means she’s promising rewards to deliver a year from now (May 2013), and that’s too far away for me to commit to.

I am more comfortable funding a project where the work already exists, one where the creator needs print costs. This doesn’t apply to Lea’s case, but one of the reasons why is that, if rewards deliver within a couple of months, I’m protected if something happens and I don’t get what’s promised. Within 3-6 months, I have the ability to do a credit card chargeback in the worst case, if the provider flakes out. On a more personal level, it’s more rewarding to get a book or other rewards within a couple of months, as though it was similar to a preorder. Otherwise, it feels like throwing money into the wind.

Of course, if you have the resources to be charitable and make donations, supporting favorite artists without concern for what you get in return, then this isn’t a worry for you. But at that point, Kickstarter reminds me of a popularity contest.

I would advise those planning Kickstarters to note that something in the range of $4-8,000 is more likely to be achieved than asking for multiple tens of thousands of dollars. Sure, there are plenty of success stories, but they’ve been run by people with huge followings and a long-term track record of delivering products of known quality. Also, anthologies, which have a much bigger crew of contributors working to get the word out. A Kickstarter is, on many levels, a measurement of trust, and if you don’t have enough dedicated followers and a solid, substantial track record of doing what you say you will, you may not succeed.

Along similar lines, I got another email recently from a guy who seemed nice and funny who funded the first issue of his comic series through Kickstarter but wouldn’t be able to do another until he sold enough digital and print copies to cover costs. The problem was that the first issue, while intriguing in its setup, didn’t provide anything close to a complete story. Readers are asked to have faith that they’ll eventually see another issue, which may or may not finish the story.

There’s a problem of momentum here. It’s hard enough, with so many options and so much competition out there, to get a customer’s attention once. Expecting them to come back at some future undetermined time is foolhardy. I know the economics are tough for young creators, but I don’t understand why anyone would release just part of a story for their first issue these days. Put out a complete work, so readers get a good idea of what you’re capable of.

Like any good geek, I’ve got more interests than I have time or money for. One lifelong passion I’ve had is writing instruments. Over the years, my taste has evolved from ballpoint pens to fountain pens and most recently to brush pens. So when JetPens asked if I’d be interested in reviewing some products for them, it was like a dream come true.

I’ve been ordering from JetPens for about four years or so. I can’t remember what obsession first led me to their website, but they quickly because one of my favorite pen stores. They constantly add new products, so I visit frequently to find new toys to play with. I have to exercise a lot of self-control when ordering, so I don’t max out my credit cards. Thankfully, they have a wish list feature to help me keep track of what I’d like to try or reorder in the future.

Let’s start with my biggest surprise. Brad from JetPens sent me a Pocket Clutch Lead Holder by E+M. I didn’t think I would like it because it was so small. I was wrong. It’s just the right length to fit into my hand. Also, the short body makes it easy to change your grip for different uses. For example, I like having my pointing finger resting on the top of the holder when shading. This was the perfect size to let me cup the holder in my palm. It’s got a nice thick body to keep you from getting cramps if you’re drawing for a long time. The only disadvantage is the short body means the standard size 5.5mm leads are too long to fit the holder, so you will have to either buy E+M leads or break other brand leads to fit. A minor inconvenience at worst.

Pilot’s Hi-Tec-C pens already have a devoted following. This was my first time trying one. I was sent a .4 mm point with brown ink. Usually, when you get tips this small, the pen feels scratchy against the paper. I was really impressed with how smoothly the pen wrote and its nice rich color. I can see why artists like this pen; it has a great ink flow and a thin line perfect for those detailed drawings or for crosshatching. This will be going on my wish list.

The Pilot Double-Sided Brush Pen was fun to play with. One side has black ink, the other side has grey. It’s listed as a brush pen, but it’s a felt tip that simulates a brush line. The tip on this is very stiff, making it a good beginner’s pen. The black is nice and dark. The grey is the same shade as your standard No. 2 pencil, so you can do your outlines with one side and your shading with the other. I could see artists using this as a sketch pen at conventions. I know Johanna liked it, too.

Brad sent one of my favorite disposable brush pens, a Pilot Pocket Brush Pen with hard tip. This is the perfect starter pen for people who want to explore drawing/writing with a brush pen. It has a felt tip with some play to allow for line variation. Because it’s a disposable pen, you can really experiment without worry of ruining a pen you had hoped to be a permanent part of your collection. This has been my convention note-taking pen for a couple of years now. I love the feel as it writes and how smoothly the ink flows. A great pen no matter what you use it for.

If you try the Pilot Pocket Brush pen and want to get more serious about using brush pens, then the next step is the Kuretake No. 13 Brush Pen. This is a pen with a real brush tip. The bristles are nylon. It’s a soft pen, but not as soft as natural hair. This is a pen I’m still trying to master. Andy Runton, creator of Owly, is one of the few people I’ve seen in person who has mastered using a brush pen. He gave me some great advice about maintaining steady pressure. The pen has amazing line variation from hair thin to a nice thick medium. The ink flow is marvelous. It’s like working with a constantly wet brush. This pen is a real pride of my collection.

For people who are looking for a good calligraphy pen, let me suggest the Pilot Parallel Pens. These pens put the old standard Sheaffer calligraphy pens to shame. They are much easier to use and have a smoother feel. The nibs are more forgiving of how you place them on the paper for good ink flow and nice line variation. I use the 1.5 mm nib because it’s the ideal size for addressing envelopes and writing notes. Given the compliments I’ve received for my Christmas envelopes, this pen was money well spent.

If you use wood pencils, then you must get the Stad One-Push Pencil Holder. Finally, someone designed a pencil holder/extender with actual writers and artists in mind. It’s easy to use, comfortable to hold, and actually looks great too. A co-worker saw me with one of these and begged me to get one for her and one for her daughter. All three of us still use and love these. I really can’t praise them high enough.

Finally, this is also for pencil users. The Stad T’Gaal Pencil Sharpener is simply an amazing pencil sharpener. It allows you to choose one of five tip styles for sharpening your pencil. You can go from a long thin point used for writing to a short point commonly used on coloring pencils. Most sharpeners that adjust point length do it by having a fixed blade with a stop. This means for any setting other than the longest, the pencil doesn’t have a real point. T’Gaal actually adjust the blade angle, so no matter the setting, your pencil has a nice sharp point. It’s amazing to get that level of engineering at such a low price. For wooden pencil users, this is a must have.

JetPens really is a wonderland for those of us that love writing instruments and novelty office products. I’ve had nothing but great service from them. They answer all your questions and are willing to do special orders for Japanese products that you’ve seen but that they don’t carry. I highly recommend you check out their website. You won’t be disappointed.

KC sent the above card out to several friends who’d get the joke, with the caption

“And lo, on that day, the Avengers were born.”

I thought I’d share it here as well, to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday of their choice.

September was busiest, with 94, while the low points were February and April at 61 and 60, respectively. (December is still in progress wound up with 74, almost the same as November.) The total so far is 877 posts, or an average of 2.4 posts a day overall is 895, or an average of 2.45 posts a day. (I was aiming for 3, in order to crack 1000 this year, but I can always try again in 2012.)

As for topics, the most posted are Movies/TV (122 posts this year), Digital & Webcomics (107 — and that was the subject of the year, wasn’t it?), Comic News (96), and Manga News (94). There were 81 Manga Reviews (I expected more) and 63 Graphic Novel Reviews. Superheroes and Archie each got 30 posts, with 29 for Books About Comics and 28 for Indy Comic Reviews. (So many works that I would have talked about in years past as indy comics, I now cover as graphic novels.) Way behind are Minicomics, with only 4 posts — which is woefully negligent, but better than 2009, which only had 1 — and Recipes, with 3 — one each cookbook review, restaurant review, and actual recipe.

Most popular this year, based on comments, were the following:

• New UltraViolet Digital Copies Annoying Some Customers — 86 comments, which makes it 13th overall in this blog’s history; that number is likely due to ranking high on Google when people search for help or a place to complain
• PR: What Not to Do: Be a Kickstarter Jerk — 81 comments
• It’s All Changed Forever — Again: Thoughts on the New DCU 52 — In which I let go on everything I was thinking about the most significant marketing move in the last decade or so, 51 comments
• DC Relaunch Titles I’m Looking Forward To (And Why I Don’t Care for the Others) — 40 comments, where various people shared their opinions on which books they’d be reading
• Which Manga Titles Do You Want to See Rescued? — Spurred on by the demise of Tokyopop, 40 comments

People don’t comment here the way they used to, but I think that’s happening all over the internet, as we treat it more like an entertainment medium — look at this silly picture/video — than a communication forum.

Of course, the biggest change this year is contributor status. Ed Sizemore retired from the site after reviewing here for four years. This past year, he wrote 44 reviews — most manga, but also including the occasional book, convention, minicomic, and movie. His contributions will be greatly missed. Also for the site, KC wrote 27 review pieces, including coverage of animation, books about comics, and all 52 DC comic relaunches. I’m hoping for more next year, but regardless, I appreciate his support. I couldn’t do this without him. Nor without you, dear readers. Thank you for stopping by, and happy holidays!

I’ve never been to the show, but that certainly gave them a black mark in my eyes. I’ve previously run into shows that didn’t understand how to handle press passes, as when some wanted press to pay for access. I understand that it can be difficult to separate “real” press from some guy with a blog with four posts on it, but over-broad blanket rules end up annoying the people you want to talk favorably about your event.

Let’s step back and look at what each gets from the situation. A convention wants more attendees, so they want people with lots of readers/viewers to say, “This was a great show, everyone should go!” That message also comes across implicitly in talking about news that broke at the show (giving the impression that it’s a major show) or exclusive products or rare experiences. This is a fine line — I’ve seen coverage that on the surface sounded like “this was cool!”, but when it turns into “because of my press badge, I got in line early for an artist who was only doing a few sketches that day” or “I bought one of the limited collectibles you missed out on”, that becomes jerkish. In fact, I know of shows that stopped allowing early press entry because of a few bad apples who were misusing the access to act like collectors, not journalists.

If you want to thank the show for letting you in for free — and this is the part many amateurs miss — the best thing to do is to talk it up ahead of time. This can be as simple as running a piece (or more) on what will be available there or scheduled programming that you’re looking forward to. After-the-fact coverage helps encourage people to go next year, if they remember that long. Prior coverage puts the thought in people’s heads to go this time (although these days, that really only applies for mid-size regional shows, since the big ones require a year’s planning in advance to get tickets and hotel rooms).

On the other side, the press gets into the show for free (and sometimes, if they’re big names, they get comped rooms or travel, although in my experience that’s rare). If the show is big enough, they get a room to work in and access to stars and special guests. I think, as the press category becomes wider (covering print and online), what’s happening is the same thing that happens with creator guests — everyone supposedly falls into one category, but some are more special than others. Big-name artist may get his room for free, while local artist gets free table space and nothing else. Big-name journalist may get offered an interview and reserved panel seating, while blogger gets a free badge.

The real solution would be to do some screening, to require some minimum level of output or audience ranking, before handing out a press pass, but that requires a) hard decisions b) someone to decide on the rules and c) someone to take the flak from those turned down. After all, no one wants to hurt the feelings of the guy with an outlet and an attitude.

Back to Toronto. I wasn’t very lucky in looking for more information about what happened at the show. I did find one writeup that said:

Press Passes that need to be replaced every day? Seriously? This one was a MAJOR bone of contention amongst the media folks I knew — some of them going so far as to simply not cover more than the first day. Come on Fan Expo — these folks are getting you tons of coverage for your event, to help you bring in more people and more dollars — don’t make them go the the hassle of going through crowds everyday to get a new pass.

In the comments, Jamie Coville elaborated:

It’s not like that every year. I’ve been covering it since 2002, with the exception of 1 year, and the press pass was always a weekend pass. I did not bother to attend this year as they did not give me (and other press) a pass for Saturday. Then they sent me 4 e-mails advising me about tickets being on sale/almost sold out, etc.

And they waited until 2 weeks prior to the convention to let you know. I suspect they got some press to go anyway because they couldn’t get refunds on their hotels (possibly air fare) and already booked the time off their day jobs. It’ll be interesting to see how much press they get next year. I suspect they broke a lot of trust and they’ll have to treat the press like gold for a few years before some of them come back.

Perhaps. Then again, some fan journalists put the emphasis on “fan”, and go no matter what. Jamie has had press problems with the Toronto show before, as he commented in 2009. The convention then was giving out press passes out of the press room, which didn’t open until the show did, which meant press couldn’t get badges early.

I don’t really have a summation here. The thought comes to mind that, if you believe there’s no such thing as bad publicity, treating press badly doesn’t have a downside, because then they’ll talk about you in that context. A show that feels it’s successful on its terms — such as getting plenty of ticket-paying attendees — may not care if any press come, especially if they get the coverage they care about by issuing press releases about media guests.

Update: As commenters and others (such as Tom Spurgeon) have pointed out, yes, it is always an option for a reporter to pay their own way if a show is important enough to cover. I should have mentioned that. For major outlets, a $30-60 ticket fee will more than be reimbursed by the hits and eyeballs they get. Alternately, it’s entirely possible these days to create coverage of major shows just by reviewing the posts and Twitter mentions other attendees make — and sometimes you’ll get a better, more balanced view that way.