Originally Posted: 4/3/2008
Repost Value: I’m slipping this one back into the stream today because Con-season is in full swing.  The New Media Expo is in Vegas this weekend.  ArmadilloCon is here in Austin, with John Scalzi as the guest of honor (of course, I’m FLAT broke and can’t go), and DragonCon is approaching faster than a ..er .. well.. fire-breathing dragon.  So, just a polite reminder, worship only when asked to.  And Mur seems to accept pie in form of worship. =D  To those of you attending conventions, we hope you have fun.

Is meeting people you enjoy the works of considered time well wasted? Considering I spent roughly ten minutes of time with two people at DragonCon last year and didn’t know them from Adam at the time except by name, I would say yes.

I had come by the Dragon Moon Press booth in the dealer’s hall because Jenn bought me a copy of Legacy of Morevi and I wanted Morevi. Tee Morris wasn’t there the first time, so Nick (FlippantMoniker) and I shopped around and then came back (with a giant stuffed boar in tow). Low and behold, there was Tee, whom I knew of because of Jenn, and some cadaverous male that I had no idea who was until Tee said his name. It turned out to be the Future Dark Overlord, Scott Sigler.

So, how do I act around these people? Jenn had gushed about how wonderful Tee Morris’ Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy and Billibub Baddings were and how much I would like Scott Sigler’s The Rookie. I wasn’t doing the podcast stuff at this time, hadn’t listened to anything they’d done, but I knew WHO they were, and that was enough to impress me.

What impressed me more is that I admitted to not knowing who they were by their works and they didn’t seem to care! They encouraged me to read their stuff, yes, but it didn’t change the way they treated Nick or me. Could be because we admitted to being the Brewmistress’ quality inspectors and they did seem to remember her beer, but I don’t know. They were exceptionally nice to both of us and it was in those moments that I decided… “Ok, when I get home, I’m gonna listen to the Rookie and to Billibub Baddings.”

Do they remember this? Probably not. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that in the span of ten minutes, they gained a listener who became a pimping junky fan of both of them because they were nice to me. I treated them both like average Joes off the street, didn’t fawn all of them just because I knew the names, and had a short discussion with them. Nick and I bought our books, had them signed by Tee, said our farewells and went on our way. A memorable moment for us, simply by the courtesy we’d received from them, that turned out to be time very well wasted, and all because we’d doubled back.

Etiquette and courtesy seem to be the hot topic among the writers and podcasters lately. John Scalzi has already blogged about it (read it, there’s good advice here), Mur Lafferty mentioned it yesterday on Twitter, and with convention season in full roar it seems to be a good topic for discussion.

My advice as a fan, just because you know who these people and you enjoy their works, doesn’t give you the right to expect favors from them. Treat them with respect and kindness and you’ll likely be treated the same way. Requests and demands are two different things and on a personal note, they owe us nothing. The podcasters especially, as they GIVE us their work already. Treat them like people, not gods, unless they’ve made it clear that worship is desired and expected.

Make those five or ten minutes you have to buy a book, collect an autograph and say hello all the more memorable by being polite and the time wasted would be well spent.