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Worldcon and the cheapest way to support it

Here are a couple of tangible benefits to supporting Worldcon, and the secret to supporting it in the cheapest way.

Worldcon is the shorthand for the World Science Fiction Convention and is held annually on behalf of the World Science Fiction Society, or WSFS. The convention has a long history, having run 70 times (at the time of writing) since 1939, and thousands of people from across the world attend and discuss science fiction every year. However, not everyone who is a member attends the convention; some people buy supporting memberships, and that’s what I’m discussing here.

There are several reasons to support Worldcon. The first reason is simple: because you want to. Worldcons need money to be successful, and a supporting membership helps in that regard. If you are slightly less altruistic (or, like me, you simply can’t afford to support every cause of which you approve) here are a couple of tangible benefits to supporting Worldcon, and then I’ll let you in on the secret to supporting it in the cheapest way.

The Hugo Awards

The Hugo Awards are the premier award in the field of science fiction and fantasy. Works are nominated every year by the members of that year’s Worldcon, the previous year’s Worldcon, and the next year’s Worldcon.1 As a result, if you’re interested in having your voice heard being a member of a Worldcon is good, as you can influence which works make it onto the Hugo Award ballot.

In addition, members of a Worldcon get to vote in the Hugo Awards that are awarded at that convention. This not only means that you get to have a say in what is recognised by the award, but it means you get something called the Hugo Voter Packet, which consists of electronic versions of almost every nominated work.2 This is a lot of material for what you pay; a supporting membership costs $60 this year, and the packet is comfortably worth more than that.

Site Selection

Even if supporting membership is a good deal normally, we want to try to minimise the cost of acquiring one. So, onto the real business of the article — how does one support Worldcon for as little money as possible? The secret is to vote in site selection. Worldcon sites are voted on two years ahead of the convention, and everyone who votes in site selection becomes a supporting member of the Worldcon that is elected. This isn’t just people who vote for the bid that wins; it’s all fans who vote. Since the voting fee tends to be $40, this is the cheapest way to become a supporting member of the Worldcon, every year.

Thus, your next course of action is clear. Go and join LoneStarCon 3, paying the $60 to become a supporting member, and then pay the $40 on the Site Selection page to vote for a bid. (You should definitely vote for Helsinki in 2015, by the way….)

So go forth, and exercise your right to vote! Not only is it supporting Worldcon, it’s getting your supporting membership in the cheapest possible way. You’re two for two!

  1. So, the works that appear on the ballot at LoneStarCon 3 were nominated by members of that convention, Chicon 7 and Loncon 3. This is a new thing that’s only come in recently: before this year, it was only members of the current and previous years’ conventions, so Loncon 3 members would not have been eligible to nominate. ↩
  2. The nominees for Best Dramatic Presentation usually don’t appear in the packet, and some novels don’t appear in formats other than PDF. ↩

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