Once Upon a Con - A Statement

So. Once Upon a Con… happened. Let’s talk about that.

Gonna preface this with a big fat disclaimer that every author/vendor I spoke to agreed that we were very well insulated from the bulk of the bullshit that occurred this past weekend. For the sake of clarity and keeping things as unbiased as I can, I’m going to talk only about my experiences as an author in the vendor room and our perception/gradual realization that there were fundamental problems with this convention brewing as the weekend progressed.

I want to make it clear here that the volunteer convention staff are not to blame for anything we or attendees went through. Every staffer I spoke to was trying so goddamn hard to make things work and they need to be compensated in some way for what they went through—not just the authors, vendors, and attendees. I never saw hide nor hair of the con chairs. From what I gathered from others, they spent the convention partying and avoiding the responsibility endemic to running a massive event. The bulk of the blame is theirs, and any lack of professionalism, organization, or coordination in things is on them, not the people trying to make shit work when it was destined to do anything BUT work.

At first blush, nothing was really amiss right away. There were several small red flags that appeared when we came in for badge pick up on Thursday, but we were able to wave them away as first con growing pains. When you view it all as a whole, it’s pretty easy to see that this convention was going to be a shit show from the get-go.

First of the bigger vendor-related red flags was that there was no formal check-in system in place when we arrived for badge pick up. The ID verification began and ended with “Just show us your emails so we know you’re legit.” They had no list of vendor/author names, no info on how many badges we were to get, and all additional needs were done via honor system. It would have been incredibly easy for non-vendors to grift a vendor badge and cause problems :/

The loading docks were a constant source of headaches for everyone, especially vendors who did their load-in on Thursday (for some reason, they didn't let authors load in until Friday morning and only gave us 4 hours for setup). This is likely a Gaylord issue, but I know the con staff struggled greatly trying to navigate these issues and the lack of care and help from the con chairs definitely added to the stress put on staff.

But back to load-in. There was only one staffer inside the hall directing people to their tables. This staffer was excellent, they did the best they could and clearly had a lot of issues trying to make things work for everyone, but it was very clear that the map had been changed without notice and no one was going to be placed where they were meant to be placed. Given my author cohort printed custom cards with our map locations on it for this event, that meant our efforts and money got wasted and a lot of our marketing material was rendered unusable the second we walked in the door.

Friday load-in progressed to selling, and we were fully insulated from any issues occurring with programming or registration because from our perspective, the convention was going great. Lots of attendees were arriving, lots of sales were happening, and traffic + sales were super steady. It was after the hall closed that we began hearing rumors about cosplay guests not getting the comped rooms they'd been promised to receive in their contracts. A little later on, we heard the masquerade had started late, had no decorations--that things were just not at all what they had been advertised to be. It was around that point that the whispers about this being another A Million Lives really started to gain traction. Given Friday’s foot traffic and sales were good, we thought the comparison was premature, but when Saturday’s foot traffic was abysmal and Sunday’s practically nonexistent, the more the remaining attendees began to talk to us about their experiences and relay their worries, and how they were concerned for our well-being/treatment. It was probably Saturday that we realized we were really, really in it, but by that point, I’d say half of the attendees had cut their losses and left the event entirely.

I want to say thank you here to the attendees who stuck it out—and even those who didn’t, because so many of them made sure to come into the vendors hall before they left to support us. We all heard time and time again how concerned they were for our well being, how badly they wanted to make sure they supported us so this wouldn’t turn into A Million Lives-levels of financial fuckery for struggling creatives just trying to share their work with the world. So many of you guys flew across the country like I did to be at this event. It means quite a lot that you still wanted to make sure we were okay before cutting your losses and believe me: we all noticed, and we really, really appreciated it. 

But let’s get back to my biggest issue as an attending author: the fucking doubloons bullshit.

The whole doubloons system was a massive red flag from the start. For context, VIP badge holders were given two plastic coins that they could use to trade for any book in the vendor hall. Authors then hand in the coin to con-ops and are reimbursed for the cost of the book later. The only information we were given about this pre-con was a small two sentence paragraph buried in a very large email sent maybe two weeks before the event itself. We were not given an option to opt in/opt out of this transaction system. No timeline was given on when reimbursements would happen, no set prices or ranges were put in place, and it was again another instance of the “honor system” because they had no way of verifying our book prices and we had no way of proving that there was compensation owed beyond giving them contact info in a spreadsheet that they then had to fulfill… whenever they decide to fulfill it. 

I had only vague recollections of this system when it was brought to my attention on Friday. My author cohort had no idea what it was at all. If we’d been informed properly, if there had been rules in place, consent acquired, and limitations/specific books available for purchase via this barter system process, we may have been more on board with the concept, but as it was… it’s a pretty stupid idea and the lack of consent really rubs me the wrong way. Even if this system had been executed flawlessly (which it wasn’t), I would never be okay with a convention deciding they have the right to sell my work for a plastic coin without guaranteeing my compensation + choice of offerings beforehand. I hope to god they go through with actually compensating authors who gave away their work as part of this stupid system, but I don’t know if I should bother holding my breath :/ 

Anyway, over the course of the weekend, staff stopped by twice to let us know they had run out of doubloons and needed us to bring them to con-ops ASAP so they could recirculate them to VIPs who still needed their promised perks, and on Sunday we were told at 10:15am that all doubloons had to be recorded and returned to con-ops by 10:30am if they were to count towards reimbursement. When I told this to other staffers later on, they had no idea the time limit had been put in place and expressed worry about authors getting compensated. As of the Monday after the con, no one has been, but given how many other balls had been dropped and fees not paid, who knows when author compensation gets addressed.

As for sales, I did okay overall. I made less than I should have at a con of this “size” (they told us they sold over 6k tickets but there was nowhere near that turnout) but enough to have covered my expenses—would have made a profit, too, if the post office hadn’t full on lost 40 books of mine, but I’m not getting into that now even though I’m still so mad about it. As I said above, sales overall would have been astronomically worse if the attendees hadn’t rallied around us as hard as they did. I will not be attending OUAC year two (if it even winds up happening). Which is a shame, tbh, if it doesn’t come back under new management. They were in talks to do a horror theme for 2026 and if this were run well… God. There really aren’t any large horror/fantasy conventions. I would have loved to go to one. We really can’t have nice things anymore, can we?

But yeah. My brain is melting because I was traveling in airports for like seven hours today followed by several more hours of annoying paperwork as I get ever closer to home ownership. I’m probably forgetting a few things here and there as it relates to authors, but any gaps I’ve left can be filled by checking out the statements/videos flooding the OUAC tag on twitter, insta, and tiktok, or by checking out the other authors in my cohort for their inevitable statements. I’ll link their accounts below.

Since I’ve got your attention though, I’d like to plug my work because this con, while not abysmal for me, was anything but profitable. I’m closing on my house in two weeks and I am in desperate need for more cash to help pad the gaping hole my savings account has become. Please, please, PLEASE take a gander at my titles and grab a book or two. Show your friends! Any little bit helps, be it in monetary form or just increased visibility, and if you’re attending Matsuricon in Columbus, OH later this month, stop by my table to help me get through this month in the black ;-;

Until next time,

T.D. Cloud

For more gothic, dark, queer fiction that fucks (or just more drama, you hungry hungry hounds), check out the other authors in my OUAC cohort.

LADZ | IAN HARAMAKI | JEN KARNER