is a con different to a literary festival?
Oh, hell, yes. I've more experience with S.F. cons.
Most are fan run, non-profit, usually with a charity in the mix. Sometimes there is a TV/movie guest of honor, but most of the time they have a big name writer as the GoH.
Dozens of other writers turn up, paying their own hotel, travel, & food expenses. The cons usually comp a ticket in exchange for serving on panel talks. A weekend ticket for attendees is usually 40.00 or less if you buy early.
Commercial conventions are venues like Creation Cons, which deliver media guests. Their tickets range from 25.00 a day-300.00+ depending how close you want to sit to your idols. There is a rumor that metal detectors are set up not to keep people from entering with weapons, but to keep people from leaving with any change in their pockets.
I've dropped about 1200.00 as a GUEST at a romance convention in the 90s. That covered my air, hotel, food and ticket in. They do not comp guests and are terribly overpriced to someone used to S.F. venues. These can be very strictly run events or fun, depending on your ranking in the romance community. I did not recover the money in book sales, but it was sort of fun. Sort of. Meh.
One of my pals went to one in Houston, deciding NOT to spend a c-note for a rubber chicken dinner and hung out in the bar with other writers. Unpubs chewed their chicken at the banquet, hoping that meant they were networking, but all that was going on in the bar.
Then there are mystery writer cons, which are also pricy like the romance cons. More drinking is involved, so they do tend to be more fun.
That's a thumbnail of what's out there.
The most bang for your buck are the fan-run science fiction cons that get in name writers. There will be panels on writing, selling, editing, publishing, etc. in addition to an art show, charity auction, costume contest, autograph alley, and dealer's room.
They tend to be a lot more fun. Where else can you dance the Time Warp with a kilt-wearing Klingon and no one bats an eye?
