A word to fandom about autographs

[puppetmaker]

I am getting ready for Shoreleave where there will be actors who will be doing panels, meeting fans and signing autographs. There have been a number of rumblings recently and some essays about the cost of these autographs and photos with these actors across the Internet. Some fans are upset because of the prices that some actors are charging for autographs these days and additional money for photo ops. How can they think they (the talent) think they can get X dollars for (fill in the blank)?

Want the quick answer? Anyone can look at E-bay and see what an autograph is going for. It is any wonder that the signer of the autograph wants reasonable cut of that? And don't they get to decide how much their time is worth to them? Also every fan has the choice not to buy the autograph or photo op.

Then there are those who howl when an actor cancels at the last minute. How could they is the cry. This was my whole reason for coming to this stupid convention I hear them say. It's the conventions fault that so-and-so didn't show up.

Well, let me let y'all in on a little secret. These days there is a contract between the talent and the convention. It spells out what is expected of the talent and what is expected by the convention. It also has several clauses about what will make this contract null and void with no hard feeling by either party. One of these is that the actor has work which precludes them from participating. Adam Baldwin has cancelled on DragonCon a couple of times. The first time he couldn't say why but the reason was that Chuck had gone to series and he was still shooting the first season. Believe me an actor earns a heck of a lot more from doing a TV series than they do signing autographs for a weekend. And it is nothing personal about the fans, it is just economics.

Peter doesn't charge for autographs since he figures he got "his cut" when you bought the book or comic or whatever. This seems to surprise some people because they are use to authors charging for autographs.

So fans need to stop and think before they start ranting all over the internet about the cost of doing business with their favorite (fill in the blank). The actors aren't dumb and they can figure out how much their time is worth and charge accordingly. If no one buys it at that rate, then maybe it would come down in price but as long as some people are, the rates will remain as they are now. The fans and speculators created the fair market price that talent can charge. Not the other way around.

I am grateful for people who support my friends by buying their autographs.

Comments

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to imagine buying an autograph from a living person. I can understand the idea of shelling out the big bucks for a personal letter from John Adams to his wife (assuming the proper museum-quality documentation was provided, of course), or from Abe Lincoln to his mother, or something like that...but on E-Bay? I guess MY experiences with purchases there leave me firmly in the skeptical camp.

[amergina.livejournal.com]

...authors charge for autographs?

Granted, I tend to go to book signings at bookstores and small cons rather than the great big conventions, so maybe it's a cultural difference.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

I admit, I was a bit shocked when I noticed that some people were charging, but I quickly acclimated. Once you set aside that most of the "greats" are not greedy multimillionaires who are just demanding more, but people who are struggling to make a living and support their families, it's no longer such a big deal.

As for the ones who are, refer to your argument that they deserve a cut of the profits made selling it.

[geekgrl64.livejournal.com]

I don't usually buy autographs, but last year at Dragon I bought a couple. The prices were outrageous, but I had budgeted to accomodate the expense. My only issue was that one of the actors didn't give me change from my autograph purchase.

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

I pretty much won't pay for an autograph. I'm just not programmed that way. I also don't do the "hey, sign my whole collection!" or "make it out to 'My Best Pal, _________' Thanks!" things.

When I met Peter at Shore Leave..whenever it was I went there, I got a few things signed...my copy of the B.I.D. tpb--the only one also signed by cover artist Neil Gaiman :), an original art page (and the issue it's from) of one of Peter's Trek comics, a page from Soul Searchers, and the Trek Anthology book that had been released at the convention that I was having everyone sign.

That's it no stack of comics, or every NF novel....to some extent, I don't see the point. I want things that are special signed..a one of a kind item...an issue that I find special, not stacks and stacks of paper in some geek need of validation or some poor attempt to get rich kwick.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

I bought a George Takei autograph from him at Calgary Expo and it's one of my most prized autographs :D

[elsaf]

Frankly, I've never been able to figure out why anybody buys an autograph on eBay. To my mind, the entire point of an autograph is GETTING it, not having it. The fan gets a moment to stand in front of the object of their fanaticism and exchange a couple of quick pleasantries.

Otherwise, surely my autograph would be as valuable as Michael Jacksons -- they're both just ink.

But when it comes to charging for autographs, I think the performer/author/whatever, has every right to profit from the exercise.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

I'm still bemused/boggled by something that happened to me many years ago, when I was young, foolish, and still going to Dragoncon.

Richard "Battlestar Galactica" Hatch was there, selling copies of his BsG tie-in novel. This was, of course, long before the reimagined series. I, being the sort of person who loves autographed books, decided to buy this paperback and get it signed.

My younger self was promptly flabbergasted when he charged $15. 7 for the book, 8 for the autograph.

I still think it was a silly thing, because no -author- I've ever met, ever, has charged me to sign a book, whether I brought it with me, bought it from whatever store they were at, or bought it from them specifically. Heck, almost every author I know is just happy someone likes them enough to get their autograph. :>

Since then, I've bought a few celebrity autographs... signed photos or CDs or what-have-you, but I'll never forget that odd juxtaposition of celebrity and author. (I was young, foolish, and impressionable, it may have made more of an impact on me than was warranted.)

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

If there were a table with, say, two stacks of books, both stacks were of the same book but one stack had signed copies and one stack didn't, most people would expect to pay more for a signed copy. The only difference between that and paying at the time of the signature is, well, the ink's fresher? *shakes head* I'd like to say that people amaze me but unfortunately 'appall' is the word that comes to mind more often.

[querldox.livejournal.com]

Recalling a Mark Waid written Fantastic Four story where the Four are signing autographs after a crisis, and the Invisible Woman says something like "Would you just like me to make it out 'To EBay'?".