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marycrawfordJaw-dropping realization of this morning: the number of fans participating in Yuletide is bigger than the number of fans who vote for the Hugo awards.
Last year's Yuletide participants: 1995
This year's Hugo voters: 1800 or so - ETA: 1848, by official report.
I'm not even sure why I'm so surprised by this random comparison. Probably it's because I roamed around in SF/F con fandom before media fandom, and this feels like such a strange crossover.
It's also boggling because the Hugos carry a lot of prestige (I think, still?) and yet the group that votes for them is so small, and confined to people who are paying either tons of money to go to Worldcon, or $50 for a 'voting membership' that won't let them go to the con, but gets them copies of the books.
And I don't know how big the overlap with Yuletiders is; I'm betting it's there, but not huge. But I'm fascinated, anyway.
(What do you think the chances are of John Scalzi winning a Best Novel Hugo for Redshirts, if the Yuletide participants were the ones voting?)
Last year's Yuletide participants: 1995
This year's Hugo voters: 1800 or so - ETA: 1848, by official report.
I'm not even sure why I'm so surprised by this random comparison. Probably it's because I roamed around in SF/F con fandom before media fandom, and this feels like such a strange crossover.
It's also boggling because the Hugos carry a lot of prestige (I think, still?) and yet the group that votes for them is so small, and confined to people who are paying either tons of money to go to Worldcon, or $50 for a 'voting membership' that won't let them go to the con, but gets them copies of the books.
And I don't know how big the overlap with Yuletiders is; I'm betting it's there, but not huge. But I'm fascinated, anyway.
(What do you think the chances are of John Scalzi winning a Best Novel Hugo for Redshirts, if the Yuletide participants were the ones voting?)
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Date: 2013-09-13 11:34 am (UTC)-J
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Date: 2013-09-13 11:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-13 12:33 pm (UTC)I don't know that Scalzi would have done as well as he did if the Yuletide fans voted, but I'm wagering he would still have done pretty well. Redshirts was a fun and solidly written book, it used some fannish tropes, Scalzi is on record as being sympathetic to fandom, and he's put himself out there while trying to be a decent guy on various issues the past few years. Given all that and the fact that not everyone sees the best book of the year as the book that best fits the current literary fashions about quality -- an interesting discussion to be had there -- I doubt he would have trailed the pack.
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Date: 2013-09-13 12:52 pm (UTC)From the descriptions I've read of Redshirts, it just struck me as a book that would gain most traction among the older-white-male section of the Worldcon crowd, but I could be totally wrong about that.
I really like that the Hugos are a popular vote instead of a jury vote, myself. I just wish the population was bigger & more diverse.
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Date: 2013-09-13 03:52 pm (UTC)The Hugos definitely still have lots of prestige! But wow. Such a tiny proportion of con-going SF fandom deciding what SF fandom at large loves most that year. (Tons better than a panel of 3 with personal preferences and grudges, but still. So few!)
Something about that comparison makes me want to wave it at that particular kind of SFF fan who sneer at fanfic as a disorganized mob of wannabes.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-13 04:50 pm (UTC)Something about that comparison makes me want to wave it at that particular kind of SFF fan who sneer at fanfic as a disorganized mob of wannabes.
SNERK. Yisss. Though of course, it's just about fanfic, that's not real difficult anyway! Now, if they were at least writing Heinlein stories...[/end neckbeard]
wow
Date: 2013-12-31 10:42 pm (UTC)