Getting Ahead in Fandom

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Title:	Getting Ahead in Fandom
Creator:	M.J. Fisher
Date(s):	December 1976
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:
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Getting Ahead in Fandom is a 1976 Star Trek: TOS essay by M.J. Fisher.

It was printed in Spectrum #29.

Fisher wrote many essays in "Spectrum." Some were part of a series loosely called "Fannish Thoughts," and some were standalone essays.

Some Topics Discussed

• becoming a BNF, making a name for yourself in fandom
• "The correspondence portion of fan activities is the most essential part in learning the ropes in fandom."
• "As a last resort for fans who can't get themselves published in other zines, or merely want additional opportunities to communicate in fandom, there is always pub lishing your own zine. This allows you to do and say whatever you want without a middleman, and to sell yourself directly to other fans."
• "The initial thing affecting fans and how they will relate to fandom is their geography."
• how to do political maneuvering in fandom, and ingratiate yourself with BNFs and SMOFs

From the Essay

I know for a fact that before I begin this article that many people will assume that I intend to divulge the secrets of getting to the top of the ladder in fandom, which I'm sure some people will take personally. Quite on the contrary, I have always been intrigued with the way fans work themselves into fandom for one reason or another. You must all admit that there are certain ways of getting yourself known to other fans that work better than others. The main purpose fans have in becoming involved in fandom is usually to find an outlet for communication and not just the glory of becoming a BNF, whether it's intentional or not. There are some ways to lubricate the avenues of communication in fandom that work better than others, and that's what this is all about.

The next thing you have to do to break into fandom to find your own forum to communicate with fellow fen is to write...A LOT. If you can't stand writing letters, chances are no one will ever know you exist in fandom. Fandom is a very word-oriented subgroup in society, what with fanzines, newsletters, pen pal services, international letter exchanges and a hellish amount of mail, it's necessary to be able to put a sentence together to be able to find a place in fandom. Once you begin to write letters, it helps to write letters to the right people. A lot goes on in fandom that never gets published in any fanzine or any journal and the best way to find out about them is to write to the people who do know what is going on. If you're especially lucky you'll find someone right away who is in on the "grapevine" which, although quite nebulous in construction, is a definite entity in fandom and important in finding out the latest gossip.

Another thing that may be useful in making yourself known is getting in touch with certain "index fans." In geology, an index fossil is a type of animal that only existed during a certain period of time, and once that time is narrowed down to a specific point in prehistory that fossil can be used to determine the age of any rock strata it is found in. In a similar way, once you become known to these index fans you might be able to consider yourself a known quantity in fandom. Index fans would probably include a lot of people who deal in hyperfanac, such as fanzine editors, club leaders, concon members and others who are similarly active. Perhaps the hardest index fans to come across are the SMOFs, and even once you have come across them you might not still be able to consider yourself well ahead in fandom because of it. SMOFs are covert fans who engage in considerable fanac, but don't show it like most fen do. Finding these people usually means at least that you've gotten your correspond once close enough to fever pitch to be considered an active fan.

Getting yourself exposed to more fans however can be looked at as a form of politics...at least the competition and image-making side of the political scene. Although Watergate has tarnished the image of politics in America, it's really not that bad when you consider that politics plays a part in any collection of two or more people. Anyone who has a brother or sister knows the competition that goes on between siblings for attention in a family. Compromising and keeping everyone happy in a family with two or more kids takes a lot of political maneuvering that parents are seldom acknowledged for. In a similar way, there is a political type of maneuvering for attention in fandom. It's not the same power-seeking, bureaucratic politics that we read about in the daily papers but just a natural human need for recognition, which some people require more than others.

In politics then, making sure that people know your name is essential and there are many, many ways to get your name plastered around with a minimum of effort. The best way is to get your own fan activity, be it a zine, a con, whatever, listed in the Star Trek Welcommittee's Directory of STorgs. If you have a zine, for instance, it's almost de rigueur to have it listed in the Directory. This will probably become the case with the Trexindex when it is published and the Who's Who in Star Trek Fandom when it comes out.

Perhaps the only fanzine that provides the same service for the upward-bound fan to the same extent that the reference zines do is Halkan Council. It is a unique case since it is the only letterzine in fandom. Halkan Council does of course have its obvious appeal of being a casual, friendly, forum for discussion among fans, but it also serves the dual purpose of parading the actifans before the rest of fandom. Most likely, most of the people in Star Trek fandom who are active fans have been in Halkan Council several times, if not frequently. With a little luck, a fan can pass from obscurity to being quite well known in fandom with nothing more than a few letters appearing consecutively in Halkan Council. It does of course, depend upon how many letters the fan writes, how badly the fan wants to write something that will likely make it into print, and the random discretion of the editors in choosing that fan's letters for publication. People with paranoid inklings may realize that it's possible for HC to turn a neofan into a BNF overnight, but its all very random and like reference zines, that feature of Halkan is inherent. I'm certain that it isn't the intention of Shirley Huang and Sandy Yingling to use their zine as a tool; but if only because of the format they choose for their zine, it does have that potential.

Turning aside from fanzines for awhile, it is also important to mention conventions, since a lot of mingling between fans occurs at such events. Proving to others that you exist by shewing up in the flesh sometimes helps establish you in fandom. Con going, like getting into fandom in the first place, is highly dependent upon geography. If you live in an area where cons are frequent it won't cost you a fortune to travel to them. If you live somewhere in the boonies of South Dakota, Alaska, or other places where fandom is sparse, it will cost a fortune to travel to even one con. If you can however attend the major events it is possible to attach more faces to names and meet new fans in the space of one weekend than it is in months of letter writing. Better yet- being invited to the private conclaves or room parties at any major con is usually an insightful look at what fans render to minuscule pieces during discussions between themselves.

There are many places, and ways to make advances in communicating to other fans inside of fandom. Most of the people who are active fans in mainstream fandom now have discovered most of the things I've mentioned just as a consequence of their yearning for more knowledge about fans and fandom. Most fans utilize various opportunities to make themselves known to others in a sincere and searching way of finding people like themselves to share experiences and ideals. For fans whose primary purpose in fandom is to make as big of a name for himself or herself as possible with just the intent of maintaining that person's ego trip, then fandom will usually react quite negatively toward such a person. Such a person is a fake fan and doesn't embrace the ideals of comradeship in fandom that all fans uphold. There are certain natural reactions to such fans which place road blocks in their paths, which I discussed to some extent in my editorial "Underground Fandom" in Spectrum #24. Fake fans are few, and the natural reactions other fans have to them limit their progress in fandom for purely personal gains and allows sincere fans to use the available tools extant in fandom to break the ice and reach out to others.