Create a fan club

So you've attended a few club meetings, read a few club publications, gotten to know a few bods here and there, and are now starting to feel a little blase about this whole fan club thing. So much so that you've decided to enter the field yourself, with one simple question needing an answer "Just how do I start a fan club?"

The very first thing that must be considered when confronting this problem is "A fan club for what?" In Victoria alone, there is one major Star Trek fan club (Austrek), a medium sized one, plus a whole host of regional and University Trek clubs already, so I think it's safe to assume we don't need any more of them (they really have fallen into the "dime a dozen" category). We also have two main Doctor Who clubs, a recently created X-Files fan club, one Battlestar Galactica fan club (yes it's true -actually it's been around now since 1986!), a Red Dwarf club which is connected to its UK counterpart and one lone Star Wars club servicing the whole country. In fact there are a whole host of other clubs currently floating around catering for a variety of interests, including those who just serve their local areas (the Universities for instance, have got 'em all over the place). So depending on what your interest is you could possibly be treading on other people's toes, and although it might be purely unintentional, it is a known fact that two growing fan clubs who serve the same interest, will invariably come into competition with each other as their paths continually cross. I must point out here that competition can be a good thing, it makes club organisers give their utmost to their members and ensures they continually improve on what they have to offer, while the membership gets the best from each group. The problem stems from the organisers view point. Fan clubs are meant to be fun, a lot of fun in fact, and nothing upsets the balance of that more than when rival organisations try to get the upper hand on each other with the sole purpose of beating the competition. Naturally, nastiness will come into it more frequently, which takes the pleasure out of the whole fan club thing.

Anyway, so you've looked around and thought, well gee there are all these clubs, but there aren't any for... (wait for it) "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". So in a bright flash of pure unrefined inspiration, you decide one night, after having a chunky blood red tomato sandwich, to create a fan club for this truly forgettable film.

Yeah sounds great, you can just picture it now. It will be huge, it will be famous, it will have a membership bigger than your Aunt Beryl's patchwork classes. But the whole dream comes to a SCREAMING halt as one lone thought enters your mind. "How do I get started?" No doubt the first thing that will have come into your creative head will be a name. Creating names is something everyone gets a kick out of doing, so be sure to choose one which will be appropriate (The Unofficial Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Appreciation Society of Australasia! phew, what a mouthful). It has to be easy to remember and pronounce (AttacTomAppSoc! / don't think so). And in the end the choice should be one you like and will suit the club you are creating (Friends of Killer Tomatoes! lovely). Once this hurdle has been overcome, then the time to make some really serious decisions will arise.

Before your next move, you must decide if you are actually going to go through with it, because make no mistake, running any kind of club can be bloody hard yakka (I know entire fan clubs that have literally faded into non existence due to lack of enthusiasm from the organisers). But if you have thought it through carefully and rationally (both short and long term) and are still serious about putting it together, other questions start to unfold. "Do I want it to be big?" "Am I doing this for myself or for my potential members? (this is important as you might find that you can do everything you want with your interest without the actual need of having to create a club for it)" "In my newsletter what am I going to write about?" "Do I have access to any privy information?" "Am I able to run it alone or will I need help?" As you can see there is a lot to think about. In fact one of the reasons why / have not set up the odd club or three was the newsletter problem, which I will discuss in more detail later.

So after slaving laboriously over the questions above, if you come out still wanting to go ahead with it, this is what you need to look at next. BUDGET. Yes the dreaded money bit. A budget can quite literally make or break you. Before you consider buying the World Congress Centre or choosing colour schemes for your 150 page newsletter, you must decide how much is it all going to cost you and your members. A one year subscription to your club must be able to totally finance all the operations within it. Let's say The Friends of Killer Tomatoes annual fee is $15. That money should pay for all the printing and posting of each newsletter for that year, per person. There should also be enough left over to cover any increase in printing or postage costs (it is also handy to still have some excess to cover the postage of any special membership packs). Anything spare after that can be invested in special merchandise or perhaps given to a charitable organisation. Remember, the ideal fan club does not cost the operator a cent, although you may have to initially chuck in a buck or two to get started. On the other hand though, the more the club offers the more it will cost, therefore fees must be structured accordingly so that price rises from bad budget planning do not become a regular thing. People always remember the things they don't like, and although you might need to raise your fees for the first time in three years, to the members it will seem like only yesterday when they went up last (look at tram tickets). Price hikes will also result in lapsing members as people will be unwilling to renew because of the jump (whether it be truly valid or not). For this reason a sensible price structure is crucial (Good financial planning has served one growing Victorian club so well, it has had the same prices now for six years).

OK, you've now got a name and a membership fee (Yay!), it's time now to get into some meaty business stuff as you create a bank account and preferably get a PO Box. Simply put: Bank accounts can be a pain in the clackers to set up! Banks always require some sort of letter saying just who the hell are the Friends of Killer Tomatoes anyway! You will be required to supply your hundred points (passport, driver's license, birth certificate or anything else that says who you are), there are also millions of forms to be filled out, believe me, the fun of creating a fan club can get a real kick in the squishy bits from all this Bank-O-Jargon. However all the hassles of getting out of the bank alive are worth it when you finally receive (after a three or so week wait) your cheque and deposit book with The Friends of Killer tomatoes happily pnnted inside, and pray for no mistakes, they can be a pain to fix (the Bank of Melbourne is usually favoured by clubs, if only because they are open on Saturdays). Getting a post office box is a lot simpler, usually the only problem is trying to find an available box at your local post office (you will know your club is destined for meteoric success when you discover the last box at the branch just down the road went yesterday with a minimum three month wait til the next one!). After all that, your club is now on the go. You have a name, bank account, PO Box and financial structure. Finally after all this, you actually get to have some fun, designing a club flyer and membership form.

You do not need me to tell you how to create a club flyer. There are so many floating about that the best idea is to grab a few, have a look at the different types and choose the best bits from each. Whatever your result, it should look good, be complete with clear and specific information, and should be distributed to as many living individuals as possible. A good flyer is useless without publicity, so get around to those Sci-Fi shops and club meets and let the world know of the Friends for Killer Tomatoes, come one, come all, let us all unite!

By now you will have discovered the dreaded hassle called 'printing'. Your club will suffer badly if you have to pay for the printing of flyers, considering you need so many and yet so few will actually get you new members (about 15-30% on average). Subsequently just about every club has a committee member or friend stashed away in someones office where the photocopiers can be practically pumped to death. It is their solemn duty to show no mercy to these machines, printing out millions of flyers til the cows come home. If you can do the same, so much the better (stick with one sided flyers, they are quicker to print, also an A4 sheet of paper can produce 2 A5 flyers - in 100 sheets, that makes 200 ads).

If everything is going to plan, memberships should start coming in thick and fast (usually your friends are the ones to sign up first, if only to get a really low membership number). If this is the case, then your new club will have money pouring into it. Although this is a great joy, you must sit back and take a serious businesslike approach to it because you are now taking people's money, and misusing it is something very few people find amusing (not mentioning a Sydney Sci-Fi club [not Astrex] whose President absconded with a couple of grand recently), thus it is important for you to treat all this new found wealth with a proper attitude. If people have paid their $15 then be sure they get what they paid for, because if anyone starts screaming, it's your internal organs that'll be on the line (as well as the future of the club) and your name will be mud forever (actually rotten tomatoes seems a more appropriate description - This reminds me of the fan club who offered a $150 life joining fee, that's a 10 year subscription folks, only to close a year or so later - 150 bucks, that's a lot of tomatoes). Remember fan clubs are non profit organisations, there are no fans who personally make money out of their clubs (well they shouldn't anyway), usually they donate any excess funds to a charity, but don't be too hasty, remember most of this money you are receiving has already been allocated to your newsletter printing and posting. It may seem like a lot now, but newsletter costs can drain the sacks pretty quick. On the other hand, if a huge influx of members gives you a couple of healthy G's to play around with, you can either invest it in some useful club assets like a computer, photocopier, fax or \ideo projector (and not on a Porsche. Simpson automatic dishwasher or trip to the rello's place in London). Or you can use it to juice up the publication a bit, just don't leave yourself short, also be sure to inform your membership of your intentions, that'll stop them from freaking out about it later (sound familiar). Speaking of newsletters, this reminds me of the important bit.

Your newsletter is your life. It is your prime contact with your fans, and if all you can produce is a few pages of badly written articles or photocopied bits out of Starlog, then you had better quit right there. Also if you have the ability to fill a couple of issues worth of good stuff but have nothing new for the future, well then when the time comes, you're gonna be up the spout. Although newsletters these days are done using the latest in computer technology, it is not essential that you follow suit (The only drawback will be people's reactions when they don't see a laser printed Techno-Ish which we have all become so accustomed to these days). One thing which is important is the ability to present the thing well. If you're using a typewriter (remember those things), do what you can to minimise mistakes and poor layouts. The infamous 'cut and paste' can do wonders to potentially embarrassing newsletters, the trick is to make it look like you never did it in the first place, (in fact I know one editor who would type his entire newsletter [on my typewriter in fact] with narrow margins, then reduce the text on a photocopier then restick the whole thing to fit into three justified columns. It was a lot of work but the result was pretty good in the absence of a computer). If you happen to own a computer and printer then your troubles have already been overcome, but if you have to use someone else's, be prepared to find a back up if the access to it suddenly disappears (sez the editor who had to buy an expensive typewriter to keep his newsletter at a decent standard after his only computer source went bye bye). If your own computer is the way to go, I suggest that you don't go over-tech, that is, having the thing so full of technical fancy stuff that it takes ages to put together. Because although you might spend donkey's making your premiere issue as perfect as possible, you'd be surprised how hard it can be keeping that standard when you discover your deadlines for printing are due in a few days (and that will happen), they can creep up on you like bad omens, and believe me, people have more tolerance for poorly produced newsletters that come out on time, than mega-pretty ones that come out three months late.

These days, everyone seems to be yapping on about incorporating fan clubs (it's the chic thing to do), but it's not new, clubs and conventions have been on the incorporation bandwagon since Star Walking started it in 1988. Don't get me wrong, incorporation's are a good thing - for the committee. Organisations usually only become legal bodies to protect the committee from any potential legal actions held against them. For the actual membership, nothing changes as far as they are concerned. Admittedly though, clubs that seek the exclusive "Inc." after their name can often get the odd benefit or two. But for The Friends of the Killer Tomatoes, getting incorporated means special constitutions. Annual General Meetings, submission of financial reports, and buckets of endless forms so chock full "legal jargon" that it can really be overwhelming. So before you hit the Corporate Affairs Commission, just see if the benefits to your club are really worth the headaches. (Besides can you imagine going to the front desk with a big smile on your face saying "Hi, I'd like to incorporate a fan club for tomatoes that roll around and kill people.")

The only other thing that may eventuate in your club as the years roll on by is the need of a committee, as running a club single handedly is not easy. Although the concept of spreading the workload around a group of people sounds fine, the problems notorius in committees (like: politics, bitching and more politics) could invariably effect your one too. I suppose the only way to compromise is to personally choose people who you want to be involved whilst you retain the supreme commander status within the group - as a couple of clubs have already done (what is a common occurence though is the new committee get together, have a few elections and slowly start to "improve" things, the club founder who set the thing up starts to get sick of the constant changes, cracks his bunny and jumps ship). If your committee can remain focused and dedicated to your club, then things will run smoothly, but that will only happen with strong, competant leadership. You must be able to keep the team on track otherwise watch out! someone, somewhere, \vill look at your job enviously and say "I can do better than you."

Anyway no matter how you proceed, I'm sure that happy mediums can be struck all along the fan club vine and your club will live forever and a day, (the real test is at your first anniversary when your renewals begin). It doesn't matter if you run a club for Killer Tomatoes, Star Trek, Blake's 7, Lost in Space, Star Wars, or Doctor Who, the principles of their operations all remain pretty much the same. The level of success reached will depend on the people running it (also the subject matter helps), but if you ever want good advice, just ask anyone who is involved on a club committee. Most of them will say can be hard work with little reward, but for some reason there are always plenty of people still willing to take the job on, even those who have already been there and done that.

D. Maxwell was the Co-Founder and President of Gothic Command (1989-92) and was editor of Der Reaper the club's newsletter. He was also the Co-founder of Star Walking Inc. and is currently Director of Sky force, as well as editor of The Sky force Journal.