How To Lose A Hugo

Over the past several years, we’ve received DMs and emails from authors and artists asking variations of the question: “How can I lose at the Hugos?”

The joy of losing a Hugo Award is 
one known by few. We're fortunate
to have lost four times. 
(Olav Rokne photo)

There is, of course, no magic formula to ensure anything loses at the Hugo Awards. It is, after all, a community-led, democratic process. Despite one’s best efforts, you might never end up losing a Hugo.

But, having lost at the Hugo Awards four times now, we feel somewhat qualified to provide advice on this subject.

Some years ago, Hugo-winning fanwriter Jim C. Hines summarized nicely and succinctly advice for those seeking to make a splash in SFF awards. He wrote:

• Write the best stuff you can.
• Never assume you’re entitled to an award.
• Don’t be a dick.

Frankly, it’s excellent advice even if you don’t care about awards.

Armed with a heavy dose of humility and a few years of watching how people campaign for SFF literary awards, we have a handful of additional observations to share.

Engage With The Community

When it comes to the Hugo Awards, it’s worth remembering that they are a community award that masquerades as a literary institution. These awards are nominated and voted on by a self-selected group that loosely organizes itself around a series of conventions. That means that how well someone is known and how they are seen within the community will inevitably affect whether or not their work is recognized by the community.

Social media is awash with accounts run by authors who rarely post anything other than promotional content aimed at selling their own books. It’s also worth letting people know who you are, what books you enjoy, and what your general vibe is.

Engaging with the community isn’t just about telling people how good you think your book or art is, it’s about listening and talking about the things that are important to them. Talk about politics, talk about art, talk about architecture, talk about music, and be authentic.

An excellent example of this is Marie Vibert. Years before she became a Hugo finalist, and even before we’d read any of her fiction, we already had a suspicion that she was a good writer because her Tweets were engaging, funny, and interesting. When her byline was in Clarkesworld, a lot of people in the community checked out her work in part because they already know who she is, and were happy to see her getting published.

Lift Other People Up

Worldcon is a community and many of the Hugo voters know each other. And they talk.

When you see something done within the genre that you enjoy, tell people about it. Being part of a community means celebrating the accomplishments of others in that community.

If you spend most of your time lifting other people up, then when you show enthusiasm for your own work it’s more likely to come across as genuine and joyful instead of self-serving.

Listen to Community Voices

Look at which publications tend to carry Hugo-shortlisted works. It’s worth subscribing to a couple of the major SFF magazines, and knowing who your peers are in the SFF creative community.

There’s a lot of great community-based content in fanzines such as Nerds of a Feather and Galactic Journey. If you’re a podcast listener, take the time to tune into a couple of community focused podcasts like Hugo Girl and If This Goes On. Maybe even reach out to Seth at Hugos There, and see if there’s an opportunity to talk about an old book you love. Submit an article to a fanzine like Journey Planet. Send a news item to File 770.

Hugo winner Paul Weimer
has written for … countless
fanzines and guested on
innumerable podcasts.
(Olav Rokne photo) 

It doesn’t hurt to contribute to these types of projects; people remember that sort of stuff. This is not to suggest that there’s any sort of quid-pro-quo, but rather that people are likelier to pay attention to works written by people they know to some degree.

When you look at lists of existing Hugo winners, remember that the reason these works won is that people within the community voted for them. If you are overly vocal in your disdain for these works, their supporters will likely infer that your work is dissimilar to the stuff they like and will consequently not bother to read it.

If you loathe the Hugo Awards, and hate the people at Worldcon, don’t be surprised if the people at Worldcon are not fans of yours either.

It’s fascinating to see people on social media writing screeds about how much they hate the people who vote on Hugo Awards, while simultaneously complaining that they don’t win Hugo Awards.

Be Aware Of Community Standards

As with any community, there are some unwritten rules about what is considered acceptable or unacceptable behaviour. With the Worldcon community, there are several things that are generally considered to be unacceptable, including racism, transphobia, and sexism.

These standards have obviously evolved over time (for the better), and much of the conduct that was once ignored or even encouraged would probably (and correctly) preclude some celebrated authors of the past from winning today.

It’s also worth noting that people who are mean or condescending towards people within the community are less likely to earn Hugo Award nominations. We have seen at least one writer whose published work is brilliant … but who fails to earn award nominations. We suspect it’s largely because of how consistently they talk down to people. 

Find Your Niche

A work doesn’t have to appeal to everyone for it to be worthwhile. Hugo nominations often come from creating something that has deep resonance with a significant minority of fandom, even if it doesn’t connect with the broader Worldcon audience.

This blog, for example, has built a following for both talking about the political economy of speculative fiction, and for a quirky iconoclastic humour. Both of these have niche audiences, and we’re continuously amazed — and thrilled — that our work has been appreciated by that portion of the Worldcon membership.

Humour is however … a bit like Marmite-flavoured icecream. Not every flavour is right for everyone.

Conclusion

More science fiction is being published now than ever before, and thanks to the internet, much of it is available more widely. There are more worthy works in every category every year than could possibly be recognized, consequently don’t take it as a slight if you don’t make the shortlist. If you’re fortunate enough to make the shortlist, don’t take it as a slight if your work doesn’t get a trophy.

Of course, there are a lot of readers, and a lot of active fans, who are not Hugo voters, so one can have a successful career without any risk of being nominated for this award simply because the two circles don't happen to overlap.