UPDATED: NY Comic Con doesn’t consider me a publishing professional

So New York Comic Con doesn’t consider me a publishing professional. I applied for a Pro badge today as an author, and the rejection came back from their system in 30 seconds or less. Some may think my role as “pro” is subjective, but when an automated system denies it to me in 30 seconds, it puts in question what their criteria might be. If you think I belong in a place like New York Comic Con as an author, please simply re-share this post or tweet them at @NY_Comic_con. I am hoping to persuade them to let me attend.

UPDATE: I thought I should share with you what the NYCC rejection letter looked like. How did they decide this in a matter of seconds? You tell me.

“Thank you for registering for a Professional Badge for NYCC 2014. We have reviewed your application and based on NYCC’s Professional Registration requirements we are unfortunately unable to provide you with a Professional Badge for NYCC 2014. Due to the growth of the Show and demand for Badges, NYCC is utilizing a more intensive application than the convention has used previously. We are sorry to report your application cannot be approved after this more sensitive screening. 

While you do not meet our criteria for a Professional Badge this year, we encourage you to attend NYCC 2014 as a Fan and apply for a Professional Badge again in 2015. If you’d like to attend NYCC as a Fan in 2014, we recommend you purchase your Badges online at NewYorkComicCon.com. “

 

UPDATE ON JUNE 23, 2014

This issue is still not resolved, and NYCC has indicated to me that the issue stems from having entered an incorrect birth date, which I am not able to fix to resubmit, since the system has locked me out. The solution from NYCC: Ask customer service. After days of trying to get a response, here’s the email I sent them tonight:

 

Good evening. this is a message directed at the Customer Service email address provided to me by NYCC Pro (it’s an email address, no agent signed their name).

Last week I registered an application for a pro badge at Comic Con, and the system denied me within 30 seconds. The NYCC Pro account said it was because I did not enter my birth year correctly. The web page for pro applications never sent me an error message saying this was the case, and I hit submit all the way through to the end. When I contacted NYCC Pro after being denied, they indicated that the birthdate is holding up my process for re-submission.

I have emailed the Customer Service reps at this email address inquiry@nyccomiccon.com every business day since this happened, and I spent 30 minutes on hold today trying to get through to their 800 number. I eventually had to hang up so I could try later. The editor who edits my books was denied (and then later approved) for a pro badge in a similar way, but I am stuck in a loop where I can neither log into to the site to view my profile or get any response from the customer service reps.

I have blogged about this issue since last week on my web site, and I am still dumbfounded that the system implanted for pro ticketing could be this broken. I will continue to blog and encourage other published authors and editors on the behalf of people who are being affected by this. As a consumer, I have never felt so unheard. As a professional writer, I am still dumbfounded that getting a pro badge application can be this complicated. I would like to make an update to my blog and video channel explaining that this got resolved, but at this point, I am feeling no confidence in whatever is happening, since no one at NY Comic Con is actually responding to this very straightforward customer support issue.

I plan to try calling you on the phone again one more time tomorrow, as well as sending the usual email reminders about this issue. Please let me know if there is anyone I can elevate this issue to. I consider NY Comic Con an indispensable event to connect with my readers, and I am doing my best to give you whatever you need to complete my application. But without hearing anything back, or being able to reach someone at the offices without being on hold, I will not hesitate to articulate to the public how this has made me feel.

Cesar Torres
NYC