Blockbuster or Bust

The other day I came across an interesting article on the Wall Street Journal Online called Blockbuster or Bust Why struggling publishers will keep placing outrageous bids on new books

It talks about how even in our difficult economic times publishers still make it a practice to put big, big bucks on books they hope will turn out to be blockbusters, and how the entire system actually runs in such a way as to discourage anything else. They also rely on the big sellers to support the other books on their lists. One company cites the fact that 80% of its sales and an even larger share of its profits came from just 20% of its titles in 2006.

As an example the article cited publisher Grand Central, which in 2007 allegedly paid $1.25 million to buy the rights to Vicki Myron's "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched The World," a nonfiction book about an abandoned kitten found in the returned-book slot of an Iowa public library. Why did they choose this book for all that money? The selling point is that it's like the recent blockbuster, Marley and Me (a recently released movie, which I have yet to see but intend to; not sure Marley has anything on Quigley, actually).

I've always been somewhat annoyed when marketers, agents, editors, and assorted publishing advice givers want me to tell what other books on the market are like mine, because for a long time I didn't know of any. I would say well The Enclave is like Sigmund Brouwer's Double Helix because it's got genetics in it. But Enclave isn't anything like Double Helix. Or, the Legends of the Guardian King series is like Lord of the Rings. But different. (Which is like saying chocolate chip cookies are like brownies, but different, in my opinion). The LOTR tie was the route marketers took, for better or for worse with Legends of the Guardian King. There really wasn't anything else out there. And after reading the article, I understand a little more why they do it.

Here's an excerpt:

"Media companies' hit-focused marketing did not emerge in a vacuum. It reflects how consumers make choices. The truth is that consumers prefer blockbusters. Because they are inherently social, people find value in reading the same books and watching the same movies that others do. This is true even in today's markets where, thanks to the Internet, buyers have easy access to millions and millions of titles. Compounding this tendency is the fact that media products are what economists call "experience goods": that is, shoppers have trouble evaluating them before having consumed or experienced them. Unable to judge a book by its cover, readers look for cues as to its suitability for them, and find it very useful to hear that "Dewey" is "a 'Marley & Me' for cat lovers." In much the same way that potential publishers do, readers value resemblances to past favorites.

I think I must be different than most readers, and maybe my trouble finding books that are like mine to offer marketers as sales tools originates in my relationship with reading. First of all, I'm more likely NOT to read a book that's a blockbuster because so many of them have been disappointments.

Second, when I look at the stories and books I've loved, I don't see a lot of resemblance to each other among them: Watership Down, Lord of the Rings, Horatio Hornblower, The Farseer Trilogy, Watchers, Miles Vorkosigan, Captain Blood, Jurassic Park, Without Remorse, The Scarlet Pimpernel... In fact, I tend not to like books that are like my favorites and try them with trepidation and the expectation that they will not measure up. I adore Forester's Hornblower series, own almost every one of them (I have 9 of the 11 books in the series, plan to eventually buy the other two), and have read many of them multiple times. I couldn't make it through the first chapter of Patrick O'Brien's sea stories, even though they're supposed to be similar. They're not, not to my way of thinking. I didn't even like the movie, and that was with Russell Crowe in it. (Which was admittedly the best part of it... Okay, I like the sea and the ship stuff, but the whole rest of the story was not my cup of tea.)

I loved Watership Down. But Redwall is in the pile with the O'Brien Books. Lord of the Rings has a ton of ripoffs and I'll admit I did like The Sword of Shannara when I read it as a young adult because it was simpler and shorter and easier to read. That opinion has not survived the years, however, and has, in fact, reversed. LOTR has a lot more depth and substance and now Shannara just seems...like a rip off. There are multitudes of Clancy and Koontz clones, too, but I haven't been able to generate interest in any of them.

Well, I always knew I was not in the mainstream. Because there is one main similarity between 60% of the titles I listed above just off the top of my head and that's the science fiction/fantasy/action element. Which right there puts you out of the mainstream.

You can read the full article HERE.

~~~

Where the Map Ends Interview

Where the Map Ends is a new website started up by Jeff Gerke, formerly editor for the Realms speculative fiction imprint at Strang Publications, and a speculative fiction novelist in his own right, with six published novels to his credit.

The site was designed to be a place for Christians who love speculative fiction to hang out. There are interviews of the top Christian speculative novelists writing today, lists of books currently available in the market place, writing and publishing information artwork, worldbuilding tools and a rank of other features in the making.

Jeff recently honored me with a request to do an interview, and that interview is now up as this month's featured Interview. You can find it here. (And just to offer you additional incentive, I believe this interview includes the first public snippet of information on what Black Box is about.)

After you read the interview, I encourage you to look around a bit. There's a lot to discover and much more to come. It's a site you'll no doubt want to visit often.

Karen

Yellow30 Sci Fi

Last summer the folks over Yellow30 Sci-Fi , "an independent forum for science fiction, fantasy and alternate history," asked me to do an interview for their site and I agreed, telling them I thought I was going to finish RotGK by October 1. Of course that didn't happen, nor did I finish by November 1. Not until December did I finally get the chance to answer the questions they'd sent me back in September, though my contact there was very gracious and patient throughout. I'm happy to report the Interview is now up, and I'm their featured author for the January-March volume. They've redesigned their home page and Return of the Guardian-King is right there on the front page alongside some very nice fantasy artwork. I invite you to give it a look at Yellow30 Sci-Fi . (Scroll down for the link to the interview)

While you're there, take a look around. The site features small press and self-published works (not specifically Christian, though it is open to Christian works) and offers reviews (including one of The Light of Eidon), interviews, SF Links (conventions, clubs, webzines and some just for writers) and finally a section inviting new and established writers of SF, Fantasy and Alternate History to submit their works for review. See "Guidelines" for what they will and will not look at. There is even a blog which has the amusing report that a "celebrity author will be the feature for the first issue" of 2007. [That would be me, in case the "celebrity" part threw you. ;-) ]

The blog also mentions plans for starting a printed version of the website that will include all reviews and author interviews. (Small Press, by the way, includes virtually all Christian Publishers. When I looked into joining the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America as a professional, I learned that Bethany House was not one of the designated publishers conferring "professional" status. Hence I've not yet joined.)

Though I continue to try to stay away from the computer, I don't think I did very well today. But the back cover copy is coming along nicely.

Grace,
Karen

More of Mackel's Birthrighter's Project

Wednesday is the last day of the CSFF blog tour highlighting Kathryn Mackel and her newest release in the Birthrighter's Project, Trackers. Yesterday I mentioned that Beth Goddard was doing an interview and today I read part one of it (part two should be up Wednesday -- which may or may not be today, depending on when you read this!). I'm glad I read it.

I'll be honest -- when I read the setup about the new Ark built under the polar ice cap, my picky, whiny, critical mode kicked in. I'm trying to keep that one in its cage, or at least ignore it for the most part, especially when I have almost no facts. And this is a good case of the need for it to stay in the cage. My thoughts on the new Ark ran along the lines of, (whiny voice) "Well why would God need to do that? He already did it once, and people deciding to build an ark to preserve the species... yada yada blah blah... doesn't really work for me..." But then I read the chapter and decided maybe that didn't matter. See, if the writing, the pacing, the world, the action and the characters are appealing enough, I can set my theological quibbles aside and just enjoy the story, and this definitely seemed to be one where I could do that (not that you can always tell if your theological quibbles are even valid from ad copy -- of all people I should know that!)

Anyway, then I read the interview and Kathy said that her intent wasn't to create a new ark as such but to present a "metaphor for the church or the Christian home. The world of the strongholds is what we face every time we step outside our sanctuaries. Just as the Birthrighters collect specimens to honor God’s creation, we share the Gospel to honor Christ’s sacrifice. In the books, the kingdom of Traxx is sheltered by a wall of thorns. How many hardened hearts are there behind spiritual walls of thorns that the Spirit is calling us to dare to approach?" How cool is that? I'm hooked. In fact, I ordered both books today and you can too. In fact if you go to the Trackers page on Amazon you can order them together for less.

Or you could go on over to Shannon McNear's blog or Beth Goddard's both of whom are offering the chance to win copies of the two book set of the Birthrighter's Project. Mirtika Shulz is giving away a copy of Trackers and also pointed me to a fun test on the Birthrighter's site that you can take to determine what type of hero you are. I took the test, but as with all these kinds of tests they never give me the right options. What kind of canine would I be? A hound! Not one of the choices. What would I do if I had a craving for chili? I don't like chili. Yuck. But I know lots of ways to make it... Sometimes the answer is "all of the above." More often it's "none of the above..." in any case, it came out that I'm a scout:

"Your independence and perseverance fit you to serve as in this role. Your job is to wander this fallen world as the eyes and ears of the Birthrighter camps. Your reports allow trackers to ride, hike, climb, or even swim the ends of the earth in search of original (non-mutated) species for the Ark. You also warn of troop movements that threaten camps or missions, going undercover as needed to spy on strongholds.

"Your mild appearance and shoddy clothes mask the quick strength and iron-clad determination that allow you to move through peril almost at will. Your strong spirit allows you to endure the solitude and lack of physical comforts that your duty requires. While trackers, teachers, and outriders live in Birthrighter camps, you cannot—your duty requires that your identity be kept secret and that you always be on the move.

"The stronghold princes don’t even guess at your existence. But should you fall into their hands, you would be far more valuable than an outrider or tracker because you know the location of all the camps and the pick-up sites from the Ark. Your inner strength keeps you on course and your faith sustains you, even though your duty is harsh and lonely."

Which isn't as off as I'd expected...

Scroll on down to yesterday's post to check out the other tour participants' blogs today. The way this works is we're supposed to post on the subject at least once during the three days, and preferably on all three. Many only get around to one entry, though, so if you tried yesterday and found nothing, give it another shot. Of course, some put up multiple posts, as mentioned above, and you'll want to see the continuations.

Karen

More Edenstar

Final day for the Blog Tour during which we are featuring the Edenstar Books and Games website for Christian-themed SF/F. Wednesday is also my first day to post over on the team blog, Speculative Faith, a group of bloggers who write about all aspects of reading and writing Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, instead of working on that post this afternoon I've been wrestling with my computer and the Internet instead. I've been visiting that blog for weeks, no problem. Then, starting Sunday, I couldn't get on. I thought the page was down (since that's what the error message said). Turns out it's not. I tried removing and reinstalling the updates I got recently, cleaning out my caches... nothing. Then my son called and had me unplug and replug in the cable modem and router and voila. It works. How weird these computers are. He said sometimes the routers make decisions about things they shouldn't be making. Hmmm. Reminds me a bit of Prey.

So, since I've spent most of my post-writing time fooling with the computer, I decided to just give a bit of a commentary on my explorations of Edenstar today.

When I was growing up, I sure don't recall very many fantasy books. But looking through the site I was reminded of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. A combination of fantasy/sf, actually. I read all three of the books. I'm not sure when I read them, but I'm pretty sure I was too young for them, because the main thing I remember about them is that while I liked them... I don't think I had a clue what was going on. In fact, when I read the little blurb about it at Edenstar and then on Amazon I was amazed. I don't remember anything like the story they described! In fact, I couldn't have told you what it was about had you asked me. I see I shall have to read it again now that I may have a chance of actually understanding it.

I also read and liked The Phantom Tollbooth, which is not mentioned on Edenstar, owing, most likely to the fact it's not explicitly Christian. But I recall having liked it better than the L'Engle books. Maybe I need to reread that one as well...

When homeschooling my son, I discovered Five Children and It, by E. Nesbitt, which I think maybe deserves a place with the others on Edenstar. It's not explicitly Christian, but it is a wonderful story of what happens when you get what you wish for -- it's not usually what you expect, and often not at all what you like!

Hmm. George MacDonald's Lilith looks interesting. I've not read any of his work, and him being regarded as one of the classic fantasists, I feel that I should. Or maybe I should read Phantastes. Charles Williams looks kind of interesting, too, though I confess to being somewhat put off by occult stuff.

Turning to more contemporary authors -- I've already read Lawhead, Myers, Peretti, Dekker, Faller, Gansky, Graham... ah, but here's James Beausigneur. Haven't read any of his yet. Maybe I'll try one of those. And someone said that L.A. Kelly's Tahn was good... hmm. James Byron Huggins. I've heard about him, too... Leviathan looks interesting, given my fascination for komodo dragons. Cain, too, though. Well, here I am, already having more than I can read when I have my own book to finish writing and another to get started on... Best quit this now before I get really frustrated! Besides, I still have that Speculative Faith post to write.

Happy Reading (those of you blessed enough to have time for that sort of thing!)
Karen

Edenstar Day 2

In years past, when the general market fantasy industry was taking off -- with The Sword of Shannara (LOTR Lite) leading the way -- there was a sense of embarrassment in admitting that you liked fantasy. It was okay for kids, but not for adults. If you did like it, there was something wrong with you: you needed to grow up. I don't suppose the SF conventions helped. Nor the covers on the books

Ursula LeGuin wondered why, years ago, in her essay "Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?" She suggested the aversion to fantasy was because as a culture we saw ourselves as being beyond that sort of thing. Reason had triumphed, we didn't believe in supernatural forces anymore, we knew what made things tick (I think that's mostly an illusion, myself, but that would take another post entirely) and so had no room for fairy tales about other worlds and supernatural powers and so forth.

I'm not so sure that's the case, since as time has gone on and we've developed even more technology and acquired more knowledge about what makes things tick, fantasy's appeal in the general market has only increased. In fact, I read recently that engineers and other technogeek types make up a large portion of readers of this kind of fiction.

So overall, I think this stigma has been erased where general market readers are concerned. Unfortunately it seems that some aspect of it still holds with the Christian market. The question of why has been debated at length among Christian SF/F fans. Maybe it's because when today's Christian adults were growing up there really wasn't much Christian fantasy to choose from, and so they never acquired a taste for it when they were young. Maybe it's because fantasy is a bit more difficult to read than your ordinary woman's fiction, romance, mystery, or suspense. Maybe it's because fantasy (and SF) is harder to write than the others and we writers don't always do it as well as it could be done.

Maybe it's because they don't really see how it can be relevant to their adult lives or their relationships with God. What do nonfantasy readers really think fantasies are about, anyway? What do they expect to find, that they dismiss out of hand as irrelevant, childish, boring or silly? Kings? Battles? Exploding things? Do they expect the protagonists all to be children or talking animals because Narnia is what they're most familiar with? (The lion is a Christ figure. Ho hum. What does that have to do with my life? Where are the relationship issues that really matter?) Do they expect great battles as in LOTR because they've seen the movies and the battle for Helm's Deep lasted nearly an hour, the one for Minis Tirith... even longer? Are they embarrassed to be seen reading it?

Maybe it's like broccoli for some people -- it looks weird and I know I won't like it and there's no point in my ever trying it. Or then, again, maybe it's that we're all just different, and fantasy (especially Christian fantasy) is for an odd few out there on the fringe.

I have no idea. As I write this I have the nagging suspicion it doesn't matter. Those of us who like fantasy, like it. Those who don't, don't. We can try to share with them what we love about it -- heros, for me; the element of the battle of good against evil, the obvious parallels to the unseen angelic conflict, the surprising, intriguing places or things; often the characters themselves -- but in the end they'll either be enticed and intrigued or they won't. What resonates with some, falls flat with others. And sometimes you just can't explain resonance. It's not something that can be shared or conveyed, just something that is.

God has made each of us different. We have widely differing ideas of what is good and fun and appealing, widely differing backgrounds and frames of reference. And we have to respect that about each other. I guess the bottom line of this rambling post is that I am extremely grateful there are actually enough others out there who like to read what I like to read (and write) that there can actually be a market. It might not be as vigorous a market as we'd like, but it is there. There are books out there, as the Edenstar website shows us. And that is cause for rejoicing.

And maybe there really are a lot more readers out there than have shown up yet, simply because they don't know that Christian fantasy (and SF) exists.

Grace,
Karen

Edenstar Books & Games

Even though fantasy as a genre has its roots in Christianity with such authors as John Bunyon, Edmund Spencer, C.S. Lewis and JR.R. Tolkien, it has not yet really caught on with Christian readers in today's market, particularly adults. The last of the genres to find a place in the Christian publishing industry, speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction and horror) continues to struggle to find its readers. For one thing, those who love this kind of fiction often do not go into Christian bookstores or even the Christian fiction aisles of the general bookstores because they know the offerings will be slim to nonexistent.

In Feb 2003 Bill and Cheryl Bader opened their online store Edenstar Books & Games to provide a place for such readers to find and purchase the relatively limited number of books in this subgenre. And it is the Edenstarbooks website that will be the focus of our Christian SFF Blog Tour this month. There, classic fantasists like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald share the listings with contemporary big names like Frank Peretti, Stephen Lawhead and Bill Myers, as well as lesser known writers like, um, Karen Hancock! (smile) Also Donita Paul, Bryan Davis, Kathy Tyers, Randall Ingermanson, James Beausigneur, Michael Warden, Lara Lond, L.B Graham, F.W. Faller... slowly but surely, the list is growing longer.

Over time, the Baders dropped the store part of their enterprise and transformed Edenstar into a database of over 600 items for "those who enjoy a good, clean science fiction or fantasy story in books, videos and games." Out of print and hard to find titles are included and each title is linked through Amazon.com for purchase. Originally the Baders planned to have reviews for each entry, but this proved to be more time-consuming than they could accomodate. So while a few books do have reviews specific to Edenstar, most come with links to other review sites for those who are interested.

You can find a list of books reviewed by Edenstar (which includes my own The Shadow Within) HERE.

In addition to reviews and booklistings. Edenstar also features a few interviews of contemporary Christian SF/F authors (including me) which you can find HERE.

I find the site very attractive and easy to use, and a great resource, though I would like to see them return to the effort of providing reviews specific to Edenstar of their titles.

Besides fiction, they also have listings for commentaries on Christian speculative fiction, biographies, and other non fiction related to the field. I invite you to investigate the great wealth of information they have gathered and organized with respect to what is available in the realm of Christian-themed science fiction and fantasy: Edenstar Books & Games.


Grace,
Karen