A taste:
Now here’s the ugly facts of life. Let’s say there’s a new, unestablished author, who really wants to write an epic fantasy. Let’s even say he’s fucking brilliant. This guy is potentially the next Tolkien/Howard/Sanderson/Erickson/Donaldson/(insert whoever your favorite is here). He’s really that good. He sits in a chair for one year of his life, planning a five book series magnum opus, then pours thousands of hours into a manuscript and writes an epic fantasy novel that’s brilliant. It’s amazing. It’s fucking gold.
He publishes this amazing book… and then a bunch of snide fucks go hur dur I got burned by George RR Martin, so I’m not gonna give any new authors a chance, and that author with potential for greatness ranks in the two million range on Amazon and makes just enough money in sales off that year of labor to buy dinner at Applebee’s.
Now what are the odds this guy is gonna be able to spend another 8,000 hours of nearly unpaid labor to finish that series, while also being broke and poor?
Near zero.
Personally, I’m largely okay, here (although people should buy my books!): I can keep plugging away at self-publishing without having to choose between writing, and earning rent money*. But it’s hard out there for a lot of people! Some of them are really good writers, too. One reason why I’ll throw down three or five bucks on a Kindle book, no problem; people need the sales, but even more they need the encouragement. Treasure all those other people out there you know who are publishing novels, because they’ll know it somehow when you do**.
Moe Lane
*My current rating on The Official Alphabetical List of Author Success is a solid ‘M.’ I can go out to Applebee’s on my royalties every MONTH. I don’t, because that’s money I can spend on making more books, but I could.
**I already know most of you treasure me, naturally. But those who do not should still be supporting the authors that they do treasure. You need to pump energy into a system if you want it to live.
#commissionearned
It’s an epic takedown of a flimsy talking point.
But the flimsy talking point, is chaff.
The thing is, people get most defensive when they’re lying to themselves.
Six years ago I would tell you that I loved me a goatgagger.
I’d love to still say that, but I’d be lying.
Part of it, is that I don’t have as much time. But the much larger part, is that the smartphone epidemic has left me without the attention span to enjoy them. It’s shameful to admit this, even to myself.
Blaming it on Martin not finishing his series, is ridiculous.
I wouldn’t have read another episode, anyway. “Feast for Crows” wasn’t very good. “Dance with Dragons” was horrible, and clearly demonstrated that the series wasn’t going to get better.
I read “The Name of the Wind”, and mostly enjoyed it. But not enough to pick up the second book. (I liked the setting, plot, and frame, but the protagonist put me off.)
But epic fantasy series almost always overstay their welcome.
Erickson peaked in book two.
How many Shannara books are there now? (And can we please get back to Magic Kingdom?)
Did anybody actually enjoy the second series of Thomas Covenant? (Or even the first one?)
Tell me you didn’t roll your eyes at Goodkind making the same character save the world again. And again. And again.
After I quit reading “Wheel of Time” I asked what I’d missed in the next book. The answer I got was “The girls proved the Black Ajah exists. That’s it. Nothing else happened.”
Even “The Chronicles of Narnia” got a bit forgettable in the latter half of the series.
I’m still loving the Rachael Griffin series by L. Jagi Lamplighter, but I freely admit that the last couple books aren’t quite as strong as the first few.
It’s a rare epic that has a strong finish. Mostly, they just peter out.
To blame it on Martin and Rothfus being jerkwads, is an excuse.
The entertainment fields are full of jerkwads. There are lots of stories I was seriously invested in that were killed off by some zek in a turf battle. Almost as many that died for reasons beyond anyone’s control (I still want to see the script for the rest of “Lovecraft is Missing”.)
That hasn’t killed anyone’s interest in stories.
Or to put a finer point on it, I got Larry’s latest on day of release last week.
I’ve been looking forward to it since the moment I finished book three.
It’s good stuff so far.
And I’m only on Chapter Five.
A couple of years ago, I’d have inhaled it before I went to bed that first night.
Now, I’ve got to tear myself away from doomscrolling, and then stay focused enough to remember what I just read.
😉 So if you don’t see me much for a bit, I’m probably just detoxing. (Can’t go cold turkey. My wife insists on the leash. Plus, it’s an inferior source of human interaction, but it’s the one I have ready access to.)
…Yeah, I want to see the script for Lovecraft is Missing, too.
I actually enjoy the 2nd Thomas Covenant series more than the first one. He stop using $5 words when 10 cent one would do.
I do this myself with a minor variation…..I purchase the book when it comes out and set it on the shelf until the entire series comes out. I had to do it with the Wheel of Time series because too many characters in too many directions and too long between books. I think I made it thru book 7 before I had to stop and wait for the entire series. This way, the author is supported up front, and I later have the entire series when it is finished.
But I don’t wait to buy it when the entire series is out, you might have trouble getting the first ones if it goes on for a long time. The only problem is when you do get them and the author doesn’t finish the series anyway (cough*Melanie Rawn*cough).
That sounds like a perfectly reasonable technique, honestly.