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Science Fiction Books are Dead
Let's face it -no one reads books any more. If we can't break it down into a 47-minute episode with CGI effects, no one is going pay attention to your story. And it must have the critical components: popular white male lead, good-looking woman, feisty sidekick, and reassuring intelligent weirdo. Forget about the troubled everyperson - there is no room in SciFi for that. If you can't get an audience, you can't get the money, therefore, you shouldn't waste time writing it.
With stories a continual rehashing of the same components over and over, all originality in SciFi is gone - there are no new ideas left to develop.
Will the last writer to leave please turn off the creativity.
Discussion started by rmoore080 , on 22 February 05:59 AM
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Oh gee! I have never heard such twaddle. The SciFi book market is a lusciously active market and I'm not talking about ebooks or ibooks - I'm talking printed books. Then come the ibooks - also a growing market. You must be having a bad day. Dare to be different and write a new genre in SciFi.
Wednesday, 09 May 2012 19:58
KnorraSky thanks for the great tip. I've published my novel, The CFR Collusion, and some short stories on Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, and Lulu. Lulu is the worst. Nook seems to be pretty much useless because they make it difficult to find e-books except for the ones they want to sell, but I would use it when I finally get into print because people can go into a store and order it from the clerk. I'm checking out IFWG now, wish you had put up a link to copy and paste. I don't think its against the rules here.
Sunday, 25 March 2012 10:40
IFWG Publishing is a Spec-Fic publishing company that is growing by leaps and bounds. Sci/Fi, Fantasy, Stampunk and the many other genres are not dead. There is an audience for it. The problem has been that the big publishing companies have been telling people what to read and when to read it. That time is nearly over and then there will be a revitalizing of reading of spec-fic.
It is true that Nook and Kindle have made publishing easy for everyone, however not everything being publishing is worth reading. Most are not properly edited and most are the same old same old. But there are a few that offer good quality books and good quality stories. But if you want to find great quality editing and great quality stories your best bet is to go with authors who have been published through a traditional publisher. (not self-published)
I offer you IFWG Publishing a traditional publisher specializing in Spec-Fic. Yes this is the company that published both of my novels. Look for IFWG titles everywhere on the web.
It is true that Nook and Kindle have made publishing easy for everyone, however not everything being publishing is worth reading. Most are not properly edited and most are the same old same old. But there are a few that offer good quality books and good quality stories. But if you want to find great quality editing and great quality stories your best bet is to go with authors who have been published through a traditional publisher. (not self-published)
I offer you IFWG Publishing a traditional publisher specializing in Spec-Fic. Yes this is the company that published both of my novels. Look for IFWG titles everywhere on the web.
Sunday, 25 March 2012 09:49
If people don't read books, why are there brisk sales of Nook and Kindle Readers? In the past if you didn't have a publisher willing to put your book in print you were pretty much screwed. Today people can self publish themselves on sites like Amazon. Obviously bookstore sales are not what they used to be but with an easier paths to publication, more 'Indie' books are out there and easier to access. Whether that's a good thing or not is for another discussion. I agree with Kaedance when she says a writer should write to their passion and hope the money follows and not the other way around. Very few stumble into a Harry Potter. I am always on the look for a good hard Sci-Fi book like Pandora's Star or Altered Carbon. It makes me wish that my favorite authors were more prolific or the more prolific authors were better. The bottom line is if you have a story rattling around in your head put it in print and quit worrying about whether it will sell. There's something to be said about art for art's sake.
Sunday, 04 March 2012 12:29
A majority of pop-culture will always gravitate towards the familiar and rehearsed. It's there for entertainment value and so many people want a passive, non-invasive form of entertainment. This is especially true in America, unfortunately. The only thing we can do is continue to push what we value as original and refreshing material. Hopefully the masses will find the good in such things and take to them, encouraging more to come out.
The story is the same. The desire for the hum-drum and cookie-cutter is nothing new. The only difference is that with the rapid, exponential growth of the internet, there is even more to sift through than before. It's easy to get bummed out about these things, but as artists we need to just keep pushing along.
Fight the good fight!
The story is the same. The desire for the hum-drum and cookie-cutter is nothing new. The only difference is that with the rapid, exponential growth of the internet, there is even more to sift through than before. It's easy to get bummed out about these things, but as artists we need to just keep pushing along.
Fight the good fight!
Sunday, 04 March 2012 08:06
I also have to agree with LoneHorse- it's our job to create something, and be passionate about it. We should be creating things for the love of the art, rather than because we want to be rich and famous. If those two collide, then hooray (and please share the loot). But if they don't, then at least we've spent our time doing what we loved, which is far more than most people can say.
Saturday, 03 March 2012 10:17
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Seriously- just go read it. Best book I've read in a very long time. Does an excellent job of taking our current world about 40 years into the future, and making it totally believable.
Also, Wil Wheaton does the audio book version. So there's that added bonus.
Also, Wil Wheaton does the audio book version. So there's that added bonus.
Saturday, 03 March 2012 10:16
Lonhorseend, careful - your passion is showing! ; ) I agree with you completely.
SteveV, thanks for that link! You have indeed pointed out a modern work of original fiction - I haven't read the books yet, but I sure intend to (coincidentally, it appears that the niece of an old friend of mine has a bit part in this movie).
I do recognize the value in adhering to the common story idea - didn't Tolkien say something about 'The Hobbit' starting out as an example to his students of a typical story? But lately it seems that they are all flavored with the same bottle of Worcestershire (sp?) sauce. Of course, if you go too far the other way, as Dispatcher pointed out, you will alienate the audience. Samuel Delaney's 'Dhalgren', is a strange (to me) work - all lights and descriptive flashing, but little plot (as designed, I suspect - I really had to work hard to realize the value in this one). It would never be published today. Lonehorseend, maybe with the rise of epublishing we will see more original and independent writing - but I don't know how we will pick and chose them.
SteveV, thanks for that link! You have indeed pointed out a modern work of original fiction - I haven't read the books yet, but I sure intend to (coincidentally, it appears that the niece of an old friend of mine has a bit part in this movie).
I do recognize the value in adhering to the common story idea - didn't Tolkien say something about 'The Hobbit' starting out as an example to his students of a typical story? But lately it seems that they are all flavored with the same bottle of Worcestershire (sp?) sauce. Of course, if you go too far the other way, as Dispatcher pointed out, you will alienate the audience. Samuel Delaney's 'Dhalgren', is a strange (to me) work - all lights and descriptive flashing, but little plot (as designed, I suspect - I really had to work hard to realize the value in this one). It would never be published today. Lonehorseend, maybe with the rise of epublishing we will see more original and independent writing - but I don't know how we will pick and chose them.
Thursday, 23 February 2012 10:25
Wow rmoore080, you certainly did that!
(But I think most here would see that you were after a reaction; but it turns out that yours is an observation about the run of the mill schlock out there.)
I agree with lonehorseend in that we just have to up the ante a bit. We need to out create what has been done before and we have resources that didn't exist 20 years ago: the internet as we know it.
I think that what has happened is that we are now living in such a rapidly changing world culture (with regard to technology adoption) as to put us into our 'once future'. We need to look beyond the familiar (even the fiction familiar to us) and turn inward to examine our own take on the future. I think that is what Steve V is attempting to do with his writing.
For me its somewhat simple: I'm writing the book I've wanted to read for years, but nobody has written it so I'm doing it. :-O
Mine will have some of the familiar (we can't alienate our audience now, can we? [pun intended; guffaw, guffaw]), but will have enough that is new so that I'm hoping that people will think, "that IS something I've not thought of before".
I happen to think that there is more creative talent at this site than there is in half of Hollywood. Shatner realized there is potential, or he wouldn't have started this rig up. The problem here is that it requires active involvement from him and the governors here, but in reality it seems that we are part of an obscure side project (under that tattered carpet in the closet). I never see AgentSmith here anymore, so I'm assuming that life has gotten in the way. But I'll keep working on my book(s) until I get my words out. I'll also keep popping in here at MOS to see what you are all up to. :-)
(But I think most here would see that you were after a reaction; but it turns out that yours is an observation about the run of the mill schlock out there.)
I agree with lonehorseend in that we just have to up the ante a bit. We need to out create what has been done before and we have resources that didn't exist 20 years ago: the internet as we know it.
I think that what has happened is that we are now living in such a rapidly changing world culture (with regard to technology adoption) as to put us into our 'once future'. We need to look beyond the familiar (even the fiction familiar to us) and turn inward to examine our own take on the future. I think that is what Steve V is attempting to do with his writing.
For me its somewhat simple: I'm writing the book I've wanted to read for years, but nobody has written it so I'm doing it. :-O
Mine will have some of the familiar (we can't alienate our audience now, can we? [pun intended; guffaw, guffaw]), but will have enough that is new so that I'm hoping that people will think, "that IS something I've not thought of before".
I happen to think that there is more creative talent at this site than there is in half of Hollywood. Shatner realized there is potential, or he wouldn't have started this rig up. The problem here is that it requires active involvement from him and the governors here, but in reality it seems that we are part of an obscure side project (under that tattered carpet in the closet). I never see AgentSmith here anymore, so I'm assuming that life has gotten in the way. But I'll keep working on my book(s) until I get my words out. I'll also keep popping in here at MOS to see what you are all up to. :-)
Wednesday, 22 February 2012 17:09