Babel Clash

I think Ginjer’s point about us being rivals from a manuscript acquisitions point of view should be looked at carefully. While its true that a lot of agents count on the kind of competition amongst editors to drive up advances and get good deals for their clients, its also true that there are way more publishable SF/Fantasy novels out there then there are SF/Fantasy slots at the major and minor publisher houses.

I’ve certainly lost books to other publishers (and to the editors participating in this conversation)… but even when we are in competition for manuscripts, its never devolved into any kind of serious conflict or hurt feelings. Ultimately, if I miss out on a book, there is a huge number of other great manuscripts out there… it’s just a matter of finding the one that appeals to me on a personal level.

I have a confession to make. My best friends in the industry are my fellow SF editors. Since I’m not located in NY, I’m outside of the day-to-day NY publishing community. I’m part of the ever-roving SF convention community, and there are a lot of publishing professionals… a lot of editors to be found there. And it was there that I found out that I actually did have professional peers, who had many of the same (and sometimes very different) problems and joys and victories and defeats.

The number of science fiction editors out there… In the US and UK… It’s actually a really small pool, compared to fiction editors in general. We are a relatively tight community. We know each other. And we do bid against each other… I’ve had some of my best friends swoop in and take authors away from Night Shade, or beat us out on offers. But that’s all part of the game, and I’ve never taken it personally.

Ultimately, editors are the first advocates a book has. We are out there fighting for the book… fighting for the best blurbs, and cover art, and marketing resources, long before anyone else knows of a title. We are like revival tent preachers. Eventually, when we are successful, we gain converts, and if everything goes well, the book finds its audience.

Like Lou said, readers don’t follow imprints, or publishers… they follow authors, and genres. So we are essentially all proselytizing the same “religion” — The religion of SF/Fantasy/Horror — Specifically, WRITTEN SF/Fantasy/Horror. Which isn’t the same thing as media (movies/games) SF/Fantasy/horror. There’s some overlap between media consumers of genre, and consumers of the written form of genre, but not a lot (Otherwise sales figures for mid-list sf novels would be much better).

This is where, as a publisher, I feel the future of the genre is going to be. How do I get those people who play Zombie video games to pick up my zombie novel, even though its not a media tie in? How does the existence of e-distribution impact the ability to reach these audiences who don’t traditionally go into bookstores, or the SF section of a book store, even though said consumers might be partial to reading our books?

More importantly, how do publishers and retailers overcome the seemingly incompatible distribution dichotomy of “brick and mortar” stores, versus “(r)e-tailing”? Because online sales and ebooks might be great for people who already KNOW what they want to buy, but most impulse buys come from browsing the physical shelves. There’s a nexus here that is going to be crucial to 21^st century publishing. It’s not going to be all physical, and its not going to be all electronic. I hope we figure out some of the answers, because if written science fiction, as a publishing category is going to be successfully its going to have to navigate those waters, and figure out where and how to find new and younger readers, year after year.

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