Back in 1991 , OMNI Magazine did a immense survey of the United States Department of State of science fiction and fancy publishing , and where people thought things were head . Not surprisingly , nobody predicted the ascension of Borders , much less Amazon or Es - Book . But some hooey was amazingly prescient .
The blogCastalia Househas some excerpt from the article , drop a line by Robert J. Kilheffer , and a few trends jump out as interesting . A bunch of editors at major publishing firm saw the beginning of musical genre record being broken out into more distinct categories than just “ skill fiction ” and “ phantasy , ” augur the rise of Urban Fantasy and Military SF as distinct categories recognized by a wad of readers and booksellers . Also , people were already talking about fantasy being more popular than science fabrication :
“ There seems to be a long way for a special kind of very approachable fantasy novel to go , ” remarks Susan Allison , frailty - president and editor - in - chief at Ace / Berkley . Fantasy writers such as David Eddings and Terry Brooks have been almost constant comportment on hardcover and paperback lean in the retiring few years , with others , such as the squad of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman , Tad Williams and Robert Jordan not far behind . TSR ’s Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms shared - universe fantasy serial publication consistently dominate the B. Dalton and Waldenbooks business deal best seller listing … .
David Hartwell , a consulting editor for Tor Books , says , “ On the average , in the midlist it is easier to market and box a competent but not exceptional fantasy than a competent but not olympian scientific discipline fiction novel . ” On the other hand , Jim Baen , publishing house and editor - in - chief of Baen Books , believes that “ there may have been more breakout bestsellers in fantasy of former , but scientific discipline fabrication is still stronger in the under-100,000 - transcript angle bracket . ”
explanation for the popularity include that read skill fiction “ is much more of a conditioned accomplishment , ” as Tor ’s Patrick Nielsen Hayden order it . [ Full disclosure : Nielsen Hayden is my editor at Tor . ] But also , that readers want more escape and fewer stories rooted in their world , and that everyone grow up with fantasies and poove - story .
Somewhat depressingly , a few of the editor predict that “ crossover ” novel — which are published as music genre Bible , but have literary aspirations , will be where the literary genre acquire and tries new affair . But also , that those books will mostly underachieve commercially :
“ We did a portion of crosswalk publication in the mid-1980s , ” Lou Aronica recalls , “ and it was not atrociously successful . We tended to miss both markets . ”
There ’s a mix of high artistry and low-spirited art , ” notes Tor ’s David Hartwell , “ of pop acculturation and high polish materials . This leads to a very fruitful interplay between musical genre fiction and mellow literature , and it ’s one of the situation where the action is . ” But the artistic sake of such experiment does not often translate into grocery store success . “ It ’s not where the sales are , not at all , but it is where the evolution of the theater is taking place . ”
The whole affair is worth check out . [ Castalia House ]
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