Comments on: July 21: On This Day … http://101reasonstostopwriting.com/2007/07/21/july-21-on-this-day/ The Fundamentals of Our Publishing are Wrong Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:37:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Paul Riddell http://101reasonstostopwriting.com/2007/07/21/july-21-on-this-day/comment-page-1/#comment-1588 Paul Riddell Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:23:00 +0000 http://101reasonstostopwriting.com/2007/07/21/july-21-on-this-day/#comment-1588 Am I the only person who's looking at the desolation that will lie upon the fantasy genre now that Harry Potter Mania is finally over? After all, fantasy publishers have had eight years to produce something "just as good as Harry Potter", and they have nuthin'. They've had eight years to hype up the inane meme of how "well, if Harry Potter fans go into the store and can't get their copy, then they'll browse through the rest of the store's selection," deliberately ignoring the legions that wander into a bookstore for their first time in their lives, mumble "hrrypttr", and immediately walk out, never to return, if they're told "Sorry, we're out" or "come back tomorrow". We've had eight years of publishers, distributors, <i>Publisher's Weekly</i> hacks, and the proprietors of Frumpy Fiftysomething's Used Books and Quiet Desperation Emporia (with branches in every city and small town) telling themselves that <i>this year</i> will be the one where the fans finally decide to pick up something else, and I'll be laughing my ass off in six months when these same people cry about how the costs of selling Harry Potter books actually killed their businesses. Scholastic itself is in a world of hurt, Borders is inches away from bankruptcy, and I figure we're on the edge of a sea change in publishing, where a lot of people will Stop Writing (and Stop Editing, and Stop Promoting, and Stop Selling) because they won't have any other options. Oh, there's going to be a <i>world</i> of completely unemployable English and Marketing majors all out fighting for the last cashier position at Barnes & Noble, and I'm going to be laughing and pointing the whole time.<br/><br/>And you know the best part? The final Harry Potter book's release means that we'll never have to read one of Teresa Hayden's pie-in-the-sky proclamations about "Harry Potter Fever" translating into a revival of fantasy. Thirty fucking years ago, we heard the same proclamations about how <i>Star Wars</i> was going to do the same thing, and what did we get for our troubles? The same exact response as what fantasy received from Harry Potter: a legion of children only wanting official product, not knockoffs, and a horde of Cat Piss Men smirking about how all this hype somehow validated their obsessions. In another five years, even the children will have moved on to other things, and the Cat Piss Men are more than welcome to the ruins. Am I the only person who’s looking at the desolation that will lie upon the fantasy genre now that Harry Potter Mania is finally over? After all, fantasy publishers have had eight years to produce something “just as good as Harry Potter”, and they have nuthin’. They’ve had eight years to hype up the inane meme of how “well, if Harry Potter fans go into the store and can’t get their copy, then they’ll browse through the rest of the store’s selection,” deliberately ignoring the legions that wander into a bookstore for their first time in their lives, mumble “hrrypttr”, and immediately walk out, never to return, if they’re told “Sorry, we’re out” or “come back tomorrow”. We’ve had eight years of publishers, distributors, Publisher’s Weekly hacks, and the proprietors of Frumpy Fiftysomething’s Used Books and Quiet Desperation Emporia (with branches in every city and small town) telling themselves that this year will be the one where the fans finally decide to pick up something else, and I’ll be laughing my ass off in six months when these same people cry about how the costs of selling Harry Potter books actually killed their businesses. Scholastic itself is in a world of hurt, Borders is inches away from bankruptcy, and I figure we’re on the edge of a sea change in publishing, where a lot of people will Stop Writing (and Stop Editing, and Stop Promoting, and Stop Selling) because they won’t have any other options. Oh, there’s going to be a world of completely unemployable English and Marketing majors all out fighting for the last cashier position at Barnes & Noble, and I’m going to be laughing and pointing the whole time.

And you know the best part? The final Harry Potter book’s release means that we’ll never have to read one of Teresa Hayden’s pie-in-the-sky proclamations about “Harry Potter Fever” translating into a revival of fantasy. Thirty fucking years ago, we heard the same proclamations about how Star Wars was going to do the same thing, and what did we get for our troubles? The same exact response as what fantasy received from Harry Potter: a legion of children only wanting official product, not knockoffs, and a horde of Cat Piss Men smirking about how all this hype somehow validated their obsessions. In another five years, even the children will have moved on to other things, and the Cat Piss Men are more than welcome to the ruins.

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