06-14-2013, 12:14 PM
(06-14-2013, 12:06 AM)pale boy Wrote: Even so, there are diamonds to be found amongst the trash. Hannibal, which Helljacket mentioned, is riding on the recent glut of horror/killer themes, but it has also been around for a while in book and movie form. It's an exceptionally good show (flying high above its printed origins), and as you can tell by this post, I'll use any excuse to mention it.
Quality definitely matters. So does timing. For some reason, Twilight became a hit (an unabashedly "for girls" book series that struck at the right moment would be my guess -- adding in just enough "genre" to give it an edge). Then came things like 50 Shades of Grey, a friggin' fan fiction of Twilight edited into a "book" and that was also a hit. (This is the point where aspiring authors the world 'round began to softly weep.) So quality matters in that it doesn't matter when it comes to book sales.
Critical durability is another thing altogether. I certainly hope that things like Twilight will not stand the test of time. I doubt that "saga" will. It's merits are ... limited. And I don't want to imagine my descendents having those books on a required reading list for "classic" literature in two hundred years. *shudder*
It's times like these that I must invoke Sturgeon's Law: ninety percent of everything is crap. (But some of it manages to be gold plated, quality be damned.)
Great post... very few things stand the test of time... Also, when I think about it 90% of projects I start stink and many times casual friends who don't know that I would sooner shoot myself than sell garbage tell me I might be able to make a lot of money on some of the it... Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind the money, I'm not stuck up, but reputation is everything and I'd rather go the long way and build a reputation as a good writer than the short and do otherwise.
By the way, I think you said you do some writing. I can't remember if you said it was a career path for you, but if you want to talk shop it might be interesting, feel free to PM me anytime.