I have to say that I was one of the ones who - while not exactly poo-pooing the idea - wanted to go the safer, more conventional route. But I've actually changed my mind over the last several months. In public relations, we have this conversation about once a week - Do we go straight to our audience via the web, or do we continue to seek the third-party validation that going through an impartial editor gives us? A reader can get their written SF almost anywhere on the web, so why do they pay for it via Analog? Because (aside from probably preferring a comfortable reading experience) they are paying for the services of the editor to weed out the dreck. It's not always perfect, but they know they're going to get a story that is at least competently written, and the chance of finding a terrific story is far better than hunting around randomly.
That said, the function of the editor as weeder-outer is starting to get replaced as well, as David's example of Sigler's book demonstrates. Stross' Accelerando envisions a world where reputation is more valuable than currency. For example, if Nancy writes a story and put it on the web, anyone who likes her past work will be reasonably sure they'll like her new one, regardless of whether it went through an editor or not. With the closing of Realms recently, I've really been wondering what the future is. Do we rely on the dwindling number of editors, or do we try to build reputations like Sigler has done? -- Jonathan Sherwood Sr. Science & Technology Press Officer University of Rochester 585-273-4726 On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 12:24 AM, Dave Henn <[email protected]> wrote: > > Some of you may remember that I have been listening to Scott Sigler's > free horror/sci-fi podcast serial novels for years. Many of you poo > pooed his effort as misguided, some decrying it as destroying the > industry. The guy could improve his writing, but the books are pretty > good, especially compared to other serialized podcast fiction and > considering that they are usually first drafts. In at least one case, > he wrote it as he podcast it. His audience is well over 30,000, now, > and he has secured several book deals as a result of his efforts. > > Well, for all the naysayers, Mr. Sigler's "Contagious" made number 33 > on the New York Times Best Seller List for Hardcover Fiction. I look > forward to the discussion of this one, though the issue may have died. > Here is the link to the NYT's list: > < > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/books/bestseller/besthardfiction.html?_r=3 > > > > And here's Scott's blog post about it - WARNING - ADULT LANGUAGE, some > images with blood. It IS horror/sci-fi, after all. > <http://www.scottsigler.com/node/2370> > > -- > Dave Henn > [email protected] > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/r-spec?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
