Ebook sales are being driven by downmarket genre fiction

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

My husband and I read together for bedtime "dates", and we're currently reading together "The Drums of Autumn".

but I just wanted to say that I LOVE this!! I totally want that someday.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by taosaur

The headscratcher is that you seem to think "trying to write future classics" is a genre. Classics come from all genres and none. They're simply works that have endured from past eras and continue to be found worthy of study. I'm not sure anyone could actually complete a novel with the approach that they were "trying to write future classics."

My friend please let your head be. I did not name any book or type of books as a "future classic." Someone else did. For reference only, did I call them a genre. It is all pretty vague in fact, but we should deal with the names that were used in order to maintain clarity and continuity, and one of the names was "future classic."

[frahse]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Sure, but actions bring reactions and we're reacting to an article that labelled popular genres as "downmarket" and scorned them in favor of "future classics". A bit of scorn as a reaction is not out of line, so long as we don't bring out the torches and pitchforks, is it?

(Some of us have been know to crack the odd Nobel or Pulitzer winner from time to time.)

We're not out to lynch anybody here, just roast'em a bit.

Fair enough?

Very fair.

Critics deal in the coin of scorn, and so should expect to be repaid in kind. I only protested the scorning of the readers and the writers. As both myself, I have a thin skin. As a critic though, I expect pitchforks, and burning pitch and feathers, and finally a short rope.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by frahse

Very fair.

Critics deal in the coin of scorn, and so should expect to be repaid in kind. I only protested the scorning of the readers and the writers. As both myself, I have a thin skin. As a critic though, I expect pitchforks, and burning pitch and feathers, and finally a short rope.

Ouch.
You run with a rough crowd!
Sounds like my cue to boldly tip-toe to the county line...

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by toomanybooks

I hate articles like these because it makes people who simply genuinely enjoy reading this particular genre look bad.

I did not get that from the OP article:

My own downmarket literary fetish is male-oriented historical fiction (histfic). Swords and sails stuff. I'm happier reading it on an e-reader, and keeping shelf space for books that proclaim my cleverness.

Nobody in this humongous thread puts down people depending on what genre of book they read, but many (including the OP article author!) seem sure that there are large number other people out there who care.

Looking down on people for reading genre fiction is, in my experience, uncommon. Looking down on people for not reading at all is much more prevalent.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I don't think this article ends up saying much of anything...genre sales are also clearly driving pbooks sales as well.

This is what I keep thinking as I read through this thread...it seemed like a kind of "well, yeah, duh" thing....

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by cjr72

Perhaps, but what constitutes fantasy, horror and scifi is much more than these things.

here are my suggestions to those with the sci-fi, fantasy, horror genres are crap opinion-

http://www.amazon.com/Dune-40th-Anni...8599635&sr=1-1


http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-S...8599659&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/The-Road-ebook...8600281&sr=1-1


for sake of argument, whats wrong with "life-filling" junk? whether you read about zombie pandas, enjoy studying history or read novels about the deep personal interplay between an older married couple it all amounts to nothing when you're 6 feet under and worms are eating your eyes. why not enjoy your limited time with whatever you may be into?

sorry to be such a fatalist but we're all equal in the end. "important" books aren't going to help you live longer or be a better person. *shrug*

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Seriously though, what are they really about, preachers with guns blowing away sinners, avenging angels with chainsaws, that sort of thing? The only christain fiction I've ever read is Torment by Jeremy Bishop and the Narnia books.

Torment was a christian book???? i had no idea. i just thought it was a pretty insane sci-fi apocalyptic horror novel.

heres the blurb for those who don't know the book-

"Small town reporter, Mia Durante, finds herself having brunch with the President of the United States on the day civilization comes to an end. An electromagnetic pulse blinds the U.S. Cars crash. Planes fall. Chaos reigns. Power is restored within minutes, but it's already too late. Russian nukes are falling. U.S. allies around the world are all ready wiped out. The United States will cease to exist inside of five minutes.

After giving the order to launch a full-scale retaliation, dooming the planet, the president, White House staff, Secret Service and those lucky enough to be visiting the white house, are whisked below ground where they board several Earth Escape Pods. As the EEPs launch into Earth orbit, missiles descend.

Less than forty survive the end of the world. When they return, they're greeted by survivors of a different sort. The bloodbath that follows leaves Durante and nine other survivors on the run. They find themselves fighting for survival in a world in which only torment remains and where death is the only escape."



i learn something new everyday.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Are ebooks to blame for Snooki's book, too?

Don't know and don't care. But what I do know - and I'm going to come off here as snarky and snobbish - you have to wonder what has happened to those who read when Snooki is on NYT's Best Seller list.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Don't know and don't care. But what I do know - and I'm going to come off here as snarky and snobbish - you have to wonder what has happened to those who read when Snooki is on NYT's Best Seller list.

Yes, it does sound like the endtimes are near.
Maybe the LEFT BEHIND guys were onto something...?

Oddly, there have been stranger "bestsellers" already.
I wouldn't worry overmuch; the world has long been going to heck in a handbasket (just ask the ancient greeks). We still have a long way to go...

(But Simon&Shuster is obviously a lot closer to their final reckoning than the rest of us.)

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

Torment was a christian book???? i had no idea. i just thought it was a pretty insane sci-fi apocalyptic horror novel.
.

I'm surprised you didn't twig with the title and the way it ended, but it's a sort of Left Behind type story with added violence.

[Sil_liS]

I don't see why people would have a problem with formulaic stories. Most TV shows are formulaic and there are plenty of people watching them. How many versions of CSI are there?

[arkietech]

Could someone provide a list of "Future Classics"

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by arkietech

Could someone provide a list of "Future Classics"

Seriously?
It wouldn't be a bad idea for a GENERAL DISCUSSION thread to nominate books from, say, the last 50 years or the full 20th, that might be considered classics in another hundred years.

Main problem is coming up with reasonable ground rules.
Me, I would start by de-nominating Nobel and Pulitzer winners. The deck is too stacked against them to start with.

[Kumabjorn]

You don't think Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu will stand the test of time?