An interesting read on YA publishing

[GlenBarrington]

In spite of the fact that I love science fiction as a genre, I have never really followed the Hugo awards. (I don't follow Oscars either). Whenever the Hugo issue is raised here, my eyes glaze over, and I move on to something else.

So the kerfuffle about the Hugos over the last few years always confused me a bit. This article gave me at least one side of the issue, and some solid reasons why I might care about this.

I don't know what the consensus is in this community of readers, so forgive me if I've stepped on any toes here, but I found this article interesting.

https://thefederalist.com/2017/10/25...#disqus_thread

[darryl]

Yes. There has been at least one thread here after the Black Witch fiasco about that incident and the now prevalent practice of reviewing and condemning a book without reading it or even trying to.

The situation is disgraceful and getting worse. Kirkus should have ignored the posturing of these children. We all know what happens when a child throws a tantrum and gets their own way.

[Deskisamess]

Good article. It reminded me a bit of the “Vote for XYZ if you have the same gender/skin color” mindset, regardless of their politics. Anyone who voiced their disagreement of such a mindset was trounced.

The irony should be easy to spot, but it seems the more glaring it is, the less it IS spotted.

Freedom to be yourself, but allow someone else to decide who yourself should be. Freedom to speak your mind, as long as that mind agrees with mine.

[GlenBarrington]

This may be why I've turned to the largely self published authors on Amazon. I find much of the paperback books I find at Waldenbooks to be kind of boring, unless it's an older established author.

The newbie authors on Amazon are producing some good stuff. Yeah, there's some dreck too, but the good outweighs the bad I think.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

This article gave me at least one side of the issue

Well noticed. It is indeed only one side of the issue.

[ZodWallop]

I had trouble getting through that article. I agree with their overall point: What happened with Black Witch and now American Heart is scandalous.

But then the article was so invested with their political ideology that it skewed their conclusions making me distrust everything he had to say. Saying that indie e-book sales are on the rise because people are tired of the BPH's "relentless attempts to propagandize their politics to readers instead of releasing the best products" seems to either be a willfully ignorant view or an outright lie.

The author has a good point buried in there. It's a shame he couldn't deliver it in a more honest fashion.

Edit: The author contributes to the "Hugo Award-nominated Castalia House blog" That explains the prettying-up of the Puppy fiasco.

[pwalker8]

The over all point that political correctness has taken over the literary world and more specifically the YA world is very true. I read a fair amount of YA fiction and if you look at my favorite author list, it's pretty obvious that the vast majority are to the left of the political scale. I really don't worry too much about the political leaning of an author as long as they stay true to the story. I believe as much in empathy and doing good as I do in the traditional values of truth, hard work, honor and loyalty.

I just finished The Magnus Chase series by Rick Riordan. Rick Riordan is a talented writer, but that particular series was so politically correct that it was hard to stay in the flow of the narrative. The main character is a homeless kid who lives in the streets, his protectors a gay dwarf and elf couple (the elf is mute). The supporting cast are a black union soldier, a "gender fluid" person of Mexican decent who Magus eventually falls for, and a Arabic girl who happens to be a Valkyrie. Hum, this is based on Nordic mythology. So what's missing from this picture? Maybe someone a little Nordic? At least his bi-Apollo in the most recent Gods of Olympus has the advantage of being true to the mythology.

I really like Riordan's other books, which do tend towards political correctness, but this was just so over the top.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I read a fair amount of YA fiction and if you look at my favorite author list, it's pretty obvious that the vast majority are to the left of the political scale.

I can't quibble with that. But there's a difference between popular authors being liberal (aren't so many creative types?) and accusing publishers of only publishing politically correct leftists.

Stephen King is very liberal, and his first book was published in the seventies, well before this was a concern.

I just finished The Magnus Chase series by Rick Riordan. Rick Riordan is a talented writer, but that particular series was so politically correct that it was hard to stay in the flow of the narrative...

I really like Riordan's other books, which do tend towards political correctness, but this was just so over the top.

Granted, that series sounds pretty bad. But Riordan is an established author who probably has more say over what gets edited in his books. He didn't build his name on that series. So again, you can't say the publisher only publishes him because he is so PC.

Also, younger people are more liberal than older people, so it would make sense that to an older generation their books seem insufferably politically correct. They are giving the audience what they want.

It could be that your preference of YA books skews your view of how PC modern publishing is.

[darryl]

In my view it is certainly a step too far to blame loss of market share on books being too boring because of political correctness. Certainly there are many politically correct books, particularly so in Ya Fiction. Young people, at least anecdotally, have a much higher percentage with liberal views, and it could well be that this is simply catering for what the market demands. Fortunately it would appear that it is a very small percentage of self-styled activists who are so intolerant and so diligent in seeking out offence that are driving these crusades. I'm sure that some but not all of these young people will be embarrassed by their actions in future years. I am disappointed that so many seem prepared to stay silent and even condemn based only on the work of some of these zealots. But then, we were all young once.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I can't quibble with that. But there's a difference between popular authors being liberal (aren't so many creative types?) and accusing publishers of only publishing politically correct leftists.

Stephen King is very liberal, and his first book was published in the seventies, well before this was a concern.



Granted, that series sounds pretty bad. But Riordan is an established author who probably has more say over what gets edited in his books. He didn't build his name on that series. So again, you can't say the publisher only publishes him because he is so PC.

Also, younger people are more liberal than older people, so it would make sense that to an older generation their books seem insufferably politically correct. They are giving the audience what they want.

It could be that your preference of YA books skews your view of how PC modern publishing is.

Please note, I said that the overall point that YA is becoming more PC is correct, not that publishers are refusing to publish things that are not PC. You are arguing against something I didn't say.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Please note, I said that the overall point that YA is becoming more PC is correct, not that publishers are refusing to publish things that are not PC. You are arguing against something I didn't say.

Maybe I misinterpreted your statement "The over all point that political correctness has taken over the literary world and more specifically the YA world is very true."

But if you don't mean the publishers, then I don't understand your case. More conservative authors should work to be published if you agree that publishers aren't choosing things to publish based on their political beliefs, no?

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Maybe I misinterpreted your statement "The over all point that political correctness has taken over the literary world and more specifically the YA world is very true."

But if you don't mean the publishers, then I don't understand your case. More conservative authors should work to be published if you agree that publishers aren't choosing things to publish based on their political beliefs, no?

I'm not advocating anything, I'm just stating in my experience, the over all point, that PC has taken over the YA world, is valid.

As far as publishers and political beliefs, well that sort of thing has a way of working itself out. I think we are seeing that with the Hugo, the Oscars and other awards. When an award is given to works that we enjoy, then we take the award more seriously. If an award is given to works that we don't enjoy, then we tend to start ignoring the award. When awards stop translating into increased sales, then the award loses it's meaning.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I'm not advocating anything, I'm just stating in my experience, the over all point, that PC has taken over the YA world, is valid.

I thought the overall point was that ill-informed social media mobs were causing havoc in YA publishing. That point, I could agree with. It was all the conclusions the author of the article leaped to that I have issues with.

I'm not so sure political correctness is taking over the YA world. I think it would be easy enough to call changes you don't like agree with political correctness.

If a book about a gay character is an unexpected hit and there's a flood of gay-themed books, is that PC taking over the industry, or the market doing what it does? When wizards or vampires took over the industry, was that political correctness too?

As far as publishers and political beliefs, well that sort of thing has a way of working itself out. I think we are seeing that with the Hugo, the Oscars and other awards. When an award is given to works that we enjoy, then we take the award more seriously. If an award is given to works that we don't enjoy, then we tend to start ignoring the award. When awards stop translating into increased sales, then the award loses it's meaning.

I honestly don't care about awards. But the way the puppies handled the Hugos felt skeevy. Why not just create alternate awards?

[haertig]

Maybe these social justice warriors and political correctness explains why I got the result below when I searched a public library for "books by Jeremy Robinson". I guess they felt the need to slip a politically correct one in there to make sure I was reading the properly approved stuff.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by haertig

Maybe these social justice warriors and political correctness explains why I got the result below when I searched a public library for "books by Jeremy Robinson". I guess they felt the need to slip a politically correct one in there to make sure I was reading the properly approved stuff.

Too Funny!