Mainstream? What mainstream?

[alexandraerin]

CNN.com headline: More authors turn to Web and print-on-demand publishing.

The article seems to focus on how a few authors have managed to attract enough attention through POD to get some mainstream success, but that to me is missing the point. Still, the article highlights that the two authors that they profile both received a cold reception from the traditional print industry and was told that their books would not appeal to a wide audience.

I used to believe that the advantage of internet-based publishing and marketing was that it allowed marginal authors to reach marginal audiences, but I'm starting to rethink what I think of as marginal and mainstream. I feel like in the eyes of the publishing industry, there is a narrow pool of people, a subset of the general population, that they think of as "readers", and they study how to reach out to these people and capture their attention (and money). And yet when there's a blockbuster phenomenon, it's generally a book that captures the imagination of people outside this group.

You see these phrases a lot in reference to such books: "I'm not much of a reader...", "My kids were never really into books before..."... taking that into consideration, I don't think the world divides as neatly into "readers" and "non-readers" as all that. People... most people... will read if you give them something that appeals to them, but the "mainstream" publishing industry doesn't seem all that bothered about doing that if you're not one of the people already pigeonholed as a reader.

I mean, there's the oft-repeated assertion that it's hard to get people to read on the internet, which is ridiculous when compared to the fact that the internet is made largely out of words.

People read, is the bottom line.

To put it simply, I no longer believe that the traditional publishing industry does appeal to the mainstream, except by accident... I don't think they know how to.

I have an idea for a post brewing, inspired by yuki_onna's post about the importance of representation in fiction, about the benefits to authors of representing mostly-overlooked groups in their stories and worlds... and really, that all kind of dovetails together with this, with publishers rejecting a work as being outside "the mainstream" and then being surprised at their appeal. "The mainstream" they're talking about is much like the so-called "Moral Majority" in America: a lot smaller than its name implies.

They say there's not much money to be had in writing, but I believe there is honestly a killing to be made in reaching outside what's being called "the mainstream", whether it's by writing more inclusively or more daringly or more experimentally. Many people who aren't "readers" simply don't have anything in front of them that they'd care to read.

Comments

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

I understand your point... I'm just not seeing where it actually is a point. You're essentially repeating and rephrasing what I'm saying like it changes something about my point.

The "mainstream publishing" is tracking and marketing to only a small fraction of the potential. There are vast swaths of people out there whose interests and needs aren't being catered to by them. Therefore, 1) the idea of "mainstream" is very much a mischaracterization and 2) there is plenty of room for alternative markets to grow.

And also, I think that while many people who don't read much else overhype the quality of the Harry Potter series, you're dismissing it unfairly. The shelves are full of things that are bland, easy to read, and inoffensive to pretty much everyone... but none of them can touch HP's numbers. The first book received an initially small publication deal because it seemed to fit the mold of so-called mainstream appeal... but it broke the mass market because of things unique to it that publishers don't select for.

If J.K. Rowling had gone to a publisher and said "I have a seven book series in my head that's all about how the way to defeat death is to learn to accept it" instead of "Look! Baby wizards!", she'd still be living in an unheated flat.

[vox-vocis-causa.livejournal.com]

I agree that the term "mainstream" is often mischaracherized. My only point is that the mainstream may not represent the majority of the potential market; but it is the single largest segment of that market.

Harry Potter, which should be respected for its huge cultural impact, broke all kinds of sales records and has been read by maybe some 40 odd million people; and even it has only scratched the surface potential readership. Only the Bible comes even close to reaching a majority of people.

Of course there is room for niche markets, but does a book published by the author that prints 200 copies constitute the mainstream? Probably not.

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

Nowhere am I arguing that a book that sells 200 copies is the mainstream.

But the CNN article mentions two authors who went from small press/POD to success that can only be characterized as "mainstream" after the publishers who are supposedly representing the "mainstream" told them they lacked the appeal needed to sell to the "mainstream"; they only got larger book deals when it became apparent that the publishers had misjudged their appeal and relegated them to "niches".

J.K. Rowling's personal story is similar... her allegedly bland, allegedly generic little fantasy book wasn't "supposed" to have the appeal that it did.

What the publishers are addressing is the largest single segment that anybody's bothering to address. There's no natural boundary that marks this segment as a unique beast distinct from the rest of the market... decades of habit and convention have simply codified and solidified what they think their market is. There are mountains of wasted opportunity there, as J.K. Rowling's unpredicted runaway success (particularly among "non-readers") demonstrates.

that isn't how it used to be...

[akailaughingman.livejournal.com]

at some point, sci-fi mags were the hot thing, and then there wasn't such a sense of "safety" and "gatekeeping"... because you generally read all the stories, and the editor could afford to give you something odd or unusual.
It's purely an artifact of publishing books...
Yeah, sure, at this point, everyone who's read a science fiction book is probably somewhat unlikely to have read Analog or Amazing...