- Joined
- Jan 31, 2020
Indeed... Scalzi and Jemison make bank, admittedly by largely coasting on hype, Scalzi definitely doesn't sell enough books to justify that seven figure contract Tor gave him, and Jemison more or less had to have three Hugos giftwrapped to her before her sales really picked up... even now, I wonder how much of that is inertia, and how much is dependent on being "SFWA's Black Woman Face of the Genre" image they've been so desperate to build up. Even now, her sales are just midlist.
Beyond that? As the Ona lads are finding out, so many of the names that keep that entire circle afloat these days are propped up by reputation alone, as well as a well-organized whisper network. Cat Rambo, Mary Three Names and Jeffe Kennedy might not be able to sell 20k books between them, but with a snap of their fingers they can make or break your "name" in the field. Largely thanks to the concerted effort to make sure the official narrative matches the party line - this is where the likes of Jason Sanford, Mike Glyer, Camestros Felapton, Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz come in - to say nothing of a network of media contacts and outlets ranging from Locus to io9.
They may not be good at selling books, but they sure now how to sell image and influence, to make them look way more powerful than they really are. THAT is how SFWA still has power, that and coasting of reputation and legacy.
You wanna break the back of SFWA? That network would be where to start. Wreck that, the façade will collapse, and you're left with a bunch of fat losers and cat ladies with nothing but bad book sales, Patreon bucks and public assistance.
I've met Weber several times, man's a military scifi and industry legend for a reason, and not just because he has enough loyal fans to make him one of the big dependable moneymaking names in genre... if Baen has a Mount Rushmore, he's on it for a reason. Man's prolific, puts out damn near consistently good work, has mentored a ton of younger authors, and most importantly, is one of the nicest guys in the business. Honestly, my only issue is that he hasn't written the last Empire of Man novel.
That asspull in Out of the Dark exists for a reason oddly enough - internal politics with publishers. Weber publishes nearly all of his stuff with Baen Books, and Out of the Dark is published by Tor. I don't know too many specifics - I don't work for Baen or Tor, and was lower on the totem pole at my publisher at the time this happened - but by all accounts, the book was a victim of Tor's grudge against Baen and their authors, and suffered as a result. He more or less walked away from Tor nearly completely after this, Safehold series aside, so something nasty happened behind the scenes.
