Gary Wassner
November 6th, 2005, 05:54 PM
I just returned from WFC in Madison, Wi, and I was really impressed for the first time in five years. First of all, the walls that used to surround the better know authors from the lesser known ones, the editors from the authors, the agents from everyone else, seemed to broken down. The atmosphere was much friendlier, much more cooperative, and much more inspiring. I was particularly blown away by the published authors in attendance. Scott Bakker, Matt Stover, Kevin Radthorne, Hal Duncan, Michael Stackpole and the list goes on and on, supported and encouraged an open, intelligent animated discourse at all hours of the day and night, sometimes brilliant, always inspiring.
But one other thing that really distinguished this con from the others for me aside from having had the privalege of being with some people whose company I am honored to keep, was the presence of a serious new force in genre publishing: Nightshade Books. Though not brand new by any means, they are an inspiring group; open, intelligent, hard working, totally unaffected, creative and genuine. An impressive bunch. Hats off to their courage and committment.
Pyr too has entered the mix with a vision of its own and a bright, serious articulate editor at its helm.
There's hope amidst the rubble and reason to be optimistic, I believe. In an industry (the book publishing and selling industry, not necessarily genre publishing) that is suffering from dropping sales, where midlist authors are struggling to earn a living and the few mega books that sell in the multi millions dominate the shelves, these newer, smaller scale, independent presses are lights in the dark. Their principles are different based upon the economic differences that separate them from the larger corporate presses. And hopefully the larger imprints will not scale back at the expense of creativity and the encouragement and support of emerging talent, but just reorganize a bit based upon the new business realities of today's multi-media marketplace.
But most of all for me, I was just captivated by an atmosphere of commonality and common purpose. With only a few rare and totally expected exceptions, the cliqueshness did not surface. It was an inspiring con.
Of course, I had a bit of a skewed perspective from the table we 'rented' for the four days in the bar behind the lobby. And if I did, due to the fact that I grew to believe that the table was actually in my program book, then I would love to hear other people's opinions on the convention. Maybe I just imagined all of this. After all, here I am back home now and it almost feels as if I never left. If not for this god damn hangover, I might start to worry.
But one other thing that really distinguished this con from the others for me aside from having had the privalege of being with some people whose company I am honored to keep, was the presence of a serious new force in genre publishing: Nightshade Books. Though not brand new by any means, they are an inspiring group; open, intelligent, hard working, totally unaffected, creative and genuine. An impressive bunch. Hats off to their courage and committment.
Pyr too has entered the mix with a vision of its own and a bright, serious articulate editor at its helm.
There's hope amidst the rubble and reason to be optimistic, I believe. In an industry (the book publishing and selling industry, not necessarily genre publishing) that is suffering from dropping sales, where midlist authors are struggling to earn a living and the few mega books that sell in the multi millions dominate the shelves, these newer, smaller scale, independent presses are lights in the dark. Their principles are different based upon the economic differences that separate them from the larger corporate presses. And hopefully the larger imprints will not scale back at the expense of creativity and the encouragement and support of emerging talent, but just reorganize a bit based upon the new business realities of today's multi-media marketplace.
But most of all for me, I was just captivated by an atmosphere of commonality and common purpose. With only a few rare and totally expected exceptions, the cliqueshness did not surface. It was an inspiring con.
Of course, I had a bit of a skewed perspective from the table we 'rented' for the four days in the bar behind the lobby. And if I did, due to the fact that I grew to believe that the table was actually in my program book, then I would love to hear other people's opinions on the convention. Maybe I just imagined all of this. After all, here I am back home now and it almost feels as if I never left. If not for this god damn hangover, I might start to worry.