KatG
January 24th, 2007, 10:32 PM
Phone Book #2 – Markets
SF and fantasy fiction are regularly sold in fiction markets. Some of it is studied as literature in academia. One of the markets through which sff works can be sold is the specialized category sff market. How did we end up with a specialized category market just for sf? How did this specialized market spawn an additional specialized market for fantasy fiction?
Up until WWII, paperbacks were not regularly sold in bookstores. In the 20th century, printing companies put out a variety of magazines, comics, booklets, paperbacks, gum, small toys and so on, which were sold in places like general stores and pharmacies. The market for these items were mainly boys and young men, and so a lot of the written material produced was sf, fantasy or horror, which interested such an audience. Novels that were technically sff were sometimes published in hardcover fiction, but there were lots and lots of these stories produced on the cheap outside of regular book channels. SF became slightly predominant, especially when it came to the magazines.
After WWII, these sf mags and writers got a bit more organized, and paperbacks became a bigger business and started moving into the bookstores. A definite paperback market for sf emerged and start-up presses and major publishers became interested in doing sf novels on a broader scale. In time, sf became a niche category market with a reliable and decent-sized fanbase. Bookstores started giving category sf its own shelf or small section, usually at the back of a store – as Terry Pratchett put it, like a VD clinic.
A fair amount of fantasy was published in the category sf market, since that had worked before in the drugstore days. Sometimes it was dressed up and called sf, and sometimes it was just called fantasy. A number of writers did both. The children’s market, which was a separate market, always had a strong need for fantasy, though they mostly left the sf to the adult market. In the 1960’s, the Youth Movement embraced both sf and fantasy. Eastern mysticism and foreign cultures in which fantasy was a literary tradition were also popular. When the paperback version of LOTR was put out in the U.S. through the category market, it sold widely, and other fantasy titles did well in its wake. This caused sf publishers to put out more fantasy titles and officially launch a fantasy category as an adjunct market in the 1970’s or so. This allowed them to grow their “niche” considerably on two fronts.
In general fiction and sometimes in other category markets, sff titles continued to be produced – futuristic medical thrillers like Michael Crichton’s Andromeda Strain, horror and ghost stories, and more “serious” works by major writers in hardcover. These works were seldom also marketed through the sff category market. They were considered separate with their own audiences, even if they were in the same genres. The sff category markets remained largely paperback, and so were looked at as the Wal-Mart to the literary set’s Saks Fifth Avenue.
In the early 1990’s, the mass market paperback market collapsed, primarily because non-bookstore vendors dropped the number of titles they carried, most of the paperback market having moved into the chain superstores. Specialty markets – called genre markets – which relied on paperback sales, were hit hard. Horror shrank, romance scrambled, westerns died, mystery lost most of its mid-list. SF also took the hit and has been rebuilding since. Fantasy got hit too, but it was a very young, still growing category and it had an ace in the hole – big, fat epic fantasy series. While other sub-categories like contemporary and comic fantasy dwindled, epic held things together enough to get the category over the hump, and got more authors onto the mainstream bestseller lists.
And in the mid-nineties, category fantasy got another gift. In the 1980’s, when adult fiction had grown, children’s fiction had struggled. But in the 1990’s, when things were bad for the adults, children’s started to rebound. Its core fantasy fiction was a major contributor to this, with a lot of series setting new sales records. Then came Harry Potter, which broke all the records, and also brought in waves of adult readers and a new set of fans. Potter was followed by the LOTR movies, which brought in more fans to the adult market, and category fantasy entered the naughts as the hot sector of fiction. Category sf has enjoyed some growth from this, as they are part of the same specialty market and share fans, but also has gotten less attention. But there really hasn’t been much incentive to separate the two category markets yet.
SF and fantasy fiction are regularly sold in fiction markets. Some of it is studied as literature in academia. One of the markets through which sff works can be sold is the specialized category sff market. How did we end up with a specialized category market just for sf? How did this specialized market spawn an additional specialized market for fantasy fiction?
Up until WWII, paperbacks were not regularly sold in bookstores. In the 20th century, printing companies put out a variety of magazines, comics, booklets, paperbacks, gum, small toys and so on, which were sold in places like general stores and pharmacies. The market for these items were mainly boys and young men, and so a lot of the written material produced was sf, fantasy or horror, which interested such an audience. Novels that were technically sff were sometimes published in hardcover fiction, but there were lots and lots of these stories produced on the cheap outside of regular book channels. SF became slightly predominant, especially when it came to the magazines.
After WWII, these sf mags and writers got a bit more organized, and paperbacks became a bigger business and started moving into the bookstores. A definite paperback market for sf emerged and start-up presses and major publishers became interested in doing sf novels on a broader scale. In time, sf became a niche category market with a reliable and decent-sized fanbase. Bookstores started giving category sf its own shelf or small section, usually at the back of a store – as Terry Pratchett put it, like a VD clinic.
A fair amount of fantasy was published in the category sf market, since that had worked before in the drugstore days. Sometimes it was dressed up and called sf, and sometimes it was just called fantasy. A number of writers did both. The children’s market, which was a separate market, always had a strong need for fantasy, though they mostly left the sf to the adult market. In the 1960’s, the Youth Movement embraced both sf and fantasy. Eastern mysticism and foreign cultures in which fantasy was a literary tradition were also popular. When the paperback version of LOTR was put out in the U.S. through the category market, it sold widely, and other fantasy titles did well in its wake. This caused sf publishers to put out more fantasy titles and officially launch a fantasy category as an adjunct market in the 1970’s or so. This allowed them to grow their “niche” considerably on two fronts.
In general fiction and sometimes in other category markets, sff titles continued to be produced – futuristic medical thrillers like Michael Crichton’s Andromeda Strain, horror and ghost stories, and more “serious” works by major writers in hardcover. These works were seldom also marketed through the sff category market. They were considered separate with their own audiences, even if they were in the same genres. The sff category markets remained largely paperback, and so were looked at as the Wal-Mart to the literary set’s Saks Fifth Avenue.
In the early 1990’s, the mass market paperback market collapsed, primarily because non-bookstore vendors dropped the number of titles they carried, most of the paperback market having moved into the chain superstores. Specialty markets – called genre markets – which relied on paperback sales, were hit hard. Horror shrank, romance scrambled, westerns died, mystery lost most of its mid-list. SF also took the hit and has been rebuilding since. Fantasy got hit too, but it was a very young, still growing category and it had an ace in the hole – big, fat epic fantasy series. While other sub-categories like contemporary and comic fantasy dwindled, epic held things together enough to get the category over the hump, and got more authors onto the mainstream bestseller lists.
And in the mid-nineties, category fantasy got another gift. In the 1980’s, when adult fiction had grown, children’s fiction had struggled. But in the 1990’s, when things were bad for the adults, children’s started to rebound. Its core fantasy fiction was a major contributor to this, with a lot of series setting new sales records. Then came Harry Potter, which broke all the records, and also brought in waves of adult readers and a new set of fans. Potter was followed by the LOTR movies, which brought in more fans to the adult market, and category fantasy entered the naughts as the hot sector of fiction. Category sf has enjoyed some growth from this, as they are part of the same specialty market and share fans, but also has gotten less attention. But there really hasn’t been much incentive to separate the two category markets yet.