THE CAREER NOVELIST
ume of their e-mail is staggering. The members-only Science Fiction
Writers of America (SFWA) special interest area on GEnie is a roil-
ing hotbed of information exchange, discussion, debate, rant, and
lawsuit-inducing "flame wars." Novices enter this electronic agora at
their own risk. For readers, many authors offer their own Web pages.
The good side of all this organization is that individual authors
can connect with fans and potential fans far more easily in the
SF/fantasy area than in nearly any other. Convention appearances,
bookstore signings, and other sorts of self-promotion are easy to
arrange. Web sites cost little to establish (as publishers, too, have
discovered). The field also has the healthiest short story market
anywhere on the literary scene.
With such strong sales and all that support, SF/fantasy should be
the darling of publishing, but amazingly it is not. SF/fantasy editors
tell me that when pitching new projects at editorial meetings they are
still, at times, stared at as if they are mutant alien freaks. It is certainly
true that SF/fantasy authors are not, as a group, allocated advertising
and promotion budgets commensurate with their revenues.
In the wider world, SF/fantasy "don't get no respect," either. Major
newspapers and magazines that regularly review, say, mystery nov-
els completely ignore SF/fantasy. Academics sneer at it, despite its
roots in the work of Mary Shelley and H. G. Wells, and the existence
of a devoted organization called IAFA (International Association for
the Fantastic in the Arts).
Media coverage of the field is also condescending. At the biggest
annual convention, Worldcon, outside reporters can usually be
counted on to write about costumed fans in tones of snide amuse-
ment. To be sure, these wounds are partially self-inflicted. For some
reason, fans and pros alike enjoy their outcast image. Everything
from fandom's special music, filking, to its special attitude and argot,
smoffing, seems designed to exclude outsiders and foster among
insiders a cozy sense of otherness.
Professional SF/fantasy writers can also be prone to elitism. In
SFWA, in-fighting is common. Currently, the group is debating a
proposal that would make membership requirements more exclu-
sive. What is going on? Why do these pros seem to relish fighting
each other more than fighting publishers?