Has medieval style fantasy had its day?

[Jackarandajam]

Gotta say, from from an unpublished writers perspective, this conversation is strangely motivating.
Kinda like being on the way to Cali during the gold rush and listening to miners kvetch about process and how much they've scraped up. Some better than others, all about the mine and the area and the technique.
I'm still somewhere in kansas yelling giddyup at the wagon, but I'm a-comin.

Edit: to be clear, I'm not comparing a book to striking it rich, no delusions on that count. I've just set my mind to doing what yall are, so shop talk makes me want in on it.

 

[The Dark One]

Understanding geology and knowing where the gold is likely to be is a useful addition to your analogy.

It's what we were originally talking about.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

No, I'm not big on socials. I just don't have the time, and I'm not really running any serious ads at the moment. Just a trickle. Life took a few turns since Eve of Snows and I'm kind of at that "damn, I'm comfortable" point in life where it just doesn't make sense to do social media when I hate social media, and it would cut into the scattered few hours of sleep I get between writing and life. So, my purpose right now is to build the backlist from now until the point where time and money are on my side while I study the evolution of marketing books over the next couple of years. I'll be ticking up my convention presence and socials over the next few years while getting a feel for the next phase.

Either way, I'm going to take the advice of ONE guy on query letters—I don't recall who, but I think he's the only one I've seen say this—is instead of yapping the sales pitch, talk "business plan." The more I look into the industry, the more I think this is true. I suspected it was true back then, but to be blunt, I had no business plan when I launched EoS. My bad! Since I didn't really expect much to happen, I wasn't ready for take-off and didn't have a clue how well I was doing, LMAO.

That, and backlist, backlist, backlist.

OR, I might just end up so comfortable that I just publish my books happy-go-lucky without sweating reaching the brick-and-mortar stores. But, like an Indie who went trad and back to hybrid, I think the B&M opens up another audience and will overcome any short-term losses and pain in the assery.

I dont get the impression you are on many socials Dems. Are you doing more than paying for ads with what you do?

 

[The Dark One]

DDN's plan is almost identical to my own.

I've never had time to market myself and am not a self-promoter by nature. Most of my effort has gone into creating the products and I do have a backlist which has been rated pretty well on GR. The rights to my first four novels have reverted to me and I have a three book deal with another small publisher at the moment.

I've recently dropped from FT work down to 2 days and am scribbling furiously. I've got another book finished which I hope could be the breakthrough (mind you, I say that about every book) and off the back of that have just signed with a major agent.

So, if my plans come to fruition, the new book will get a decent publisher and raise my profile. That will then generate interest in my backlist and what has been my hobby for 30 years will start to earn me a living.

Wouldn't that be nice.

 

[skip.knox]

Skip! You're back! I was getting concerned.

I was away in truth, for my wife and I spent two weeks in Paris. when I travel i leave the computer at home, only bringing my phone. Typing on the phone keyboard is just sufficiently annoying that I don't participate in forums. Hence the silence.

 

[skip.knox]

Sorry for the delay in replying Finchbearer. I plead Paris.

So, you specify trad publishing, which I don't know at all, so I guess I'll accept most any assertion. But I invite you to consider another part of what you originally posted; specifically, you might deconstruct the phrase "medieval style fantasy". What elements would create the impression? Easy answers include things like kings, a mostly agricultural society, armored and mounted warriors in service to a lord, stuff and nonsense about fealty and honor.

I suggest parsing out the elements so you can be clearer as to what you might include and what you might exclude in any given submission. It would also be worth your time to ask the entity doing the rejecting to be more explicit as to the specifics for the rejection. For example, it might be a publisher has five "medieval style fantasies" in their publication queue already and just doesn't see potential for a sixth. That doesn't mean the style has had its day generally, but only for that publisher and only for now.

Every genre and sub-genre has its day. Most of them get more than one day. You can spend much time trying to figure out how to catch the wave.

Anyway, thanks for replying.

 

[Finchbearer]

Sorry for the delay in replying Finchbearer. I plead Paris.

So, you specify trad publishing, which I don't know at all, so I guess I'll accept most any assertion. But I invite you to consider another part of what you originally posted; specifically, you might deconstruct the phrase "medieval style fantasy". What elements would create the impression? Easy answers include things like kings, a mostly agricultural society, armored and mounted warriors in service to a lord, stuff and nonsense about fealty and honor.

I suggest parsing out the elements so you can be clearer as to what you might include and what you might exclude in any given submission. It would also be worth your time to ask the entity doing the rejecting to be more explicit as to the specifics for the rejection. For example, it might be a publisher has five "medieval style fantasies" in their publication queue already and just doesn't see potential for a sixth. That doesn't mean the style has had its day generally, but only for that publisher and only for now.

Every genre and sub-genre has its day. Most of them get more than one day. You can spend much time trying to figure out how to catch the wave.

Anyway, thanks for replying.

Aside from my own York, Paris is a favourite city of mine. Pretty much the perfect time of year to go.

It’s a difficult one to define, which is why I write in the OP ‘western medieval style fantasy give or take a few thousand years, and might also be inspired by other cultures’ - or something along those lines…

I suppose it’s been quite a male dominated area of fantasy, so maybe that’s my point of difference. Who knows! I am aware you’re a medievalist, and so when I say medieval style fantasy, it’s a loose definition. But I assume we all know what it generally is. Defining it to an agent, I agree is a different skill.

 

[skip.knox]

>when I say medieval style fantasy, it’s a loose definition.
No worries there. If I fretted over definitions, I don't think I'd read anything!

I do encourage to write what feels right for you. If you write ... oh, let's say three novels ... and each of them get rejected by agents specifically because they object to the medieval setting, then maybe you consider alternatives. But until then, just write your best stuff! Let someone else do the rejecting.