I'm afraid I laughed all the way through this. Your efforts to read the market match mine, which is why I've given up on shopping any bestseller lists ever. It's back to word of mouth for me. I've honestly found more fun stuff to read on substack than I ever did on Amazon. Also I've gone back to reading old books for free on Open library.
Also, if you know some good military scifi, please share! I read some Halo novels recently that gave me a burning hunger for more. Except I'd like some where 99% of the characters don't die, please. (Halo has a very high body count.)
People are talking about the authenticity economy. Corporate big sellers aren't doing it for people anymore. When I started finding like minded indies, I found so many top level talents. It's incredible that the mainstream press ignores them.
As for Mil SciFi... I'm almost exclusively a fantasy reader. Blaine Lee Pardoe's Land & Sea short story in Anvil Magazine was fantastic though, so I might look into more of his stuff.
Nick's Galaxy's Edge series with Jason Anspach is also very good. You might give it a whirl beginning with Legionare. https://a.co/d/d6nDmZu
If you want to see humanity having to reinvent a standing military in the face of an alien invasion, check out Gladius Leagues, by yours truly: https://a.co/d/8w4gMmN
A lot of people have given up on the top 100 and book suggestions. Many indies have pointed out this creates a feedback look. On Amazon's lists as in bookstores they don't see men buying, and the immediate conclusion is that men don't buy. So they get further ignored. It's a sad state.
When I look at self-pub and small press, I see tons of stuff specifically for men. Can’t attest to the quality of it all, but that’s where we’re at all around.
I wonder how much of this has to do with the seeming growing disparities between men and women in the modern dating nightmare? Men have given up, I am told, and would rather play video games, and women remain unfulfilled...some would say as ever, but I know it wasn't always THIS much of a problem. We have also seen a rise in smut in TV adn film, so it's not just readers.
My guess is the problem is top down. Corporations and media have been pushing extremism and trash for about a decade now. Hopefully, we're close to an end.
It used to be that smut failed and therefore wasn't financially viable for entertainment companies to produce considering the cost/benefit ratio. AS we have seen in the comic book film industry especially, the production of garbage that no one asked for, and seemingly not caring if it makes money or not, and that concerns me. somone is bankrolling hot garbage and the usual market rules have been circumnatvigated somehow.
I don’t really understand why they categorize this way, romance has always sold the best. However, it is a distinct genre and fantasy is a different genre. While some works might bridge the genres, though I wonder, romance’s plot is usually the hero and heroine meet, have relationship conflict then resolve that and commit to be together forever. Whereas fantasy is usually the hero’s journey.
The majority of these are obviously primarily romances with sword and sorcery costumes and setting.
Don’t know how to resolve this though. The author probably clicks all genres they think apply, and then the smut addicts buy until they get to the top of the list.
Amazon and other booksellers are obviously never gonna fix this. They want the literary landscape to become more pozzed, not less.
As I see it, we have two choices:
1. Play the game according to the rules of the gatekeepers. If you want success badly enough, that means write romantasy and lesbian werewolves.
2. Build a meritocratic platform specifically resistant to the relentless feminists and their literary bowel movements; or support such if somebody else builds one.
I thought about creating a platform, and even planned it out a bit. I don't have the time or talent with tech to make it pan out right now. It's on the back burner though.
Laughed out loud at the badger meme, what a throwback. It is promoting to see Dungeon Crawler Carl — which started as a royal road serial — break through.
I'm afraid I laughed all the way through this. Your efforts to read the market match mine, which is why I've given up on shopping any bestseller lists ever. It's back to word of mouth for me. I've honestly found more fun stuff to read on substack than I ever did on Amazon. Also I've gone back to reading old books for free on Open library.
Also, if you know some good military scifi, please share! I read some Halo novels recently that gave me a burning hunger for more. Except I'd like some where 99% of the characters don't die, please. (Halo has a very high body count.)
People are talking about the authenticity economy. Corporate big sellers aren't doing it for people anymore. When I started finding like minded indies, I found so many top level talents. It's incredible that the mainstream press ignores them.
As for Mil SciFi... I'm almost exclusively a fantasy reader. Blaine Lee Pardoe's Land & Sea short story in Anvil Magazine was fantastic though, so I might look into more of his stuff.
MilSF... You might enjoy:
The Fallen Empire books from Cannon Publishing (https://www.cannonpublishing.us/)
The Four Horsemen universe from Chris Kennedy Publishing (https://chriskennedypublishing.com/)
Strange Company from Nick Cole (https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Company-Nick-Cole-ebook/dp/B08X1HW33H)
... just to name a few.
I've wanted to read Nick Cole's books for a while, I just didn't know where to start.
Nick's Galaxy's Edge series with Jason Anspach is also very good. You might give it a whirl beginning with Legionare. https://a.co/d/d6nDmZu
If you want to see humanity having to reinvent a standing military in the face of an alien invasion, check out Gladius Leagues, by yours truly: https://a.co/d/8w4gMmN
You might like my Star Core series! - https://msolney.substack.com/s/star-core-wild-space
A potent point. I stopped looking at Amazon and GoodRead's book list suggestions as they always have a targeted lean to them.
A lot of people have given up on the top 100 and book suggestions. Many indies have pointed out this creates a feedback look. On Amazon's lists as in bookstores they don't see men buying, and the immediate conclusion is that men don't buy. So they get further ignored. It's a sad state.
When I look at self-pub and small press, I see tons of stuff specifically for men. Can’t attest to the quality of it all, but that’s where we’re at all around.
I wonder how much of this has to do with the seeming growing disparities between men and women in the modern dating nightmare? Men have given up, I am told, and would rather play video games, and women remain unfulfilled...some would say as ever, but I know it wasn't always THIS much of a problem. We have also seen a rise in smut in TV adn film, so it's not just readers.
My guess is the problem is top down. Corporations and media have been pushing extremism and trash for about a decade now. Hopefully, we're close to an end.
It used to be that smut failed and therefore wasn't financially viable for entertainment companies to produce considering the cost/benefit ratio. AS we have seen in the comic book film industry especially, the production of garbage that no one asked for, and seemingly not caring if it makes money or not, and that concerns me. somone is bankrolling hot garbage and the usual market rules have been circumnatvigated somehow.
I don’t really understand why they categorize this way, romance has always sold the best. However, it is a distinct genre and fantasy is a different genre. While some works might bridge the genres, though I wonder, romance’s plot is usually the hero and heroine meet, have relationship conflict then resolve that and commit to be together forever. Whereas fantasy is usually the hero’s journey.
The majority of these are obviously primarily romances with sword and sorcery costumes and setting.
Don’t know how to resolve this though. The author probably clicks all genres they think apply, and then the smut addicts buy until they get to the top of the list.
I'm sure Amazon could curate the categories much better. I don't think they care.
Amazon and other booksellers are obviously never gonna fix this. They want the literary landscape to become more pozzed, not less.
As I see it, we have two choices:
1. Play the game according to the rules of the gatekeepers. If you want success badly enough, that means write romantasy and lesbian werewolves.
2. Build a meritocratic platform specifically resistant to the relentless feminists and their literary bowel movements; or support such if somebody else builds one.
I thought about creating a platform, and even planned it out a bit. I don't have the time or talent with tech to make it pan out right now. It's on the back burner though.
There is Dudesbooks.com but I never see it promoted.
Never heard of that one before. Needless to say: it’s now bookmarked.
I have not yet built such a platform for those and other reasons.
Laughed out loud at the badger meme, what a throwback. It is promoting to see Dungeon Crawler Carl — which started as a royal road serial — break through.
I see your perspective and would ask you your perspective on my essay and Therese Judaena's essay