The Golden Age of Epic Fantasy is Over.

hi everyone uh P here today's video will be something a bit different uh it has been a while since I uh made a video about book discussion and something like this but in to this's video this is something that I have been thinking uh for a while now I think since last year but this is about the state of Epic Fantasy in the traditional uh publishing uh industry I don't know about you but this is not something that only I notice I know that many people have mentioned this as well on social media but it really seems like uh traditional publishing is forsaking uh Epic Fantasy at the moment they are doing this in favor of course if you are active in social media on buuk social media you will know that they are favoring Romany and also kzy fantasy at the moment kzy fantasy rise to its Fame uh most likely thanks to Legends and lates during covid and then Romany of course is a Resurgence thanks to Fort way by Rea yaros which is most likely one of the most popular book of all time now just within a single year insane I know but yeah I think I speak for everyone uh you watching my channel that we love Epic Fantasy and we want more Epic Fantasy and it is such a shame that traditional publishing is not publishing a lot of new Epic Fantasy right now and I'm not talking about wellestablished authors like Brendan Sanderson George Martin well George Martin is not publishing any book but you get what I mean if Brandon Sanderson and also other uh wellestablished fantasy and sci-fi authors publish a new epic fantasy or sci-fi book it will still sells really well but I'm talking about new debut authors new debut authors trying to publish a new Epic Fantasy work and again just to explain my points I will share this passage from Peter McLean uh the author of the war for the rose Throne series there are many example of this but I think what Peter McLean said really hits uh what I'm trying to say here publishing real talk time this industry is brutal it is especially brutal at the moment when production costs are of the scale because of global economic events I had my entire War for the rast throne quartet published by Joel fetcher books at hatet in the UK and I was very fortunate there ace at penguin in the US dropped that after the first two books they have both earned out in the states and are still making me and therefore them money but that's not enough anymore making them money is no longer enough absorb that fact you have to make them a lot of money or you are done and I guess I didn't quite manage to do that it is what it is has should ukk have bought a new book from me which you will get next summer pave with good intentions is a standalone you don't have to read the old ones it's a new fantasy crime trailer set in the world of the Rose drun that's all but here's the thing I never really had a word count constrainted before I think PRI of crowns published at about 145,000 words long George Martin or Robert Jordan book is at least twice if not three times that my new contract glad of it though I am has a hard 100,000 word cap on it that's how much of a constraint production costs are now I think unless you are already a mega star the days of the big fantasy are done lean and mean seems to be the way forward like the genre was back in the' 60s and' 7s I'm not even sure that's bad thing but it's definitely an adjustment of expectations anyway just some thoughts I think many of you know that I try to be conscious about new Epic Fantasy and sci-fi book because I do like reading new and also older uh Epic Fantasy and sci-fi books I love uh having Variety in my reading even though I am really focused on reading Epic Fantasy and sci-fi novels but yeah at the same time I also want uh more Epic Fantasy debut new Epic Fantasy from a new author as well because I just cannot get enough of them and and hearing this kind of words from Peter mcleen just confirm what I already what I already predicted since since last year and this was shared by Peter McLean uh last month and I have always wanted to post this video but I think uh today is the right time I'm feeling like it and in that uh comment section of Peter mle's post on Facebook Mike shackle the author of the last war Trilogy one of my favorite Trilogy and it is a big epic GM Dark Fantasy and well he said that right now he is being told to write in less than 130,000 words long and then Alam the author of dragonfall is being told to do the same thing everything must be under 130,000 WS long do you know how short uh that is the name of the wind is more than 200,000 words long and the recent draft by Brandon Sanderson on Stormlight Archive book is 540,000 words long of course it will be cut down just like ROM of War it will be cut down to about 400,000 words long but that's about uh four times the word count that Peter McLean is told uh to write and Mike shakle also mentioned hopefully a ruthless edit can save his book and I really don't know uh I I don't feel I don't feel good about that statement I mean it's like uh traditional publishing is favoring money I know they're always favoring money but this time they really mean it even more because they want to cut down their production cost even more by having lesser page count a fewer page count and it's not sticking to the author's Vision I mean they are trying to force the author to not tell the story they want to tell as long that they fit uh the hard cap uh word count what if the story actually needs uh 200,000 W long to be to live up to its fullest potential we have read many of books many fantasy and sci-fi books where we felt like the books are too short not not going to lie sometimes there are books that are too long uh as well but you get what I mean and doing this it really feels like cutting the author's potential for the greatest story they could ever told in their Vision in my opinion and what I'm talking about here this is not a blanket statement I mean of course there are still new Epic Fantasy and sci-fi books published by a new debut author for example recently I read a book it is not published yet but it is the failures by benjami and liar and this is the first book in the war in the land Trilogy I cannot emphasize just how thrilled I was uh to be reading that book because that book is a new epic science Fantasy by a new debut author and it is uh epic and large in its scope the W count are there as well it is a huge book it is a big book and I was so elated to be reading that because I can't believe that right now I get to read a new Epic Fantasy on that scope and also on that scale being published by a new wbut author it feels incredibly rare now not going to lie it feels incredibly rare to have an Epic Fantasy and sci-fi debut on thiso publishing the traditional publishing landscape right now it is a super Rarity and yeah I think that is a bit of a shame well it is a big shame because books like this is why I love to read I get it though traditional publishing always move in a cycle when they see something popular they want to follow on that Trend you remember Game of Thrones back then everything was about if you like Game of Thrones you will like this book even though the book is so different compared to Game of Thrones as long that it is Epic Fantasy it is marketed that way and I think they are trying uh to really uh get the popularity and fame from uh the fourth wi right now and also other Romany books if you are a book reviewer or a content creator on social media you might get the question or something like this sometimes and this is just this just speaks there are demands for it when you're talking about I don't know maybe The Stormlight Archive or maybe uh John gwin's books and then some some readers will ask you is there Spice in it and of course there isn't any spice this kind of questions spark uh surprisingly a lot of times if you want to read a book about spice uh read Dune go to arachis so many spice there it is a planet of spice but you get my point here the demands for Romany is really huge right now but this is not to say there aren't any demands for Epic Fantasy we this has been confirmed in self fantasy Market the bound and the broken series by Ryan kahill and then the echos Saga by Philip SE quential these books uh I think uh the B the broken is more popular at the moment but the echo Saga for example it has been selling insanely well on Amazon in and in the subish fantasy uh market for plenty of years now like really really many books toppling over many popular fantasy authors and that is just a fact so it's not like there isn't any market for Epic Fantasy in traditional publishing so I think based on my observation going back to what Peter mcklein said there are a publishing traditional publishing is really trying their best to maximize their their their profit unfortunately which again I understand this is uh at the end of the day it is a business uh for them and although they are most likely many of them do come from from a place of loving books but at the same time they need to maximize their profit but I think uh the thing that is sacrificed here we we shouldn't have sacrificed the authors and storytellers Vision in order to uh in order to achieve a certain limitation on the word count in order to not exceed that word count I think it is just such a shame that traditional publishing is at this state uh at the moment and what will happen next in the future I think as as always it will always go back as I said a traditional publishing moves in the circle so once there is a breakout an Epic Fantasy debut breakout again that search in popularity let's say on the level of the fourth Wing which is very unlikely to find uh anytime soon but let's say let's assume we have found that kind of book well traditional publishing will go back to publishing Epic Fantasy again more new Epic Fantasy by a new author not only just wellestablished authors this is not an exception to traditional publishing we all do that sometimes recently uh one of the main reasons why I started posting this video is because I got reminded about this topic that I want to talk about through Tori's uh Tori Talks video she just posted a video about this with Johanna from Johanna Reeds I haven't watched that video honestly but that video instantly reminded me again that I wanted to make this video and traditional publishing is doing the same thing if there is a new Epic Fantasy novel published by a new author reaching an immense success then they will start doing the same thing again publish more Epic Fantasy and sci-fi books and maybe longer series which is even another topic because it is even rarer to find a new Epic Fantasy and Sci-Fi series that goes beyond Trilogy it's super super rare now but until that day happen well you know what I will do I will stick to read my backlog of books because uh right now I think if I take a look at my TBR pile I think I have enough to last me a decade of reading and I'm not even talking about books that I want to reread uh uh at the moment I still have so many books so many favorite books that I want to read again and add that to the number of books that I haven't read number of Epic Fantasy Books uh published in the past that I haven't read well the number of books that I have is enough to last me at least a decade uh and more and hopefully uh By the time hopefully not that long but during that decade hopefully traditional publishing will go back to publish more Epic Fantasy and also I still have tons of stocks when it comes to self- published fantasy books because self- publish fantasy Works in a different way compared to traditional publishing and sometimes I do feel like traditional publishing is really losing uh compared to self-published I mean for years now for years s uh progression fantasy series and also a late RPG series have been selling like hot cakes they are selling tons of money tons of books and it feels like only now the traditional publishing want to start publishing more lit RPGs recently Ace books just announced they have acquired the first three books in Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt denan and yeah that series is incredibly popular I haven't read that series yet but those who have read it pretty much agree that this series is genius and also fun and I want to read that and seriously if you go back to your catalog of books it will be super difficult to find a traditional publishing publishing an El RPG or progression fantasy I don't think they have published a progression fantasy series yet which is again a surprise because if they want to maximize profit they will have to start looking into this because cradle just what this is just one example there are many successful progression fantasy series out there uh cradle is one of the most popular and most successful series of books uh in fantasy genre not just in the subish fantasy landscape but really in the overall Amazon back then before the series was completed I think the last five books in cradle series every time a new book is out it became the number one bestselling book on the entire Amazon store that should speak volume about the success and the popularity of cradle already and will white is not the kind of guy who actually did a lot of marketing and I know this is not a fair comparison there are many authors who have tried to do a lot of marketings for their books and at the same time uh it doesn't get it doesn't gain the success that will white get luck is definitely a part here but due to how many uh successful progression fantasy series and also late RPG series is I feel like this is something that traditional publishing should look into as well if they want to maximize uh profits so at the end of the day I'm always confused by what traditional publishing is doing sometimes uh in the market I mean it's like they're moving incredibly incredibly slow but at the same time they want to maximize profit as fast as they can so that's really my my thoughts really about this situation but uh I don't know about you have you noticed the same uh issue do let me know whether you noticed a similar things or not but for me right now I would just focus on reading well Epic Fantasy and sci-fi books I still have so many Epic Fantasy and sci-fi traditional publish and also selfish fantasy books that I want to read and they are chunky books and they are the kind of books that I love recently I read the Witchwood Crown by Ted Williams and also discite Gods by Christopher Roku those two books uh they are more than 300,000 words long and I cannot imagine this books being told you have to tell the story in 100,000 was long absolutely insane and mind-blowing it just wouldn't work and I'm happy this kind of books still exist and well I will be reading them until traditional publishing is back to publishing more new epic fantasy books from a new author hopefully chunky ones uh as well but yeah uh this is the end of today's video do let me know what you think about everything I talk about in today's video and do you agree with what I said and let me know whether you are reading more Epic Fantasy and sci-fi books or maybe you are preferring uh the state of the industry right now by reading more Romany and also cozy fantasy I have nothing about their existence but I just wish there is a bit of a balance in the publication for Epic Fantasy romantasy and also uh cozy fantasy and yeah I think that's really pretty much it uh from me today uh I will post my review for this quite Gods uh as soon as possible I hope it will be worth the wait for all of you San ether fans but until then as always thank you so much for watching and thank you for your support bye-bye lastly I want to say thank you so much once again to all my patrons who keep on supporting me [Music]

Channel: Petrik Leo

Views: 18,417

Keywords: Petrik Leo, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Golden Age, Golden Age of Epic Fantasy, Epic Fantasy Books, The Age of Fantasy Is Over, Golden Age of Fantasy is Over, Fantasy Books

Id: 3jq4RyQdnvA

Length: 16min 13sec (973 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2024