It doesn't necessarily have to be "Time." I was just trying to come up with a mainstream magazine, a place where the ad. would likely be seen by anybody, a general cross section of the population.
What's the last book -- science fiction book -- you found out about through "Time," or any other mainstream magazine? How about television? What science fiction books have you seen advertised on television, where it wasn't a tie-in book that was being published by the same company as the television station/network?
WTF??? I may be interested in reading books, but I've never read The New York Times Book Review. in my life. In between the group of people who wouldn't read a book if you put a gun to their head, and the book reading fanatics who live and breathe books, are "normal people" who both like to watch TV and read some books, but wouldn't read The New York Times Book Review regularly if you gave them a lifetime subscription to it.
Sorry to disabuse you of your assumption, but lots and lots of people who read get their information from the New York Times Book Review, either as a primary source, or a secondary one (talking to someone who reads it, reading a column about an item in it, seeing something on a blog commenting on it, reading an Amazon.com review that references it, etc.).
NOTHING stupid about it. Who said it was stupid? I just said it wasn't enough. There are Babylon 5 and SF fans who don't get to go to the cons. where Del Rey did whatever it was that they did. In fact, that would seem to include most people here, since nobody has come forward with firsthand knowledge of what Del Rey actually did at any of the cons.
All that means is that nobody here happened to be at one of those cons, but probably many of us heard second-hand information about it. And as Jan said, what they
probably did is what
every other publisher does at cons: they had a table with freebies and promotional materials about the books. Fans saw it, media saw it, and lo, a great shout went up from the populace and the word was passed!
Not everybody is going to hear about every book, all the time, and this, I think, is where your argument loses steam and comes across as baseless complaining. You are speaking as though you were
entitled to hear about this. How much press do most science fiction books get? Sure, you'll hear about the latest Harry Potter, and probably even the latest Anne Rice or Stephen King books, but
most sf readers find out about the latest sf books by going to the bookstore and browsing. It simply isn't possible for Del Rey -- or any other publisher, for that matter -- to send someone around to ring the doorbell of every single science fiction fan in the world to make sure they know about every book they publish, and putting an ad in "Time" magazine or in prime time on a network amounts to basically that. It's expensive, and a niche series like Babylon 5 tie-in books is simply not going to have the budget for it. I realize you're disappointed by this, but it's fact, and it's commonly accepted business practice in the not-at-all-lucrative genre publishing world, and you're lucky we even had
any books as tie-ins to this series, frankly.
Why does it have to be "instead of" ? One or the other? Why can't they do both, i.e. stuff at major B5/SF cons., and an ad. in a general place where everybody looks? There are B5 and SF people who don't get to go the the cons. where Del Rey was. These people do watch TV, read the paper, and spend some time in bookstores.
You keep focusing on the con, the con, the con. As though Del Rey said, "Ha, let's just target those con-going sf fans and screw the rest!" No, it was a way of getting the most bang for their buck, by reaching a large amount of fans in one relatively inexpensive place, fans who would return to their communities and spread the word about
everything they'd seen that weekend. Do you read needcoffee.com? They go to DragonCon and report on it every year. Do you read filmforce.ign.com? They always have someone there and write up the events they go to. Etc. As for the people who aren't on the internet, and don't read magazines, and don't talk to any other sf fans...well, Del Rey can't be responsible for reaching every shut-in. I daresay that anyone who isn't doing all of those things isn't hearing about
many books, not just the B5 ones.
Anyone who was/is a sufficiently motivated B5 fan could/did find out about these books.
>> Let's just say, you completely misunderstood. You couldn't have misunderstood more. I was being sarcastic, saying "What was their budget, $100/trilogy?" BECAUSE of how little they did. Nowhere did I say that they could produce posters for $100/trilogy. I don't know where the hell you got that. Creative reading, I guess. <<
In Joe's defense, in message #72 in this thread, you wrote: "And I suppose a poster for bookstore windows, say one for each trilogy, would break the bank? What size advertising budget are we talking about her, $100/trilogy?" By juxtaposing your supposition about the advertising budget with that sentence about whether or not posters would 'break the bank,' of
course someone could have conflated those two thoughts. I know I did, too.
At this point we're just flogging the same points. It boils down to the fact that you think that the publishing business should have reinvented itself, or at least twisted itself into a pretzel, to accomodate one relatively small, low-earning franchise that probably cost them a pretty penny in licensing fees. I'm telling you you're being unrealistic, and letting your fannish devotion to the series narrow your vision to pinpoints. Heck, I love the series, too, but some of the things you insist are just plain wacky, and if implemented on a broad scale for all such books, would put most publishers out of business.
Feel free to have the last word.
Amy
