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Oft-nominated authors - - legit or trendy?

Posted 2011-02-24 11:28 AM (#2338)
Subject: Oft-nominated authors - - legit or trendy?

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This is my first post. I joined WWE recently and I am greatly impressed with how this site is constructed and presented. I visit daily and use the resources and features. I wish the forums were more active, and I have let many people know about this site. So, thanks WWE!

Anyway, I have noticed that with any given award, an author will get a book nominated, and then for several years in a row, that author appears on the nominated lists. Also, it seems like certain authors are nominated for just about every novel that they write.

Does it have to do with trends? Is it something like a function of exposure and momentum? Does it validate ones vote by selecting a trendy or oft-awarded author? Are there more deserving books not being noticed because of this?

Or do these authors really write novels that deserve to be listed among the top books published each year? When Ursula K. LeGuin writes a book, can everyone grant that it will be one of the five best books published that year?

If we read the award nominated books every year (which I am trying to do), do we get the best of fantasy and sci-fi, or do we simply get a limited group of "in" authors?

I guess I can see it being a mixture of both. I am sure that there is some trending going on; a certain author gets hot and rides a wave, perhaps at the expense of more deserving works. Yet, there is a reason that these authors get recognized often, and that it because they are good. They rise well above much of the fantasy and sci-fi novels that get published, and they deserve the awards.

Thoughts?

Edited by daneyvette 2011-02-24 11:29 AM

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Posted 2011-02-24 9:42 PM (#2339 - in reply to #2338)
Subject: RE: Oft-nominated authors - - legit or trendy?

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daneyvette - 2011-02-24 11:28 AM This is my first post. I joined WWE recently and I am greatly impressed with how this site is constructed and presented. I visit daily and use the resources and features. I wish the forums were more active, and I have let many people know about this site. So, thanks WWE!

Welcome aboard daneyvette and thanks for the compliments. I'm glad you're finding WWEnd a useful resource and thanks also for spreading the word about us. I wish the forum was more active too - perhaps that will come in time. There is a lot of stiff competition out there for forums already.

Anyway, I have noticed that with any given award, an author will get a book nominated, and then for several years in a row, that author appears on the nominated lists. Also, it seems like certain authors are nominated for just about every novel that they write. Does it have to do with trends? Is it something like a function of exposure and momentum? ... Thoughts?

For a first post this is a doozie! I think you're making a lot of good points and I suspect that most, in not all, of the things you've brought up are true to some extent. Here are some of my thoughts on awards in no particular order:

We tend to read the books that get the most exposure. More exposure is given to the names we know because they're more of sure thing for the publisher and for us. Consequently those authors that are selling well come up more frequently for nominations. That's where the awards follow the trends rather than set them.

Reputation counts a great deal in the awards. When somebody like Ursula K. LeGuin comes out with a new book people flock to it because they know it's going to be at least good if not great. Sometimes you want a sure thing.

Since you can't possibly consider all books that are eligible for any award there will be a great many books that get missed. That's one of the reasons we cover so many awards on WWEnd. Each award has it's own slant so by looking at multiple awards you can hopefully get a better gauge on what that best books were at the timer.

When an author cracks the awards for the first time that puts them on the radar for a lot more people which only builds expectation for the next book by that author. That keeps him/her in the forefront for a few years if they keep writing good books.

Fantasy is on the rise everywhere you look and the awards reflect that trend. Just look at this year's Nebula noms. SF is taking a back seat right now but I expect that to reverse eventually and that will show in the awards too.

Anybody else?

gallyangel

Posted 2011-03-01 1:48 AM (#2344 - in reply to #2338)
Subject: Re: Oft-nominated authors - - legit or trendy?

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When you talk about trendy, I think of William Gibson. I think it's well established that Neuromancer was a game changer in SF so I would say that Count Zero at least, was ridding the coat-tails: he's the hot guy, he is the TREND. It could be argued that the next couple novels rode the Neuromancer wave and don't really stand on their own. I disagree, but that's been floated before. But now, 25+ years later, we've seen that he does have staying power. I doubt he sells as well, but, for me at least, when his next novel comes out, it goes to the top of my read list. So does his work have intrinsic value or has it created trends again? His last two novels were set in present day situations with SF mixed in like a melody. The City and The City, which won just about everything last year, same thing, Alt:history, present day, SF is barely there at all. Maybe that's the hot thing right now. But City&City is a brutal read on the human mind and the forces that shape it. Some might like to argue that CIty&City is simply in the trend of alt:history, present day. I think it exemplifies it.

>>Fantasy is on the rise everywhere you look and the awards reflect that trend. Just look at this year's Nebula noms. SF is taking a back seat >>right now but I expect that to reverse eventually and that will show in the awards too.

I'm tempted to say what SF. I happen to live were the biggest book store is a Borders! (chapter 11, baby). SF is distinctly hard to find in their SF/Fantasy section. I mean, a few years ago before the manga craze settled down a bit, their manga and SF/Fantasy sections were the same size. They're the place to watch the hot trends and what sells.