Patrick Rothfuss is younger than GRRM, but 2011 was also the last time he released a novel in his primary series. Scott Lynch is also younger, and fans have been waiting on his next novel since 2013. GRRM doesn't spend his time on social media (he has a blog that used to be a LiveJournal, but that's it). He does some conventions, but not enough to take up THAT much of his time to explain a ~14 year gap. Stephen King is a little older than GRRM and able to crank out books. That's not because he's an avoider of the spotlight like Thomas Pynchon (who produces novels at a rate somewhat like Martin), but because he treats writing like a job.
J. G. Keeley suggested years ago that publishers have gotten scared off of starting new high fantasy series based on writers like Martin failing to deliver, which he called a "silver lining" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1459299 because he thinks Tolkien;s influence on fantasy towards greater lengths & worldbuilding was pernicious. I don't know that they're switching to the sort of fantasy he prefers though.
That's a solid review—I would both be honored and scared if I ever found out he had reviewed by work—although I don't agree that maximalism is pernicious. It has a place. The problem with maximalism is that very few people can do it well. But that's true of writing in general. And yeah, having read his review, I can't imagine he's on board with what publishing is up to these days.
I do agree that Martin's problem isn't, at this point, demands placed on him by his publisher. But I think he's way more "modern" in the willingness to market himself than Tolkien or Le Guin were.
As for Keeley's argument that Martin's failure to finish is what broke epic fantasy in publishing, I strongly doubt it. Martin's books are still generating profits. I think the HBO series did a lot more damage. What turned traditional publishing against epic fantasy is that publishers have decided the real game is in on-screen adaptations. We've seen a lot of expensive but also bad adaptations of 400k novels. Meanwhile, 80k novels are cheaper to print and easier to put on screen. This is what's leading publishing to abandon maximalist fantasy.
I suspect that Patrick Rothfuss also contributed, since fans have been waiting on the third/final book of his series since 2011 as well, and his editor has publicly blamed his lateness on her company folding and getting bought out.
Tolkien didn't have to "market" himself because he had an academic day-job. Plenty of literary (rather than fantasy/"genre" writers) have come from that, but there are fewer such jobs available (hence such people going into prestige TV) https://oyyy.substack.com/p/the-cultural-decline-of-literary
I don't think publishers get a cut of TV adaptations, which are a separate version of a work. I suppose that sales get a boost from "earned media" marketing. The recently cancelled Wheel of Time started after Game of Thrones, and my understanding is that those books are even longer than those from A Song of Ice and Fire, but that didn't stop Amazon from adapting them.
Patrick Rothfuss is younger than GRRM, but 2011 was also the last time he released a novel in his primary series. Scott Lynch is also younger, and fans have been waiting on his next novel since 2013. GRRM doesn't spend his time on social media (he has a blog that used to be a LiveJournal, but that's it). He does some conventions, but not enough to take up THAT much of his time to explain a ~14 year gap. Stephen King is a little older than GRRM and able to crank out books. That's not because he's an avoider of the spotlight like Thomas Pynchon (who produces novels at a rate somewhat like Martin), but because he treats writing like a job.
J. G. Keeley suggested years ago that publishers have gotten scared off of starting new high fantasy series based on writers like Martin failing to deliver, which he called a "silver lining" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1459299 because he thinks Tolkien;s influence on fantasy towards greater lengths & worldbuilding was pernicious. I don't know that they're switching to the sort of fantasy he prefers though.
That's a solid review—I would both be honored and scared if I ever found out he had reviewed by work—although I don't agree that maximalism is pernicious. It has a place. The problem with maximalism is that very few people can do it well. But that's true of writing in general. And yeah, having read his review, I can't imagine he's on board with what publishing is up to these days.
I do agree that Martin's problem isn't, at this point, demands placed on him by his publisher. But I think he's way more "modern" in the willingness to market himself than Tolkien or Le Guin were.
As for Keeley's argument that Martin's failure to finish is what broke epic fantasy in publishing, I strongly doubt it. Martin's books are still generating profits. I think the HBO series did a lot more damage. What turned traditional publishing against epic fantasy is that publishers have decided the real game is in on-screen adaptations. We've seen a lot of expensive but also bad adaptations of 400k novels. Meanwhile, 80k novels are cheaper to print and easier to put on screen. This is what's leading publishing to abandon maximalist fantasy.
Keeley originally wrote the review in 2010 (prior to the TV series), although it seems the remark referencing Caleb Carr is from 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20130819224712/https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1459299
I suspect that Patrick Rothfuss also contributed, since fans have been waiting on the third/final book of his series since 2011 as well, and his editor has publicly blamed his lateness on her company folding and getting bought out.
Tolkien didn't have to "market" himself because he had an academic day-job. Plenty of literary (rather than fantasy/"genre" writers) have come from that, but there are fewer such jobs available (hence such people going into prestige TV) https://oyyy.substack.com/p/the-cultural-decline-of-literary
I don't think publishers get a cut of TV adaptations, which are a separate version of a work. I suppose that sales get a boost from "earned media" marketing. The recently cancelled Wheel of Time started after Game of Thrones, and my understanding is that those books are even longer than those from A Song of Ice and Fire, but that didn't stop Amazon from adapting them.