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• Monday, July 23. 2007 Terri Main wrote:
  One thing I would add is that this works well as a stand alone. There is enough information in the preface to establish the premise. So, anyone afraid of starting in the middle doesn't have to worry.
  
  I found it interesting that someone else on the blog tour took the opposite approach to yours and said this was not so much fantasy as suspense. Maybe we need a new category Fantasy Suspense. Of course, given the resistance to fantasy/science fiction by some Christians, Bethany House probably felt it was safer to call it suspense.
  
  My blog entry focused on the ambiguity found in this book, that tension between whether the power was good or evil. And Grant's fear that he would bring about the evil even while doing good.
  
  Terri
  
  Terri
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• Monday, July 23. 2007 Jim Hart wrote:
  Hi Becky-
  I wanted to address your comment about our reluctance to categorize this as fantasy, as I don't think we've shied away from this as you claim. Granted, we don't call it a "fantasy series," but we are taking advantage of every opportunity to bring this to the attention of sci-fi fans, as well as comic book fans, and the (much broader) fan base of "suspense" fiction. So we proposed the book to you for this blog tour, we worked with Robin to create the web comic, and we sent review copies of the book to major spec fic review outlets, as well as those who look at mystery/suspense novels.
  
  We've had to do a lot of advertising and placement for the book in release groups - a fairly standard practice to maximize awareness for a diversity of books. There's very little that links Robin's superhero adventure with T.L. Hines' "noir bizarre", with Dave Jackson's urban crime fiction, and Athol Dickson's atmospheric suspense-drama, except that they had the same release date and had some element of suspense or thrills, and therefore could be placed in bookstores on endcaps that highlighted that similarity. In our individual treatment of each book, however, we are promoting them on the basis of their own strengths and not as a category.
  
  Sure, there's the fact that we used the BISAC category of Suspense which would shift where the books were shelved, provided booksellers actually shelved these books according to a category rather than lumping them all into the "Christian Fiction" section, or the "Fiction" section of a CBA store. We could have written "fantasy" all over the cover of the book and it still wouldn't make it onto the Sci-Fi/Fantasy shelves at your local bookstore, because we're a Christian publisher and there is very, very little we can do to have the books shelved elsewhere.
  
  In all other ways, however, we are working to appeal to exactly the audience that you talk about here. We use Robin's own terminology of the series as a "mythology" on bookmarks/postcards and in the book info that is sent to the media. We're definitely not selling this as a stand-alone novel, and we've stressed the connection to Relentless along with all the promotional materials for Fearless.
  
  I am interested to hear what you think we could do otherwise to position Robin's books for this audience. If we are missing the boat somehow, what do you see as the ideal strategy? I know you've got some legitimate concerns about the project of book marketing, and I've appreciated reading your thoughts on this in the past. Thanks for your thoughts on Fearless as well.
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• Monday, July 23. 2007 Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote:
  Terri, I saw your comment at Lyn's blog where you suggested this makes a good stand alone. I agree that the summary of Relentless was well done and allowed me to get involved in this story without feeling lost most of the time, but the end ties Fearless inextricable to Merciless in my opinion. I think Bethany missed an opportunity.
  
  I'm sure you're right about their reasoning for calling this a suspense. I'll have to find the post voicing that view. Do I smell a controversy?
  
  Becky
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• Monday, July 23. 2007 Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote:
  Jim, I guess we cross posted--I'm definitely not ignoring your comment.
  
  I appreciate you giving the Bethany perspective, something that's important for us to hear.
  
  Of course you're right that Bethany has done a lot to reach out to the comic book crowd. Plus, people in the marketing department have bent over backwards to cooperate with CSFF to get the books out to participants.
  
  You're also right that "calling" a book a fantasy doesn't really get it placed where fantasy readers will be looking.
  
  Still, the title of the blur at BHP is "Thriller Novelist Robin Parrish Debuts Web Comic."
  
  Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I see a "thriller" as the bombs-exploding, car-chase, narrow-escape contemporary stories, not one in which the protagonist is imbued with supernatural power and the enemies have hints at supernatural ties.
  
  It really only matters to me, however, because I want the fantasy genre recognized among Christian publishing houses.
  
  If Robin's books sell well, are those counted as fantasy successes to counter the rumored fantasy failures?
  
  I happen to also think, given the climate of our culture, that appealing to the fantasy elements would actually generate more sales for this book. I have no numbers to prove it--just observation about what movies and ABA books seem to do very well, what the media is paying attention to, especially right now.
  
  Becky
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  1. Monday, July 23. 2007 Jim Hart wrote:
     As the author of that press release, I must note that my original headline was simply "Robin Parrish Debuts Web Comic," but was edited since many media outlets would not necessarily know him by name without some introduction.
     
     As for using "thriller" in that case, the easy answer is that I posted the edit I was given. The more valuable response is that in the case of Robin's books, what we've generally stressed as the most characteristic elements of the books is not the fantasy/sci-fi elements, or even really the superhero elements, but simply the nonstop action that characterizes his books. I tend to present the books to people either as a superhero comic translated to novel, or secondarily as an action movie translated to a novel, and many reviewer comments support that characterization. These are "action-oriented" books, and therefore calling him a "thriller novelist" in that case doesn't seem too far off the mark.
     
     Robin's books are great from a marketing standpoint because they do span multiple genres really well. This is why they can get reviewed positively at a mystery website, as well as at sites that focus on thrillers, as well as more fantasy-oriented outlets like the CSFF blogs. So I can present the book as a suspense book to a site that reviews suspense, or advertise the book as a superhero book at a site that is interested in superheroes, or present it as a sci-fi/fantasy book to a group like this -- and please the different audiences more often than not. And we use different strategies to get those different audiences to perk up - whether it's a press release that stresses the thriller aspect, or a web comic, or simply selling it on Robin's name alone. But when dealing with a non-targeted audience, as our news releases often do, we want that largest possible appeal, and the (very broad) definition of suspense works well for that -- look at the bestseller lists: James Patterson and Janet Evanovich in the ABA, and right now on the CBA list Joel Rosenberg has 4 spots, Randy Alcorn is on there, Peretti and Dekker are on there. To do the best we can for the book and the author, we have to follow that audience, while also working to cultivate a unique audience for the book -- in this case, sci-fi/fantasy/comic book fans.
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  2. Monday, July 23. 2007 Jim Hart wrote:
     I ran out of space, but wanted to continue this for another point.
     
     As for the question of whether Robin's success will count as a "fantasy success," the more important question for the purposes of this site, I'm not sure exactly where that determination would be made. In the ABA, it's more likely to be considered a success for "Christian Fiction" and not broken down into genre any more than that. In the CBA, I think people are paying attention, and when the buyers look at the next solicitations for fantasy books, they'll have Robin in mind just as much as the other recent books. And when we approach them with another similar book, we'll likely say, "look at how Robin's books sold." I would imagine, however, we would use that claim to bolster the sales of a number of different types of books - epic series of any sort, or any action-based story, as well as using that claim to sell as fantasy/sci-fi story. More important than just the sales on this series for the genre as a whole, though, is the broader sales of the category as it exists now. There's a lot of "Christian fantasy" out there right now, and it's getting a lot of attention; media attention does not always translate into sales, though. If these books all succeed then more will follow; hopefully it will be diverse enough to continue to produce books that are as different as Robin's books are from Sharon Hinck's, and can have the broad appeal that is more extensive than just genre-specific.
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• Monday, July 23. 2007 Valerie wrote:
  I'll toss my two bits in here about the cover. To me it is clearly aiming for suspense. There is no way in the world I would guess *superhero* from the cover!
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• Monday, July 23. 2007 Lyn wrote:
  Although I haven't read the book, I do have a 3-part Q&A with Robin at Bloggin' Outloud that readers might like. Lyn
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• Tuesday, July 24. 2007 Justin B. wrote:
  I totally agree that while the book does have some suspense. The book should have been marketed in the Superhero fantasy genre. I was fearing I would not have understand the premise of the novel by starting in the middle. But so far, I am grasping it, and am really hooked so far. But is it just me or the book saids no where on the cover if it is part of a trilogy.
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• Tuesday, July 24. 2007 Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote:
  In the CBA, I think people are paying attention, and when the buyers look at the next solicitations for fantasy books, they'll have Robin in mind just as much as the other recent books.
  
  Jim, I hope you're right. It certainly hasn't worked that way with Ted Dekker or Frank Peretti. Of course, not all of Dekker's work is speculative, but it is a bit of a mystery to me why people think readers go to those authors for the suspense part of the story rather than for the supernatural parts. Why was Left Behind so popular? I'd speculate it is because of the futuristic subject matter.
  
  Interestingly, an email loop was discussing this post and one person commented that he had no idea the Dominion Trilogy was about superheros with a comic book tie-in. He said from looking at the back cover he thought it was just another political thriller.
  
  So, yes, I do think Robin has the best of both worlds, but the fantasy element certainly can't be denied, and because of where I sit, I maintain it will really hit it's stride if people realize it is speculative.
  
  Jim, thanks again for taking the time to post responses here!
  
  Justin, I didn't see anything on the cover or the inside flaps of the jacket that indicated this is part of a trilogy.
  
  Becky
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• Wednesday, July 25. 2007 Justin B. wrote:
  I wish the Legends of the Guardian series were in hardcover like these books! I mean they are such great books like this series, they so deserve the royal treatment!
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