I visit one of the local bookstores here in Seattle at least twice a month. It is one of the largest Barnes and Noble bookstores in the nation—it is three floors of shelves lined with thousands of titles. I walk through the doors and am surrounded by one of the wealthiest places of knowledge contained by four walls in the world. Some of the sections are as large as some of the bookstores in the area. The books are mine for the taking; the books help me become who I wish to be in this life. It truly is a wonder to me.

I also purchase books at the various independents in the area, but this B&N holds a special place for me. It is the place I spent five years working as a manager. At no other time have I learned more about the book industry as an entity than working in that bookstore, and it is that reason I firmly believe new writers who want to become published should work in a bookstore for at least a year (this is something I want to expand upon later in this blog). But the purpose of this post is more of a mild criticism of some of the fantasy readers

Readers come in all forms. They read a menagerie of different literature. The fantasy genre has significant diversity even within its own area of the bookstore. Fantasy is not one, all-encompassing idea as most of the world believes. Fantasy comes in many different shapes and sizes and colors. There is epic fantasy, high fantasy, weird fantasy. There is industrial fantasy, punk fantasy, and contemporary fantasy, and many others I can not recount. It truly is more diverse than most people realize.

And yet stigmas abound. Perhaps it is just human nature. I have encountered more animosity and angst toward high fantasy/epic fantasy in the last several years than ever before. Cookie-cutter is one word used. Bubble-gum is another. Formulaic and boring. Unimaginative. These words and countless others have crossed my eyes online, and I have heard them said in bookstores. Usually they are said by people who read the other forms within the genre. There is often a well-spring of hatred behind the words that belies my understanding.

Without using names, there have been several authors extremely vocal on their blogs about how high/epic fantasy is detrimental to the industry. These writers slash at high/epic fantasy writers, using similar words to those above or even worse. I cannot decide why this particular subset of the genre inspires so much rancor. Could it be money made? High/Epic fantasy sells as a whole extremely well if it is well done, perhaps even sells as a majority over the other subsets. Are these writers jealous of the money? Are they jealous of the readership? Or do they merely hate high/epic fantasy for how it tells its story? It could be any number of things why this happens. I can say, however, I've never heard a high/epic fantasy reader angry or rancorous at the other subsets. I merely want to understand.

One thing is for certain, and there is no arguing this fact. It is not the writers who should have those comments unceremoniously sent their way. All writers, at their core, want to tell a good story and the construct for the telling of said story is the only thing that varies. Each is as valid as the next. No, it is not the writer who has this control of what makes its way out into the shelves but the publisher. The publisher has the power. They purchase new books from new writers based on what they deem can sell, what will find a good-sized niche. It is an industry about money, as all industries are, and the publisher holds the key to what is released onto the bookstore shelves. How does a publisher decide what sells well? That is based off of sales. And fans control the sales.

So to those writers out there criticizing high/epic fantasy writers, be sure to point at the real culprits of your animosity—the readers and the publishers.

But you might not want to point too hard: After all, those readers have long memories and publishers hold your potential contracts—your livelihood—in their hands.