What if science fiction were a brand owned by the company “the science fiction writers”? How well could you say that they managed that brand? What mistakes are they making, if any? A lot, it seems:<\/p>\n
1. The company readily admits that the competition have a superior product.
\nScience fiction writers wants science fiction to as respected as “literary” fiction, but admits that much of sf is bad.<\/p>\n
2. Another competitor stole the brand name and used it for an inferior product.
\nHollywood adapted science fiction for the film media, but threw out most of what makes science fiction meaningful.<\/p>\n
3. There is very little awareness of the product’s one advantage over similar products.
\nScience fiction is uniquely suited for describing changes in society and exploring new ideas.<\/p>\n
4. There is no agreement on that the product actually is.
\nEvery writer has his or her own definition of science fiction, and often disagrees about what is and what is not sf.<\/p>\n
5. Several large groups of customers have bad reputations.
\nThe nerds, the geeks, the conspiracy theorists, adherents of strange religions all read sf.<\/p>\n
6. Brand includes products with no clear relation to main product other than having the same manufacturer.
\nWriters of sf often writes fantasy and some of them think that it’s the same genre. Alternate history is a sf subgenre.<\/p>\n
The bad branding is probably the reason wry science fiction have limited commercial success. But on the other hand …<\/p>\n
1. It is good that science fiction writers tries to live up to the high standards that most “literary” fiction have. The general level of writing skill in science fiction have improved a lot over the past eight decades.<\/p>\n
2. Not all science fiction movies are bad, and those who like science fiction in movies may become fans of science fiction in books.<\/p>\n
3. You don’t have to understand the whole complexity to enjoy science fiction. Sometimes a spaceship is just a spaceship and exiting to read about without any metaphors.<\/p>\n
4. Which means that there is a lot of experimentation with the genre going on, and that it’s a genre that still evolves.<\/p>\n
5. What can you do about prejudice or the fact that the distance between an open and a crazy mind is probably shorter than between a dull and an open mind?<\/p>\n
6. Most science fiction fans likes fantasy and vice versa. It is probably a necessity for many sf writers to write fantasy to be able to earn a living by writing.<\/p>\n
So what can be done about the bad branding? Some suggestions:<\/p>\n
A. Tell people what’s good about science fiction, not what’s bad. Show the good stuff when you recommend books to read, when you make a movie or when you write a book.<\/p>\n
B. Insist that science fiction is a different form mainsteam fiction, “literary” fiction, fantasy etc., but keep an open mind towards mixing genres and experiments.<\/p>\n
C. Don’t let people get away with prejudice. Science fiction is for everyone, not just a few subcultures. But like everything else, a bit of work may be required to understand it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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