Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

When It Comes To Fiction, Adults Think Young

The Los Angeles Times published an article yesterday - included in our News of the Day roundup, by the way - detailing the success of a segment of the publishing industry that has continued to reap profits while most other genres have sagged. It's done so by covering a wide range of topics and appealing to a broad cross-section of readers.

Okay, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you're probably thinking we're about to say it's romance fiction - after all, that genre, spearheaded by the ever-innovative Harlequin, has consistently rose above the recession. But, nope, it's something else - young adult fiction. Specifically, sales of young adult fiction to grownups.

Old Words, New Words

I'm a Project Manager.  This wasn't exactly a recognized profession a few decades ago, but over time people realized they needed someone who could actually manage projects effectively and knew how to do it.  What I am now I would not have been decades ago.

In fact, in my area of work, video games, Project Management isn't as common as other organizations.  It's becoming more prominent, and some jobs are being reclassified as Project Management.  My profession is growing by simple changes in terms.

One of the hardest things in our careers is to find a way to describe ourselves.  That few words we use to describe our job, our business, etc. acts as a touchstone, a symbol, for what we think of ourselves, what we do, how we relate to people.

The only problem is its changing all the time.

Random Thoughts on Cover Art

I was thinking about electronic distribution - indeed, not a surprise for any of our long-term readers.  However among my usual speculations, it struck me that electronic distribution is changing cover art.

Think of how used we are to cover art.  It's on our albums, it's on our books, it's on our games - and also in advertisements for those products.  It's omnipresent and at times surprisingly impressive (paging Boris Vallejo and Michael Whelan).

Only now, with electronic products, things are changing.

The Many Sides of 'Professional'

I often hear over and over again "I'm not a professional" when it comes to their careers.  Usually it's in the form of "I can't do that, I'm not a professional" when I hear it, and usually from a person forgetting that all professionals have to start somewhere.

I also hear people talk about being professional.  It's usually how one acts professional, or dresses professional.  Reams of books are written on how to repress your urges, dress like everyone else, and thus somehow "be professional."

I see "professional" everywhere.  So what is all this "professional" about?

I think when it comes to "professional" people are often talking about different things.

Free, Fremium, and More in the Great Recession

So recently I put the game Dungeon Fighter on my Asus Netbook.  Dungeon Fighter is an interesting game - a side-scrolling beat-em-up game and an MMO at the same time.  You play one of several unique classes (that at times vary from fantasy archetypes or expand them), fight monsters in modular dungeons, and have colorful sprite-based fun.  It's easy, simple, surprisingly deep, and the Priest class whacks enemies to death with giant crosses, scythes, and rosaries, so how could I resist.

The game is of course free-to-play, but you can blow cash on getting extra equipment, respecs to re-build your character, and, of course, character clothing so you don't look like everyone else.  Very standard model.

So as I played this game, I debated if I wanted to get some credits in the game for extras.  It suddenly struck me that the freemium, free-to-play, and other free-but models differ from the usual monthly-charge MMO games in another way besides the obvious.

They allow you to timeshift your expenses.

Romance Fiction X Geekery OTP!

So what would you say the geekiest fiction genre out there was? Science fiction, fantasy, young adult, graphic novels? They all definitely have a claim at the title. But would you believe me if I told you romance fiction was up there, too?

A month or so ago, I did a post on the hipness factor of the industry's biggest publisher, Harlequin. But it doesn't stop there. The romance industry as a whole has soaked up geek culture like a sponge, and it's, well, a match made in heaven.

The Tragedy of Veoh and the Importance of Geek Law

Veoh went out of business last week. To the casual observer, it seemed like just another industry crash-and-burn, one more company that couldn't keep up with its competition (in this case, Hulu). But this is one of the sadder cautionary tales to emerge from the geekonomy lately, because this is a company that almost had it all, and lost it.

Jobs are Not Careers

Sometimes people talk about their career.  Sometimes they talk about their job.  In too many cases people mix the two up.  In other cases they talk about careers without talking jobs and jobs without talking careers.  In all cases people are missing the big picture about jobs and careers.

Jobs are not careers.  Careers are not jobs. Understanding how they're different - and how they're related - is key to your success.

Pro-Fan/Pro-Geek Pride: The Relaxation Orientation

If you're a geek, a fanboy, fangirl, otaku, sports nut, what have you be proud that you know how to relax.

Seriously.  You know how to relax.  You know what you like, as I've said further, and that's not just important in your career, but in your life.  You have a life - a life where you know what you enjoy doing to blow off steam.

Think for a moment how fortunate you are to know that three issues of manga will help you chill out after a month of software releases.  Be glad that you know a marathon World of Warcraft session will restore your sanity after you met your publishing deadline.  Appreciate the fact that ESPN is therapeutic after a hard day at the hospital.

Thats one of your advantages as a progeek - when you've got too much pro going on (or too much else going on), you've still got the geek to help you get back in touch with yourself and in general just have fun.  Knowing how to have fun means you can relax and refresh.  Being relaxed and refreshed means you can recover from stress - or face stress that's still out there.

So embrace your geekines, progeek.  Your geekiness gives you a way to come down from a bad day that some people don't have.  Imagine what it would be like not to have your DVD collection, or your love of retrogaming, or your stack of well-worn Warhammer 40K novels.  Take a moment to feel some sympathy for those unable to relax as you do (and perhaps vow to help them out).

You're a progeek.  It's not just about your ability to work using fannish inclinations - you also have the ability to use your fandom to relax.

- Steven Savage

Superheroes and the Unlimited Power

Why Superheroes?

They're in our movies.  Every few years there's a rush of superhero films (and apparently a big rush as of this writing).

They're on television.  We've been having superhero stories for quite a few years now.  We've also had "superheroesque" shows like Buffy and Supernatural, which are superhero stories with other trappings.

They're in games, despite the fact that superhero games have a dismal history with a few shining gems.

They are, of course, in comics.  Comics may expand their themes in North America, but it keeps coming back to superheroes.

So, why superheroes?  Why are they everywhere, and even when they fade, why do they come back?