Does it seem like most new titles in Fantasy are sequels extending the same idea instead of inventing something new? Robert Jordan’s book titles may seem to grow along the shelves like some crazy unstoppable plant, but is that just a mistaken perception?

Valentin D. Ivanov attempted to answer these questions by analyzing statistics taken from the Locus Online Notable Books Database. His results were published in Strange Horizons this summer.

So what’s the verdict? Take a look at all his tables and analysis to draw your own conclusions, but here’s a quick summary:

“Fantasy is winning more and more attention with time.”

From about 1999 to 2002, Fantasy and Science Fiction titles increased at a very similar rate, with SF having a comfortable lead in titles published. Beginning in 2002, Fantasy publishing took off at a much greater rate, and by about 2005 had passed SF. It’s rate of growth shows no signs of slowing down.

In Fantasy, sequels outnumber standalones. This line was crossed in about 2001 and has continued ever since. In Horror and SF, this is not true. Standalones outnumber sequels in those genres.

Currently, over half of new Fantasy titles are sequels. This number is artificially low, since the first title in a series was counted as a standalone.

So if it seems like series are taking over your fantasy shelves it’s because they probably are.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 4:58 pm and is filed under Genreflections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.