Nowadays, is an author's popularity determined more by PR than his/her talent?

T

tangerine

New member
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that the likes of Charles Dickens or the Bronte sisters had PR agents working for them, and I'm guessing that the reason why their work has such staying power is because it's actually GOOD.
 
It really depends on the materials if you read Charles Dickens it's because it's good writing. If you Read Twilight it's the PR. So it depends on what you like and what you read.
 
I think that there are definitely some writers who couldn't hold their own without great PR, such as Stephanie Meyers and Burl Barer.

But, at the same time, there are writers who have the talent, but used the PR to get their names out there. Now, they stand on their own and can prove their talent with or without a PR person shouting their accolades. Stephen King is one of these people.
 
some of the bronte sisters and charles dickens work was controversial and really different to everything else at the time they were written, so they were popular then.

tastes in books have changed, but books by charles dickens and the bronte sisters will always be considered a classic.

books like twilight and harry potter, though they are considerably less well written, are more popular nowadays, have great PR campaigns, so are more likely to sell if massive pictures of their covers and authors are thrown in your face every time you enter a bookshop.
 
Sadly yes, you are as right as can be. When you research all the sloppy fiction & junk that is pathetically passed off as history scholarship nowadays it could make the truly literate person gag! Some people actually take the Da Vinci code seriously even though it is a work of fiction. I would rather read Ken Follett, Robert Ludlum, or a murder mystery by Agatha Christie or Mary Higgins Clark over the so-called best sellers.

That propagandist Thomas Cahill's books often sold well
even though he made bigoted statements about various groups. He claimed he was writing popular history which is code for myth & fiction being passed off as factual history.

It is shocking that he is not even a history scholar, he went to university to study literature yet his Madison avenue publicist used the
old standby of lets appeal to 40 million gullible Irish-Americans to sell his awful book. Thankfully, not everyone fell for his slop. Many of his own ethnic group gave his books 1 star reviews at Amazon.com
 
definitely, and not only author's. but it won't last. also you have to be 'in fashion': handsome female writers are hot right now.
 
I believe that there is a fine balence between the author's actual boook, and his/her PR. Many books are great, and many people will read them, but having a good PR will no doubt help the book, but I believe that if the story is a good one, it will gain it's deserved recognition.
When comparing today's writing with that of Charles Dickons, you hacve to remember that the was over a hundred years ago, and people didn't have the technolagy to kep tham busy, as they did now. So really, it is a combantion.
 
I think that it is a little of booth. There are many wonderful writes out there that do not have enough money to hire a PR person, so many times there work never becomes popular. Then there are the most amazing PR people that can get mediocre books and their authors out on every morning show. One example is all these celebrities writing these book that you see all over the TV because they have they money and power to get it done. Of course there are book that are beautifully written and have the staying power to stay relevant and become classics, even 50-100 years later. Then you have the books like Harry Potter and Twilight that have the massive fans. I am not saying these books are not well written because I think that both authors are extraordinary writes and love both of these series. But they are not books that will be considered classics like the books and the authors referred to in the question. So to sum it up, I think that many times it does have a lot to do with the PR person, press, if your already famous, and many other things regardless of the quality of the book.
 
I think the popularity of most things these days is determined by PR rather than talent or content.
Hollywood will spend as much advertising a movie as they do producing it.
McDonalds is an ad agency that happens to sell something which passes as food in some circles.
Even our politicians are elected based on PR-driven popularity rather than thoughtful policy.
 
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