Careercow Chuck Wendig / Charles Wendig / TerribleMinds - Terrible author, terrible person, ruined Internet Archive's online library

[Sexy Peach Emoji]

@Boston Brand said:

Hey now, Mercedes Lackey is a bonafide master of spec fiction.

Wendig's more akin to one of the Tor diversity hires that wins a Hugo and then will never be heard from again a decade from now.

True enough, but all the normies I know and a fair amount of non-normie nerdish folks don't know either of those names, or if they recognize Lackey it's from association with filk.

But it is fitting that Chuck is on par with Frank Wu.

 

[Walrus and Carpenter]

Regarding the number of copies in print of The Silmarillion, as others have said, it is very difficult to find any solid information online. I've been going through my older SF and fantasy paperbacks and just came across my copy of The Silmarillion. It is a second printing of the 1979 Ballantine Books edition. It was printed in 1982 and has a cover blurb that states "Over 1 Million Copies Sold In Hardcover." I think it is safe to assume that the number of copies sold up to the present date is much higher than one million, how much higher is obviously hard to say.

 

[JJLiautaud]

@Boston Brand said:

True enough, but all the normies I know and a fair amount of non-normie nerdish folks don't know either of those names, or if they recognize Lackey it's from association with filk.

But it is fitting that Chuck is on par with Frank Wu.

I've always liked Mercedes Lackey, her books are great, and she had a massive sperg out on the baen forums like in 2005 which is always funny to me.

 

[ChevroletBlackboard]

Not to powerlevel too hard, but as someone who's dabbled in the book scene, oftentimes sales numbers won't include digital sales. Ebooks remain a commonly under-explored side of sales, especially in the pandemic age as it's more convenient to download the Kindle app through Amazon and buy new books that way.

Regardless of how well this boosts him though if at all, Wendig's paperback numbers are indeed pretty pathetic with the exception of Aftermath.

 

[Ophelia]

Not to powerlevel too hard, but as someone who's dabbled in the book scene, oftentimes sales numbers won't include digital sales. Ebooks remain a commonly under-explored side of sales, especially in the pandemic age as it's more convenient to download the Kindle app through Amazon and buy new books that way.

Regardless of how well this boosts him though if at all, Wendig's paperback numbers are indeed pretty pathetic with the exception of Aftermath.

I’ve seen his books on sale for dirt cheap on Amazon Kindle a few times, which could elevate sales numbers without reflecting how much they’ve made. If digital sales are tracked and counted, anyway.

 

[Grave Ghost]

Turok Vol 1: Blood Hunt: 57

Wait, only FIFTY SEVEN people bought his Turok comic!? I'm assuming that no body bought two copies with one being for reading and another for actual reading right?

 

[kaien]

Wait, only FIFTY SEVEN people bought his Turok comic!? I'm assuming that no body bought two copies with one being for reading and another for actual reading right?

To be fair, Bookscan numbers may not include sales through the comic book direct market. That said, the real number is probably almost as bad. The current incarnation of Valiant Comics, as far as I can tell, is some kind of Chinese money laundering scam or somethin.

 

[Boston Brand]

You know the best thing about the Boba Fett TV show?

Everything about its very existence has to make Chuck Wendig miserable.

He failed to kill off Boba Fett like he wanted, and they even made the former EU way he escaped the sarlac pitt - flamethrower and carving his way out to be found by Jawas - canon again, with small variations.

 

[Vault Boy]

You know the best thing about the Boba Fett TV show?

Everything about its very existence has to make Chuck Wendig miserable.

He failed to kill off Boba Fett like he wanted, and they even made the former EU way he escaped the sarlac pitt - flamethrower and carving his way out to be found by Jawas - canon again, with small variations.

Ha, I like it when they find ways to screw over Wendig's contributions (unintentionally or otherwise).

I laughed my ass off when I found out they killed his fat fuck character, Snap Wexley, so suddenly in Rise of Skywalker.

 

[Archie_Kimkicker]

Ha, I like it when they find ways to screw over Wendig's contributions (unintentionally or otherwise).

I laughed my ass off when I found out they killed his fat fuck character, Snap Wexley, so suddenly in Rise of Skywalker.

I promise there is nothing but contempt for this bugman in the halls of LFL, if they even remember his name.

 

[behindyourightnow]

Really makes you wonder if there's going to be a time when the dumb masses that mindlessly consoom Marvel crap and books by hacks like Wendig will ever accidentally get in contact with works selling on merit (and not the producer's political opinions and ability to suck up to the regressive left) and if that will rejuvinate the entertainment industry.

As I see it, everything runs on fumes and most franchises rest on their laurels. It's oftentimes easy enough to watch, but it's formulaic as fuck and sometimes you get shit like what Wendig inflicted upon mankind and I just think to myself, at some point the average consoomer must tire of the ever-same shit and yearn for something different, branch out and realize how poorly made the garbage he's been watching for a decade was compared to all the other awesome shit out there.

This is a really strange view of entertainment.

The "dumb masses" don't buy Wendig at all. That's why his sales numbers are low. Even when it came to his best-selling books, Wendig's audience was a small fringe of nerds who buy Star Wars novels.

Most non-nerds won't follow franchises (they just decide to see whatever movie looks good on the night) and definitely don't have strong franchise loyalty that needs to be broken before they can grasp the "awesome shit out there" (what is that, by the way?). Probably less than 20% of the population could name three MCU movies if you asked them. Others could maybe name a few, but don't really care and just saw one or two. Others (I'd include myself in this group) like some or all of the movies as dumb entertainment with attractive people fighting each other, but also enjoy plenty of other genres and don't have a strong attachment to franchises. Maybe 5% of the population would actually get excited about the MCU franchise as a whole, and that number would drop to 0.01% when you remove seven-year-old boys.

The reason boring cookie-cutter franchises are big is because they do well internationally, particularly in China, not because Americans are brainwashed rubes who love Chuck Wendig.

Plus, Marvel and Star Wars' ongoing brand popularity is probably propped up more by kids than anything else: for every 30-year-old buying a Funko Pop, there are 50 kids whose parents are getting them Avengers merchandise and taking them to spend money in the Star Wars areas at Disneyland. Families like that aren't going to wake up and "realize how poorly made this garbage is" because they're not after prestige movies, they're after shit that their kids will watch that won't bore them to tears.

(It's also bizarre to mention "the producer's political opinions and ability to suck up to the regressive left" in the same paragraph as Marvel, when Marvel Entertainment was run by a massive Trump donor for most of the 2010s. It's about the money, baby)

 

[JohnQAdams]

This is a really strange view of entertainment.

The "dumb masses" don't buy Wendig at all. That's why his sales numbers are low. Even when it came to his best-selling books, Wendig's audience was a small fringe of nerds who buy Star Wars novels.

Most non-nerds won't follow franchises (they just decide to see whatever movie looks good on the night) and definitely don't have strong franchise loyalty that needs to be broken before they can grasp the "awesome shit out there" (what is that, by the way?). Probably less than 20% of the population could name three MCU movies if you asked them. Others could maybe name a few, but don't really care and just saw one or two. Others (I'd include myself in this group) like some or all of the movies as dumb entertainment with attractive people fighting each other, but also enjoy plenty of other genres and don't have a strong attachment to franchises. Maybe 5% of the population would actually get excited about the MCU franchise as a whole, and that number would drop to 0.01% when you remove seven-year-old boys.

The reason boring cookie-cutter franchises are big is because they do well internationally, particularly in China, not because Americans are brainwashed rubes who love Chuck Wendig.

Plus, Marvel and Star Wars' ongoing brand popularity is probably propped up more by kids than anything else: for every 30-year-old buying a Funko Pop, there are 50 kids whose parents are getting them Avengers merchandise and taking them to spend money in the Star Wars areas at Disneyland. Families like that aren't going to wake up and "realize how poorly made this garbage is" because they're not after prestige movies, they're after shit that their kids will watch that won't bore them to tears.

(It's also bizarre to mention "the producer's political opinions and ability to suck up to the regressive left" in the same paragraph as Marvel, when Marvel Entertainment was run by a massive Trump donor for most of the 2010s. It's about the money, baby)

Stop pretending that leftist drivel isn't the default thing pumped out today.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

The "dumb masses" don't buy Wendig at all. That's why his sales numbers are low. Even when it came to his best-selling books, Wendig's audience was a small fringe of nerds who buy Star Wars novels.

You missed the point of my post completely. I said that the dumb masses mindlessly consume stuff like Marvel capeshit or crap written by hacks like Wendig, I didn't say they all read Wendig.

(It's also bizarre to mention "the producer's political opinions and ability to suck up to the regressive left" in the same paragraph as Marvel, when Marvel Entertainment was run by a massive Trump donor for most of the 2010s. It's about the money, baby)

Have you kept track of the vast number of rehashes and shitty adaptations like Ghostbusters 2016, Watchmen, Y: The Last Man, Cowboy Bebop, etc.? There is a shitton of shows and movies around, where the producer's key qualification was his ability to bleat the correct opinions and kiss up to the correct asses. Bringing up the Trump donations has nothing to do with it whatsoever.

 

[Flexo]

(It's also bizarre to mention "the producer's political opinions and ability to suck up to the regressive left" in the same paragraph as Marvel, when Marvel Entertainment was run by a massive Trump donor for most of the 2010s. It's about the money, baby)

Bit of correction. As wiki put it:

In August 2015, Marvel Studios was placed into Walt Disney Studios, with Feige reporting directly to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn instead of Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac Perlmutter. Marvel Television and subsidiary Marvel Animation were left under Marvel Entertainment and Perlmutter's control.​

The MCU hasn't been under the control of a Trump donor for 6 years now (ongoing its 7th). Note that this would put phase 3 firmly in the new group as its first movie released in 2016.

I'm not saying MovieBob is right about his studio theories but he is kind of right of some of the timing.

 

[Save the Loli]

I laughed my ass off when I found out they killed his fat fuck character, Snap Wexley, so suddenly in Rise of Skywalker.

The scene in the actual movie was hilarious too (as hilarious as watching something as godawful as that movie could be) since you're supposed to think the dude is someone important instead of just some fat guy who shows up in the obligatory X-Wing scenes in the sequel trilogy. Like he gets a 30 second scene of his X-Wing burning and crashing and a NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO from one of the other characters.

Plus, Marvel and Star Wars' ongoing brand popularity is probably propped up more by kids than anything else: for every 30-year-old buying a Funko Pop, there are 50 kids whose parents are getting them Avengers merchandise and taking them to spend money in the Star Wars areas at Disneyland. Families like that aren't going to wake up and "realize how poorly made this garbage is" because they're not after prestige movies, they're after shit that their kids will watch that won't bore them to tears.

To a degree, yes, but I guarantee a lot of it is driven by sales of gifts from adults to adults. Think of your relative who buys you an Iron Man Funkopop because they know you liked Avengers Endgame or whatever, or your normie brother who buys your father a silly Darth Vader shirt because he knows your father liked Star Wars back in 1977 and he took you and him to see the Prequels as a kid. That sort of gifting I guarantee is driving Marvel and Star Wars popularity, especially when you keep in mind they sell really expensive shit like Star Wars and Marvel branded luxury crockpots for like 500 dollars that some rich consoomer must've gifted their mom. They're lifestyle brands now, plain and simple.

 

[Ophelia]

Lucas created Star Wars to sell merchandise and Disney keeps the tradition going.

 

[behindyourightnow]

You missed the point of my post completely. I said that the dumb masses mindlessly consume stuff like Marvel capeshit or crap written by hacks like Wendig, I didn't say they all read Wendig.

They don’t though, like I said. Audiences are heterogenous. They choose movies because they think they will enjoy them, or because a friend recommended them, or because they’re seeing a movie with their kids and their kids like Iron Man.

This attitude of “whilst everyone else stumbles into movie theatres and drools at the screen for ninety minutes, I, an intellectual, enjoy quality entertainment like Alita Battle Angel” just makes you sound 14.

Have you kept track of the vast number of rehashes and shitty adaptations like Ghostbusters 2016, Watchmen, Y: The Last Man, Cowboy Bebop, etc.? There is a shitton of shows and movies around, where the producer's key qualification was his ability to bleat the correct opinions and kiss up to the correct asses. Bringing up the Trump donations has nothing to do with it whatsoever.

No, their key qualification is being able to convince people that what they are pitching will make money. Which is why reboots are popular, they’re seen as easy money.

To a degree, yes, but I guarantee a lot of it is driven by sales of gifts from adults to adults. Think of your relative who buys you an Iron Man Funkopop because they know you liked Avengers Endgame or whatever

If a relative ever did this to me I would disown them.

Nah I see what you're saying, but I do think that a lot of people underestimate the size of the kid market, especially if they are not yet in the age group where everyone (possibly including yourself) is having kids. You don't even have to go out of your way to find branded kids' stuff, it's so common that sometimes you buy it just by accident (grabbing shampoo or a kid's toothbrush or socks and it has a Star Wars character on it). My point is Disney and its properties depend less on the childless 30-something consoomer who might spend $20K on Funko Pops and lego models over 5 years, and more on the family of four that is going to spend $20K on a Disneyland cruise within two weeks, and will return for a similar trip the next year. Consoomers are fun to hate, but they're really only a minor part of the market.

 

[Boston Brand]

They don’t though, like I said. Audiences are heterogenous. They choose movies because they think they will enjoy them, or because a friend recommended them, or because they’re seeing a movie with their kids and their kids like Iron Man.

This attitude of “whilst everyone else stumbles into movie theatres and drools at the screen for ninety minutes, I, an intellectual, enjoy quality entertainment like Alita Battle Angel” just makes you sound 14.


No, their key qualification is being able to convince people that what they are pitching will make money. Which is why reboots are popular, they’re seen as easy money.



If a relative ever did this to me I would disown them.

Nah I see what you're saying, but I do think that a lot of people underestimate the size of the kid market, especially if they are not yet in the age group where everyone (possibly including yourself) is having kids. You don't even have to go out of your way to find branded kids' stuff, it's so common that sometimes you buy it just by accident (grabbing shampoo or a kid's toothbrush or socks and it has a Star Wars character on it). My point is Disney and its properties depend less on the childless 30-something consoomer who might spend $20K on Funko Pops and lego models over 5 years, and more on the family of four that is going to spend $20K on a Disneyland cruise within two weeks, and will return for a similar trip the next year. Consoomers are fun to hate, but they're really only a minor part of the market.

Actually there is some reason to think there has been a shift towards the "Consoomer" and away from families, given how few people under 40 are bothering to get married and have kids.

On paper anyway. Plenty of folks under 40 have kids, they're harder to sell crap to than childless manchildren and wine aunts who shovel any crap you hock down thier throats because thier identity depends on it.

Same flaw that killed comic books, and that might have killed publishing oddly. Comics shifted to appealing to neckbeards, publishing shifted to wine aunts who want YA novels, because both had more disposable income than kids do... only to realize a decade in that without selling to kids and families, your base will keep shrinking making you more dependent on the weirdos.

Toss in that marketing departments have thought Twitter was a reflection of the market for a decade now? Here we are.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

I tried reading one of this faggot's star wars books (it was in a box of books a friend gave me) and holy shit.

I've read some terrible shit but this was beyond terrible.

I'm surprised that the vowels didn't fall out when I opened the book.

 

[Vault Boy]

I tried reading one of this faggot's star wars books (it was in a box of books a friend gave me) and holy shit.

I've read some terrible shit but this was beyond terrible.

I'm surprised that the vowels didn't fall out when I opened the book.

Did you throw it herkily-jerkily into the trash?