In today’s Publetariat Dispatch, author and small publisher Alan Baxter discusses authors’ obligations to their readers, particularly where a book series is concerned. Warning: contains some strong language.  

Back in May 2009 a reader asked Neil Gaiman, via his blog, whether it  was reasonable to feel let down that George R R Martin was not giving  any clues about the release of the next A Song Of Fire & Ice installment. Gaiman famously told that reader, “George R R Martin is not your b**ch”.

GRRM is one of the best and most popular fantasy writers, but his A Song Of Ice & Fire  series, which started in 1996, has been a long time to completion, and  isn’t finished yet. At the end of book 4 it said to expect book 5 in a  year. It took six years to see publication. There are still two more  books to come, with no release date even hinted at. So people are  getting concerned that the whole story may never be told, and the query  posted to Neil Gaiman is still valid. As, potentially, is Gaiman’s  answer.

Gaiman’s point is that GRRM doesn’t have to live up to our  (readers) expectations. As a writer, I can kind of agree with that to  an extent. Gaiman posits that the reader, by buying the first book,  assumed some kind of contract with Martin. Gaiman says, “No such  contract existed. You were paying your ten dollars for the book you were  reading, and I assume that you enjoyed it because you want to know what  happens next.”

Art is not something you can force, and Martin is  well within his rights to do whatever he wants with his story. Even quit  now and never finish. He’s not our bitch and that’s his prerogative.  However, if he does do that, I think he is also letting his  readers down. And not just GRRM – this applies to all of us as writers.  If we’ve said we’ll do one thing and we do something else, that’s either  our choice or a situation forced upon us. But we are letting people  down when we do it. It’s not an either/or proposition.

Recently, Brent Weeks, author of the Night Angel Trilogy and The Black Prism, posted an opinion piece at SciFiNow in which he says that Gaiman is wrong. In the article, Weeks says:

“Part  of what entices us to buy a book is the promise conveyed in the title.  “Gragnar’s Epic Magical Dragon Quest Trilogy: Book 1” promises there  will be two more books. Whether through the title, or interviews, or  through a note to readers at the end of a book that says the next book  will be out in a year, when an author makes that kind of commitment,  maybe technically there’s no contract, but there is an obligation.”

He  also says, “…writers make mistakes about how fast they’re going to  finish books All The Time. GRRM’s situation is merely illustrative.”  This is well worth bearing in mind, as I’m not out to bash GRRM here, or  anyone else in particular. I’m simply addressing the issue as a whole.

But  I think Weeks is right – there is an obligation there. When a writer  says they’ll write X number of books, readers start to invest their time  and money into that series. It’s quite reasonable to feel cheated when  the author doesn’t come through on that promise. For this reason a lot  of people are now loathe to buy into a series until they know it’s  finished. After all, they don’t want to spend time and money getting  into a story without an end. Which is fairly reasonable. I’m tempted to  make a sexual metaphor here, about encounters without happy endings, but  I’ll be a grown-up and rise above that temptation.

I wrote a piece a while back called While you wait for book three, authors die!  in which I point out that this method can be damaging. If an author’s  first book doesn’t sell well, their publisher may decide to cut their  losses and not publish the rest of the series. Bad for readers and  writers. I always advise buying the first book, but not reading it yet.  Collect the whole series as it comes out and read it all once it’s  finished. Of course, this could turn out to be a waste of your  hard-earned if the author doesn’t finish the series. But life without  risk is like an untoasted tea cake. There’s no crunch.

Readers and  authors are entering into unwritten contracts with each other. The  author says, “I’ll write this series.” The reader says, “Cool, I’ll buy  it and read it. I might even like it and give you a positive review and  tell my friends about it.” It’s a symbiotic relationship.

The author doesn’t have  to finish that series. There’s no legally binding contract, no demon’s  blood on the page to force the magic out. But, should they not see  through that originally stated obligation, they are letting the  readers down. We all fuck up sometimes, we all get distracted by life  and things that happen which are beyond our control. We all let people  down sometimes, however much we may wish and try not to. But we should  also own up to that let down. “Sorry, folks, I let you down” is lot more  conducive to an ongoing relationship than, “F**k you, I’m not your  b**ch!”

I really want GRRM to finish A Song Of Ice & Fire.  I’ve invested a lot of time and money into it and I really want to know  how it all works out. But Martin isn’t my bitch and I can’t force him  to do something that he may not have the ability (due to other things in  his life) or inclination to do. But, should the series not be wrapped  up, I will feel let down.

How do you feel about it?

This is a cross-posting from Alan Baxter‘s The Word.