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STEPHEN SAFFEL
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: April 11, 1998.
Meeting Site: Yeager Residence, Paramus, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 26.
Meeting Program: Talk by Del Rey Books Editor.
Notes:
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 1998 Philip J De Parto:
Robert Yeager and family were kind enough to host last month's meeting at their home in Paramus, New Jersey on Saturday, April 11, 1998. Steve Saffel, Senior Editor from Del Rey Books was the guest speaker. The usual pre meeting activities were also held at the house.
Steve Saffel has been an editor at Del Rey for three years. Before joining Del Rey, he worked at Marvel Comics in the Editorial and Promotions Departments. The subject of his talk was upcoming projects from Del Rey.
Mr Saffel believes that one of the strengths of Del Rey is the breadth of its product line. It publishes everything from hard science to high fantasy, from sword and sorcery to media tie-ins, from established authors to the occasional first timer.
Del Rey has been very aggressive in recent months in beefing up the media tie-in side of their line. He spent a good deal of time talking about their BABYLON 5 tie-ins. J Gregory Keyes is working on a trilogy about the formation of the Psi Corps and the career of Mr Bester. Peter David will write a trilogy detailing the rise and fall of the Centari Republic. Another author will be assigned to do a trilogy about the Techno Mages. All books are being plotted by J Michael Straczynski.
Del Rey has become much more active in publicizing and promoting its books over the past several years. The company publishes and distributes a newsletter, THE DRIN, three times a year. It maintains an extensive web presence with reader reviews, contests, special offers, book previews, inside information and author interviews at http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/. The company sets up a booth at selected conventions and gives away hundreds of books. This is seldom done at mainstream science fiction conventions like Lunacon or Boskone where they would be preaching to the converted, but more commonly done at comic and gaming conventions like Gencon and the San Diego Comic-Con where they can reach new readers.
Most of this promotional work is done by the editorial staff. Mr Saffel stated that editors can no longer spend their time simply on editorial duties. They must instead guide the book along every step of the way until its actual purchase.
Among the topics our guest discussed was the alternate history novel. The two most popular settings are the Civil War and World War II. Mr Saffel would like to see some works set around the time of the first World War and books that avoid using wars as turning points altogether. He revealed that Harry Turtledove's books usually come in at around 700 pages. When Mike Piazza asked if that was double-spaced, Mr Saffel paused for a moment and then said, "Yes, thank God. My life just flashed before my eyes."
When asked about humor in science fiction, Mr Saffel stated that he feels humor works best when incorporated into the story as opposed to being the main focus. Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams are among the few who can successfully get away with deliberately writing humor. The editor did make an unsuccessful attempt to recruit Terry Jones to write for him.
There was also some discussion about new writers breaking into the field. Del Rey is continuing its Del Rey Discoveries series, but the sad fact is that new writers do not sell. He said that they had heavily promoted the first two books by J Gregory Keyes, whom they consider a major new talent, and could do no better than lukewarm sales.
One humorous moment occurred when Philip De Parto asked how Del Rey was able to publish a new trilogy by the deceased Brian Daley. William Wagner jumped in with the explanation that it was being written by L Ron Hubbard.
Robert Yeager then gave a tour of the house and recounted stories about many of the objects present. A number of members passed on this in order to continue the conversation with our guest.
Steve Saffel made an enthusiastic and informative presentation. He circulated books and book covers to the audience during his talk. He left behind post cards featuring characters from BABYLON 5 and some Del Rey books for those present. Sample chapters of several books which he discussed will be available at the May meeting.