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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Books Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed

Discussion in 'Literature' started by GrandAdmiralJello , Oct 5, 2018.

  1. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    That's not how life works . . . if you're marketing something or just running a business you don't settle for "eh we've already done x which usually helps so who cares about y which would probably help more". You do what you think is optimal.
     
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  2. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017
    Actually...it is how life works.

    The title "Star Wars" makes a far greater impact on readers (both old and new) then the individual titles. We've done the research, collected data from consumers. Which is why if you compare the size of the title text to the size of "Star Wars" on nearly all the books, SW is almost always larger (except in cases where specific design necessitated it be made smaller).
     
  3. Dr. Steve Brule

    Dr. Steve Brule Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 7, 2012
    Worked for drawing in the casual viewers to Solo, after all.
     
  4. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    Not relevant to what I said at all. Of course Star Wars in the title is important. And obviously more important than the individual titles. I don't think anyone was disputing, or would dispute, that.
     
  5. Outsourced

    Outsourced Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2017
    Man, I sure enjoy arguing about marketing Star Wars with the people who literally market Star Wars.
     
  6. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017
    (apologies for multiple posts in a row. I realize only at this moment I should have threaded multiple quotes into a single reply. Not trying to muck up the thread).

    Titles are important, but ultimately debate/dismay over a title (or cover art, etc) become entirely secondary to the content of the book (provided of course that tile isn't widely offensive or inappropriate, obviously). When "Bloodline" was announced, there was considerable verbal hang-wringing over the recycling of a Legends title (Bloodlines). But, once the book released and people read it and became enamored with the story, discussions, and worries about whether an old title was "stolen" (it wasn't) disappeared.

    (Marketing is indeed "someone else's job" but I participate and support their marketing efforts. It is absolutely my concern.)
     
  7. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    Yes of course, but that is still not really what I was getting at. If you're honestly telling me that it's your company's view that "the title is meaningless" when it comes to marketing your product then I'll be gobsmacked but can't really argue with it can I? I'm sure there are weirder things that businesses have done.
     
  8. Outsourced

    Outsourced Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2017
    He isn't. He's telling you this:

     
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  9. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    I'm not particularly interested in your input here Outsourced. I'm actually having an educational and mature conversation with someone who works at a company whose existence I value and your typically rude, erroneous and irrelevant comments are not adding anything.

    And no, you are wrong. He is:

    I was responding purely to a direct quote, I even quoted it in my initial response.
     
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  10. Outsourced

    Outsourced Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2017
    Well, sorry, but this is a public forum. And from where i'm standing, it looks like a bunch of people who don't like a book title are attacking someone who does Star Wars marketing and deriding the opinions of people who disagree (@nancipants ).

    Considering how there have been issues with how people address VIPs here in the past, I'd say that's a bad look.
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
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  11. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    Firstly, no one is attacking anyone. Secondly, even if you think they are, I don't know why you think your irrelevant and wrong comments are going to help anyone.
    If you have a genuinely relevant opinion on the topic go ahead and say it, I'd be interested.
     
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  12. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    And ftr I don't really even hate or actively dislike the title at all. I just thought it was a bit weird at first glance. As my initial post made pretty clear (I thought) I was responding purely to the attitude that titles are meaningless.
     
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  13. Outsourced

    Outsourced Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2017
    For someone who wants so dearly to only have relevant comments in this thread, these seem an awful lot like personal attacks to me.
     
  14. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Enough. Both of you are going to have a long time out if you cannot quit sniping at each other, Horus and Outsourced. This routine has worn thin.

    Outsourced, you don't need to translate or explain someone else's posts to someone, especially when that person is involved in said conversation.

    Horus, you don't need to be so antagonistic.


    I think we can consider this title discussion played out. The views have been registered. Exhaustively. Over several pages.
     
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  15. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    If it's worn thin for you, just imagine how it has for me. It's not pleasant.
     
  16. Noash_Retrac

    Noash_Retrac Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2006
    There is an old saying:
    "Never judge a book by its cover."

    In this case it should be "never judge a book by its title."

    So what if the title doesn't make sense, the story has me entranced already.

    [content removed]

    Asking two users to stop sniping at each other isn't an invitation for a third user to join in with a personal attack
    .
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 7, 2018
  17. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    If you have issues with other users, please send them to me or another moderator privately. "Parting shot" commentary like this tends to make conflicts worse, and I'd rather like that things remain civil here.

    Disagreement is fine. Asking questions to VIPs is fine. Disagreeing with VIPs is fine, too.

    Personal attacks are not fine, and when people are snapping at each other over disagreements over a book title we need to take a step back and breathe.

    Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
  18. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    That's fine. I wasn't trying to snap at anyone, I'm sorry it ended up that way. I did ignore his first post without biting ftr
     
  19. Xander Vos

    Xander Vos Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 3, 2013
    With due respect, no one is suggesting that the 'hard-cores' won't pick it up just for the title, just that it won't appeal to as broad a market as it could. That's all. To suggest that people will forget about the title issues when they read it is fine, but the title/cover is meant to entice people to buy it in the first place.

    EDIT: Apologies, I just continued reading and didn't realise the discussion was being stopped. Disregard this post.
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
  20. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017
    Hi Xander - Of course, but as you point out "title/cover" - meaning that no one element of the book exists in a vacuum or shoulders an entire load of promoting/enticing readers. So if the title is let's say, wonky or perhaps obscure, well then the cover should do well to bring clarity, and so too should the book copy, and other promotional material, and then eventually the read itself. And with each element things hopefully become clearer and more interesting to readers.

    So what all my comments to this point have sort of boiled down to is that people often attribute (as I believe is the case here) too much of the responsibility of "enticing readers" of all shapes to the title.

    Semi-related, the copy for the book has now posted:

    On the verge of victory in what seemed an endless war, five former rebel pilots transform from hunted to hunters as they strike out against the vestiges of Empire. Set after Return of the Jedi, Alphabet Squadron follows a unique team, each flying a different class of starfighter as they struggle to end their war once and for all.
     
  21. JediKnight75

    JediKnight75 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2011
    I love the updated description. Can you tell us if this is preJakuu?
     
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  22. Xander Vos

    Xander Vos Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 3, 2013
    Absolutely and that's fair enough, and why in one of my previous posts I speculated about what the cover could do to still draw the casual reader in. I'm looking forward to reading it!
     
  23. KerkKorpil

    KerkKorpil Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2016

    Sold. I want STAR WARS: THAT BOOK WITH THE B-WING now!!!!



    Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk
     
  24. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    It'll be interesting to see if the characters' personalities contrast as much as their ships do.
     
  25. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017
    Jello - *nods* probably a good guess.

    Jedi Knight - The exact timing will I'm sure be revealed in course. But, that's not for me to reveal here right now.
     
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