Defining the Tie-In

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 20, 2006

Faithful readers know that over the summer I became a charter member of the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. One of the interesting things that has happened since the organization’s founding is that I have a greater understand of the depth of contempt many contemporaries have for the category. It’s considered beneath their notice or they are offended that people would rather read a novelization or tie-in than their original work.

As a result, one of the organizations’ main goals is to advocate for the legitimacy of the form and to help make people more aware of how we’re surrounded by media tie-ins without always noticing them. This was brought to mind, again, in some comments my colleague Jeff Mariotte makes over at his blog. Rather than paraphrase, I’ll let you read these thoughts for yourself.

I wholeheartedly agree with Jeff – no surprise there. Honestly, a well-written book (or graphic novel or other) remains a well-written piece of work worthy of your attention. Be it a sequel to Casablanca or Firefly, it should stand on its own merits. Just as there’s a percentage of great works in every category, media tie-ins has its share of great and also its share of not-so-great.

One of the ways we want people to learn about the great is to recognize the best with awards. We’re still dickering over the categories and methodology but it will be done because no other award recognizes this subset.

Stay tuned.