How much of the creative process of a book is reliant on fans accepting it vs the publishers/creators/etc.?
I don't really know what that means, sorry. Fans don't get input on the process. They can accept or reject the results, but most readers probably don't know whether a book is plot-style or full-script, whether the editor asked for the ending to be changed, whether the artist drew what was written or reworked it...
kdb
Please let me clarify.
If the fan community has a very negative or positive reaction to something published, doesn't that influence whether the creative teams and/or publishers continue with that idea or not?
For instance, mutants are very big at Marvel. Surely that concept is being mined to death as a result.
If fan reaction to Hypertime seems to be very negative, it does seem to be just a bit of a coincidence that no one else at DC has decided to revisit the concept. Superman being longhaired, while relatively minor, was eventually done away with since it had such a high rejection rate amongst fans.
I don't care how great the idea is. If the fans literally don't buy into it, then the publisher tends to do a backpeddle on it or ignore it. Hey, Byrne's attempted rework of the Hulk's origin was so badly received that Marvel had to backpeddle on that one in a hurry.
So, yeah, fans do have some input if only as part of the marketing feedback process.
I guess my question better worded is how much do creators consider what they think will sell their books as opposed to just writing the best darn good stories they can think of? The two aren't necessarily the same esp. given that subjective element noted before.