Is it Post-Apocalyptic?

To me, post-apocalyptic implies dealing with the aftermath of an apocalyptic event. Using an apocalyptic event as a device to rearrange society so you can tell a dystopian story shouldn't count as post-apocalyptic, IMO.

No, they're just info-dumping for those people in the audience who either can't wait to find out what's going on or can't figure out what's going on.

No, it's word of mouth.

I wouldn't consider either of them post-apocalyptic anyway.

You do have to be careful about 'throw away' phrases like post-apocalyptic. A good editor or marketer would just find another way to say the same thing. I recently watched an SF movie called Snow Piercer and I'm sure the post-apocalyptic premise wasn't the key focus in selling the idea. Find the point of difference in your post-apocalyptic tale and market that!

Post-apoc is more like The Road. McCarthy's protag, first and foremost, is set against an irradiated wasteland where humanity has quite handily succeeded in wiping out all mankind except a smattering of survivors who, struggling to survive this harsh reality, have mostly become something less than human. Basic survival- clean food, clean water, shelter- become key plot elements, along with evading the less savory remnants of humanity.

Conversely, something like the Hunger Games- despite having endured an apocalyptic event in the not-so-distant-past- is more dystopian than post-apoc. Humanity has regathered itself, and this unpleasant authoritarian reforming sets the events in play to form the eventual crisis. Rather than survival, the key conflict arises from the order in which humanity has restructured itself.

Hope that helps a bit. Personally, I think if you're summarizing for a blurb or query, you're betting off avoiding the phrase and succinctly describing the scenario which the apocalypse creates for your protag. Some people probably don't like the genre, but personally I love post-apoc and think there's a bit too much dystopian describing itself as post-apoc these days.

justlukeyou said:

Word of mouth? If 5 milliin people see the summary of Elysium or Divergent maybe the word's 'post-apocolyptic' might put half of them off. Resulting in a flop movie.

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Why would it put them off?

Movies become successful because the first people to go to them tell all their friends, go see this! Or flop because they tell their friends, don't go see this under any circumstances.

justlukeyou said:

Or movie distributors spend around ten million dollars promoting a movie and want to ensure the publising material is pitch on. They are concerned that if the words 'post-apocolyptic' are used it will make some people think it is to dark or to heavily based on sciene fiction. Another Matrix Reloaded or Revolutions.

If it's down to word of mouth why would a movie distibutor spend millions on marketing.

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Why would post-apocalyptic be based in science fiction at all?

This thread entirely reads as if you don't really know the definition of apocalypse.

Movies have buzz through several channels before opening weekend, and opening weekend is more than one day.

Because "in a post apocalyptic world/world where plants are sexy" was played out a decade or so ago? I see /hear that I kinda roll my eyes...

They show the post apocalyptic. rather than tell it

Or they do if they want me to see it, because even my kids were bored of that several years ago...

It's because you're more likely to attract a reader by saying, "After most humans were eaten by giant mutant radishes..." than by saying, "In a post-apocalyptic world..."

You'll obviously describe it that way when asked about genre, but it's a waste to use up your back cover space on something generic that isn't going to help sell the book. This is usual for a lot of genres, where they describe what the book is about in specific detail, rather than just list the genre. It's the details that sell it.

Films are a different thing, so a lot of the stuff they do doesn't really apply. Book trailers don't work even a fraction as well as film trailers. You'd be a fool to produce a film and not make trailers, but it's pretty normal not to make one for a book, as they'll likely only be watched by your pet cat and a few fans.

justlukeyou said:

If it's down to word of mouth why would a movie distibutor spend millions on marketing.

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You have to bring the movie to the attention of the people who will then go to see it and either promote it or kill it by word of mouth. But the truth is, most advertising spend is completely wasted.

justlukeyou said:

If it's down to word of mouth why is opening weekend so important? How can people recommend a movie which they haven't seen?

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I don't understand your question. You asked how a movie becomes successful, not how you get some people to go and see it in the first place.

I think it's about being specific in the blurb to draw people in. Phrases like "post apocalyptic" are quite broad and vague. The reader wants to know what the apocalypse was or how people are surviving or what the latest threat is.

I'm just guessing here, but I don't expect that you would often see the word "horror" in the blurb for a horror story or "western" in a story about cowpersons and native Americans. The genre is implied from the setting and the characters.

When I hear "post apocalyptic" I want to know what the trigger was that brought on the destruction. What event occurred? Simply having a world that's rubbed itself to the nub and now resembles a shantytown in 2345 isn't "post apocalyptic." Man, I can't stand cheap advertising gimmicks.

If a movie or book ever starts off with, "In a...", and it's not Star Wars, I will find that so damn cheap. But anyways, "post-apocalyptic" is just a broad, vague term to group common themes/settings together, as genre terms do. I don't know why that would scare people off other than cause disinterest in them if they're not a fan of the genre to begin with. "Post-apocalyptic" just gives me somewhere to start, however, to pull me in, I want to know what the story is about. And that story better be something special with an intriguing plot and compelling characters because there are a lot of "post-apocalyptic" stories out there, and not just in books of course.

Not all post-apocalyptic stories are sci-fi, though. One of my favorite novels is Wolf and Iron, which is definitely not science-fiction, but it's certainly post-apocalyptic, since the MC is struggling to survive in a desolate world where civilization has collapsed. In some ways, it's almost a western, which I don't usually care for, but this book spins a fascinating story about how one man travels across the country with no one but a human-raised wolf for company, learning the skills he needs to survive, while trying to find his brother's ranch. They must have had a heckuva time figuring out where to shelve it!

justlukeyou said:

But is it marketing which helps make or break a film/book?

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justlukeyou said:

Word of mouth? If 5 milliin people see the summary of Elysium or Divergent maybe the word's 'post-apocolyptic' might put half of them off. Resulting in a flop movie.

Click to expand...

justlukeyou said:

Or movie distributors spend around ten million dollars promoting a movie and want to ensure the publising material is pitch on. They are concerned that if the words 'post-apocolyptic' are used it will make some people think it is to dark or to heavily based on sciene fiction. Another Matrix Reloaded or Revolutions.

If it's down to word of mouth why would a movie distibutor spend millions on marketing.

Click to expand...

justlukeyou said:

If it's down to word of mouth why is opening weekend so important? How can people recommend a movie which they haven't seen?

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The back-flap description on a book, and its cover image, and its title, or a movie's trailers, and its posters, and the interviews its actors give prior to release -- these are all examples of "positioning".

When you "position" something, you are telling potential audience members what sort of thing you have made. Maybe you've made a romance novel, or maybe it's a horror movie. The point is you need to tell people enough about that thing that they can decide whether it sounds like something they'd like.

The people who decide it does sound like something they'd like will go buy a ticket/buy a copy as soon as they can.

So why is it important to get a lot of people doing that, on opening weekend or on book release day? Because if you've put out a fantastic movie, and only 1,000 people see it on the first weekend, then you've only got 1,000 people telling their friends, "You must see this movie!"

Whereas, if 10,000,000 people see your movie on the first weekend, you've got ten thousand times as many people potentially trying to convince their friends to go see the movie too. They make a better "army" to ensure your book/film continues to succeed, and it's that follow-up success that really turns your book/film into a blockbuster (and makes you all the money.) If only 1,000 people saw the movie on the first weekend, you've got a longer slog to turn your film into a smash success -- and you might not even have time to do so before the movie gets cycled out of theatres.

You seem to be asking whether the phrase "post-apocalyptic" turns people off. No, it doesn't, but it's a waste of breath as far as marketers are concerned -- the audience wants to know what makes the story interesting, not what category it fits into.

"Post-apocalyptic" is just a category. "In the year 2154, the very-wealthy live on a man-made space station..." implies a story. Thus, the latter phrase has half a chance of getting a person interested in reading the book/seeing the film whereas "post-apocalyptic" does not.

It sounds like your book isn't written yet.

So focus.

Write the book. Finish it. *Then* you can worry about what comes after.