I should have guessed the drama about IP/tie-ins was someone mad that a tie-in made the bestseller list while their work didn't.

Guess what? People like reading tie-ins! Calling it "soulless IP" while complaining about...a marker of sales... is real weird.

It's called "The NYT Bestseller List," Not "The NYT List Of The Most Original And Avant Garde Fiction Of The Week."

Also I reiterate my point that we're all making commercial products and it's real weird to try to establish tiers or artistic purity--especially when you'd be delighted to "sell out" by making the list.

And to be clear my joke about the nyt bestseller list isn't that books that make the list are bad or unoriginal. My point is, tie-ins make list because they're popular. And that's literally all the list measures.

Something can be popular and not be your thing and that's fine. It's not a shopping list. And we can talk about how, for example, white guys writing other people's experiences get more praise and attention than own voices. But going after tie-ins as a category is a weird look.