(Writer’s warning: my first newsletter is a little long – 3700 words, so I’ve broken it into two parts to be published a week apart. Thanks for taking the time.)
This is very interesting. Thank you! It's a daft old industry, for sure. I think there is one area that is always missed in the finger pointing and that is education. Publishers haven't done enough to break down the perception that reading is elitist. I live in a first world country where 1/5 of the population is functionally illiterate. 48% of our population have 'inadequate reading skills'.That's a massive chunk of potential book buyers who are missed. Anyone who has seen the excitement at a Scholastic in-school book fair knows that young kids are eager readers. Why aren't more publishers jumping in? Why aren't more agents getting up and talking about books in classrooms? Those who come from illiterate backgrounds need all the help they can get. They need to be encouraged to explore all genres, not as dreary homework assignments but as worlds than can open up and give them hope, even shield them from their realities. The joys of biblio-therapy. I don't think the industry as a whole is doing enough to get the words out there and a steady stream of celebrity block busters and Patterson pap isn't the way to improve the status quo.
I like Vanessa's Venture Capitalist analogy but part of the problem is that publisher's are only seeing authors as commodities. Vanessa is the rare full-package author who is adept at handling all aspects of her career and doing so with tremendous flair. How many true creatives can do that? How many should? If agents and publishers limit themselves to flinging their might behind the few who can with their only regard being to the bottom line, surely the bar will be lowered even further.
The world is changing fast. More people are borrowing books now as a result of the pandemic. Time for the industry to finally step up. Just my opinion, of course. Also looking forward to part 2.
Thanks for a bunch of sound and stimulating thoughts. The elitism around books is deeply entrenched in the our culture. I won't blame that on publishers. I have a positive reaction though when I see someone enjoying the escapism of Patterson or celebrity biographies. I think that's time and money spent on books and it's encouraging a reading habit that endures. The snobbery around appropriate reading (and I'll own my instinct to let people know the 'classier' stuff I've read) is unhelpful I think. The goal should be to inculcate the habit of private engrossment within a written narrative.
'In which the croupier lays out the house odds to the players before asking if they still want to be dealt in.' In addition to there being too many books for the readers that are out there, our time is finite and all those books are competing with a flashier range of alternatives for readers' attention - there's too many shows on Netflix for anyone to watch, and TikTok is stealing viewing minutes from Netflix, etc etc. I did enjoy the fact that after you've detailed precisely how long the odds are, you put a call out for submissions (was this whole piece just a test of will for any hopeful writers reading along?) Call me a fool, but deal me in anyway - I'll be submitting.
So very many points I agree with here! And great to have the nuts and bolts view. I always think Publishers are a bit like Venture Capitalists, you have to invest in a range of different enterprises to find the one that takes off, and it's not always the one you expect. Looking forward to part 2 :)
You are right there are too many books out there and then there are more of us who want to contribute to the overload. Statistics seem to show that more books, be they physical, audio, or on line, have been bought during and since the pandemic. But as you say it doesn't really help the writer. We are in a catch 22. We write, we hope, we compete in an overstretched market. However we continue to try to join, I won't say gravy train as there is little money for the writer. I know all the reasons but I can still baulk at those reasons.
We are in a hard business, but business it is.
I did like the comment from Clo Carey about engaging children. Having many friends who are writers of children's literature I can say they make many school visits and do engage children but there is a cost implication for the schools. The rise of school libraries is another bonus to get children reading. As to material, I agree with S F Said who says it doesn't matter what children read so long as they read. They are our future market.
You're right of course to pick up on Clo's point about coaxing and guiding children towards books. It's much more likely to be a habit for those who see their parents or other adults they follow reading. Learning is mimicry in large part I suspect. My mother inhaled books. She was also trained on the piano as a child and performed in public. She hated that but loved reading. And I love to live inside a book - and skipped out on a brief effort to have me play cello...
As a child we had few books in the house and we were never read to but I found the library. I hungered for the adventure and escapism I found in books and still love to read and write children's books; they hold so much. My daughter and husband are readers but sadly my son and his daughter are not. Do you regret not playing the cello?
The odd time I might be listening to classical music and feel a twinge of envy at the sounds that others can make. But that's nothing, compared with the lurch of rageous envy when I hear Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis on the trumpet (a favourite instrument). I've often thought my number one western, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, is finally just a beautiful three-hour build up to the piercing trumpet of the final scene in the graveyard.
We're not all designed for reading. It works for a certain kind of mind. Others find it impossible or frustrating or dull. All of that's allowed and not to be slighted or regretted. We readers carry an every present threat of condescension to the rest - a more brutalised version of the condescension we show to fellow readers who have read 'the wrong books'. It takes all sorts.
This is very interesting. Thank you! It's a daft old industry, for sure. I think there is one area that is always missed in the finger pointing and that is education. Publishers haven't done enough to break down the perception that reading is elitist. I live in a first world country where 1/5 of the population is functionally illiterate. 48% of our population have 'inadequate reading skills'.That's a massive chunk of potential book buyers who are missed. Anyone who has seen the excitement at a Scholastic in-school book fair knows that young kids are eager readers. Why aren't more publishers jumping in? Why aren't more agents getting up and talking about books in classrooms? Those who come from illiterate backgrounds need all the help they can get. They need to be encouraged to explore all genres, not as dreary homework assignments but as worlds than can open up and give them hope, even shield them from their realities. The joys of biblio-therapy. I don't think the industry as a whole is doing enough to get the words out there and a steady stream of celebrity block busters and Patterson pap isn't the way to improve the status quo.
I like Vanessa's Venture Capitalist analogy but part of the problem is that publisher's are only seeing authors as commodities. Vanessa is the rare full-package author who is adept at handling all aspects of her career and doing so with tremendous flair. How many true creatives can do that? How many should? If agents and publishers limit themselves to flinging their might behind the few who can with their only regard being to the bottom line, surely the bar will be lowered even further.
The world is changing fast. More people are borrowing books now as a result of the pandemic. Time for the industry to finally step up. Just my opinion, of course. Also looking forward to part 2.
Thanks for a bunch of sound and stimulating thoughts. The elitism around books is deeply entrenched in the our culture. I won't blame that on publishers. I have a positive reaction though when I see someone enjoying the escapism of Patterson or celebrity biographies. I think that's time and money spent on books and it's encouraging a reading habit that endures. The snobbery around appropriate reading (and I'll own my instinct to let people know the 'classier' stuff I've read) is unhelpful I think. The goal should be to inculcate the habit of private engrossment within a written narrative.
'In which the croupier lays out the house odds to the players before asking if they still want to be dealt in.' In addition to there being too many books for the readers that are out there, our time is finite and all those books are competing with a flashier range of alternatives for readers' attention - there's too many shows on Netflix for anyone to watch, and TikTok is stealing viewing minutes from Netflix, etc etc. I did enjoy the fact that after you've detailed precisely how long the odds are, you put a call out for submissions (was this whole piece just a test of will for any hopeful writers reading along?) Call me a fool, but deal me in anyway - I'll be submitting.
You're right about the irony but like so many endeavours, we are driven to strive though the odds aren't in our favour.
Absolutely - “To write is to hope and to hope is to gamble”. Thank you for this post, I will be tuning in for part 2 when it drops.
So very many points I agree with here! And great to have the nuts and bolts view. I always think Publishers are a bit like Venture Capitalists, you have to invest in a range of different enterprises to find the one that takes off, and it's not always the one you expect. Looking forward to part 2 :)
That's a sound analogy. Thanks both for reading AND commenting Vanessa.
You are right there are too many books out there and then there are more of us who want to contribute to the overload. Statistics seem to show that more books, be they physical, audio, or on line, have been bought during and since the pandemic. But as you say it doesn't really help the writer. We are in a catch 22. We write, we hope, we compete in an overstretched market. However we continue to try to join, I won't say gravy train as there is little money for the writer. I know all the reasons but I can still baulk at those reasons.
We are in a hard business, but business it is.
I did like the comment from Clo Carey about engaging children. Having many friends who are writers of children's literature I can say they make many school visits and do engage children but there is a cost implication for the schools. The rise of school libraries is another bonus to get children reading. As to material, I agree with S F Said who says it doesn't matter what children read so long as they read. They are our future market.
You're right of course to pick up on Clo's point about coaxing and guiding children towards books. It's much more likely to be a habit for those who see their parents or other adults they follow reading. Learning is mimicry in large part I suspect. My mother inhaled books. She was also trained on the piano as a child and performed in public. She hated that but loved reading. And I love to live inside a book - and skipped out on a brief effort to have me play cello...
As a child we had few books in the house and we were never read to but I found the library. I hungered for the adventure and escapism I found in books and still love to read and write children's books; they hold so much. My daughter and husband are readers but sadly my son and his daughter are not. Do you regret not playing the cello?
The odd time I might be listening to classical music and feel a twinge of envy at the sounds that others can make. But that's nothing, compared with the lurch of rageous envy when I hear Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis on the trumpet (a favourite instrument). I've often thought my number one western, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, is finally just a beautiful three-hour build up to the piercing trumpet of the final scene in the graveyard.
We're not all designed for reading. It works for a certain kind of mind. Others find it impossible or frustrating or dull. All of that's allowed and not to be slighted or regretted. We readers carry an every present threat of condescension to the rest - a more brutalised version of the condescension we show to fellow readers who have read 'the wrong books'. It takes all sorts.