Category: publishing

“Literary first novels are almost impossible to introduce into the marketplace. Bookstores will only order them in small quantities, if at all, and it is difficult to get reviews, especially in places that really matter. Additionally, getting a bookstore reading for a first fiction author is an effort that would make Sisyphus proud. A well–established independent bookseller once told me flat out that he would never book a first fiction author into his store. Furthermore, to even have a chance of selling, a first novel has to classifiable, meaning it has to fit neatly into a genre or niche—mystery, thriller, crime, etc. A one sentence selling line also helps. However, literary fiction often cannot be easily classified or described.”

Camille Paglia remembers the 1960s, when poetry mattered. “But over the following decades, poetry and poetry study were steadily marginalised by pretentious “theory” – which claims to analyse language but atrociously abuses it. Poststructuralism and crusading identity politics led to the gradual sinking in reputation of the premiere literature departments, so that by the turn of the millennium they were no longer seen, even by the undergraduates themselves, to be where the excitement was on campus. One result of this triumph of ideology over art is that, on the basis of their publications, few literature professors know how to “read” any more – and thus can scarcely be trusted to teach that skill to their students.”

“With profits in the publishing world pretty flat in recent years, big publicity budgets are largely limited to the heavyweights in the writing world, the proven novelists (such as Stephen King) or famous memoirist (such as Bill Clinton). Everyone else gets about $5,000 to $10,000 to promote their title, if they’re lucky. Many get nothing at all… The days when it was enough for an author to launch a Web site and give away some tote bags are over. An unknown writer today has to be an imaginative entrepreneur, with strong marketing skills — not just a wordsmith.”

Geraldine McCaughrean has been chosen to write a sequel to Peter Pan. “The working title of the new story is Captain Pan, an indication of what happened to Peter Pan as he advanced in years. The children’s hospital has said that the book must feature the original characters, including Peter, Wendy, Tinkerbell and Captain Hook.”

“When all our documents are generated by digital means, the nature of what consists of an “original” becomes fuzzier and fuzzier. (Is it the first copy from the printer? The electrons on the hard disk?) And if search companies like Google succeed in their mission to get all human knowledge online, available to everyone, we’ll have the power to peruse existing documents like those in the Christie’s auction from the comfort of our dens.”

Canadian literature has been hot in recent years. But where does this writing come from? Much of it derrives from the lit program at the University of British Columbia. “Sure, there are other schools – the universities of Victoria, New Brunswick and Windsor prominent among them – but UBC was first (founded in 1965 by poet Earle Birney) and it’s earned the kind of cachet that must drive its rivals to distraction. “Indeed, nearly half the graduating class of 2001 finished school with a book contract. Every publishing house, it seemed, needed its own author from the Buchanan Building.”

A new government report says UK public libraries are in dreadful shape and need major lottery funding. “The report by the Commons select committee on culture, media and sport indicts 50% of library services as “persistently below standard” after decades of underfunding – an explanation for steadily falling book loans and visitor numbers over the past 15 years. The committee cites estimates that between a quarter and more than two-thirds of a billion pounds would be needed to wipe out the backlog of building repairs and refurbishments.”

In the 1990s, books about science were hot. “With the boom, inevitably, there came a torrent of rubbish. The stylistic innovations of the trendsetters soon became, in the hands of the disciples, stale recipes, recycled over and over in formulaic and uninspiring ways. Even the titles began to seem repetitive: The Panda’s Thumb, Galileo’s Finger, Einstein’s Brain … What a pity nobody had the chutzpah to write a book about Newton’s penis. A decade and a half later, there are signs that the popular science boom is running out of steam.”

“Writer Howard Engel, who has serialized soft-boiled Jewish-Canadian gumshoe Benny Cooperman in 10 mystery novels, took home the top prize last night when [Canada’s] Writers Trust handed out its annual awards… The white-haired author, 74, won the $20,000 Matt Cohen award ‘in celebration of the writing life’ for the body of his work, though the judges’ citation made it clear the prize was also given for the gallant way Engel has faced a difficult personal situation. A widower raising a teenage son, he suffered a stroke four years ago in the occipital lobe of his brain that deprived him of the ability to read, though he is still able to write.”

“The recent death of Hunter S. Thompson has triggered speculation over where the gonzo journalist’s papers will end up. In the final few weeks of Thompson’s life, he was adamant about placing his papers at a single institution… For authors, artists and social figures, the allure of placing their private papers in an academic library is threefold: It’s a chance to clean out the basement; it’s an assurance that their legacy on paper will be professionally cataloged and preserved; and it can be profitable. There’s a market for the best collections, and libraries are willing to invest.”