A Literary Gripe

Okay.  Here's yesterday's belated gripe about literary matters.  It's inspired partly by the news that Dorothy Dunnet's works have now been dropped by their publisher.  And partly by the momentous news that....  Hold on now, in case the excitement's too much for you... 

ROSS KEMP'S GOING TO BE RELEASING HIS DEBUT NOVEL!!!

Wow.  I am so-o-o-o-o excited.  I'm going to rush out to the bookstore now and order one in advance.

I hope you guys can pick up sarcasm when you see it, 'cos oh boy, were those last two paragraphs delivered in a sarcastic tone.  The arrival of a novel by the Eastenders Hard Man is not exactly going to send my pulse racing.

I'm sure there's some celebrities out there who can write.  And I'm sure some of their long-suffering ghost writers must be accomplished authors in their own right.  But whenever I hear the news that Yet Another Celebrity Is Having A Novel Published, I just find it an utter turn-off.

I am really going to have to change the way I buy books.  I am a staunch supporter of the High Street.  I do not like to buy on-line because it's doing shop-staff out of jobs.  But it's got to the stage now that there's only a couple of authors whose books are freely available in the book stores that I would go out of my way to buy.  They are, in alphabetical order, Elizabeth Chadwick, Hilary Mantel and Reay Tannahill.  Most of the time, I'll only buy a book if I've borrowed it from a friend and it's caught my interest sufficiently for me to want to own a copy.

There are, however, a number of writers whose work I've stumbled across on blogs and websites who are either self-published or in-tow with small presses.  Linda Proud is a case in point -, her masterly novels are set in medieval Florence and they're excellent AND self-published.  There are many, many more books waiting to be read out there, but making the break with buying in the High Street is quite a big step and it's something I haven't quite adjusted to, yet. 

2010's the year, though.  I'm sure of it.  There's no excuses now.  The major overriding drawback which put me off for years was the matter of currency conversion, but that's immaterial now.

I'm a great supporter of Fair Trade, and that goes for books, too.  I'd much rather know that a fair chunk of the purchase price of my book was going to support the author, thus enabling him/her to keep on doing what they like best and allowing me to keep enjoying the fruits of their labours.  I do not want to buy something knowing that the poor writer is living a hand-to-mouth existence in a garrett somewhere while the publicists & HR Managers in their publishing house are swanning around with big cars, big houses and D & G suits.

Years ago, my Dad scoffed because I 'wasted' my time writing fanlit, which wasn't real writing, because you don't get paid for it.  But in the modern world, there's not really much difference financially between writing fanlit and writing as a pro.  These days, there seems to be an assumption that most writers are hobbyists.  They do it for fun.  They do it for the love of it.  So hey, why the heck do they expect a living wage???  I'm sorry, but they deserve a living wage.  They work damned hard.  Sometimes they'll spend years on a project, carving it, crafting it, pruning it.  It means a lot to them. 

I feel this way about my own writing, too.  I've been told loads of times by surprisingly sympathetic publishers and agents that they can't take my stuff because it's not commercial.  If this means I'm up there with Dorothy Dunnett, then I'll take that as a compliment!

A Literary Gripe

Okay.  Here's yesterday's belated gripe about literary matters.  It's inspired partly by the news that Dorothy Dunnet's works have now been dropped by their publisher.  And partly by the momentous news that....  Hold on now, in case the excitement's too much for you... 

ROSS KEMP'S GOING TO BE RELEASING HIS DEBUT NOVEL!!!

Wow.  I am so-o-o-o-o excited.  I'm going to rush out to the bookstore now and order one in advance.

I hope you guys can pick up sarcasm when you see it, 'cos oh boy, were those last two paragraphs delivered in a sarcastic tone.  The arrival of a novel by the Eastenders Hard Man is not exactly going to send my pulse racing.

I'm sure there's some celebrities out there who can write.  And I'm sure some of their long-suffering ghost writers must be accomplished authors in their own right.  But whenever I hear the news that Yet Another Celebrity Is Having A Novel Published, I just find it an utter turn-off.

I am really going to have to change the way I buy books.  I am a staunch supporter of the High Street.  I do not like to buy on-line because it's doing shop-staff out of jobs.  But it's got to the stage now that there's only a couple of authors whose books are freely available in the book stores that I would go out of my way to buy.  They are, in alphabetical order, Elizabeth Chadwick, Hilary Mantel and Reay Tannahill.  Most of the time, I'll only buy a book if I've borrowed it from a friend and it's caught my interest sufficiently for me to want to own a copy.

There are, however, a number of writers whose work I've stumbled across on blogs and websites who are either self-published or in-tow with small presses.  Linda Proud is a case in point -, her masterly novels are set in medieval Florence and they're excellent AND self-published.  There are many, many more books waiting to be read out there, but making the break with buying in the High Street is quite a big step and it's something I haven't quite adjusted to, yet. 

2010's the year, though.  I'm sure of it.  There's no excuses now.  The major overriding drawback which put me off for years was the matter of currency conversion, but that's immaterial now.

I'm a great supporter of Fair Trade, and that goes for books, too.  I'd much rather know that a fair chunk of the purchase price of my book was going to support the author, thus enabling him/her to keep on doing what they like best and allowing me to keep enjoying the fruits of their labours.  I do not want to buy something knowing that the poor writer is living a hand-to-mouth existence in a garrett somewhere while the publicists & HR Managers in their publishing house are swanning around with big cars, big houses and D & G suits.

Years ago, my Dad scoffed because I 'wasted' my time writing fanlit, which wasn't real writing, because you don't get paid for it.  But in the modern world, there's not really much difference financially between writing fanlit and writing as a pro.  These days, there seems to be an assumption that most writers are hobbyists.  They do it for fun.  They do it for the love of it.  So hey, why the heck do they expect a living wage???  I'm sorry, but they deserve a living wage.  They work damned hard.  Sometimes they'll spend years on a project, carving it, crafting it, pruning it.  It means a lot to them. 

I feel this way about my own writing, too.  I've been told loads of times by surprisingly sympathetic publishers and agents that they can't take my stuff because it's not commercial.  If this means I'm up there with Dorothy Dunnett, then I'll take that as a compliment!