Read on Twitter
Rant thread.
First, I appreciate the frankness and honesty @SarahCrossan has shown in response to this article. Itâs not easy to stick your neck out. Check out her thread. 1/14 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/12/famous-first-words-how-celebrities-made-their-way-on-to-childrens-bookshelves?CMP=twt_books_b-gdnbooks
First, I appreciate the frankness and honesty @SarahCrossan has shown in response to this article. Itâs not easy to stick your neck out. Check out her thread. 1/14 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/12/famous-first-words-how-celebrities-made-their-way-on-to-childrens-bookshelves?CMP=twt_books_b-gdnbooks
I see both sides. I understand the need for publishers to follow the moneyâsome $ are channeled back and it can mean opportunities for emerging, debut, diverse and mid-list writers. But Iâd be lying if I said Iâm over the moon when I hear about a new celebrity deal. 2/14
Writers write for many reasons. Most of us work hard. Most of us hope we can make a fair living from doing it. Most of us donât, but not because our books arenât good enough. 3/14
Print books in Australia recorded 1.14 billion in sales during 2019, and those books have supported a bunch of living wage earners, including but not limited to publishers, editors, printers, warehousing, distribution, logistics, booksellers and libraries. 4/14
The burr under the saddle: writers are the last to be remunerated. Writers consistently struggle to to earn a living wage. Writers earn based on how many books sell or are predicted to sell (advances), but we have little control over the processes that make books sell. 5/14
Hereâs where marketing comes inâthe money-making machine in the form of a... 6/14
...giant snowball. If you have all hands on deck to pack a monster snowball, that snowball will travel faster, longer and further, and it picks up more snow along the way. Itâs a beautiful cycle. But itâs not a fair one and it contributes to the erasure of other stories. 7/14
You could argue that a bad book wonât sell and a good one will, but thatâs not always true. You could argue that itâs a sounder philosophy to market one book and sell millions, than to market many books and sell fewer. 8/14
I donât have an answer. I do know weâre poorer for having millions of people reading one story instead of reading many. Often itâs because thereâs a giant snowball on the shelfâone that we built, apparently, to make money in order to create opportunities for others. 9/14
If youâre not making a living wage find another job, you say? Okay. As long as youâre okay with being limited to reading books by writers who can afford to write. Think about the stories youâd be missing out on. That goes for art, music and theatre, too. Itâs an ugly cycle. 10/14
âTesco sells the books people buy. Itâs not their job to create new authors.â
Tosh. If itâs not the job of the industries who benefit from distributing/selling books to diversify their support for the greater good of an industry that supports them, whose is it? 11/14
Tosh. If itâs not the job of the industries who benefit from distributing/selling books to diversify their support for the greater good of an industry that supports them, whose is it? 11/14
Itâs about making money and not having to think too hard or employ a specialist buyer. At least own it. 12/14
No shade on individuals. Itâs systemic, this pervasive and destructive belief that a book is simply a product and the numbers (and visibility) will tell you if itâs a good book or a bad one. I donât buy it. 13/14
To the writers and readers I see frequently challenging this belief, keep at it.
To the beneficiaries of the books, writers and readers are the creators and the consumers of the âproductâ you sellâthe bookends, if you will.
You need us even if you think you donât.
14/14
To the beneficiaries of the books, writers and readers are the creators and the consumers of the âproductâ you sellâthe bookends, if you will.
You need us even if you think you donât.
14/14
