The future's bright, the future's digital

Changes have been taking place within the publishing industry this past year or so at an alarming rate, or what seems alarming for a relatively slow moving trade. The industry is notoriously resistant to change, and so to many, these changes have not been easy and the transition far from smooth. The main threats facing the industry, which have been much debated in recent months are of course both e-books and print on demand. Both have been around for some time, with print on demand making great inroads and coming on in leaps and bounds. This is due in part to hard working and professional self publishers such as myself who have worked tirelessly to change perceptions, but also due to economics. While lithographic printing has become more expensive, due to the various costs involved, as the technology has grown and evolved, print on demand has become cheaper. Publishers are then embracing this technology as never before, and beginning to see it as more of a positive than a negative. This can only be a good thing.

The second threat if that is the right word, is e-books. Like print on demand, these too have been available for some time, but unlike print on demand, have been confined mainly to academic texts. This though is changing with the advent of new user friendly e-reader devices, such as the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader, recently trialled very successfully I might add, by Waterstones.

What exactly though is an e-book? An e-book is a book that has been digitised so that it can be read on an electronic device instead of a paper copy. This reading device has traditionally been a computer, but can also be one of the new reading devices as mentioned above. Instead of reading the words on a page, you read them on the screen - to advance to the next page, you simply press the next button. The e-readers themselves are shaped very much like books, and weigh about the same.

They offer several advantages over traditional paper books - the most obvious of which is the ability to store up to 100 books on the same device. Think how heavy and awkward it would be if you had to carry around 100 books! This is a real boon for travellers and academics alike, not to mention writers like myself, who need access to lots of different texts at the touch of a button for research purposes. The ability to search quickly and easily within the text is another advantage.

The readers have received a mixed reaction amongst book devotees, with some welcoming them and others seemingly dead against. I fell into this camp myself until I actually saw one in my local Waterstones and had the opportunity to have a play around. They are surprisingly lightweight and very user friendly, with a well lit and lifelike screen that copes well even with bright sunlight. Whether you could use it in the bath is matter for debate - it would not be advisable, since water and electricity do not mix (like i-pods the readers have rechargeable batteries so don't need to be plugged in all the time). Curling up with one of these in bed would not have quite the same feel either, but the readers are here to stay, whether we like it or not, so we had better used to them.

The reaction from authors has also been mixed, with concerns over piracy and copyright. These issues do need to be addressed, but they mask, in my opinion, the underlying cause of this fear. The fear comes not from the technology itself but from it represents - freedom for both author and reader. If e-books catch on then publishers and agents could become obsolete, for instead of relying on them to sell their wares, authors will be able to go direct to the public. There will be nothing to stop them from setting up their own websites (the smart author has already done this anyway), paying a small fee to have their books digitised (Authors OnLine did a splendid job with mine for a very small fee indeed), and a bit more for publicity (easier said than done, depending on who you are). Once these costs are taken off the author gets 100 percent of the royalties. A traditional publisher if you are lucky, pays between 10 and 15 percent, so you work it out.

Publishing companies have good cause to be concerned, for this is a direct threat to their livelihood. They are bound to see their revenues decline, as are agents, as more and more authors begin to cut out the middle men, who have traditionally acted as gatekeepers. The old ways are crumbling to give birth to the new.

The real beneficiaries as always will be the unseen and unheard majority, those who cannot for various reasons get either an agent or a publisher to help sell their wares. There will be (and in reality, already is) nothing to prevent them from setting up their own store fronts in competition with the big boys and girls, who will no longer be able to look down on us from ivory towers, but instead look upon as the equals that we are. This will open up the market as never before, and do wonders to help the self published cause. The future belongs fairly and squarely to us, who embrace this technology with open arms, knowing what it means and the advantages that it offers. Perhaps as author and Sony ambassaor Toby Young says so eloquently in the current edition of Waterstones magazine, that is the real reason why so many are so nervous.

A review of the new Sony e-Reader can be seen here.

YouWriteOn publishes POD books for free

A few days ago, I received the following email from Arts Council sponsored peer review website, YouWriteOn. It reads as follows:

"Dear YouWriteOn member

Arts Council funded YouWriteOn.com will publish the first 5,000 writers who contact us for Free - fiction and non fiction.

To participate follow these 2 steps:

1) Email youwriteon@googlemail.com, and inside your email add your name, address, telephone number, book title, genre, length of your book, and a synopsis up to 50 words
2) We will contact the first 5,000 people who email us by 31st October 2008. Your book will be ready to order by readers as a paperback by Christmas. Open to UK and US residents."

The email goes on to provide further details of previous successes that the site has launched (all fiction, since the site is for some inexplicable reason, closed to non fiction writers, as indeed all other peer review sites are, with the exception of Authonomy), and provide details of how this deal will work.

Books will be available to order direct through the YouWriteOn site, and members will be able to review them and contact each other in the same way as with other works downloaded on to the site. The authors will receive a 60 percent royalty for each copy sold, paid six monthly, as opposed to the usual 12 to 15 percent paid by commercial publishers. The books they say, will be the same quality as bookstore or 'trade' paperbacks, and the author will retain all rights to their work. It goes without saying that the books will not be lithographic, but print on demand.

The offer, which seems a good one, is open to UK and US residents only and the contract is non exclusive - what this means is that if you are made an offer from someone else, or have other reasons to withdraw the work from their site, then you can do without any further obligation.

While this offer is entirely free, the books do need to be in a publishable state, since here is the catch, no editing or proof reading is offered. While it is true that works that have been on the site for some time may have been subject to a form of proof reading on the part of the readers, who point out mistakes so that they can be corrected, this is not the same thing as a professional edit. I can already hear the battle cries of 'vanity press', and believe you me, certain sectors of the industry will seize on this as an excuse to use that term and be very derogatory indeed about the resultant books. It does make one wonder whether this is such a good deal or not. It does though do a lot to help raise POD's profile, and I have to say that in general, YouWriteOn are a very POD friendly bunch, offering US authors affected by the Amazon debacle earlier this year, the chance to advertise their books (once again fiction only) on the site for free.

On the other hand, it this that much different to what other POD providers offer, such as Authors OnLine Ltd? In some ways no, but in others, yes. Authors OnLine and other reputable print on demand providers (there are a few of them) have access to freelancers whose role is to edit and proof read (for a fee) works that they publish or put their name to. They also offer help with marketing (if you ask) that goes far beyond placing it on a website and asking people to review it. On the other hand, they are not as high profile as YouWriteOn, which attracts some heavyweight members, with the chance of being spotted and picked up by one of the big boys (or girls - and several authors have been).

Of course none of this is of any significance to the non fiction writer (and bear in mind that most print on demand books are non fiction, as indeed most books are in general - the market for fiction is small in comparison), since YouWriteOn do not publish such material on their site anyway, yet the free publishing offer does include non fiction. Maybe they are planning to open the site up to non fiction in the hopefully near future, I seem to remember them indicating that to me in an email, but the details are hazy.

The other catch is the relatively low, but nevertheless, competitive cover prices that they hope to set, of between £5.99 and £7.99. With print costs of around 1 penny per page, plus the cover this will not leave much left over to pay the author their royalties. Mind you, 60 percent is still more than the 12 to 15 percent that commercial publishers pay, although the site doesn't stipulate whether royalties are based on net prices (after print costs etc are taken off) or the actual cover price. I would need to see the contract to know that, and seeing as I have nothing to offer them, that might be difficult ...

This seems such a good offer, that it is pity I don't have anything suitable. Perhaps I should consider publishing this blog ... Would you be prepared to buy it in published form - answers in the comments section please ...

Since the books will not have an ISBN (unless you pay extra for one - essential in my opinion), they will not be available in book stores or via the usual Internet retailers (Amazon, etc). This will cost an additional £39.99 through a separate partnership with Legend Press.

If you wish to submit your work, simply email YouWriteOn@legendpress.co.uk. The offer is open to applicants of all nationalities.

The End of Book Publishing as we know it?

My next installment for today features several other articles sent to me via the lovely people at Book2Book. The first of these is a rather long article published in New York magazine entitled The End of Book Publishing as we Know It? The article is too long to detail in its entirety but it basically bemoans the state of the industry, and poses the question, is this the end of publishing as we know it, and can and will it evolve into something better? What that something better is is open to debate, and depends as always on your point of view.

From the authors point of view, it cannot really get much worse, but that depends again on who you are. If you are one of the select few who is guaranteed large advances and healthy sales for every book that you write, then you may not have much to worry about, since you have made your money, but for the majority who struggle to get a foothold at all, then serious changed need to be made, changes that will I hope benefit all, and not just those who actually sell the books.

In its heyday, whenever that was, publishing was a good industry to be working in, the author has a large variety of different houses to choose from, both large and small, and many different outlets for their work. Today things are somewhat different - most of those smaller publishers have since been swallowed up the large conglomerates - the big five publishers who collectively control around 75 percent of the market - in the UK as well as the US. It is the same with book sellers, with independents being forced out of business by the aggressive marketing of the chains and Internet retailers, most notably Amazon. The industry is no longer driven by talent, but by profit, and market forces - in other words, the book buying public, who demand higher and higher discounts. It is an endless and self perpetuating cycle - the more they get used to discounted book prices, the more they demand them, until it gets to the point that nothing is bought at full price. What this means to both author and publisher is less money in the coffers to a) promote new talent and b) spend on producing good quality books. No one is a winner, least of all the public themselves.

The biggest threat comes from the Internet, without a doubt. E-books and print on demand also play a role. Amazon has been busy expanding their share of the market and capitalising on these new trends, by buying up not just Booksurge, a large print on demand company, but also Shelfari, a social networking site, where members are encouraged to upload their book shelves and make recommendations to others. They also launched the Kindle reading device (in the United States only, although I am sure that will change) earlier this year. Editors and retailers fear with good reason that they bent on building an an inclusive publishing business where they control every aspect from sales to publication, with no middle men in sight. The first step began at the end of March when they announced that from now on, any print on demand companies based in the United States would have to use their own printer Booksurge, in order to be listed directly on Amazon.com. This is the first step towards cutting out the middle men, and sceptics say in time, controlling the entire print on demand sector, which is increasingly used by not just self publishers, but also the larger houses to maintain their back lists, what is commonly referred to as the 'long tail'. Control this and you control the entire market. It is the same with the Kindle, why bother with HarperCollins, Borders Books etc when you can sell direct to the public via Amazon and have your books preloaded onto such a device? Certain books now are going straight to Kindle long before they are published as paper copies.

Amazon are also playing hard ball over terms with publishers. When Hachette Livre, the UK's largest publishing group refused to give into their demands for higher discounts, Amazon removed the BUY NEW button from its listings for all the company’s key books. Hachette’s CEO responded with an open letter, saying “Amazon seems each year to go from one publisher to another making increasing demands in order to achieve richer terms at our expense and sometimes at yours.” I know they feel, and the cynic in me says what the hell do they expect, for their have allowed other book sellers to get away with similar behaviour, demanding extortionate fees for prime placement and promotions) for far, far too long, at the expense of the small presses and self publishers who simply cannot compete.

The ultimate fear is that the Kindle could be a Trojan horse. At the moment, Amazon makes little or nothing at all on Kindle books. Pay $359 for the device and you can get e-books for $9.99. Publishers list those same e-books for $17.99, and as with paper copies, charge Amazon around half that price for the privilege. This means that Amazon make around $5 for each book, while the publishers make $9 (before overheads are taken off or taken into account).

The fear is that Amazon are doing what the supermarkets also do - offering a sweet deal now in order to undercut publishers later on. If they succeed in making e-books the dominant medium (and the signs are encouraging), then they will be in a position to pay publishers whatever they feel like, the same as they already trying to do with print on demand through the Booksurge debacle (see my posts about this on the archives from April of this year).

While some are playing a game of watch and wait, others are attempting to take matters into their own hands. HarperStudio and a few others are making ambitious plans. In February of this year, Bob Miller and Jane Friedman met at the bar of the Omni Berkshire hotel for one of their freewheeling chats. “How would you do it differently if you could start all over again,” Jane asked. Bob said that he’d try to reduce advances and returns, put out only a few books, and focus on cheap Internet marketing. “Why don’t you do that?” Jane asked, and within a week they had a deal.

Miller has worked out separate contracts with booksellers and authors - capping advances at $100,000 and reducing returns. Authors will contribute to their own pre-publication marketing.
Miller doesn’t wait for agent submissions, instead accosting writers at conferences, telling them how much more a writer can make under 50-50 profit-sharing. Of course the cynic in me says that all of this, noble as it sounds is really just another term for subsidy publishing, and why the hell shouldn't an author contribute to marketing - after all, whose book is it? When the contract is offered by a small unknown publisher is is subsidy or even worse, vanity publishing, but when the published in question is a large and respected one, then it is profit sharing ...

One unnamed indie publisher has gone a step further, expanding into print on demand, online subscriptions, and even considering a “salon” for loyal readers. He envisions a transition period of print on demand, followed by an era in which most books will be published electronically for next to nothing. High-priced, creatively designed hardcovers become will become limited edition collectors item - the vinyl of the future.

The transition will be hard - some publishers will transform, some will muddle through, and some will simply die. One things for sure; gone are the days when authors were paid in the millions, or even printed in the millions. The industry has to find a new way of being if it is survive.

Perhaps if we really want to turn things around we should listen to Sam Leith from The Telegraph, who states that reading makes you rich and better in bed.

Five reasons not to write a book

Each day I receive an e-newsletter called Book2Book which contains snippets from around the book world gleaned from various newspapers and blog sites, and each day I mean to write about what I read in those snippets. Each day though for the past 10 days I have failed to do so, mostly because I just didn't feel like writing. I have though been saving the best bits for when I did feel like writing, and so here goes.

The first installment for today comes from the blog site of one Penelope Trunk, otherwise known as the Brazen Careerist. Nothing wrong in that provided of course you do not step on other peoples toes to get there, and I have no reason whatsoever to think that Penelope has done. Her post, which is dated September 14th, is entitled 5 Reasons why you don't need to write a book, and I have to say that most of them, from my experience are very good compelling reasons, then again though, maybe not ...

They are as follows:

1. People who have a lot of ideas need a blog, not a book.
While it is true that a blog is more immediate, and possibly interactive, with better feedback, it all depends on what sort of ideas you have. Some subjects lend themselves better to blogs than others, while others lend themselves better to books, as it is easier to dip in and out of a book, and use it as a source of reference (provided of course that it has a decent index). Penelope does have a point though when she says that many people who think they have a ton of ideas that lend themselves to books actually have very few new ideas, yet it is also true that there is nothing new under the sun. It is important to find avenues for those ideas, sure, but blogging is not the only way to do this - you can also write articles for magazines and other peoples websites. Like I said, it all depends on what sort of ideas you have. I suspect that Penelope, like so many others I come across, may be falling into the same old trap of believing that everyone writes fiction...

2. A book is an outdated way to gain authority.

Maybe, it depends again on how hard you are prepared to work. I wouldn't say that Katie Price has any authority when it comes to horses, any more than Victoria Beckham when it comes to fashion, but that is just my opinion. Riding for many years, or being paid by posh designers to wear their frocks does not make you an expert, yet both of these ladies are seen as icons and people of authority.

In my genre it seems that in order to be seen as an authority and taken seriously, very much like in the world of work, one has to have a degree. It is true that I have not been to university, but with all the years of study I have done, I am sure that my combined qualifications would be at least the equivalent of a degree, heck the years I spent writing that book ought to count for something as well. Can I get taken seriously though, no, because I am not famous enough and don't have the right pieces of paper to prove what I have done. A book is not seen as enough, you have to know the right people, and get the qualification first before you start writing, and not use the writing as means to get qualified as I did.

3. Books lead to speaking careers, but speaking careers lead nowhere.
Books and speaking, in non fiction at least anyway are natural bed fellows, but each lasts as long as the other. To be successful at either, you need to keep churning them out, year in, year out. If you don't do this, then like Victoria Beckham's singing career, you are soon forgotten about.

4. You'll make more money flipping burgers [or selling electrical equipment] than writing a book.
Tell me about it! One read through this blog will confirm this simple truth, than any would be writer would be wise to take on board. Chances are that in today's climate you will have to pay to have your book published rather than the other way around. You will then spend the next 2-3 years justifying to everyone else your reasons for going this, while juggling career, kids (thankfully I don't have any) and a life (I do have both a career and a life, and contrary to popular belief, they are not the same thing).

5. When you're feeling lost, a book won't save you.
This is the one above all else that I can really relate to. A lot of my problems stemmed from the simple truth that I expected and hoped that my book would indeed save me, by providing me with not just a direction in life, but also something to define myself by. It did both of these for a while, but once published, the novelty began to wear off. I have had to learn the hard way that a book does not give you a direction in life - only you can do that. As Penelope says, a book is something you write in order to get you to where you're going. If you have nowhere to go, a book will ensure that you stay where you are: lost.

She goes on to say that people use books like they use law school. They think that if they have a piece of paper - a degree or a publishing contract, then people will respect them. If others respect them, then they can respect themselves. Self respect though comes from within, and should not be dependent on others vision of yourself (tell that to the faceless celebrities who continue to churn out endless tosh, or those who apply for Big Brother). No one can give you that vision, you have to find it for yourself.

I wish I had read this article when I first began to write, as she gives some very good advice. She says that most people who think they need a book deal probably need to answer the question: What will I be doing two years after that book? Do you really need the book to get where you want to go? Probably not. In my case though, I most definitely did, because I honestly cannot see that there was any other way for me to learn what I have done, and I have had some great fun along the way.

Despite the problems and the pitfalls, it was the right path for me, for it has forced me to take a long hard look at myself in way that nothing else could. When you hit rock bottom, as I have, one minute in the depths of despair and the next as high as kite, then this makes you question your motivations and who you are like nothing else can. The past two years since publication have forced me to re-evaluate my vision of who I thought I was, and change my perception of someone who was a victim to someone who is magnificent and shining success, and someone whose who does not need the approval of others to define herself in this way. That to me is infinitely more valuable than any amount of degrees or bits of paper, for I have learnt through the school of life. I may be a bit battered and bruised, but I have come up smiling and am confident and happy with who I am.

More, maybe, later on ...

The Price is right?

Speaking as an author, who is a member and regular poster on several reading and writing sites, there is one subject that is guaranteed to be a good discussion and that is Katie Price and her books. Love her or loathe her, Katie and her books always spark controversy, with plenty of differing views.

Two articles have been circulating around the national press this week regarding this very same subject, one in the Daily Mail and one on the blog of author and ghost writer Andrew Crofts.

The article in the Daily Mail, which is written by Lionel Shriver, bemoans the fact that Katie's books are selling faster than JK Rowling's, which is no mean feat. Gone are the days when writers were seen as shy retiring sorts, who were slightly eccentric, as they are now ego drive celebrities who are willing to court publicity at any cost. If the best sellers charts are to be believed, then in order to become successful in this game (as a woman anyway), you have to have large breasts (preferably surgically enhanced), be married to or in a relationship with someone famous, or go on some meaningless reality TV show. In Katie's case, she has done all three.

In some ways you have to admire her business sense, and you can hardly blame her for cashing in on others appetite for the gory details of her private life (and some details in her book really are private), but it does not mean that it is right. I am not sure if I would reveal anwhere near what she has for any price, let alone the £17 million, which she is reportedly worth.

The fact that her books are ghost written only adds to the controversy, for how can she really be called an author? It somehow does not seem fair that she earns all this money from books that she has not written, when others who do write struggle on so little, with no recognition at all.

Andrew Croft makes the point that every so often (not that I ever see it) there is a burst of indignation within the media about how little serious authors earn (although he fails to define what a serious author is). Figures are bandied about and comparisons are made, such as the fact that Katie makes more money from the books that she puts her name to than the entire Man Booker shortlist put together. Given her 'celebrity' status, and the mentality of the average 20 something who reads this stuff, this is to be expected. The boss of Waterstones makes more than the people who write the books that they sell, and the Chairman of our company more than the factory workers in Korea, where we obtain our televisions from. The fact that this happens does not though mean that it is morally or ethically right.

Andrew goes on to say that the average earnings of members of the Society of Authors are often brought up to illustrate how poorly writers are rewarded, yet we are able to exercise some form of control by working harder. It is true that if you write just one book a year, then you are not likely to get rich, but you have to have the time to do this in the first place. It is all very well saying that writers should work harder by writing eight hours a day and doing this that and the other, but how are we supposed to pay our bills while we do this? Sitting at home writing all day does not put food on the table and coins in the gas metre.

It is true that the most successful writers are the most versatile, and the most marketable, but we don't all have rich partners or parents to fall back on. We have to work outside the home (and this means outside of writing) in order to support ourselves. It is catch 22; you have to be out there promoting your work and creating the next one, but do not have the financial means to do this.

The best way to be succesful (apart from having a rich someone to support you, or relying on benefits) is to have a varied portfolio of different types of work and a long list of contacts. Both have to be worked at and do not happen overnight. The most successful writers are the ones who are continually promoting themselves and their work (or brand), as indeed does Katie.

It is easy to deride her for marketing so blatantly (and you don't get much more blatant than she did on Spanish TV - giving far too much detail about the reason for her sore throat - so I was told by an expatriate friend), but she would not be where she is had she not done this (marketed that is). Sad as it is, in many ways, her success can be seen as lesson for all of us, in refusing to take no for an answer, and making the most of what we have.

I may not like her or what she has done, but I have to admit that she has had to overcome an awful lot of snobbery to get to where she is today. Five years ago she was a struggling glamour model whose career was in decline, with what Andrew refers to as 'a tabloid reputation'. When she approached publishers with the idea of writing a book about her life, she received a less than enthusiastic welcome. Only John Blake, a man famed for his open mind on different subjects, was willing to give her a chance. He bought her book 'Being Jordan' for about two per cent of the price that Katie and her people had initially asked for. The book turned into a resounding success, and the rest as they say is history.

Those who turned her down must surely be kicking themselves, as those who turned down JK Rowling (and June Austin!) before them. By teaming up with Blake, Katie was able to appeal direct to the general public over the heads of the publishing elite who have traditionally set themselves up as the gatekeepers of what the public should or should not read (a subject I know all about). Having got to know her via exposure on television (I'm A Celebrity and the truly awful Katie and Peter certainly helped), the public responded by buying her books by the cartload. She appealed particularly to young women, through her obvious love and concern for disabled son Harvey, and penchant for wrong men.

Her writing career has been nothing less than a phenomena, which no one could have foreseen. It is not confined to her own memoirs, as she also puts her name to children's books about horses and riding, one of which was nominated for a prestigous book prize earlier this year. Her success contains several lessons for would be writers. Firstly, not to be out off by rejections, and secondly to settle for a modest advance in order to get started. Once this had happened, she did not sit around waiting for people to buy her books, but got out there and actively promoted them, bringing herself into the public eye to spark peoples interest.

On occasions I have been accused of jealousy regarding Katie, and I must admit that some of my comments have been less than charitable. I do not like her personality or her approach to fame, and there is no way that I would want that sort of lifestyle (just give me the fortune and forget the fame), but I have to admit that she has made some pretty astute business decisions and worked damned hard to get where she is. Her fame though comes at a price, and for me that price is just a little too high.

Fingers and toes crossed

I have just spoken to Paul, the amateur publicist for works on behalf of Richard's authors, and boy do I wish I had gone to that Winchester Book Festival. It seems that there were representatives there from Amazon, Booksurge and Authorhouse and Paul ruffled the feathers of all three - which is probably not difficult to do! When Amazon admitted that they are planning to implement their controversial Booksurge policy in the UK, Paul's words were "over my dead body", or words to that effect and promised them one hell of a fight (he has a lot of contacts in the media that he would not hesitate to use). He compared the quality of Booksurge books to one of his own, printed by Lightning Source and was able to prove that the LS, which is five years old and has been handled by well over 100 different people, is far better quality, since unlike the Booksurge one, the pages are all intact and not coming away from the spine.

As for Authorhouse, well my opinion of them is well known. It seems that Authors OnLine have a growing reputation within the POD world for turning out good quality books, which is making them a wee bit jealous. Authors OnLine as a company are really going places, with their X-Books website, and many other innovative ideas that are helping to raise their profile. They have had several major successes this year, including I am proud to say, my own work.

Paul's new book has just been published and is making inroads in Waterstones stores. He has 4 book signings already lined up, and is trying to work out a deal with Waterstones to get the book into more of their stores. Peter North, the new independent author advisor at Waterstones Head Office, has looked at Richard's site, and from what Paul says, he is very impressed with the range and quality of titles. He tells me that they are looking at stocking (this will be core stock, buying direct from Richard) several of Richard's titles, including my own, which is of course already stocked and selling well in almost 90 of their stores.

I always knew that it was only a matter of time before this book began to get noticed, and it seems that it may finally be about to happen. Fingers, toes and everything else then crossed to see what transpires.

An insult to our nearest relative

A funny thing has happened these last few weeks, considering all the angst that I have been through this past year - I have found that I am thinking less and less about books and more and more about what non writing friends refer to as 'the real world', so much so, that I hardly think of myself as a writer at all anymore. I am not sure whether this is a good thing or not.

We all need to work to pay the bills, and I am no exception to this. For quite a time I had my head in the clouds, thinking I could make a full time living from what I love, and became very fed up and depressed even, when I found that I could not. I blamed the job for a lot of the problems that I had, which mostly stemmed from my non acceptance of this situation. A symbiotic relationship has developed, where I use my experiences at work to feed what writing I do do, which lately has been confined to this blog. It will not have escaped readers notice that the majority of posts in recent months have been more about my work than what is going on in the book world, and I have to make more of an effort each week to keep up. I am not alone in this struggle, since the majority of writers are in the same boat. There is no easy answer, and all I can do is make the most of what time I do have, and have a sneaky look at publishing websites when the boss's back is turned!

I write then for the second time today, about some recent developments in publishing ...

I wrote on here some time ago that Borders were undertaking a restructuring of their buying team, with buyers being asked to re-apply for their jobs (sounds familiar). Now that this is complete, eight of them are to leave. Four will leave at the end of September. Of the remainder, some are being made redundant, while others are moving elsewhere. I wish them all luck.

The new fiction team will be headed by senior fiction buyer Michael Jones, who has been appointed acting books category manager. He (The Bookseller refers to him as a she I notice!) replaces Caroline Mileham who left Borders last month to join Play.com. Michael will be supported by fiction buyers Ruth Atkins, Radcliffe Harris, John Packard and Sarah Cahill, who has been promoted from assistant airports buyer to real time airports buyer.

The non-fiction team will be led by senior non-fiction buyer Richard Humphreys, who continues in his responsibility for the history section. Guy Raphael will be in charge of lifestyle, biography, travel, film and TV; Rob Hughes will buy current affairs, academic and reference, and popular culture books; and Emma Carter will have responsibility for food, gardening and art and design, as well as managing the bargain books section. I am not sure who will be in charge of my subjects of mind, body and spirit, popular science or religion and philosophy, not that it makes a difference, since hell would have to freeze over (not that I believe in hell anyway, but you know what I mean) before any of them would deign to even look at a POD book, let alone talk to its author. Perhaps one day I will phone up pretending to be from Random House and see what happens - it might be interesting !

CEO Philip Downer said the reorganisation was done in time for the business’ switchover to its new less centralised buying (in theory at least) systems next week. We shall see if it makes a difference (it certainly will for the Cornish economy), but I won't hold my breath ...

In the meantime, I see that another European country, Switzerland has moved one step closer to the reintroduction of fixed book prices, after the economic committee of the Swiss parliament narrowly recommended such a move. Fixed book prices were abolished in Switzerland in May 2007 after the Swiss government supported a court ruling that the Net Book Agreement (NBA) in the German-speaking region of Switzerland was an illegal cartel. They were abolished throughout the country, and not just the German speaking regions.

The vote was as expected very tight, with 13 in favour, 11 against and one abstention. The bill will now go before the Swiss Parliament, where it will no doubt be rigorously debated. It is of course by no means certain as to whether it will be passed, although I am sure that Swiss authors sincerely hope so. Observers, most of whom probably have no insider knowledge of publishing, are widely expecting another cliffhanger after a number of MPs declared their opposition to the bill. The committee concluded that past experience of retail price management for books in both Switzerland and other countries had shown a positive impact on the trade. To readers maybe, but not to writers or retailers, who in common with the electrical market in which I work, find themselves working harder and harder for less and less.

The bill, which was initiated by the late parliamentarian Jean-Philippe Maitre, is expected to go before the parliament in spring 2009. If it succeeds there will still be some room for discounts, since the bill does not completely outlaw them.

Discounting does not appear to as aggressive in Switzerland as in other European countries, most notably the UK, where it has led to a number of disputes. The majority of bookshops stick to publishers' recommended prices or offer restricted discounts on very few titles, but there is stiff competition from the Internet, with online booksellers offering discounts of up to 30 percent. This is probably what lies behind this move; the fear that what is happening here and in the United States, will happen there, and this from where I am sitting, is a fear which is very well founded. If the Swiss want to protect their publishing industry and keep it buoyant then they need to take action before it is too late. It is good then to see them learning from our mistakes. I just hope that we don't leave things too much longer before this is also debated here - in an open and rational manner that benefits not only those who sell the books, but also those who write them. It is after all, our livelihoods that are threatened, and with the rise in e-publishing, the need for debate is more and more acute.

The article that really caught my eye this week, was that regarding the memoirs of Cheeta the Chimp. I reported back in January that Cheeta had been commissioned to write his memoirs for Fourth Estate, and unfortunately this was no monkey business !

The book which is due for release in October, has now been nominated for a book award - The Guardians First Book Award! Readers from six Waterstone's book groups are to help select the final shortlist, following the announcement of the 10-strong longlist today on 29th August. The books selected on the longlist include the autobiography of Cheeta the Chimp.

The panel of judges includes novelist Roddy Doyle; broadcaster and novelist Francine Stock; poet Daljit Nagra (longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2007), historian David Kynatson; novelist, broadcaster and co-founder of the Orange Prize Kate Mosse and Guardian deputy editor, Katharine Viner. Claire Armitstead, literary editor of the Guardian, will chair the panel. Six Waterstone's stores throughout the UK – Bath, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London and Oxford - will ask their reading groups to also vote. Stuart Broom of Waterstone’s will represent their views on the judging panel.

The shortlist of five books, to be agreed by the panel and Waterstone’s readers’ groups, will be announced in early November with the overall winner in December. The winner (which I assume will be the ghost writer and not the chimp!) will receive a prize of £10,000 and a promotional package across The Guardian and The Observer.


It goes without saying that this book must have been ghost written, since a chimp cannot speak, let alone write, English. I would hasten a bet that whoever this writer is, it is not their first book, as publishers usually use experienced people for this kind of work. I fail then to see how it can be nominated for a first book award, and take back what I said about this not being monkey business! Whoever nominated this book must think that we are monkeys if they seriously expect us to believe otherwise.

Comments on the Writers News Talkback forum, where I posted the news, were less than flattering. We are a lively bunch who pull no punches and like to tell it as it is ... One member commented that it was really no different to the so-called works of Jordan or Jade Goody being nominated for a literary prize. However, she went on to say that the chimp book was probably more interesting and better written! She then added that the Guardian is probably run by chimps anyway, but took that back as it was in insult to our nearest relative! Say no more ...