tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/book-publishing-4173/articles
Book publishing – The Conversation
2024-02-16T13:19:19Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223159
2024-02-16T13:19:19Z
2024-02-16T13:19:19Z
What’s behind the astonishing rise in LGBTQ+ romance literature?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575427/original/file-20240213-24-vujzz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C9%2C6000%2C3991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">America's biggest book publishers originally viewed LGBTQ+ romance as a niche market.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/lesbian-couple-relaxing-and-reading-in-couch-royalty-free-image/857306488?phrase=gay+couple+reading&adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graphic reading 'Significant Figures: 40% - Sales growth of LGBTQ+ romance books from 2022 to 2023 – the largest increase in any genre.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576001/original/file-20240215-26-fctqzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>A major transformation is underway in Romancelandia. </p>
<p>Once upon a time, romance novels from major U.S. publishers featured only heterosexual couples. Today, the five biggest publishers regularly release same-sex love stories.</p>
<p>From May 2022 to May 2023, <a href="https://www.circana.com/intelligence/press-releases/2023/soaring-sales-of-lgbtq-fiction-defy-book-bans-and-showcase-diversity-in-storytelling">sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew by 40%</a>, with the next biggest jump in this period occurring for general adult fiction, which grew just 17%.</p>
<p>The data from 2023 extends a boom that began in 2016: In the five years from May 2016 to May 2021, sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/books/lgbtq-romance-novels.html">by a jaw-dropping 740%</a>.</p>
<p>It’s tempting to see this trend as a sign of the times. </p>
<p>After all, same-sex couples now populate TV shows, commercials and even <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/opinion/hallmark-lgbtq-christmas-movies-gay-lesbian-couples-rcna130407">Hallmark Christmas movies</a>. </p>
<p>Surely it was only natural for books such as Casey McQuiston’s “<a href="https://www.caseymcquiston.com/red-white-royal-blue">Red, White & Royal Blue</a>,” Lana Harper’s “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/672445/paybacks-a-witch-by-lana-harper/">Payback’s a Witch</a>” and Cat Sebastian’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15171247.Cat_Sebastian">sparkling same-sex historical romance novels</a> to eventually find their way onto bestseller lists. </p>
<p>But it turns out that this rise in LGBTQ+ romance was far from inevitable.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231218991">recent paper</a>, based on interviews with romance editors and authors, shows that America’s biggest book publishers originally viewed LGBTQ+ romance as a niche market, tweaking their approach only after witnessing the huge success of independently published LGBTQ+ e-books. </p>
<h2>The business of romance</h2>
<p>Book publishing, like most of the entertainment industry, has traditionally operated under what <a href="https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2013/12/the-way-of-the-blockbuster">Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse</a> calls the blockbuster strategy: Publishers invest huge sums into acquiring and promoting surefire bestsellers, such as Prince Harry’s “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/books/prince-harry-spare-review.html#:%7E:text=The%20prince%20claims%20to%20have,who's%20leaking%20what%20and%20why.">Spare</a>,” which earned <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9805467/A-book-Harry-written-Meghan-Royals-brace-20m-Megxit-memoir.html">a US$20 million advance</a>. </p>
<p>It’s simply more efficient for publishers to pursue a “one-to-many” business model – that is, to sell one book to a mass audience – than a “many-to-many” business model, selling a wider variety of books to many more small markets. </p>
<p>Historically, publishers assumed that same-sex romance would draw relatively small niche audiences, making them a riskier investment. As a result, for decades, LGBTQ+ love stories were left to small gay or lesbian presses.</p>
<p>Starting around 2010, however, digital romance publishing – both from self-published authors and small digital-only publishers like <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/57460-patty-marks-sex-romance-and-erotic-bestsellers.html">Ellora’s Cave</a> and <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/69517-samhain-publishing-to-shut-down-operations.html">Samhain</a> – revealed a vast, untapped appetite for more varied romance. The “<a href="https://bookscouter.com/blog/big-five-publishing-houses/">Big Five</a>” publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster – realized their go-to strategy was leaving money on the table.</p>
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<img alt="Crowds of people browse the HarperCollins exhibition at a book fair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575437/original/file-20240213-28-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">HarperCollins is one of the ‘Big Five’ publishing houses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-harper-collins-stand-during-the-first-day-of-the-london-news-photo/1251977849?adppopup=true">Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Initially, big publishers tried to shoehorn digital romance authors into the blockbuster model by acquiring their books and issuing them in print. </p>
<p>That worked for E.L James’ “<a href="https://www.eljamesauthor.com/books/fifty-shades-of-grey/">Fifty Shades of Grey</a>,” which started out as fan fiction, was later released by a tiny online publisher and was eventually published by Penguin.</p>
<p>But for LGBTQ+ romance authors, the economics of high overhead, big print runs and a yearlong production schedule simply didn’t work for books geared for presumably smaller audience segments. </p>
<p>As romance readers abandoned mass-market paperbacks for a wider, fresher range of stories, romance editors at large and medium-sized publishers realized they needed to become more like digital presses.</p>
<h2>Making love pay</h2>
<p>How did they do this? </p>
<p>First, they hired new editors who had cut their teeth at tiny digital publishers with a history of releasing same-sex romance. For our paper, we interviewed several of these editors, including <a href="https://read.sourcebooks.com/editorial-mary-altman.html">Sourcebooks’ Mary Altman</a> and <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/22629-james-tabbed-to-run-harlequin-s-e-book-only-carina-press.html">Angela James</a>, founder of Harlequin’s Carina Press. Harlequin has been owned by HarperCollins since 2014.</p>
<p>James, formerly at Samhain, broke sacred publishing rules when she launched Carina, the first digital-only imprint at a traditional publisher. Carina lowered production and distribution costs by publishing only e-books and by offering authors higher royalties but no advances.</p>
<p>The lower-overhead strategy worked so well that in 2020 the imprint created <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/82161-harlequin-s-carina-press-to-launch-queer-romance-line.html">Carina Adores</a>, an e-book and print line dedicated to LGBTQ+ romance. </p>
<p>Altman, who had been accustomed to acquiring same-sex romance during her tenure at Ellora’s Cave, continued to do so at Sourcebooks, a mid-sized publisher partly owned by Penguin Random House. In 2020, she released the breakout LGBTQ+ bestseller “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Boyfriend-Material-Alexis-Hall/dp/1728206146">Boyfriend Material</a>” by Alexis Hall. Sourcebooks also launched a new imprint, <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/91686-dominique-raccah-does-it-her-way.html">Bloom Books</a>, in 2021, which sped up publishing schedules to meet the demands of self-published and other entrepreneurial authors.</p>
<p>These structural changes made romance imprints at large publishers nimbler, more innovative and more open to all kinds of couples.</p>
<p>Ironically, many of these more inclusive stories ended up appealing to mass audiences after all. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://read.sourcebooks.com/fiction/9781728206141-boyfriend-material-tp.html">Boyfriend Material</a>” dominated Best Romance of the Year lists in 2020. Adriana Herrera, Alyssa Cole, K.J. Charles and dozens of other authors of LGBTQ+ romance now regularly appear on such lists. “Red White and Royal Blue” is now an Amazon Original movie. </p>
<p>It’s important to note that LGBTQ+ romances still represent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/books/lgbtq-romance-novels.html">only 4% of the print book romance market</a>. Meanwhile, other diverse voices, including Black authors, <a href="https://www.therippedbodicela.com/state-racial-diversity-romance-publishing-report">are still underrepresented</a>. As a whole, the Big Five publishing houses are still adhering to the blockbuster strategy. Nonetheless, the structural changes they’ve made in romance imprints have fostered an outpouring of more diverse love stories. </p>
<p>At a time when other institutions, including universities and businesses, are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/12/27/dei-affirmative-action-legal-challenges-corporate-america/">dismantling programs that support diversity, equity and inclusion</a>, the LGBTQ+ romance boom serves as a reminder that inclusion doesn’t “just happen.” </p>
<p>Ongoing social and cultural change requires new systems, processes and structures. Without institutional support, many people won’t get their happy ending.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223159/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
It’s tempting to see this trend as a sign of the times. But the biggest book publishers started changing their approach only once they realized they were leaving money on the table.
Christine Larson, Assistant Professor of Journalism, University of Colorado Boulder
Ashley Carter, PhD Student in Journalism, University of Colorado Boulder
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216631
2024-02-12T19:10:33Z
2024-02-12T19:10:33Z
Can ChatGPT edit fiction? 4 professional editors asked AI to do their job – and it ruined their short story
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574573/original/file-20240209-30-jdrrpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C4000%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Main images Shutterstock/sea background Pexels.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Writers have been using AI tools for years – from Microsoft Word’s spellcheck (which often makes unwanted corrections) to the passive-aggressive <a href="https://www.grammarly.com/">Grammarly</a>. But ChatGPT is different. </p>
<p>ChatGPT’s natural language processing enables a dialogue, much like a conversation – albeit with a slightly odd acquaintance. And it can generate vast amounts of copy, quickly, in response to queries posed in ordinary, everyday language. This suggests, at least superficially, it can do some of the work a book editor does.</p>
<p>We are professional editors, with extensive experience in the Australian book publishing industry, who wanted to know how ChatGPT would perform when compared to a human editor. To find out, we decided to ask it to edit a short story that had already been worked on by human editors – and we compared the results.</p>
<h2>The experiment: ChatGPT vs human editors</h2>
<p>The story we chose, <a href="https://meanjin.com.au/fiction/the-ninch/">The Ninch</a> (written by Rose), had gone through three separate rounds of editing, with four human editors (and a typesetter).</p>
<p>The first version had been rejected by literary journal <a href="https://overland.org.au/?ol_section=section-fiction">Overland</a>, but its fiction editor Claire Corbett had given generous feedback. The next version received detailed advice from freelance editor Nicola Redhouse, a judge of the <a href="https://thebigissue.org.au/issue/fiction-edition-2023/">Big Issue fiction edition</a> (which had shortlisted the story). Finally, the piece found a home at another literary journal, <a href="https://meanjin.com.au/fiction/">Meanjin</a>, where deputy editor Tess Smurthwaite incorporated comments from the issue’s freelance editor and also their typesetter in her correspondence. </p>
<p>We had a wealth of human feedback to compare ChatGPT’s recommendations with.</p>
<p>We used a standard, free ChatGPT generative AI tool for our edits, which we conducted as separate series of prompts designed to assess the scope and success of AI as an editorial tool.</p>
<p>We wanted to see if ChatGPT could develop and fine tune this unpublished work – and if so, whether it would do it in a way that resembled current editorial practice. By comparing it with human examples, we tried to determine where and at what stage in the process ChatGPT might be most successful as an editorial tool.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/authors-are-resisting-ai-with-petitions-and-lawsuits-but-they-have-an-advantage-we-read-to-form-relationships-with-writers-208046">Authors are resisting AI with petitions and lawsuits. But they have an advantage: we read to form relationships with writers</a>
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<p>The story includes expressive descriptions, poetic imagery, strong symbolism and a subtle subtext. It explores themes of motherhood, nature, and hints at deeper mysteries. </p>
<p>We chose it because we believe the literary genre, with its play and experimentation, poetry and lyricism, offers rich pickings for complex editorial conversations. (And because we knew we could get permission from all participants in the process to share their feedback.)</p>
<p>In the story, a mother reflects on her untamed, sea-loving child. Supernatural possibilities are hinted at before the tale turns closer to home, ending with the mother revealing her own divergent nature – and looping back to offer more meaning to the title: </p>
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<p>pinching the skin between my toes … Making each digit its own unique peninsula.</p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574571/original/file-20240209-22-ury3bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574571/original/file-20240209-22-ury3bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574571/original/file-20240209-22-ury3bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574571/original/file-20240209-22-ury3bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574571/original/file-20240209-22-ury3bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574571/original/file-20240209-22-ury3bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574571/original/file-20240209-22-ury3bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574571/original/file-20240209-22-ury3bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The story used for the experiment, about a mother and her untamed, sea-loving child, hinted at the supernatural.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mae I. Balland/Pexels</span></span>
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<h2>Round 1: the first draft</h2>
<p>We started with a simple, general prompt, assuming the least amount of editorial guidance from the author. (Authors submitting stories to magazines and journals generally don’t give human editors a detailed, prescriptive brief.)</p>
<p>Our initial prompt for all three examples was: “Hi ChatGPT, could I please ask for your editorial suggestions on my short story, which I’d like to submit for publication in a literary journal?”</p>
<p>Responding to the first version of the story, ChatGPT provided a summary of key themes (motherhood, connection to nature, the mysteries of the ocean) and made a list of editorial suggestions. </p>
<p>Interestingly, ChatGPT did not pick up that the story was now published and attributed to an author. Raising questions about its ability, or inclination, to identify <a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-is-a-questionable-business-but-what-to-make-of-john-hughes-one-of-the-most-prolific-plagiarists-in-literary-history-200897">plagiarism</a>. Nor did it define the genre, which is one of the first assessments an editor makes. </p>
<p>ChatGPT’s suggestions were: to add more description of the coastal setting, provide more physical description of the characters, break up long paragraphs to make the piece more reader-friendly, add more dialogue for characterisation and insight, make the sentences shorter, reveal more inner thoughts of the characters, expand on the symbolism, show don’t tell, incorporate foreshadowing earlier, and provide resolution rather than ending on a mystery. </p>
<p>All good, if stock standard, advice.</p>
<p>ChatGPT also suggested reconsidering the title – clearly not making the connection between mother and daughter’s ocean affinity and their webbed toes – and reading the story aloud to help identify awkward phrasing, pacing and structure.</p>
<p>While this wasn’t particularly helpful feedback, it was not technically wrong. </p>
<p>ChatGPT picked up on the major themes and main characters. And the advice for more foreshadowing, dialogue and description, along with shorter paragraphs and an alternative ending, was generally sound. </p>
<p>In fact, it echoed the usual feedback you’d get from a creative writing workshop, or the kind of advice offered in <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/stephen-king/on-writing-a-memoir-of-the-craft">books on the writing craft</a>. </p>
<p>They are the sort of suggestions an editor might write in response to almost any text – not particularly specific to this story, or to our stated aim of submitting it to a literary publication.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574574/original/file-20240209-19-cw9b1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574574/original/file-20240209-19-cw9b1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574574/original/file-20240209-19-cw9b1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574574/original/file-20240209-19-cw9b1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574574/original/file-20240209-19-cw9b1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574574/original/file-20240209-19-cw9b1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574574/original/file-20240209-19-cw9b1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574574/original/file-20240209-19-cw9b1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">ChatGPT’s editing advice was not specific to the story.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stage two: AI (re)writes</h2>
<p>Next, we provided a second prompt, responding to ChatGPT’s initial feedback – attempting to emulate the back-and-forth discussions that are a key part of the editorial process. </p>
<p>We asked ChatGPT to take a more practical, interventionist approach and rework the text in line with its own editorial suggestions: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thank you for your feedback about uneven pacing. Could you please suggest places in the story where the pace needs to speed up or slow down? Thank you too for the feedback about imagery and description. Could you please suggest places where there is too much imagery and it needs more action storytelling instead?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That’s where things fell apart.</p>
<p>ChatGPT offered a radically shorter, changed story. The atmospheric descriptions, evocative imagery and nods towards (unspoken) mystery were replaced with unsubtle phrases – which Rose swears she would never have written, or signed off on. </p>
<p>Lines added included: “my daughter has always been an enigma to me”, “little did I know” and “a sense of unease washed over me”. Later in the story, this phrasing was clumsily suggested a second time: “relief washed over me”. </p>
<p>The author’s unique descriptions were changed to familiar cliches: “rugged beauty”, “roar of the ocean”, “unbreakable bond”. ChatGPT also changed the text from <a href="https://www.mq.edu.au/research/research-centres-groups-and-facilities/healthy-people/centres/centre-for-language-sciences-clas/australian-voices/australian-english">Australian English</a> (which all Australian publications require) to US spelling and style (“realization”, “mom”). </p>
<p>In summary, a story where a mother sees her daughter as a “southern selkie going home” (phrasing that hints at a speculative subtext) on a rocky outcrop and really <em>sees</em> her (in all possible, playful senses of that word) was changed to a fishing tale, where a (definitely human) girl arrives home holding up, we kid you not, “a shiny fish”. </p>
<p>It became hard to give credence to any of ChatGPT’s advice. </p>
<p>Esteemed editor Bruce Sims once advised it’s not an editor’s job to fix things; it’s an editor’s job to point out what needs fixing. But if you are asked to be a hands-on editor, your revisions must be an improvement on the original – not just different. And certainly not worse. </p>
<p>It is our industry’s maxim, too, to first do no harm. Not only did ChatGPT not improve Rose’s story, it made it worse. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-authors-are-suing-openai-for-training-chatgpt-with-their-books-could-they-win-209227">Two authors are suing OpenAI for training ChatGPT with their books. Could they win?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What did the human editors do?</h2>
<p>ChatGPT’s edit did not come close to the calibre of insight and editorial know-how offered by Overland editor Claire Corbett. Some examples:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s some beautiful writing and fantastic themes, but the quotes about drowning are heavy-handed; they’re given the job of foreshadowing suspense, creating unease in the reader, rather than the narrator doing that job. </p>
<p>The biggest problem is that final transition – I don’t know how to read the narrator. Her emotions don’t seem to fit the situation.</p>
<p>For me stories are driven by choices and I’m not clear what decision our narrator, or anyone else, in the story faces.</p>
<p>It’s entirely possible I’m not getting something important, but I think that if I’m not getting it, our readers won’t either.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Freelance editor Nicola, who has a personal relationship with Rose, went even further in her exchange (in response to the next draft, where Rose had attempted to address the issues Claire identified). She pushed Rose to work and rework the last sentence until they both felt the language lock in and land.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m not 100% sold on this line. I think it’s a little confusing … It might just be too much hinted at in too subtle a way for the reader.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Originally, the final sentence read: “Ready to make my slower way back to the house, retracing – overwriting – any sign of my own less-than more-than normal prints.”</p>
<p>The final version is: “Ready to make my slower way back to the house, retracing, overwriting, any sign of my own less-than, <em>more</em>-than, normal prints.” With the addition of a final standalone line: “I have seen what I wanted to see: her, me, free.”</p>
<p>Claire and Nicola’s feedback show how <a href="https://meanjin.com.au/essays/stet-by-me-thoughts-on-editing-fiction/">an editor is a story’s ideal reader</a>. A good editor can guide the author through problems with point of view and emotional dynamics – going beyond the simple mechanics of grammar, sentence length and the number of adjectives. </p>
<p>In other words, they demonstrate something we call editorial intelligence. </p>
<p>Editorial intelligence is akin to emotional intelligence. It incorporates intellectual, creative and emotional capital – all gained from lived experience, complemented by technical skills and industry expertise, applied through the prism of human understanding. </p>
<p>Skills include confident conviction, based on deep accumulated knowledge, meticulous research, cultural mediation and social skills. (After all, the author doesn’t have to do what we say – ours is a persuasive profession.)</p>
<h2>Round 2: the revised story</h2>
<p>Next, we submitted a revised draft that had addressed Claire’s suggestions and incorporated the conversations with Nicola. </p>
<p>This draft was submitted with the same initial prompt: “Hi ChatGPT, could I please ask for your editorial suggestions on my short story, which I’d like to submit for publication in a literary journal?”</p>
<p>ChatGPT responded with a summary of themes and editorial suggestions very similar to what it had offered in the first round. Again, it didn’t pick up that the story had already been published, nor did it clearly identify the genre.</p>
<p>For the follow-up, we asked specifically for an edit that corrected any issues with tense, spelling and punctuation. </p>
<p>It was a laborious process: the 2,500-word piece had to be submitted in chunks of 300–500 words and the revised sections manually combined. </p>
<p>However, these simpler editorial tasks were clearly more in ChatGPT’s ballpark. When we created a document (in Microsoft Word) that compared the original and AI-edited versions, the flagged changes appeared very much like a human editor’s tracked changes. </p>
<p>But ChatGPT’s changes revealed its own writing preferences, which didn’t allow for artistic play and experimentation. For example, it reinstated prepositions like “in”, “at”, “of” and “to”, which slowed down the reading and reduced the creativity of the piece – and altered the writing style. </p>
<p>This makes sense when you know the datasets that drive ChatGPT mean it explicitly works toward the word most likely to come next. (This might be directed differently in the future, towards more creative, and less stable or predictable models.) </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-entire-industry-is-based-on-hunches-is-australian-publishing-an-art-a-science-or-a-gamble-189621">'The entire industry is based on hunches': is Australian publishing an art, a science or a gamble?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Round 3: our final submission</h2>
<p>In the third and final round of the experiment, we submitted the draft that had been accepted by Meanjin. </p>
<p>The process kicked off with the same initial prompt: “Hi ChatGPT, could I please ask for your editorial suggestions on my short story, which I’d like to submit for publication in a literary journal?” </p>
<p>Again, ChatGPT offered its rote list of editorial suggestions. (Was this even editing?)</p>
<p>This time, we followed up with separate prompts for each element we wanted ChatGPT to review: title, pacing, imagery/description. </p>
<p>ChatGPT came back with suggestions for how to revise specific parts of the text, but the suggestions were once again formulaic. There was no attempt to offer – or support – any decision to go against familiar tropes. </p>
<p>Many of ChatGPT’s suggestions – much like the machine rewrites earlier – were heavy-handed. The alternative titles, like “Seaside Solitude” and “Coastal Connection”, used cringeworthy alliteration. </p>
<p>In contrast, Meanjin’s editor Tess Smurthwaite – on behalf of herself, copyeditor Richard McGregor, and typesetter Patrick Cannon – offered light revisions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The edits are relatively minimal, but please feel free to reject anything that you’re not comfortable with.</p>
<p>Our typesetter has queried one thing: on page 100, where “Not like a thing at all” has become a new para. He wants to know whether the quote marks should change. Technically, I’m thinking that we should add a closing one after “not a thing” and then an opening one on the next line, but I’m also worried it might read like the new para is a response, and that it hasn’t been said by Elsie. Let me know what you think.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574586/original/file-20240209-30-ckbqbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574586/original/file-20240209-30-ckbqbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574586/original/file-20240209-30-ckbqbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574586/original/file-20240209-30-ckbqbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574586/original/file-20240209-30-ckbqbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574586/original/file-20240209-30-ckbqbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574586/original/file-20240209-30-ckbqbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574586/original/file-20240209-30-ckbqbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many of ChatGPT’s suggestions were heavy-handed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tara Winstead/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sometimes editorial expertise shows itself in not changing a text. Different isn’t necessarily good. It takes an expert to recognise when a story is working just fine. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.</p>
<p>It also takes a certain kind of aerial, bird’s-eye view to notice when the way type is set creates ambiguities in the text. Typesetters really are akin to editors. </p>
<h2>The verdict: can ChatGPT edit?</h2>
<p>So, ChatGPT can give credible-sounding editorial feedback. But we recommend editors and authors don’t ask it to give individual assessments or expert interventions any time soon.</p>
<p>A major problem that emerged early in this experiment involved ethics: ChatGPT did not ask for or verify the authorship of our story. A journal or magazine would ask an author to confirm a text is their own original work at some stage in the process: either at submission or contract stage. </p>
<p>A freelance editor would likely use other questions to determine the same answer – and in the process of asking about the author’s plans for publication, they would also determine the author’s own stylistic preferences. </p>
<p>Human editors demonstrate their credentials through their work history, and keep their experience up-to-date with professional training and qualifications. </p>
<p>What might the ethics be, we wonder, of giving the same recommendations to every author asking for editing advice? You might be disgruntled to receive generic feedback if you expect or have paid for for individual engagement.</p>
<p>As we’ve seen, when writing challenges expected conventions, AI struggles to respond. Its primary function is to appropriate, amalgamate and regurgitate – which is not enough when it comes to editing literary fiction. </p>
<p>Literary writing aims to – and often does – convey so much more than what the words on screen explicitly say. Literary writers strive for evocative, original prose that draws upon subtext and calls up undercurrents, making the most of nuance and implication to create imagined realities and invent unreal worlds.</p>
<p>At this stage of ChatGPT’s development, literally following the advice of its editing tools to edit literary fiction is likely to make it worse, not better.</p>
<p>In Rose’s case, her oceanic allegory about difference, with a nod to the supernatural, was turned into a story about a fish. </p>
<h2>ChatGPT is ‘like the new intern’</h2>
<p>This experiment shows how AI and human editors could work together. AI suggestions can be scrutinised – and integrated or dismissed – by authors or editors during the creative process. </p>
<p>And while many of its suggestions were not that useful, AI efficiently identified issues with tense, spelling and punctuation (within an overly narrow interpretation of these rules). </p>
<p>Without human editorial intelligence, ChatGPT does more harm than help. But when used by human editors, it’s like any other tool – as good, or bad, as the tradesperson who wields it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216631/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renée Otmar is affiliated with the Institute of Professional Editors, the Australian Society of Authors, Writers Victoria, Small Press Network and Life Stories Australia. She is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Faculty of Health, Deakin University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Day, Rose Michael, and Sharon Mullins do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Technically, ChatGPT can do (some of) the work of a human editor. But an experiment comparing three separate human edits of a literary short story to edits by ChatGPT exposes AI’s serious limitations.
Katherine Day, Lecturer, Publishing, The University of Melbourne
Renée Otmar, Honorary Research Fellow, Faculty of Health, Deakin University
Rose Michael, Senior Lecturer, Program Manager BA (Creative Writing), RMIT University
Sharon Mullins, Tutor, Publishing and Editing, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211192
2023-08-09T02:26:40Z
2023-08-09T02:26:40Z
The sale of publisher Simon & Schuster is good news for staff and authors, but the long-term implications are uncertain
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541851/original/file-20230809-26-hpgo51.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4500%2C3361&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sinziana Susa/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A year after the US Department of Justice <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-cites-impact-top-selling-authors-blocking-book-merger-2022-11-07/">blocked the merger of two of the world’s biggest publishers</a>, a New York-based private equity investment firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., has agreed to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/07/simon-schuster-sold-private-equity-firm-kkr">buy Simon & Schuster</a>. </p>
<p>Even though the US$1.62 billion (AU$2.47 billion) purchase price is lower than the previous US$2.2 billion Penguin Random House was prepared to pay a year ago, the deal is likely to go ahead. </p>
<p>This must be a huge relief for staff and authors. It brings to an end Paramount Global’s three-year search for a new owner for the publisher, which was no longer seen as a core business for the multinational media and entertainment conglomerate. </p>
<p>For Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Simon & Schuster is an attractive investment. In 2022, it reported <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ss-reports-record-revenues-breaking-the-billion-dollar-threshold-for-the-first-time">record revenues</a> of US$1.1bn. </p>
<p>The New York–based publisher also comes with considerable cultural caché. Founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster, the company is the fourth largest publisher in the United States. It has published countless commercially successful and critically acclaimed authors, including Annie Proulx, Stephen King and Bob Woodward. </p>
<p>This is not the first time that KKR invested in a book-related business. Between 2018 and July 2023, the firm owned <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/industry-deals/article/92859-equity-firm-eyeing-simon-schuster-to-sell-rbmedia-for-1-billion.html">RBMedia</a>, the largest audiobook publisher in the world. </p>
<p>In 2020, it invested in <a href="https://company.overdrive.com/2020/06/09/kkr-completes-acquisition-of-overdrive/">OverDrive</a>, a digital reading platform that provides access to ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and other digital media to libraries and schools globally. </p>
<p>If the deal is approved, Simon & Schuster will become part of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/07/books/booksupdate/paramount-simon-and-schuster-kkr-sale.html">portfolio</a> of content-oriented media businesses, including a video game and software developer, a digital media company, a film production company, and other content production and creativity platforms. </p>
<p>Publishing lecturer Franscois McHardy, former head of publishing at Booktopia, told me that the firm’s interests in audiobooks and ebooks will allow it to leverage Simon & Schuster’s back catalogue, provide “some overdue competition” to the Amazon-owned Kindle and Audible brands, and potentially “take a dominant position in the library market, which is growing fast”. </p>
<h2>What does it mean for staff?</h2>
<p>The sale of Simon & Schuster would appear to be good news for its workforce. A merger with another publisher would have inevitably resulted in staff layoffs and redundancies. The new buyer has <a href="https://publishingperspectives.com/2023/08/kkr-agrees-to-buy-simon-schuster-for-1-62-billion/">expressed interest</a> in supporting further growth of Simon & Schuster, domestically and internationally, as well as maintaining editorial independence. </p>
<p>As part of the deal, Simon & Schuster employees will receive an opportunity to participate in a broad-based employee share ownership plan, which gives staff the option to become shareholders and benefit from the company’s success. KKR has successfully used this strategy <a href="https://publishingperspectives.com/2023/08/kkr-agrees-to-buy-simon-schuster-for-1-62-billion/">since 2011</a> to improve engagement within more than 30 companies in its portfolio. </p>
<p>While such arrangements seem innovative in the context of the publishing industry, the model has a long history. In the United States, it can be traced back to <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780875461724/understanding-employee-ownership/">the 1790s</a> – though it is <a href="https://kelsoinstitute.org/louiskelso/kelso-paradigm/who-what-and-why/">Louis O. Kelso</a>, a lawyer and political economist from San Francisco, who is commonly credited with inventing employee ownership plans in the 1950s to democratise access to capital credit. </p>
<p>The model has since been used by myriad start-ups in various industries to manage salary costs and develop a culture of ownership in their staff, though larger, well-established and publicly listed companies are more likely to offer broad-based employee <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/incentivising-employees-paperback-softback">arrangements</a> in a bid to attract and retain top employees. </p>
<p>Such <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/PR-09-2016-0243/full/html">arrangements</a> have been associated with better firm performance, higher productivity, lower employee turnover, and higher job satisfaction. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541843/original/file-20230809-27-62nz1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6275%2C4177&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541843/original/file-20230809-27-62nz1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6275%2C4177&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541843/original/file-20230809-27-62nz1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541843/original/file-20230809-27-62nz1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541843/original/file-20230809-27-62nz1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541843/original/file-20230809-27-62nz1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541843/original/file-20230809-27-62nz1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541843/original/file-20230809-27-62nz1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The sale of Simon & Schuster is a welcome pause in the wave of mergers that has shaped the contemporary publishing industry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jenny Kane/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-remarkable-prize-winning-rise-of-our-small-publishers-95645">Friday essay: the remarkable, prize-winning rise of our small publishers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does the future hold?</h2>
<p>The deal secures Simon & Schuster’s future as a separate business entity. This is good news not only for its workforce, but its authors. </p>
<p>It marks a welcome pause in the wave of mergers and acquisitions that started in the 1960s, transforming the landscape of trade publishing. By the 1990s, as John Thompson observes in <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/310390/merchants-of-culture-by-john-b-thompson/">Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the 21st Century</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>from dozens of independent publishing houses, each reflecting the idiosyncratic tastes and styles of their owners and editors, there were now five or six large corporations, each operating as an umbrella organization for numerous imprints […] with varying degrees of autonomy depending on the strategies and policies of the corporate owners.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Industry consolidation <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/books/penguin-random-house-simon-schuster.html">has been associated</a> with decreased competition in the marketplace, and diminished diversity and choice in the publishing landscape. This has, in turn, driven down authors’ advances. Diminished payments and reduced professional opportunities for writers were among the reasons the proposed merger of Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House was blocked in 2022. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see how KKR’s long-term strategy unfolds. There is genuine publishing experience behind the deal: the advisor and chair of their media division is Richard Sarnoff, former executive vice-president and CFO at Random House. </p>
<p>It will be also interesting to see if the employee ownership model delivers on its promises. The sale may be an exciting opportunity to reinvigorate an industry, which has been beset by <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/90242-is-the-publishing-industry-broken.html">low salaries, burnout</a>, and high rates of <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-female-and-high-rates-of-mental-illness-new-diversity-research-offers-a-snapshot-of-the-publishing-industry-189679">mental illness</a>. </p>
<p>However, as McHardy cautions, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>ultimately private equity’s model is to buy at a discount (which they have), hold for 4–7 years while they “restructure” the business (i.e. strip cost, a.k.a. scale down workforce, liquidate assets, and reduce investment), and then resell at a profit.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agata Mrva-Montoya is a member of the Executive Committee of the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities </span></em></p>
A private equity firm’s acquisition of a major publisher could be an opportunity to reinvigorate the industry.
Agata Mrva-Montoya, Lecturer, Department of Media and Communications, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199913
2023-02-20T11:39:56Z
2023-02-20T11:39:56Z
In the far from diverse publishing industry, sensitivity readers are vital
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510064/original/file-20230214-26-6bqtd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=75%2C67%2C5531%2C3665&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A sensitivity read can help authors feel confident.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pretty-african-american-girl-reading-book-682208722">Andrii Kobryn/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Publishing houses have set the cat among the pigeons. They have introduced “sensitivity readers”. Some authors are claiming this amounts to censorship. But what is the truth of this relatively new practice?</p>
<p>Sensitivity readers are contracted by a publisher to provide editorial feedback on omissions, discontinuity, cliche and credibility issues in a book draft – specifically where they relate to subject matter about people from marginalised groups.</p>
<p>Part of being an author is writing outside of personal perspectives and experiences. Sensitivity reads provide tailored feedback to help authors feel confident about narrating subject matters beyond their own experiences. </p>
<p>Sensitivity readers understand the nuances of the writing process and may be writers or editors themselves. Like freelancers, they are contracted by authors or publishers. They mostly evaluate characterisation, offering historical context or experience on circumstances, cultural attitudes or speech styles that may be unfamiliar to the author. </p>
<p>The author can then, if they wish, use this feedback to redraft sections of their book.</p>
<p>Some writers, including <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/is-the-rise-of-sensitivity-readers-progress-or-censorship-9zxwm2pkc#:%7E:text=The%20novelist%20Lionel%20Shriver%20once,right%20not%20to%20be%20offended.">Lionel Shriver</a> and <a href="https://unherd.com/2022/02/how-sensitivity-readers-corrupted-literature/">Kate Clanchy</a>, have felt affronted by the idea of sensitivity reading. Author Anthony Horowitz <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/anthony-horowitz-hurt-by-cuts-to-book-after-sensitivity-read-2twbjjgcf">told The Spectator</a> that he felt “he was being told what to write by an outside party” when advised by a sensitivity reader on his representation of a Native American character.</p>
<p>Subeditor Jonathan Bouquet agreed in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2023/feb/05/may-i-have-a-word-about-trigger-warnings">an article for The Observer</a>, claiming that sensitivity reading marks the loss of “nuance and true meaning in our use of the English language”. </p>
<p>It is quite remarkable to assert that something as commonplace as editing – which by its very nature is an “outside party” intervening in the writing process – has the power to strip language of meaning.</p>
<h2>Editing, not censoring</h2>
<p>Most writers – of fiction and otherwise – do not and have never lived in a world where words are allowed to flow straight from their heads into the hands of readers. The image of a lone genius typing away at their masterpiece doesn’t represent modern publishing.</p>
<p>The collaborative process of editing is vital, and excellent editorial guidance is a blessing for any writer. It helps improve a book’s clarity, structure, style, readability and overall effectiveness. No publisher will take a project from manuscript to printing without an editor monitoring its development. For those who do not wish to be a part of this process, there are ways to <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2023/01/17/if-you-have-the-self-belief-consider-self-publishing/">self-publish</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An asian woman writes on post-it-notes stuck on the wall. She wears business attire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510065/original/file-20230214-27-cvr5s0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510065/original/file-20230214-27-cvr5s0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510065/original/file-20230214-27-cvr5s0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510065/original/file-20230214-27-cvr5s0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510065/original/file-20230214-27-cvr5s0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510065/original/file-20230214-27-cvr5s0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510065/original/file-20230214-27-cvr5s0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the UK, if you’re a writer from an underrepresented background, it is statistically very likely that your in-house editor won’t be.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/focused-asian-business-woman-mentor-coach-1463771207">fizkes / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to data from the <a href="https://www.publishers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2022.pdf">UK Publishers Association</a> in 2022, half of those working in the publishing sector have attended a Russell Group university (compared with only 6% of the UK’s population) and nearly a third were raised in London or the <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/map-richest-area-uk-how-much-wealth-150957367.html">affluent</a> South East of England. Of those surveyed, 82% were white and only 15% weren’t British, even though <a href="https://www.gov.uk/english-language/exemptions">at least 19</a> sovereign nations around the world are majority native English speaking.</p>
<p>In the UK, if you are a writer from an underrepresented background, it is statistically very likely that your in-house editor won’t be. Given this low ethnic and class diversity (the industry <a href="https://www.publishers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2022.pdf">does a bit better</a> on gender, sexual orientation and disability) a sensitivity reader’s feedback can crucially round out that of an in-house editor’s.</p>
<p>This is not a question of censorship, because the findings of a sensitivity reader can be taken up fully, in part, or not at all. Only the publisher can make final decisions on a book manuscript.</p>
<h2>Whose language is it anyway?</h2>
<p>In his Observer piece, Bouquet uses the phrase: “our use of the English language”. The notion that the English language only truly belongs to a tiny subset of the global mass of people who use it reveals a troubling sense of proprietorship.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why English literary expression continues to flourish around the world, long after the days of British colonialism (during which English was <a href="https://theconversation.com/things-fall-apart-chinua-achebe-and-the-languages-of-african-literature-106006">a deliberate imposition</a>), but exclusivity isn’t one of them.</p>
<p>Book sales in the UK have seen <a href="https://thecircularboard.com/book-publishing-statistics/">a downward trend</a> in the past decade. Meanwhile, English language book exports to the rest of the world account for 59% of its total sales. <a href="https://notionpress.com/blog/facts-book-publishing-industry/">India</a> is the second largest global market for English books. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Customers read books at India's Kolkata Book Fair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510067/original/file-20230214-16-akfc5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510067/original/file-20230214-16-akfc5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510067/original/file-20230214-16-akfc5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510067/original/file-20230214-16-akfc5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510067/original/file-20230214-16-akfc5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510067/original/file-20230214-16-akfc5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510067/original/file-20230214-16-akfc5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">India’s Kolkata Book Fair has 2 million visitors a year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kolkata-india-jan-10-young-people-435414316">Radiokafka / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To think that “meaningful” writing in English equals the unadulterated thoughts of a select array of British and North American authors of largely similar backgrounds is, at best, humorously provincial, and at worst, contemptuous gatekeeping.</p>
<p>Authors who are happy to receive guidance from their in-house editors but draw the line at additional feedback from sensitivity readers perhaps believe that they have nothing left to learn. If we selected and elevated books based on such arbitrary (that is, race and class-given) confidence, there would be little need for critics, editors, publishers, or the study of English at universities, for that matter.</p>
<p>English language literary expression, with its resilient ability to touch and be transformed by many pens around the world, deserves better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199913/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Jilani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Author Anthony Horowitz felt “hurt” when advised by a sensitivity reader on his representation of a Native American character.
Sarah Jilani, Lecturer in English, City, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195934
2023-02-07T19:04:47Z
2023-02-07T19:04:47Z
Dark Emu has sold over 250,000 copies – but its value can’t be measured in money alone
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508553/original/file-20230207-13-pqykou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C16%2C3723%2C2942&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bruce Pascoe</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linsey Rendell</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bruce Pascoe’s <a href="https://www.magabala.com/products/dark-emu?_pos=27&_sid=160b08e95&_ss=r">Dark Emu</a>, first published in 2014, represents that rare bird in small press and independent publishing in Australia: a long-term sales success. </p>
<p>Dark Emu attempts to debunk the idea that pre-European Aboriginal people were purely “hunter-gatherers”. </p>
<p>Indeed, it suited settler-colonists, Pascoe argues, to fail to recognise Indigenous agricultural practices as organised, intelligent land management. In the original publisher’s press release, Pascoe described it as a book “about food production, housing construction and clothing”. </p>
<p>By mid-2021, seven years later, it <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2021/july/1625061600/james-boyce/transforming-national-imagination-dark-emu-debate#mtr">had sold</a> an impressive 250,000 copies.</p>
<p>But sales are just one way to demonstrate the success, or value, of a book. </p>
<h2>Measuring value beyond sales figures</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14443058.2022.2147573">We tracked</a> the impact of the original edition of Dark Emu over five years, from 2014 to 2019, to look at how it contributed to (or otherwise altered) six categories of value, or “capital”. They were: financial (the primary way our culture measures a book’s success), but also social, human, intellectual, manufactured and natural. </p>
<p>We borrowed these six categories from a value-reporting mechanism used in the corporate sustainability sector, <a href="https://www.integratedreporting.org/resource/international-ir-framework/">The Integrated Reporting Framework</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505566/original/file-20230120-22-cs6mv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505566/original/file-20230120-22-cs6mv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505566/original/file-20230120-22-cs6mv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505566/original/file-20230120-22-cs6mv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505566/original/file-20230120-22-cs6mv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505566/original/file-20230120-22-cs6mv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1202&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505566/original/file-20230120-22-cs6mv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1202&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505566/original/file-20230120-22-cs6mv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1202&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dark Emu was one of around 20,000 books published in Australia in 2014. Most of these works would have been aimed at <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-read-the-australian-book-industry-in-a-time-of-change-49044">a modest market</a>, with print runs of between 2,000 and 4,000. </p>
<p>By 2016, Dark Emu was reported to have sold more than 100,000 copies. Many local releases all but disappear from bookshop shelves within a few months of their release. But instead, Dark Emu gathered slow momentum. </p>
<p>Five years later, in 2019, it <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/i-m-hoping-it-s-a-blip-sales-down-in-difficult-year-for-publishing-industry-20200109-p53q43.html">reportedly sold</a> 115,300 copies in Australia and New Zealand in a single year.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-our-new-archaeological-research-investigates-dark-emus-idea-of-aboriginal-agriculture-and-villages-146754">Friday essay: how our new archaeological research investigates Dark Emu's idea of Aboriginal 'agriculture' and villages</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Impact on manufacturing</h2>
<p>Manufactured capital looks at the physical object that’s been created. In this case, that’s the first-edition physical book of Dark Emu, as well as subsequent physical objects generated by or through it (including reprints).</p>
<p>Between 2014 and 2019, Dark Emu was <a href="https://www.screenhub.com.au/newsarticle/%20news/writing-and-publishing/performing-arts-editor/dark-emu-to-be-adapted-as-tv-documentary-259030">reprinted 28 times</a>. It was also produced as an e-book and an audio book. </p>
<p>By 2017, world rights were sold to Scribe, which published North American and UK editions in 2018. An <a href="https://www.magabala.com/products/young-dark-emu?_pos=1&_sid=160b08e95&_ss=r">edition for younger readers</a> was released by its original publisher, <a href="https://www.magabala.com/">Magabala</a>, in 2019. Magabala also published at least one secondary text: a resource for secondary school teachers, <a href="https://www.magabala.com/products/dark-emu-in-the-classroom?_pos=11&_sid=160b08e95&_ss=r">Dark Emu in the Classroom</a>. </p>
<p>We tracked the significant impact on manufacturing from this single book title as it was reproduced in various forms, showing evidence of its impact across a range of allied book industry sectors – especially the print industry – both in Australia and internationally. </p>
<h2>Supporting Indigenous creators</h2>
<p>In the five years immediately following the release of the original edition of Dark Emu, it accumulated considerable intellectual capital. </p>
<p>Numerous arts and literary sector awards recognised the book’s outstanding public, literary and cultural value between 2014 and 2019. This recognition culminated in Bruce Pascoe being awarded the Australia Council for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature in 2018.</p>
<p>The publication of Dark Emu had a significant impact on its small not-for-profit publisher, <a href="https://www.magabala.com/pages/about-us">Magabala Books</a>. Founded in 1984, Magabala is Aboriginal owned and led, and focuses on celebrating and nurturing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices.</p>
<p>After Dark Emu was published, Magabala expanded its publishing program.</p>
<p>Magabala was shortlisted for Small Publisher of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards in 2017 and 2019. That second year, it was also the fastest-growing independent small publisher in Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505546/original/file-20230120-20-ct6ye3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505546/original/file-20230120-20-ct6ye3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505546/original/file-20230120-20-ct6ye3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505546/original/file-20230120-20-ct6ye3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505546/original/file-20230120-20-ct6ye3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505546/original/file-20230120-20-ct6ye3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505546/original/file-20230120-20-ct6ye3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505546/original/file-20230120-20-ct6ye3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peter Bibby, Merrilee Lands and June Oscar heading to a Magabala book launch in 1990.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Magabala Books</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Magabala also invested in philanthropy. Its <a href="https://www.magabala.com/pages/scholarships">Creative Development Scholarship</a> to “support professional development relating to writing, illustration and storytelling” for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander storytellers, writers, illustrators and artists supported 27 scholars between 2014 and 2019. </p>
<p>Dark Emu created jobs in the performing arts, too. </p>
<p>A dance adaptation by <a href="https://theconversation.com/bangarras-dark-emu-is-beautiful-but-lacks-the-punch-of-its-source-material-98628">Bangarra Dance Theatre</a> premiered at the Sydney Opera House in 2018, involving more than 30 arts workers. Program notes for the national tour list three choreographers, 17 dancers and a production team of six, as well as 11 musicians and a composer employed to work on the production. </p>
<p>In 2019, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/bruce-pascoe-s-dark-emu-series-for-abc-tv-likely-to-still-go-ahead-20210701-p585za.html">Screen Australia</a> announced a documentary series would be developed based on the book. While delayed by COVID-19, the series is still in production. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505549/original/file-20230120-24-rmmstq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505549/original/file-20230120-24-rmmstq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505549/original/file-20230120-24-rmmstq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505549/original/file-20230120-24-rmmstq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505549/original/file-20230120-24-rmmstq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505549/original/file-20230120-24-rmmstq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505549/original/file-20230120-24-rmmstq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505549/original/file-20230120-24-rmmstq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bangarra Dance Theatre’s production of Dark Emu was just one way the book led to arts jobs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bangarra/Daniel Boud</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New understandings of Australian history</h2>
<p>To measure the book’s social impact, we focused on how it contributed to the human rights, health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples in Australia, as well as how it contributed to broad public understanding of Australian history. </p>
<p>Then we looked at how the book increased public debate. (We should note, we didn’t include Peter Sutton and Kerry Walsh’s 2021 book rebutting Dark Emu, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-dark-emu-debate-limits-representation-of-aboriginal-people-in-australia-163006">Farmers or Hunter-gatherers?</a>, as it was beyond the scope of our study: our research spanned 2015-2019.)</p>
<p>Digital forums provide short, sharp narratives that bring qualitative value into focus. (<a href="https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/monograph/What_Matters_Talking_Value_in_Australian_Culture/12821456">So-called</a> “parables of value”.)</p>
<p>On <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/dark-emu-bruce-pascoe/book/9781921248016.html">Booktopia</a>, many hundreds of readers reviewed Dark Emu; 86% of them gave the book five stars, reflecting its broad popularity. This selection of Booktopia reviews speaks to the way Dark Emu contributed to new understandings of Australian history: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A marvellous book, full of information and insights which were new and fascinating to me. Well researched and well written. It should be compulsory reading for all Australian schoolchildren.</p>
<p>Super interesting and I wish I’d been taught more of this earlier in life.</p>
<p>I have only just started using this resource for my Year 9 class […] It has thus far provoked conversation and questions. It is particularly interesting as we live in an area that Major Mitchell explored, and there are numerous tracks etc named after him. Always interesting [to be] given the other side of history.</p>
<p>I couldn’t stop thinking about this book […] after reading it and going through any bush in Australia you see the landscape very differently.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our analysis identified an extraordinary degree of public debate generated by the book – in part because it soon provoked another chapter in the “<a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/russell-marks/2020/05/2020/1580868886/taking-sides-over-dark-emu">Australian History Wars</a>”. </p>
<p>Social commentator Andrew Bolt, for example, published several columns on Dark Emu in the Herald Sun during 2018-19. He drew heavily on an anonymous website, Dark Emu Exposed, which purports to “expose” and “debunk” what it asserts are the book’s many myths, exaggerations and “fabrications”. </p>
<p>Interestingly, <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/russell-marks/2020/05/2020/1580868886/taking-sides-over-dark-emu">Russell Marks</a> links the extraordinary sales success of Dark Emu in 2019 directly to the increase in public debate fuelled by Bolt.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-dark-emu-debate-limits-representation-of-aboriginal-people-in-australia-163006">How the Dark Emu debate limits representation of Aboriginal people in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Environmental impacts</h2>
<p>It is not possible to precisely measure the air, water, land, minerals and forests required to produce and distribute Dark Emu. But we were able to make some informed estimates. </p>
<p>Figures from <a href="https://www.isonomia.co.uk/balancing-the-books-the-environmental-impacts-of-digital-reading/">an overseas study</a> found that the paper required to produce 100 books requires about one tree. On this basis, copies of the original Dark Emu title sold in Australia in 2019 consumed the equivalent of 1,153 trees. </p>
<p><a href="https://climateinemergency.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/the-carbon-footprint-of-a-book/">Other sources</a> estimate the carbon footprint of a single book is 2.71 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂ equivalent). On this basis, Dark Emu’s sales in Australia in 2019 could be said to have produced 312,467kg of CO₂ emissions. That’s the equivalent of emissions produced from 5,002kg of beef – or, the amount of beef consumed by 200 Australians <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/agricultural-outlook">in an average year</a>. </p>
<p>But unlike many other Australian books, Dark Emu has not just consumed natural capital: it has also contributed to it. </p>
<p>With earnings from his royalties, Pascoe purchased <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/may/13/its-time-to-embrace-the-history-of-the-country-first-harvest-of-dancing-grass-in-200-years#img-1">farmland in regional Victoria</a>. There, he is applying knowledge gained through research for the book to regenerate the local ecology, using Indigenous agricultural practices. He says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The farm I’m working on, I got rid of the cattle and within a season the grass was knee-high again. And areas that had been cut, that should never have been cleared at all, where they were showing their bones through the soil, they’ve come good again.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Pascoe’s appointment as <a href="https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/185335-bruce-pascoe">Enterprise Professor in Indigenous Agriculture</a> at the University of Melbourne makes likely further positive contributions to natural capital: via teaching and research in Indigenous land management. All traceable to a single book title. </p>
<h2>Why do we measure value beyond money?</h2>
<p>In a capitalist world, it sometimes seems like the almighty dollar is the only marker of value. So many conversations about value stem from that single category – but there’s far more to it than that. </p>
<p>Our interest in value in relation to Australian books is informed by multiple disciplines that together enable a more holistic conceptualisation of value. From cultural economics, a sub-discipline of economics concerned with the economic analysis of the arts and culture, researchers like <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/economics-and-culture/14439A4E891452AA74D15EFAF3C69EC4">David Throsby</a> distinguish economic value from cultural value. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.klamer.nl/book/the-value-culture/">Arjo Klamer</a> is a Dutch cultural economist whose valued-based approach has been described as advocating “humanonics” (economics with humans and meaning left in). His work helps us consider the impact of the environment around us on how and why things become valued as social and cultural practices. </p>
<p>He cautions that attempting to measure the value of culture in purely quantitative terms invokes the “<a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpgt/9904004.html">Heisenberg principle of economics</a>”: what is measured impacts how value is perceived. (So, for instance, measuring the value of Dark Emu in terms of its sales alone ignores other “value dimensions” that are generated.)</p>
<p>In the discipline of sociology, Pierre Bourdieu describes how cultural fields are shaped by <a href="https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu-forms-capital.htm">symbolic capital</a>. To use the field of book production as an example, writers or publishers accrue symbolic capital through markers of prestige, such as when their books receive favourable reviews or win prizes. </p>
<p>John Frow further <a href="https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/the-practice-of-value-essays-on-literature-in-cultural-studies">explains</a> that the value of cultural objects is derived from their use in different contexts (or “regimes of value”). </p>
<p>For example, within the Australian tertiary education sector, a cultural object like an Arts degree has value it would not have in another industry. And a book might be chosen for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nostalgic-classics-or-edgy-contemporary-texts-what-books-are-kids-reading-in-australian-schools-and-does-it-matter-198234">Australian school curriculum</a> based on aesthetic principles (like the quality of its prose), but also on criteria such as its depiction of a particular idea of Australia, or its relationship to other parts of the curriculum. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-thirds-of-australian-authors-are-women-new-research-finds-they-earn-just-18-200-a-year-from-their-writing-195426">Two thirds of Australian authors are women – new research finds they earn just $18,200 a year from their writing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The national value of Australian books</h2>
<p>What do locally written and produced books contribute to Australian life? </p>
<p>At a time of national cultural policy renewal – and as so many Australian authors <a href="https://theconversation.com/two-thirds-of-australian-authors-are-women-new-research-finds-they-earn-just-18-200-a-year-from-their-writing-195426">struggle to survive financially</a> – our preliminary work with Dark Emu shines light on this question. </p>
<p>Our research shows how Australian books circulate in our culture and what they bring – not just in dollar terms, but across a range of other important dimensions. </p>
<p>It’s the kind of work – collecting data relevant to our local book industry – that many contributors to last year’s <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/have-your-say/new-national-cultural-policy">national consultation</a> on a new Australian cultural policy have called for. </p>
<p>This investment is urgent, with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-years-of-austerity-revive-writes-the-next-chapter-in-australian-literary-culture-198758">new cultural policy, Revive</a>, sending a strong message that Australian authors and literature have a vital role to play in “telling Australian stories”. The evidence for gauging policy success over time will need to be broad – beyond measures of economic impact alone.</p>
<p>We need data that will complement and help contextualise the economic indicators of a book’s success, through an expanded frame of reference. </p>
<p>These additional indicators might include health and wellbeing, social inclusion and educational value, and the contributions a book makes to place-making and truth-telling. </p>
<p>Dark Emu is an extraordinary book. In many ways, it’s one of a kind. </p>
<p>But our work in measuring Dark Emu’s impact over a five-year period offers interesting future possibilities. Possibilities for how we might measure and articulate a broader set of value dimensions in relation to Australian books. The question of what a book might really be worth can – and should – be answered across multiple dimensions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julienne van Loon has been a recipient of funding from Creative Victoria, ArtsWA and the Australia Council for the Arts. She is a member of the Australian Society of Authors.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Coate has been a recipient of funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Australia Council for the Arts. She is currently the Executive Secretary/Treasurer for the Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Millicent Weber does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Our research team tracked the impact of Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe’s bestseller, over five years. We measured its value across a range of criteria, from financial to environmental.
Julienne van Loon, Associate Professor, Writing and Publishing, School of Media & Communication, RMIT University
Bronwyn Coate, Senior Lecturer in Economics, RMIT University
Millicent Weber, Senior lecturer, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191145
2022-12-12T13:36:37Z
2022-12-12T13:36:37Z
How are books made?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499657/original/file-20221207-22-cnct7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C2106%2C1407&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Making a book takes lots of brainstorming and writing, but there are many steps to printing it, too.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/printing-press-and-worker-royalty-free-image/172466344?phrase=book%20press%20factory&adppopup=true">sykono/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>How are books made? Julia, age 10, Petoskey, Michigan</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>Books are <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/parts-of-a-book-terms-and-meanings">material things</a> – usually made of paper, ink, thread and glue – but a lot of work goes into making them before they get assembled into something you might find at a library or bookstore. Most of this work has to do with a book’s content, the writing and art on its pages. </p>
<h2>Cooking up ideas</h2>
<p>Book authors usually begin the writing process by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCp1OlYnGs">brainstorming ideas</a>. They write down a number of thoughts and make notes about things they’ve observed or read. </p>
<p>Authors writing a made-up story, called fiction, might imagine the possible characters’ personalities and habits. They might also outline a plot, or the sequence of events that will happen in the story. </p>
<p>An author who is writing nonfiction – like history or science – will research the topic and decide how to interpret what they find. The research may involve looking at archival documents, interviewing people or visiting locations where important events happened.</p>
<p>Once authors have ideas about what they want to write, they need to think about whom they’d like to read their book. If, for example, an author is writing about <a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-could-we-change-other-planets-in-the-solar-system-so-we-could-live-on-them-176738">outer space</a> for a general audience, it’s important to explain the science in way that everyone can understand. An author who is writing for other astronomers who already know a lot about the subject shouldn’t spend much time explaining the most basic things.</p>
<h2>Revise, revise, revise</h2>
<p>After authors have brainstormed, researched, plotted and outlined their projects, they draft <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzoK4FoVyuY">and revise</a>. Few authors write something down once and never change what they’ve written. Most write a first or rough draft and later change many things, from the order of topics to the particular words they use. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A close-up shot of someone holding a red pen and revising a text." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495488/original/file-20221115-23-n7jrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495488/original/file-20221115-23-n7jrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495488/original/file-20221115-23-n7jrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495488/original/file-20221115-23-n7jrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495488/original/file-20221115-23-n7jrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495488/original/file-20221115-23-n7jrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495488/original/file-20221115-23-n7jrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most writers go through many drafts before their story is ready to sell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/proofread-royalty-free-image/680338102?phrase=editor&adppopup=true">Lamaip/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When authors need to make these tough decisions about what to change, they may have the help of an editor. An editor’s job is to review drafts of a proposed book and help the writer make it as good as it can be, and to coordinate all the steps to publish the book.</p>
<p>Editors work for publishers, the companies that help create the final form of the book and then distribute, advertise and sell it. When writers want to work with an editor, and hope to turn their story into a real book, they send their revised draft to publishers in hopes that the company will purchase it. This way, authors get paid for their writing, but the publisher also profits from book sales.</p>
<p>Many other people <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/career/documents/industry-guides/Publishing">work at a publishing company</a>, too. Copy editors and proofreaders check for mistakes in an author’s writing. Designers and typesetters are responsible for the look of the book, <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-course-teaches-how-to-judge-a-book-by-its-cover-and-its-pages-print-and-other-elements-of-its-design-190817">including its cover</a>. Publishers may also find illustrators for a book, although many authors want to illustrate their own.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a suit jacket stands grinning in front of a few easels with copies of a book called 'My Story, My Dance.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495484/original/file-20221115-17-gsamm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495484/original/file-20221115-17-gsamm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495484/original/file-20221115-17-gsamm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495484/original/file-20221115-17-gsamm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495484/original/file-20221115-17-gsamm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495484/original/file-20221115-17-gsamm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495484/original/file-20221115-17-gsamm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustrator James E. Ransome appears at the launch of the children’s book ‘My Story, My Dance,’ about the dancer Robert Battle, in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/illustrator-james-e-ransome-appears-to-celebrate-the-ailey-news-photo/494861826?phrase=children%27s%20book%20illustrator&adppopup=true">Donna Ward/Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The final steps</h2>
<p>When the content of a book is all ready, it will be sent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S_h6y9QNYk">to a printer</a> to be inked onto paper, glued or sewn together as a collection of pages, and bound into hardback or paperback copies. Hardbacks are books with stiff cardboard bindings and paper dust jackets to protect the covers. Paperbacks have a cover of only thick paper and are cheaper to make. </p>
<p>The first printing of some kinds of books, like novels or histories, is often a hardback. If lots of people want to buy the book and the publisher prints another batch of books – called a print run – they will typically be paperbacks.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="An old manuscript page shows a large figure in a pink robe dictating to a small scribe wearing a blue one." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499638/original/file-20221207-11743-w8izk8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499638/original/file-20221207-11743-w8izk8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499638/original/file-20221207-11743-w8izk8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499638/original/file-20221207-11743-w8izk8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499638/original/file-20221207-11743-w8izk8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499638/original/file-20221207-11743-w8izk8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499638/original/file-20221207-11743-w8izk8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scribes, who were trained in writing, used to write down stories or ideas that the author told them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Codex_Manesse_Bligger_von_Steinach.jpg">UB Heidelberg/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So far, I have described the way that most books are made now. But book creation predates modern publication, printing and even paper. For many centuries, books were written by hand on vellum, which is made of animal skin. </p>
<p>Before the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyBbj5hj8DQ">invention of the printing press</a> around 1440, most writing <a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2014/06/copycat-life-medieval-scribe/">was done by scribes</a>, artisans who were trained to write in special scripts called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdyLCh9YvE8&list=PL-vTxWFyVBpEVwPJuikoyLAEMb48zpHh6">calligraphy</a>. Authors could recite their work aloud to scribes, and the scribes would write it down. Scribes also copied a lot of material from other books to make new books for patrons, readers who told scribes what they wanted in a book and paid for it. </p>
<p>In my work as <a href="https://english.wvu.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty-directory/lara-farina">an English professor</a>, I study many of these medieval handwritten books, called manuscripts. Often, manuscripts can give modern readers an idea of what particular people in the past wanted to read. For example, a book written for a queen might contain the stories she liked, calendars of important dates, a history of her family or her country and prayers and poems she might recite. There’s a good chance that the queen’s book was unique, because it was written specifically for her.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A page from an old manuscript with an elaborately decorated letter 'S.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499822/original/file-20221208-14036-cv8u59.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499822/original/file-20221208-14036-cv8u59.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499822/original/file-20221208-14036-cv8u59.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499822/original/file-20221208-14036-cv8u59.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499822/original/file-20221208-14036-cv8u59.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=994&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499822/original/file-20221208-14036-cv8u59.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=994&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499822/original/file-20221208-14036-cv8u59.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=994&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A page from the St. Albans prayerbook, with an elaborately decorated ‘S’ at the start of a psalm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Psalm_136_Initial_S.jpg">Hildesheim Cathedral Library/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can look here at <a href="https://www.albani-psalter.de/stalbanspsalter/english/translation/trans003.shtml">pages from a manuscript</a> made for use by one particular woman: <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0253.xml">Christina of Markyate</a>, a holy woman in 12th-century England. She ran away from home as a teenager to become a recluse and later became a spiritual adviser to the monks of St. Albans monastery. The monks made this very beautiful book of prayers for her.</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21qi9ZcQVto">make your own mini-book</a> just by folding a single piece of paper. Think of some content, write a draft and then be your own scribe by writing and illustrating your book! </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/21qi9ZcQVto?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Here’s a quick way to make your own eight-page book.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lara Farina does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
It takes a lot of steps – and help from other people – to make a physical book you can hold in your hands.
Lara Farina, Professor of English, West Virginia University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/183136
2022-10-06T19:04:46Z
2022-10-06T19:04:46Z
Friday essay: romance fiction rewrites the rulebook
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480680/original/file-20220823-20-e3toeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C9%2C6205%2C7816&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Kiss - Francesco Hayez (1859).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Romance fiction has one of the most recognisable brands in book culture. It is known for a handful of attributes: its happy-ever-after endings, the pocket Mills & Boon and Harlequin editions, the covers featuring Fabio (in the 1990s) or naked male torsos (the hot trend in the 21st century). It is known for being overwhelmingly written and read by women, and for being mass-produced. </p>
<p>But romance fiction is also the most innovative and uncontrollable of all genres. It is the genre least able to be contained by established models of how the publishing industry works, or how readers and writers behave. </p>
<p>Contemporary romance fiction is challenging the prevailing wisdom about how books come into being and find their readers. </p>
<p>For our book <a href="https://www.umasspress.com/9781625346612/genre-worlds/">Genre Worlds: Popular Fiction and Twenty-First Century Book Culture</a>, coauthored with Lisa Fletcher, we conducted nearly 100 interviews with contemporary authors and publishing professionals. Our research shows that fiction genres are not static. They do not constrain artistic originality, but provide the kind of structure that sparks creativity and passion. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
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<p>Genre fiction can be understood as having three dimensions. The textual dimension is what happens on the page. The industrial dimension is how the books are produced. And the social dimension is the people who write, read and talk about genre fiction. </p>
<p>These three dimensions interact to create what we have called a “genre world”. Each distinct genre world (such as fantasy or crime) combines textual conventions, social communities and industry expectations in its own way. And romance is the most fast-paced, rapidly changing genre world of them all. </p>
<p>When it comes to genres of articles, we have a soft spot for the listicle. So, here are five things you may not know about contemporary romance fiction – five things that show the dynamism at the heart of book culture. </p>
<h2>1. Romance is at the forefront of digital innovation</h2>
<p>Twenty-first century publishing has seen fundamental shifts in the way books are produced, distributed and consumed, largely thanks to digital technology. </p>
<p>The romance genre is notable historically for its rapid production and consumption cycle. As a result, it has been well placed to adapt to the widespread uptake of digital publishing, which also moves rapidly. Romance writers and publishers are entrepreneurial and comfortable taking risks. The moment constraints are released, romance writers rush in. </p>
<p>This is exactly what has happened with self-publishing. Since the advent of <a href="https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/">Kindle Direct Publishing</a> in 2007, hundreds of thousands of romance books have been self-published there. Other opportunities have blossomed on sites such as <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/">Wattpad</a> or through print-on-demand services such as <a href="https://www.ingramspark.com/">IngramSpark</a>. In Australia, for example, there was a 1,000% increase in the number of self-published romance novels between 2010 and 2016. </p>
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<p>Some self-published romance novels have achieved mind-boggling success. Anna Todd’s 2014 romance novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_(Todd_novel)">After</a>, originally fan fiction based on the band One Direction, drew more than 1.5 billion reads on Wattpad. It was subsequently acquired by Simon & Schuster and has spawned a movie series. </p>
<p>In other cases, romance authors have formed co-ops to publish work together. <a href="https://tulepublishing.com/">Tule Publishing</a> is a small, largely digital publisher with a limited print-on-demand service that produces multi-author continuity series as part of its publishing model. The Tule authors we interviewed spoke of their strong community and creative connections.</p>
<p>The self-publishing of genre fiction has blurred the lines between author, agent, editor, cover designer, typesetter, publisher and bookseller. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.stephanielaurens.com/">Stephanie Laurens</a>, one of the world’s most successful romance novelists, began writing with Mills & Boon before moving to HarperCollins. In 2012, she gave a keynote address to the <a href="https://www.rwa.org/">Romance Writers of America</a> convention. She used the opportunity to reflect on industry change. Soon after, she began reconfiguring her own publishing arrangements. </p>
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<p>Now Harlequin publishes her print novels, while she self-publishes the e-book versions. She also self-publishes novellas that are prequels to, or that sit between, the novels in her traditionally published series. </p>
<p>Laurens is a prolific author with loyal fans, an author who can afford to take risks. She realises that self-publishing potentially offers her a better deal and has been able to pursue that while retaining ties to a traditional publisher. </p>
<p>Her career complicates any view of self-publishing as second best. Her example has been much emulated among romance writers. Such a career move challenges how we might typically theorise the power relations of literary culture.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/goodreads-readers-readwomen-and-so-should-university-english-departments-157108">'Goodreads' readers #ReadWomen, and so should university English departments</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Romance readers are active and engaged</h2>
<p>The dynamism of romance fiction is intimately linked with its engaged readers. Unlike other kinds of publishing, where the fate of each book is relatively unpredictable, romance has historically had many loyal readers who subscribe through mail-order systems to receive books regularly – a model that has not worked successfully at scale for any other genre. </p>
<p>In the 21st century, many of these loyal romance readers are online. They tweet about their favourite authors, write Goodreads reviews, and run blogs and podcasts. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481032/original/file-20220825-1676-iwmz7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481032/original/file-20220825-1676-iwmz7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481032/original/file-20220825-1676-iwmz7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481032/original/file-20220825-1676-iwmz7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481032/original/file-20220825-1676-iwmz7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1201&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481032/original/file-20220825-1676-iwmz7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1201&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481032/original/file-20220825-1676-iwmz7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1201&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>People read romance fiction for different reasons. They might be drawn to its focus on the emotional nuances of relationships, its escape into various times and places (romance subgenres really do cover the gamut), or its gold-plated promise of happy endings and pleasure. They might read casually or intensely, with curiosity, scepticism or devotion. </p>
<p>All of these are active modes; they can’t be reduced to consumerism. There is an element of feeling to the involvement. The shared pleasure and sense of belonging that comes with being in the genre world came up regularly in our interviews. </p>
<p>Author <a href="https://www.rachaeljohns.com/">Rachael Johns</a>, speaking of romance fiction, said “this is my passion, I fell in love with the romance genre”. Agent Amy Tannenbaum described the romance community as “tight-knit”. Harlequin marketing specialist Adam Van Roojen suggested the romance community’s supportive nature makes it “so distinctive I think from other genres”. </p>
<p>People say the same thing about other genres, of course, but these claims show how people imagine genre worlds as a kind of community.</p>
<p>Communities have boundaries and can be exclusionary. <a href="https://kristinabusse.com/">Kristina Busse</a> has written about the impulse to police borders in fan-fiction communities, and of how ascribing positive values to some members of a community may exclude other people. </p>
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<p>This dynamic is at work in genre worlds, even if it is low-key or not openly acknowledged. What’s more, the inside world of romance fiction has an inside of its own. This is evident in the way readers relate to one another (there is an implicit hierarchy of fans) and in the industrial underpinnings of the genre. </p>
<p>For example, there is a distinction between a writer’s core audience and fringe audience that affects sales formats and international editions. Core romance readers tend to read digitally, and therefore can often access US editions of a book. Casual romance readers are more likely to pick up a print book from a store like Big W or Target and are therefore more likely to be the target audience for local editions. </p>
<p>In general, though, both core and fringe romance readers know how to read romance fiction. They are attuned to the codes that run through the novels. Back in 1992, <a href="http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/engl618/readings/theory/Krentz&BarlowRomanceCodes.pdf">Jayne Ann Krentz and Linda Barlow</a> argued that certain words and phrases in romance fiction act as a hidden code “opaque to others”. </p>
<p>Committed romance readers have a deep knowledge that makes them experts in their genre. When these readers express their views online, authors and publishers take note. </p>
<p>One recent example involves a tweet from romance fiction author, podcaster and blogger <a href="https://www.sarahmaclean.net/">Sarah McLean</a>. She asked her nearly 40,000 Twitter followers to “Tell me the best romance you’ve read in the last week. Bonus points for it being 🔥🔥🔥.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1556835069834285058"}"></div></p>
<p>The tweet was directed at the hardcore readers of the romance genre world. It assumed an audience that reads more than one romance novel per week. The 300 or so replies constitute a mega-thread of recommendations. </p>
<p>Romance readers are generous to one another this way, as the sheer abundance of commercially and self-published romance fiction makes it hard to sort and choose. The replies also offer an up-to-the-minute map of the subgenres and tropes to which readers are responding. These include shape-shifters, second-chance love stories, queer romance, and dukes and duchesses (possibly a Bridgerton effect). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-the-mattresses-a-defence-of-romance-fiction-72587">To the mattresses: a defence of romance fiction</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Romance fiction is global</h2>
<p>Far from being circumscribed by small horizons, romance fiction is globally connected and inflected. This is amply demonstrated by the example of Australian romance fiction, which is formed and sustained across international literary markets and creative communities. </p>
<p>Pascale Casanova’s theory of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Republic_of_Letters">world republic of letters</a> notes the cultural force of London and New York as anglophone publishing centres. This mitigates against the inclusion of Australian content in popular fiction. Stories set in New York or London seem to have no limits in terms of international portability. But stories set in Australia, or another peripheral market, can be harder to pitch. </p>
<p>Australian writers are conscious of this, as it directly affects the viability of their careers. But export success is possible for Australian work. The subgenre of Australian rural romance or “RuRo” is the best-known example. Authors like Rachel Johns are bestsellers in other territories. Romance novels set in Australia are popular in Germany – the Germans even have a name for them, the “<em>Australien-Roman</em>”. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480690/original/file-20220824-632-8r055b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480690/original/file-20220824-632-8r055b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480690/original/file-20220824-632-8r055b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480690/original/file-20220824-632-8r055b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480690/original/file-20220824-632-8r055b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480690/original/file-20220824-632-8r055b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480690/original/file-20220824-632-8r055b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Popular Australian romance author Rachel Johns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Goodreads</span></span>
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<p>Romance fiction is energised by transnational communities of readers and writers, often mediated online. Australian romance author <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/author/kylie-scott/">Kylie Scott</a>, for instance, credits American romance bloggers with driving the popularity of her books, and thanks book bloggers in the acknowledgements of her books. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481033/original/file-20220825-19-jfr4s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481033/original/file-20220825-19-jfr4s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481033/original/file-20220825-19-jfr4s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481033/original/file-20220825-19-jfr4s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481033/original/file-20220825-19-jfr4s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481033/original/file-20220825-19-jfr4s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481033/original/file-20220825-19-jfr4s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481033/original/file-20220825-19-jfr4s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>These cultural mediators assist the transnational movement of books in genre worlds. The development of digital-first genre fiction publishers and imprints also supports such movement, not least through promoting global release dates and world rights, so that genre books can be simultaneously accessible to readers worldwide. </p>
<p>But nothing comes close to the romance fiction convention, or “con”, in demonstrating the international cooperative links of the romance community. Cons, such as Romance Writers of America, support romance writers by providing professional development opportunities; they offer structure to participants’ professional lives. </p>
<p>For example, Regency romance writer <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/anna-campbell/">Anna Campbell</a> has oriented her career towards the United States. Campbell began to professionalise by joining the <a href="https://romanceaustralia.com/">Romance Writers of Australia</a>, but then entered professional prizes run through US networks, and it was these that gained attention for her writing and enabled her to get an agent. American success followed: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My agent ended up setting up an auction in New York, and three of the big houses wanted to buy it. The auction went for a week, and at the end of Good Friday 2006, I was a published author and they paid me enough money to become a full-time writer. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Campbell went on to write five books with Avon, then moved to Hachette for a number of books. She has now moved to self-publishing. The majority of her readership remains in the US. </p>
<p>Romance’s capacity to reflect the local concerns of writers and readers, coupled with its responsiveness to global industrial processes, makes it one of the most intriguing genres for considering what “Australian books” might look like in the 21st century. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-believe-in-romance-remembering-valerie-parv-the-australian-author-who-sold-34-million-books-160084">'I believe in romance': remembering Valerie Parv, the Australian author who sold 34 million books</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Romance can be socially progressive</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480989/original/file-20220825-16-zv34k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480989/original/file-20220825-16-zv34k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480989/original/file-20220825-16-zv34k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480989/original/file-20220825-16-zv34k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480989/original/file-20220825-16-zv34k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480989/original/file-20220825-16-zv34k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1216&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480989/original/file-20220825-16-zv34k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1216&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480989/original/file-20220825-16-zv34k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1216&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>It has been more than 50 years since Germaine Greer, in The Female Eunuch, dismissed romance fiction as women “cherishing the chains of their bondage”. The perception that the genre is conservative persists. </p>
<p>But romance writers and readers are more and more concerned with inequality across gender, race and sexuality. They are pushing back against old conventions. </p>
<p>In 2018, Kate Cuthbert, then managing editor of Harlequin’s Escape imprint, gave a speech that revealed romance’s internal debates. She addressed the responsibilities of romance fiction writers and publishers in the #MeToo era, arguing that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>if we want to call ourselves a feminist genre, if we want to hold ourselves up as an example of women being centred, of representing the female gaze, of creating women heroes who not only survive but thrive, then we have to lead. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>For Cuthbert, this means “breaking up” with some familiar romance fiction tropes, such as the coercion of women: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>many of the behaviors that are now being called out – sexual innuendo, workplace advances, stolen kisses because the kisser couldn’t resist – feel in many ways like an old friend. They exist in the romance bubble […] and they readily tap into that shared emotional history over and over again in a way that feels familiar and safe.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Cuthbert’s compassionate acknowledgement of readers’ and writers’ attachment to established genre norms sits alongside her call for evolution, for renewed attention to “recognising the heroine’s bodily autonomy, her right to decide what happens to it at every point”.</p>
<p>Structural hostility in the publishing industry towards people of colour has also become a cause romance writers and readers rally behind. In 2018, <a href="http://blackmagicblues.com/">Cole McCade</a>, a queer romance writer with a multiracial background, revealed that his editor at Riptide had written to him:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We don’t mind POC But I will warn you – and you have NO idea how much I hate having to say this – we won’t put them on the cover, because we like the book to, you know, sell :-(. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the wake of this revelation, multiple authors pulled their books from Riptide, as a further series of revelations about the publisher’s bad behaviour emerged. </p>
<p>The following year, the Romance Writers of America examined the past 18 years of its <a href="https://www.rwa.org/Online/Awards/RITA/RITA_Award.aspx">RITA Awards</a> finalists and published the results: no black author had ever won a RITA, and the percentage of black authors represented on shortlists was less than half a per cent. </p>
<p>In response, the board published a “Commitment to RITAs and Inclusivity”, in which it called the shocking results a “systemic issue” that “needs to be addressed”. In 2020, they announced they were employing diversity and inclusion experts to help diversify their board, train staff, and help “design and structure” more inclusive membership programs and events, including the annual conference.</p>
<p>The Romance Writers of America’s intentions have not always been successful. The ongoing visibility of marginalised groups in the genre continues nonetheless, in part driven by romance’s rapid and robust uptake of digital publishing. Access to publishing platforms has allowed micro-niche genres to proliferate. LGBTQIA+ romance subgenres have become particularly visible: from lesbian military romance to gay alien romance to realist asexual love stories. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480701/original/file-20220824-18-duwh2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480701/original/file-20220824-18-duwh2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480701/original/file-20220824-18-duwh2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480701/original/file-20220824-18-duwh2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480701/original/file-20220824-18-duwh2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480701/original/file-20220824-18-duwh2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480701/original/file-20220824-18-duwh2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480701/original/file-20220824-18-duwh2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Sometimes these stories go spectacularly mainstream, as with C.S. Pacat’s <a href="https://cspacat.com/books/captive-prince/">The Captive Prince</a>, a gay erotic fantasy about a prince who is given to the ruler of a neighbouring kingdom as a pleasure slave. Originally self-published, The Captive Prince started as a web serial that gathered 30,000 signed-up fans and spawned Tumblrs dedicated to fan fiction and speculation about where the series would go. </p>
<p>The book was rejected by major publishers, so Pacat self-published to Amazon and within 24 hours it had reached number 1 in LGBTQIA+ fiction. A New York agent approached Pacat and secured her a seven-figure publication deal with Penguin. The queer fantasy or paranormal romance has continued to thrive in Pacat’s wake. </p>
<p>In our interviews with romance authors, questions of diversity, inclusion, representation and inequity arose again and again. In representation and amplifying marginalised voices, romance has enormous potential to lead the way.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-romance-writers-of-america-can-implode-over-racism-no-group-is-safe-130034">If the Romance Writers of America can implode over racism, no group is safe</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5. Romance has gates that are kept</h2>
<p>Romance fiction is more progressive than some stereotypes might suggest, but it is not free from exclusion or discrimination. The genre is influenced by its gatekeepers – human and digital. </p>
<p>One form of gatekeeping takes place through the same voluntary associations that nurture community. In late 2019, the board of the Romance Writers of America censured prominent writer of colour, <a href="https://www.courtneymilan.com/">Courtney Milan</a>, suspending her from the organisation for a year and banning her from leadership positions for life. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481038/original/file-20220825-3929-t4h7l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481038/original/file-20220825-3929-t4h7l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481038/original/file-20220825-3929-t4h7l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481038/original/file-20220825-3929-t4h7l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481038/original/file-20220825-3929-t4h7l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481038/original/file-20220825-3929-t4h7l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1215&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481038/original/file-20220825-3929-t4h7l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1215&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481038/original/file-20220825-3929-t4h7l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1215&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The decision was made following complaints by two white women, author Katherine Lynn Davis and publisher Suzan Tisdale, about statements Milan had made on Twitter, including calling a specific book a “fucking racist mess”. </p>
<p>This use of the organisation’s formal mechanisms to condemn a woman of colour and support white women was controversial, provoking widespread debate across social media and email lists. </p>
<p>Milan had long been an advocate for greater inclusion and diversity within Romance Writers of America and the romance genre. As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/31/romance-novel-industry-uproar-discipline-author-racist-courtney-milan">the Guardian reported</a>, the choice not to discipline anyone for “actually racist speech” made punishing someone for “calling something racist” seem like a particularly troubling double standard. “People saw it as an attempt to silence marginalised people,” observed Milan.</p>
<p>The board retracted its decision about Milan. It is difficult, however, to calculate the damage that may have been done to readers and writers of colour in the romance genre world. Conversely, the use of Twitter to extend debate and eventually correct the Romance Writers of America shows change happening, in real time.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480762/original/file-20220824-12-ryjatq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480762/original/file-20220824-12-ryjatq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480762/original/file-20220824-12-ryjatq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480762/original/file-20220824-12-ryjatq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480762/original/file-20220824-12-ryjatq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480762/original/file-20220824-12-ryjatq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480762/original/file-20220824-12-ryjatq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480762/original/file-20220824-12-ryjatq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Another form of gatekeeping in romance fiction happens through the same digital platforms that put the genre at the forefront of industry change. </p>
<p>Safiya Umoja Noble’s book <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479837243/algorithms-of-oppression/">Algorithms of Oppression</a> demonstrates how apparently neutral automated processes can work against women of colour — for example, the different results that come up from a Google search of “black girls” compared with “white girls.” </p>
<p>In the world of romance fiction, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire-Parnell">Claire Parnell’s research</a> has shown the multiple ways in which the algorithms, moderation processes and site designs of Amazon and Wattpad work against writers of colour. For example, they make use of image-recognition systems that flag romance covers with dark-skinned models as “adult content” and remove them from search results. They can also override the author’s chosen metadata to move books into niche categories where fewer readers will find them, such as “African American romance” rather than the general “romance fiction”. </p>
<p>Concerted activism and attention is needed to work against this kind of digital discrimination, which risks replicating the discrimination in traditional publishing. </p>
<p>There is no simple way to account for the dynamics of contemporary romance fiction. It is inclusive and policed; it is public and intimate. Its industrial, social and textual dimensions are not static, but interact dynamically, incorporating the possibility of change. Only by understanding these interactions can we gain a complete picture of the work of popular fiction. </p>
<p>Contemporary romance fiction is formally tight, emotionally intense and digitally advanced. It’s where the heartbeat of change and action is in book culture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Driscoll received funding for this research from Australian Research Council Discovery Project DP160101308, 'Genre Worlds: Australian Popular Fiction in the 21st Century.'</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim Wilkins received funding for this research from Australian Research Council Discovery Project DP160101308, 'Genre Worlds: Australian Popular Fiction in the 21st Century.' Some of the interviewees cited in the article are industry peers.</span></em></p>
Romance fiction has a reputation for being conservative, but in reality it is an innovative and uncontrollable genre.
Beth Driscoll, Associate Professor in Publishing and Communications, The University of Melbourne
Kim Wilkins, Professor in Writing, Deputy Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of HASS, The University of Queensland, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188364
2022-08-10T20:11:22Z
2022-08-10T20:11:22Z
The US government is trying to stop the merger of two of the world’s biggest publishers – but will it help authors?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478436/original/file-20220810-22-9clt4s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C8%2C1751%2C1131&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Brown/Flikr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Allen Lane set out to make cheap paperbacks for commuters in the 1930s, no one imagined he was building what would become the biggest publishing house we’ve ever seen. </p>
<p>The company he founded became Penguin Books, which in turn became <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-last-gasp-from-a-dying-industry-analysing-the-penguin-random-house-deal-10422">Penguin Random House, following a merger in 2013</a>. Now, in a deal first announced in November 2020, Bertelsmann, the parent company of Penguin Random House, wants to buy another publishing behemoth, Simon & Schuster.</p>
<p>The proposed merger has caught the eye of the Biden administration. The US Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit, arguing that the merger will drive down author advances, result in fewer books being published, and provide less variety for consumers. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/90032-doj-v-prh-all-our-coverage.html">court case</a>, which began on August 1, is set to continue over three weeks. It has featured <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/horror-author-stephen-king-says-publishing-trial-that-consolidation-hurts-2022-08-02/">evidence from bestselling author Stephen King</a>, who testified in support of the Department of Justice.</p>
<p>The publishers and their attorneys <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/89937-in-final-briefs-doj-prh-flesh-out-arguments-ahead-of-trial.html">argue</a> the deal will create “efficiencies” that will lead to “better offers to more authors”. </p>
<p>The proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster is the latest in the long history of mergers and acquisitions in what has been described in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/books/simon-schuster-penguin-random-house.html">New York Times</a> as “increasingly a winner-take-all business in which the largest companies compete for brand-name authors and guaranteed best-sellers”. </p>
<p>If allowed to take place, the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster will reduce the number of big US publishers from five to four. It raises the question of how big is too big. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478422/original/file-20220810-16-3rlh9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C5%2C3483%2C2449&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478422/original/file-20220810-16-3rlh9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C5%2C3483%2C2449&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478422/original/file-20220810-16-3rlh9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478422/original/file-20220810-16-3rlh9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478422/original/file-20220810-16-3rlh9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478422/original/file-20220810-16-3rlh9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478422/original/file-20220810-16-3rlh9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478422/original/file-20220810-16-3rlh9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bestselling author Stephen King arrives at federal court in Washington DC to testify for the US Department of Justice, 2 August 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Patrick Semansky/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/small-is-beautiful-in-praise-of-organic-book-publishing-40455">Small is beautiful: in praise of organic book publishing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why the merger?</h2>
<p>Since the early 1960s, many independent publishing companies operating in the Anglo-American trade sector have become imprints of multinational corporations as the result of a succession of mergers and acquisitions. </p>
<p>As John Thompson writes in the <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Book+Wars:+The+Digital+Revolution+in+Publishing-p-9781509546787">Book Wars: The Digital Revolution in Publishing</a>, the scale of these large publishing corporations gives them access to financial backing of their parent company and the ability to offer high advances and extensive marketing and editorial support for big name authors, in return for multi-book deals. </p>
<p>Larger publishers also have the leverage to negotiate with large retailers and other entities in the book publishing chain. </p>
<p>The typical sale of a publishing house happens as result of its founder retiring or for financial reasons. This is not the case with Simon & Schuster. The attempt by Penguin Random House to acquire Simon & Schuster is a buyer-driven merger, with the ability to better compete against Amazon given as the key rationale. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/88544-s-s-sales-neared-1-billion-in-2021.html">Simon & Schuster’s revenue</a> rose 10% over 2020 to just under US$1 billion in sales in 2021. <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ss-deal-will-cement-prh-status-and-recoup-lost-market-share-dohle-tells-trial">The Bookseller</a> reported that the $2.2 billion bid for Simon & Schuster aims to recoup Penguin Random House’s lost market share and “cement” the publisher’s number one status in the USA. </p>
<p>The market share of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster in the US has been estimated variously from 20% to 50%. In <a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2020/11/26/160222/bertelsmann-to-acquire-ss/">Australia</a> it is around 30%. </p>
<p>According to author <a href="https://www.idealog.com/blog/doubts-about-the-department-of-justices-objection-to-the-prh-acquisition-of-ss/">Mike Shatzkin</a>, the consolidation is a logical outcome of the fact that “the ‘trade’ itself is shrinking and the total sales made by those publishers constitute an ever-diminishing share of the total market”. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/90029-doj-v-prh-markus-dohle-s-silicon-valley-of-media.html">Publishers Weekly</a> reported, the plan is to maintain the Simon & Schuster imprints, and allow Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster editors to bid against one another for books at auction. But as Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle admitted, there was no “legally binding way” to ensure that promise is kept. </p>
<p>According to Franscois McHardy, until recently Head of Publishing at <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/">Booktopia</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Promises of editorial autonomy being made by Bertelsmann are not to be trusted. They made them in the late 90s when Bantam Doubleday Dell/Transworld was merged with Random House, and although Transworld has maintained a separate building in the UK, they were quickly merged in all other markets. The same has happened with the Penguin Random House merger where people now routinely only talk about “Penguin” in reference to the merged company, and Random House imprints are being phased out. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Fewer imprints means fewer opportunities for mid-list authors and new writers without a proven track record.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478428/original/file-20220810-667-eyhi4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478428/original/file-20220810-667-eyhi4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478428/original/file-20220810-667-eyhi4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478428/original/file-20220810-667-eyhi4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478428/original/file-20220810-667-eyhi4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478428/original/file-20220810-667-eyhi4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478428/original/file-20220810-667-eyhi4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478428/original/file-20220810-667-eyhi4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">CEO of Penguin Random House Markus Dohle at the PEN Literary Gala in New York, May 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Evan Agostini/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s at stake</h2>
<p>The protection of bestselling authors is one of the key arguments in the antitrust case. The <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/89937-in-final-briefs-doj-prh-flesh-out-arguments-ahead-of-trial.html">Department of Justice’s pre-trial brief</a> states that the merger is likely to diminish author advances of $250,000 and above and lead to “fewer authors being able to earn a living from writing”. </p>
<p>The complaint and the court case <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-block-penguin-random-house-s-acquisition-rival-publisher-simon">are being presented by the US government</a> as “the latest demonstration of the Justice Department’s commitment to pursuing economic opportunity and fairness through antitrust enforcement”. But they ignore the key player undermining fair competition in the US publishing industry. </p>
<p><a href="https://publishingperspectives.com/2020/08/us-publishers-authors-booksellers-call-out-amazons-concentrated-power-in-the-book-market/">Amazon</a> has approximately 50% of the print book market, at least 75% of publishers’ ebook sales (in addition to Amazon’s own ebook publishing business), and over 41% of the US audiobook market through its subsidiary <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/readers-listen-up-amazon-wants-to-extend-its-dominance-in-audiobooks-1517832000">Audible</a>. </p>
<p>Hence, the merger is not about Penguin Random House being in competition with other publishers; it is about giving them heft in the negotiations with other players in the book publishing circuit. </p>
<p>These include Amazon and other platform retailers, streaming services for audiobooks (publishers are trying to avoid music-industry style streaming services in favour of a restricted credit model), and libraries that are <a href="https://readsludge.com/2022/03/17/publishing-giants-are-fighting-libraries-on-e-books/">disputing</a> high prices and restrictive licensing terms for digital works. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/publishers-vs-the-internet-archive-why-the-worlds-biggest-online-library-is-in-court-over-digital-book-lending-187166">Publishers vs the Internet Archive: why the world's biggest online library is in court over digital book lending</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Penguin Random House are seeking to own enough of the market so they can begin to make structural decisions that will provide a bulwark against disadvantageous changes in book distribution. </p>
<p>A consolidated Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster may enable that publisher to stand up to Amazon for longer, but the continued growth of the latter suggests this is likely to be a losing battle. </p>
<p>Few authors will ever receive a high advance from the big four or five publishers, so the outcome of the court case is not likely to have an impact on most authors’ ability to earn a living from writing, which is becoming increasingly difficult. </p>
<p>According to a survey conducted by the US <a href="https://bookriot.com/how-much-do-authors-make-per-book/">Authors Guild</a>, the median income of full-time authors was $20,300 in 2017, a figure that combined book income with related activities, such as speaking, teaching and reviewing. The <a href="https://www.asauthors.org/news/asa-survey-results-author-earnings-in-australia">Australian Society of Authors</a> has reported in 2020 that 53.6% of full-time writers earned “less than $15,000 per year from their creative practice”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-remarkable-prize-winning-rise-of-our-small-publishers-95645">Friday essay: the remarkable, prize-winning rise of our small publishers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agata Mrva-Montoya is Executive Member of the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities Inc. and a Member of the Accessibility Initiative Working Party, Institute of Professional Editors.</span></em></p>
Mega-publisher Penguin Random House wants to acquire Simon & Schuster, but the proposed merger could have some negative consequences.
Agata Mrva-Montoya, Lecturer, Department of Media and Communications, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/171396
2021-12-13T01:36:18Z
2021-12-13T01:36:18Z
Buying picture books as Christmas presents? These stories with diverse characters can help kids develop empathy
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437064/original/file-20211212-17-e3x2c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/three-little-boys-reading-book-on-1248193327">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gifting children books can be about more than just giving them something to read. Books are portals to adventure, imagination and new experiences. Importantly, books can help children understand and appreciate themselves, and those around them.</p>
<p>Sadly, books normalising racial, cultural, family or gender diversity and diverse abilities are <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/1/32">few and far between</a>.</p>
<p>When children see characters and stories reflecting their background, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-019-00375-7">they can develop a stronger sense of identity</a>. Research also shows reading books with diverse characters and story-lines helps children develop a greater <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1096250618811619">understanding and appreciation of people different to themselves</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/childrens-books-must-be-diverse-or-kids-will-grow-up-believing-white-is-superior-140736">Children's books must be diverse, or kids will grow up believing white is superior</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Here are some <a href="https://petaa.edu.au/w/Store/Item_Detail.aspx?iProductCode=PET128&Category=PEN">suggestions of diverse picture books</a> you could buy for kids this Christmas.</p>
<h2>1. Books with diverse characters</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435520/original/file-20211203-27-1hle88i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435520/original/file-20211203-27-1hle88i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435520/original/file-20211203-27-1hle88i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435520/original/file-20211203-27-1hle88i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435520/original/file-20211203-27-1hle88i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435520/original/file-20211203-27-1hle88i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435520/original/file-20211203-27-1hle88i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435520/original/file-20211203-27-1hle88i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.hachette.com.au/maxine-beneba-clarke-van-t-rudd/the-patchwork-bike">Hachette Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A student teacher I know was tutoring a nine-year-old Muslim girl and decided to share with her a book called <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35529549-the-rainbow-hijab">The Rainbow Hijab</a>. When the girl saw the book, her eyes lit up with excitement and she turned to her tutor and said, “I didn’t know they made books about Muslim girls like me.”</p>
<p>No child should feel invisible in books. All children should be able to see themselves and people different to them portrayed in positive and inclusive ways. </p>
<p>The best books for children are those containing enjoyable story lines and reflecting diversity without preaching about it.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/maxine-beneba-clarke-van-t-rudd/the-patchwork-bike">The Patchwork Bike</a> by Maxine Beneba Clarke, illustrated by Van T. Rudd, is about children of African and Muslim background and the bike they build together from things they find around them. All children can relate to the joyful story of playing outside and being creative.</p>
<p>Other books containing relatable childhood stories are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/childrens/picture-books/Auntys-Wedding-Miranda-Tapsell-Joshua-Tyler-and-Samantha-Fry-9781760524838">Aunty’s Wedding</a>, by Miranda Tapsell, illustrated by Joshua Tyler and Samantha Fry</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Books/Maddies-First-Day-9781925381351">Maddie’s First Day</a> by Penny Matthews, illustrated by Liz Annelli.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>2. Books portraying diverse abilities</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435522/original/file-20211203-25-8j8p2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435522/original/file-20211203-25-8j8p2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435522/original/file-20211203-25-8j8p2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435522/original/file-20211203-25-8j8p2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435522/original/file-20211203-25-8j8p2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435522/original/file-20211203-25-8j8p2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435522/original/file-20211203-25-8j8p2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435522/original/file-20211203-25-8j8p2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.magabala.com/products/two-mates">Magabala Books</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Almost 5% of children in Australia live with a <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-children/contents/health/children-disabilities">severe disability</a>, while nearly 8% have some level of disability. This number is likely higher as there are many children with undiagnosed complex needs, such as autism.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.magabala.com/products/two-mates">Two Mates</a>, written and illustrated by Melanie Prewett is about a young Aboriginal boy and his non-Indigenous best mate who has spina bifida. The story focuses on their mateship and adventures rather than highlighting their differences. All children benefit from seeing diverse abilities being portrayed in such a positive way.</p>
<p>Two others books in which diverse abilities are normalised rather than highlighted are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/536605/isaac-and-his-amazing-asperger-superpowers-by-melanie-walsh-illustrated-by-melanie-walsh/">Isaac and His Amazing Asperger Super Powers!</a> written and illustrated by Melanie Walsh</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://philcummings.com/reviews/">Boy</a> by Phil Cummings, illustrated by Shane Devries.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>3. Books portraying gender and family diversity</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435523/original/file-20211203-13-rzgnaj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435523/original/file-20211203-13-rzgnaj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435523/original/file-20211203-13-rzgnaj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435523/original/file-20211203-13-rzgnaj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435523/original/file-20211203-13-rzgnaj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435523/original/file-20211203-13-rzgnaj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435523/original/file-20211203-13-rzgnaj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435523/original/file-20211203-13-rzgnaj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://larrikinhouse.com/product/my-shadow-is-pink-hardcover/">Larrikin House</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many adults find selecting books for children challenging. My, and others’, research shows <a href="https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss8/4/">adults generally select children’s books based on what they loved</a> when they were children.</p>
<p>This can be a problem, as older books often reflect <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-021-00494-0">outdated views of gender, families, diverse cultures and abilities</a>. </p>
<p>For example, there are close to 48,000 single sex families in Australia. yet children from these families rarely see characters like them in books.</p>
<p><a href="https://larrikinhouse.com/product/my-shadow-is-pink-hardcover/">My Shadow is Pink</a>, written and illustrated by Scott Stuart, is a rhyming book about a young gender-diverse child. This book beautifully explores his relationship with his father who helps him be proud of who he is.</p>
<p>Two other books that tell stories of gender or family diversity in supportive and informative ways are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.scribblekidsbooks.com/books/p/whos-your-real-mum">Who’s Your Real Mum?</a> by Bernadette Green, illustrated by Anna Zobel </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/602705/love-makes-a-family-by-sophie-beer/">Love Makes a Family</a>, written and illustrated by Sophie Beer. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>4. Books challenging gender stereotypes</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.magabala.com/products/i-want-to-be-a-superhero">I Want to be a Superhero</a> by Breanna Humes, illustrated by Ambelin Kwaymullina tells the story of a little girl who wants to be a superhero. Her Grandpa encourages and supports her as she discovers it is OK to dream big. It is important for children to see that gender or race should not define who you are or what you can do.</p>
<p>Two others books promoting positive messages that disrupt traditional gender stereotypes are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/me-and-my-boots-by-penny-harrison/9781760502331">Me and my Boots</a> by Penny Harrison, illustrated by Evie Barrow </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/567598/want-to-play-trucks-by-ann-stott-illustrated-by-bob-graham/">Want to Play Trucks?</a> by Ann Stott, illustrated by Bob Graham.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hf_z-R8306k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>5. Books with messages about social justice</h2>
<p>These books shed light on important social justice issues through gentle informative stories.</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/maxine-beneba-clarke/when-we-say-black-lives-matter">When We Say Black Lives Matter</a>, written and illustrated by Maxine Beneba Clarke</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/childrens/Somebodys-Land-Welcome-to-Our-Country-Adam-Goodes-and-Ellie-Laing-illustrated-by-David-Hardy-9781760526726">Somebody’s Land</a> by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing, illustrated by David Hardy </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/stories-for-simon-9780143784258">Stories for Simon</a> by Lisa Miranda Sarzin, illustrated by Lauren Briggs.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Other diverse books I simply must recommend</h2>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.andersenpress.co.uk/books/the-proudest-blue/">The Proudest Blue</a> by Ibtihaj Muhammed (as told to S. K. Ali), illustrated by Hatem Aly</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Rainbow-Hijab-Amran-Abdi/dp/154119795X">The Rainbow Hijab</a> by Amran Abdi, illustrated by Nicola Davies</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.magabala.com/products/baby-business">Baby Business</a>, written and illustrated by Jasmine Seymour</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.magabala.com/products/once-there-was-a-boy">Once There Was a Boy</a>, written and illustrated by Dub Leffler.</p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171396/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Joanne Adam receives funding from the Freilich Project for the Study of Bigotry. She is a Board Director for the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia and serves in a voluntary capacity on the book selection panel for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Australia.</span></em></p>
Research shows reading books with diverse characters and story-lines helps children develop a greater understanding and appreciation of people different to themselves.
Helen Joanne Adam, Senior Lecturer in Literacy Education and Children's Literature: Course Coordinator Master of Teaching (Primary), Edith Cowan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/167991
2021-11-29T05:18:06Z
2021-11-29T05:18:06Z
Australian booksellers are facing a supply chain ‘crisis’. Here’s how books get into your hands – and how you can keep reading
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433046/original/file-20211122-23-1ud5rw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C4236%2C2828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pj Accetturo/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australians have <a href="https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/shopping-for-special-occasions/christmas-birthdays-and-gifts/articles/why-you-should-shop-early-for-christmas">been warned</a> to do their Christmas shopping early, as international supply chain issues are impacting global shipping. One industry under particular pressure is that of books, with printers, publishers and booksellers in Australia, the United States and Britain feeling the impact at their most important time of year.</p>
<p>Chris Redfern, who owns three Avenue Bookstores in Melbourne, recently <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-17/bookstores-facing-supply-chain-crisis-ahead-of-xmas/100626014">told the ABC</a> booksellers are facing “a crisis”.</p>
<p>While book supply chains are being affected globally, in <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/87306-the-book-biz-tries-to-avoid-supply-chain-disruptions.html">the United States</a>, paper and cardboard scarcity, along with labour shortages, are pressuring the situation at the printing press. </p>
<p>In the UK, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/sep/07/booksellers-warn-over-christmas-supplies-amid-uk-lorry-driver-shortage">shortage of lorry drivers</a> is limiting stock movement. This part of the supply chain is also being impacted in Australia. Our three major book distributors all use one company to distribute their books, and the company is reportedly “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-17/bookstores-facing-supply-chain-crisis-ahead-of-xmas/100626014">overwhelmed with demand</a>.”</p>
<p>Use of a single service provider for freight makes sense for purposes of cost control, but it’s a high-risk strategy, particularly during times when flow cycles are so disrupted. </p>
<h2>A problem for smaller players</h2>
<p>Supply chains operations are highly-coordinated. They aim to get the right product, in the right way, in the right quantity and quality, to the right person and place at the right time at the right cost. </p>
<p>Most booksellers embrace the low-cost, fast-paced principles of <a href="https://www.british-assessment.co.uk/insights/benefits-lean-supply-chain/">lean supply chains</a>: inventories are minimised with few resources wasted on books sitting idly in warehouses.</p>
<p>Most of the time, being able to respond to the market with agility exposes publishers, input suppliers, printers, transporters, warehouses and retailers to minimal risk.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433310/original/file-20211123-25-rv3pmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a bookshop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433310/original/file-20211123-25-rv3pmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433310/original/file-20211123-25-rv3pmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433310/original/file-20211123-25-rv3pmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433310/original/file-20211123-25-rv3pmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433310/original/file-20211123-25-rv3pmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433310/original/file-20211123-25-rv3pmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433310/original/file-20211123-25-rv3pmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Independent bookshops tend to only hold a few copies of each book in stock, but they can normally quickly respond to demand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hatice Yardım/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But this careful balance of coordinating everything begins to show stress when even one part is impacted – let alone the multiple stressors of COVID.</p>
<p>In the US, publishers are <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/87306-the-book-biz-tries-to-avoid-supply-chain-disruptions.html">encouraging</a> early ordering and bulk buying and holding large quantities of inventories to satisfy consumer demands. Large Australian book retailers like QBD and Booktopia have organised themselves in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-17/bookstores-facing-supply-chain-crisis-ahead-of-xmas/100626014">similar ways</a>. </p>
<p>But smaller players, such as independent bookshops, are less able to buy in bulk or maintain large inventories. They are more likely to order only what they reasonably believe they can sell, quickly ordering more books in relation to demand.</p>
<p>There are some <a href="https://my.ibisworld.com/au/en/industry-specialized/od5496/industry-at-a-glance">1,900 bookstores</a> in Australia that contribute about A$1.4 billion to the national economy. Most of the market – 84% – is made up of small players. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/love-of-bookshops-in-a-time-of-amazon-and-populism-82307">Love of bookshops in a time of Amazon and populism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Even pre-COVID, the industry has been under increasing pressure. Between 2016 and 2021, the industry contracted by <a href="https://my.ibisworld.com/au/en/industry-specialized/od5496/industry-at-a-glance">6.1%</a>, and it was expected to continue to fall. Printing of books was on the decline, and many bookstores shut or reduced their capacity.</p>
<p>Paper, printing, binding, logistics and warehousing have all been exposed to COVID-19 disruptions. But at the same time, when COVID hit, <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-escapism-book-sales-surge-covid-19/">demand for books suddenly increased</a> as people looked for amusement to get them through lockdown. The sudden increase in demand forced an industry in decline to play catch-up.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433313/original/file-20211123-23-gwt7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman reads a book" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433313/original/file-20211123-23-gwt7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433313/original/file-20211123-23-gwt7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433313/original/file-20211123-23-gwt7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433313/original/file-20211123-23-gwt7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433313/original/file-20211123-23-gwt7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433313/original/file-20211123-23-gwt7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433313/original/file-20211123-23-gwt7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demand for books increased during COVID lockdowns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matias North/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Books are still easy to find</h2>
<p>However supply chain issues shouldn’t be impacting our reading at all. There is a cheap, accessible and innovative form of books not reliant on many of the steps in the traditional book supply chain: ebooks.</p>
<p>Readers are now capable of using technology to circumvent the printing and delivery process by buying and instantly downloading books at very low cost. But printed books are still in demand.</p>
<p>In 2020, 15.9% of Australians <a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/05/print-books-are-still-outselling-ebooks-study-finds/">purchased an ebook</a> but 41.2% purchased a printed book. This is in <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d97w2gurvkd6h84/AAC2wdyJ9SlkQ28KYEDZk1XOa?dl=0&preview=2017-2020+ARIA+Statistics.pdf">sharp contrast</a> to music sales: physical music sales in Australia in 2020 accounted for just 11% of sales revenue.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/has-the-print-book-trumped-digital-beware-of-glib-conclusions-77174">Has the print book trumped digital? Beware of glib conclusions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It has been suggested <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenduffer/2019/05/28/readers-still-prefer-physical-books/?sh=ea3dc21fdff6">people prefer the physical texture of books</a> and our brains are hardwired to inherently process <a href="http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/why-humans-prefer-print-books/">analogue information</a>. In spite of the promising adoption of new reading technologies we remain wedded to the printed word – but even this doesn’t mean we should remain wedded to supply chains.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433314/original/file-20211123-25-1hs75ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A little library" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433314/original/file-20211123-25-1hs75ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433314/original/file-20211123-25-1hs75ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433314/original/file-20211123-25-1hs75ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433314/original/file-20211123-25-1hs75ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433314/original/file-20211123-25-1hs75ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433314/original/file-20211123-25-1hs75ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433314/original/file-20211123-25-1hs75ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For the avid reader, there are many ways to get your book fix.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For those dedicated to print, there are many more options: choosing a book you haven’t heard of from your local bookshop, buying from second-hand bookstores, borrowing from libraries, swapping books with friends and participating in local little libraries. </p>
<p>Supply chains may be impacting the shelves of your favourite independent book seller, but there is no reason they should impact your reading joy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167991/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth (Liz) Jackson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Most of Australia’s books are distributed by just one company. The stress of COVID has hit this supplier, and your local bookshop.
Elizabeth (Liz) Jackson, Senior Lecturer in Supply Chain Management & Logistics, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/161664
2021-05-28T03:39:35Z
2021-05-28T03:39:35Z
Vale Eric Carle: creator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a story of hope … and holes
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403126/original/file-20210527-17-t6rflu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C2977%2C2038&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos-cdn.aap.com.au/Image/20210527001545437359?path=/aap_dev11/device/imagearc/2021/05-27/bd/fb/8d/aapimage-7fyhmqbwqb711da017r9_layout.jpg">AP Photo/Richard Drew</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Eric Carle, author and illustrator of beloved children’s book, <a href="https://eric-carle.com/eric-carle-book-gallery/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-1969/">The Very Hungry Caterpillar</a>, died on Sunday — the same day his famous caterpillar is born.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One Sunday morning, the warm sun came up — and pop! — out of the egg came a very tiny and hungry caterpillar.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Described by author Mo Willems as a “<a href="https://twitter.com/The_Pigeon/status/1397698610125488129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">gentleman with a mischievous charm</a>”, Carle might have appreciated the irony. </p>
<p>All living things grow and change and die.</p>
<p>But while a caterpillar’s life is spectacularly short, Carle lived for 91 years. He wrote <a href="https://eric-carle.com/books/english-language/">more than 70 books</a>. His most celebrated, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, is frequently cited as one of the <a href="https://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2012/06/28/top-100-picture-books-2-the-very-hungry-caterpillar-by-eric-carle/">best picture books</a> of all time. With just 224 words, it has sold roughly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/oct/22/booksforchildrenandteenagers">a copy per minute</a> since its publication in 1969.</p>
<h2>Growing wings</h2>
<p>Despite The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s success, Carle always seemed baffled by the persistent buzz.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF9o-QtoPeE">2014</a>, when asked about the book’s popularity, Carle responded, “I haven’t come up with an answer, but I think it’s a book of hope”. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/14/garden/studio-with-eric-carle-for-children-very-simple-stories-with-very-vibrant-art.html">A decade earlier</a>, he seemed more settled on the idea: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I remember that as a child, I always felt I would never grow up and be big and articulate and intelligent. ‘Caterpillar’ is a book of hope: you, too, can grow up and grow wings.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Remarkably, Carle remained humble. In an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF9o-QtoPeE">interview</a> he gave not long before his death, Carle quietly acknowledged the importance of his work. </p>
<p>“You know, now it’s sinking in,” he said. “It’s taken me a long time to realise, and it is sinking in.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CPWoGWJLH7I","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>A glimmer of hope</h2>
<p>Like many children’s authors, Carle enlists fantasy to serve the narrative. He speaks to children through animals and insects. In books like <a href="https://eric-carle.com/eric-carle-book-gallery/brown-bear-brown-bear-what-do-you-see/">Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?</a> (written by Bill Martin) he gives agency to bugs and beetles, and situates the smallest creatures on the same continuum as humans. His work comforts us. The predictable and noncontroversial behaviour of animals is reassuring. </p>
<p>Unlike humans, animals are consistent.</p>
<p>Carle’s caterpillar might be gluttonous, but at least he is true to himself. And he doesn’t apologise for his appetite. He is very hungry, after all.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/empathy-starts-early-5-australian-picture-books-that-celebrate-diversity-153629">Empathy starts early: 5 Australian picture books that celebrate diversity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The book hasn’t been without controversy.</p>
<p>Both George W. Bush and Hilary Clinton read the book to children on their campaign trails — with Bush <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/oct/22/booksforchildrenandteenagers">earning digs</a> for refusing to read any other books, and naming Caterpillar as his favourite children’s book, even though it came out when he was 23. </p>
<p>The American Academy of Pediatrics uses the book as a learning tool to promote healthy eating and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/is-that-right-the-very-hungry-caterpillar-teaches-kids-to-eat-right/2011/03/17/ABFoenl_story.html">educate about the risks of obesity</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1253003427342356483"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/abused-neglected-abandoned-did-roald-dahl-hate-children-as-much-as-the-witches-did-152813">Abused, neglected, abandoned — did Roald Dahl hate children as much as the witches did?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A book full of holes</h2>
<p>A child of wartime trauma, with a background in graphic design and advertising, Carle was playing around with a hole punch when he had the idea for a story about a bookworm. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was originally titled A Week with Willi the Worm. But Carle’s first choice of critter was abandoned at the suggestion of his editor, <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/85889-obituary-ann-k-beneduce.html">Ann Beneduce</a>, who insisted worms didn’t make likeable characters.</p>
<p>Thus, The Very Hungry Caterpillar emerged, followed by <a href="https://eric-carle.com/eric-carle-book-gallery/the-very-busy-spider-1984/">The Very Busy Spider</a>, <a href="https://eric-carle.com/eric-carle-book-gallery/the-very-quiet-cricket-1990/">The Very Quiet Cricket</a>, and <a href="https://eric-carle.com/eric-carle-book-gallery/the-very-lonely-firefly-1995/">The Very Lonely Firefly</a>.</p>
<p>Carle went on to write about grouchy ladybugs, dejected chameleons, even homeless hermit crabs — but never a worm.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403249/original/file-20210528-23-omnt2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover: caterpillar" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403249/original/file-20210528-23-omnt2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403249/original/file-20210528-23-omnt2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403249/original/file-20210528-23-omnt2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403249/original/file-20210528-23-omnt2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403249/original/file-20210528-23-omnt2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403249/original/file-20210528-23-omnt2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403249/original/file-20210528-23-omnt2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/301943/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-by-eric-carle/9780399226908">Penguin Random House</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Art of wonder</h2>
<p>Despite his prolific publishing career, Carle didn’t think of himself as an author, preferring instead the term “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/eric-carle-creating-hungry-caterpillar-wanted-call-willi-worm/">picture writer</a>”.</p>
<p>His style is distinct: minimalist text, vibrant illustrations and a multisensory reading experience that moves beyond the simple turning of a page.</p>
<p>The Very Lonely Firefly, for example, includes a set of battery-operated twinkling lights. Mister Seahorse, the story of a fish father who cares for his babies, contains transparent inserts printed with sea environments that can be overlayed as semi-opaque pages. </p>
<p>In Caterpillar, the page width is progressively increased to reflect the quantity of food consumed. Each image of food has a caterpillar-sized hole cutout, as if it has been chomped through. </p>
<p>Ultimately, after some mild abdominal pain and a medicinal green leaf, he transforms into a handsome butterfly.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vkYmvxP0AJI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘On Monday, he ate through one apple, but he was still hungry…’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Carle’s multifaceted practice, combined with his distinctive visual language, transforms his books into objects of wonder and play, lending themselves to repeated readings.</p>
<p>Moreover, while Carle’s images are carefully constructed through technical processes, his work maintains a childlike quality.</p>
<p>His images reflect how children see their world — a series of bold shapes, exaggerated features and fields of moving colour (an effect achieved by <a href="https://blog.dct.org/tissue-paper-transformations-eric-carles-famous-collages-go-from-page-to-stage/">collaging on hand-painted tissue</a>). </p>
<p>Indeed, Carle’s bold and bright colours are particularly effective given what we know about the <a href="https://sciencing.com/how-to-teach-about-the-solar-system-to-children-12741679.html">developmental stages</a> of a child’s vision: younger children are better able to perceive and distinguish between bright colours than fainter shades.</p>
<p>Carle called his work “deceptively simple”, a great accomplishment for a man, who — in his words — tried “all his life to simplify things”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unpacking-the-magic-of-miffy-a-simply-drawn-bunny-shaped-friend-149725">Unpacking the magic of Miffy, a simply drawn, bunny-shaped friend</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: this article originally included quotes from a 2015 interview published online by The Paris Review. The publication has now stated that the interview was a parody.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Eric Carle’s famous book about a caterpillar was originally about a book worm.
Kate Cantrell, Lecturer in Writing, Editing, and Publishing, University of Southern Queensland
Rhiannan Johnson, Lecturer in Visual Art, University of Southern Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/158960
2021-04-15T03:00:00Z
2021-04-15T03:00:00Z
Brittany Higgins’ memoir will join a powerful Australian collection reclaiming women’s stories of trauma. Here are four
<p><a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/how-australian-politics-has-been-shaken-to-the-core-in-the-wake-of-brittany-higgins-rape-allegation">Brittany Higgins</a> has <a href="https://twitter.com/PenguinBooksAus/status/1381872347339177984">signed a book deal</a> with Penguin Random House Australia. Not just any book — a <a href="https://celadonbooks.com/what-is-a-memoir/">memoir</a>. </p>
<p>Higgins <a href="https://www.marieclaire.com.au/brittany-higgins-memoir">says her book</a> will be a chance to tell “a firsthand account of what it was like surviving a media storm that turned into a movement”.</p>
<p>Memoir can help readers explore and understand trauma from a very personal perspective. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170601-can-writing-about-pain-make-you-heal-faster">Research suggests</a> writing can be used to work through, or even heal from, <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma">trauma</a>. It is a chance for a writer like Higgins,
who alleges she was raped in a senior minister’s office, to reclaim her story. </p>
<p>Here are four powerful Australian examples of women’s memoirs about trauma and abuse.</p>
<h2>1. Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395153/original/file-20210415-13-1uaq5ce.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover: eggshell skull" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395153/original/file-20210415-13-1uaq5ce.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395153/original/file-20210415-13-1uaq5ce.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395153/original/file-20210415-13-1uaq5ce.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395153/original/file-20210415-13-1uaq5ce.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395153/original/file-20210415-13-1uaq5ce.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395153/original/file-20210415-13-1uaq5ce.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395153/original/file-20210415-13-1uaq5ce.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/other-books/Eggshell-Skull-Bri-Lee-9781760295776">Allen & Unwin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sydney-based author, writer, and researcher Bri Lee witnessed justice and heartbreak while working as a <a href="https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/about/jobs-with-the-courts/judges-associates">judge’s associate </a>in the Queensland District Court. Two years later, she took her own abuser to court.</p>
<p>Although the abuse occurred in childhood, Lee pursued a conviction for the perpetrator (a family friend) in young adulthood. In <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/other-books/Eggshell-Skull-Bri-Lee-9781760295776">her 2018 book</a>, she acknowledges that the longer the time between an incident and investigation, <a href="https://theconversation.com/delays-in-reporting-alleged-rapes-are-common-even-years-later-this-isnt-a-barrier-to-justice-156201">the more potential hurdles may arise</a>; her journey for justice is far from straightforward.</p>
<p>Lee acknowledges this in the way she explores personal, public, and legal discourse surrounding abuse. She jumps back and forth in time, and weaves her story with others in the <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/legal-system">Australian legal system</a> in a blend of journalistic and personal storytelling. This approach also acknowledges <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150205-how-extreme-fear-shapes-the-mind">trauma can affect memory</a>. Details can be unbearably clear, difficult to remember, or both.</p>
<p>Through poetic reflection, and searing critique, Lee carves a space for her story.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-weeks-news-has-put-sexual-assault-survivors-at-risk-of-secondary-trauma-heres-how-it-happens-and-how-to-cope-156482">This week's news has put sexual assault survivors at risk of 'secondary trauma'. Here's how it happens, and how to cope</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. No Matter Our Wreckage by Gemma Carey</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395154/original/file-20210415-16-a8gdhh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover: No matter our wreckage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395154/original/file-20210415-16-a8gdhh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395154/original/file-20210415-16-a8gdhh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395154/original/file-20210415-16-a8gdhh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395154/original/file-20210415-16-a8gdhh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395154/original/file-20210415-16-a8gdhh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395154/original/file-20210415-16-a8gdhh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395154/original/file-20210415-16-a8gdhh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/other-books/No-Matter-Our-Wreckage-Gemma-Carey-9781760877675">Allen & Unwin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From age 12, Gemma Carey was groomed and abused by a man twice her age. In young adulthood, Carey discovers her mother knew about the abuse. When her mother dies, the enduring effects of this betrayal surface.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-can-you-keep-a-secret-family-memoirs-break-taboos-and-trust-52699">Family memoirs are often taboo</a>; family memoir about child abuse and complicity even more so. Despite fraught themes, the Sydney-based author and academic writes with rigour and honesty. <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/other-books/No-Matter-Our-Wreckage-Gemma-Carey-9781760877675">Her 2020 memoir</a> asks us to examine social — and family — structures which allow these injustices. </p>
<p>Carey’s tone is dark but inquisitive. She speaks directly to readers, incorporating research, and unpicking the threads of trauma and grief.</p>
<p>Carey emphasises writing about abuse doesn’t always fit a mould. In an interview, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/23/i-wrote-a-memoir-about-abuse-that-doesnt-mean-youre-entitled-to-every-detail">she explains</a>, “Writing trauma stories that will change societal narratives around abuse and victims involves showing the contradictions that exist in trauma and grief”.</p>
<p>In her book, she reflects on her younger self, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was broken and trying to work out how to fix myself … no one had ever given me the tools… I had to figure it out on my own.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This rebuilding took time. At 12, Carey buried her experience, at 17 she successfully took the perpetrator to court, in adulthood, she wrote her memoir.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-we-need-childrens-life-stories-like-i-am-greta-148178">Friday essay: why we need children's life stories like I Am Greta</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. The Anti-Cool Girl by Rosie Waterland</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395155/original/file-20210415-22-1ojg77g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover: the anti cool girl" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395155/original/file-20210415-22-1ojg77g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395155/original/file-20210415-22-1ojg77g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395155/original/file-20210415-22-1ojg77g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395155/original/file-20210415-22-1ojg77g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395155/original/file-20210415-22-1ojg77g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395155/original/file-20210415-22-1ojg77g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395155/original/file-20210415-22-1ojg77g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.harperapps.com/hcanz/covers/9781460750643/y648.jpg">Harper Collins</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460750643/the-anti-cool-girl/">The Anti-Cool Girl</a> (2018), comedian and writer Rosie Waterland reveals a turbulent childhood; drug and alcohol-addicted parents, absent family, death and loss, poverty, mental health struggles, and sexual abuse experienced within the Australian <a href="https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/care-and-support/foster-care/how-adoption-is-different-from-foster-care">foster care</a> system.</p>
<p>Waterland writes unflinchingly. She tackles difficult subjects with intelligence and humour. Each chapter is addressed to herself: “You will be in rehab several times before you’re ten years old”, or “Your foster dad will stick his hands down his pants, and you will feel so, so lucky”. Like Carey, Waterland acknowledges trauma often manifests in ways which might seem “odd” or “unconventional” to others.</p>
<p>While comedic throughout, Waterland approaches her trauma with care and, understandably, anger. <a href="https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/rosie-waterland-abuse-story/4c9c33d1-28e4-401b-b94b-cd7562b3be4e">She later lamented</a> that she was unable to name her abuser, due to fears of litigation.</p>
<p>The Anti-Cool Girl, blending humour and pain, remains a testament to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-25/rosie-waterland-vows-to-stop-mining-her-painful-past-for-comedy/10879424">Waterland’s endurance and survival</a>.</p>
<h2>4. The Girls by Chloe Higgins</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395157/original/file-20210415-13-kvg7ac.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover: the girls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395157/original/file-20210415-13-kvg7ac.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395157/original/file-20210415-13-kvg7ac.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395157/original/file-20210415-13-kvg7ac.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395157/original/file-20210415-13-kvg7ac.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395157/original/file-20210415-13-kvg7ac.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395157/original/file-20210415-13-kvg7ac.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395157/original/file-20210415-13-kvg7ac.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760782238/">Pan Macmillan</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Chloe Higgins’ sisters — Carlie and Lisa — died in a car accident when Higgins was 17. In <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760782238/">her 2019 memoir</a> Higgins — a Wollongong-based author and academic — asks us to consider the nature of ongoing grief and the way trauma stretches over different experiences.</p>
<p>Higgins’ grief influences her sexual experiences in often troubling ways — but the way she discusses it is revolutionary. She explores the weaponisation of sex, how it is a form of self-harm; sex and substance abuse, and the pleasures and pressures of sex work. </p>
<p>She jumps between stories of gentility (caring lovers, exploration, sex clients who felt more like friends) and horror stories featuring <a href="https://www.womenshealth.gov/relationships-and-safety/other-types/sexual-coercion">coercion</a> and fear, threats, and sex without consent. Higgins examines her own experiences and links them to memory, identity, and control.</p>
<p>In her Author’s Note, Higgins reflects: “Publishing this book is about stepping out of my shame”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>These are not the only parts of me, but they are the parts I’ve chosen to focus on … Since that period of my life, I have begun to recover.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These books signal the importance of memoir as a platform where personal trauma stories are told, reclaimed, and witnessed. They are a valuable (and intimate) contribution to the conversation about trauma and sexual abuse in Australia.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-the-story-writing-trauma-in-cynthia-banhams-a-certain-light-115301">Inside the story: writing trauma in Cynthia Banham's A Certain Light</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Deller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Brittany Higgins’ forthcoming memoir will allow her to tell her story in her own words. She’ll join a group of strong women who’ve done just that.
Marina Deller, PhD Candidate, Flinders University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/108249
2021-03-28T19:02:50Z
2021-03-28T19:02:50Z
Hidden women of history: Hélisenne de Crenne, the first French novelist to tell her own story
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383955/original/file-20210212-17-1vr4m8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C38%2C624%2C822&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vittore Carpaccio's portrait of a woman reading (1510). </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/vittore-carpaccio/the-virgin-reading-1510">Wikiart</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In this <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/hidden-women-of-history-64072">series</a>, we look at under-acknowledged women through the ages.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In 1538, a new author burst on to the literary scene in Paris. Published by Denys Janot, four new works appeared within five years by a writer known as <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095647244">Hélisenne de Crenne</a>. </p>
<p>The first was <em><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26285887?seq=1">Les Angoysses douloureuses qui procedent d'amours</a></em> (The Torments of Love), a novel that depicted the disastrous consequences of an adulterous affair. </p>
<p>In 1539 came a collection of letters that explored women’s speech, education, friendship and legal rights among its topics.</p>
<p>In 1540 she published <em><a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/helisenne-de-crenne-le-songe-de-madame-helisenne-1540-colette-winn-anne-larsen/10.4324/9781315861067-12">Le Songe</a></em> (The Dream), a moral and didactic work in which a woman and her lover reflected upon the perils of lust.</p>
<p>Her last known work was a translation into French prose of the first four books of Virgil’s <a href="https://www.academia.edu/43143329/_1998_H%C3%A9lisenne_de_Crennes_translation_of_the_Aeneid_the_pursuit_of_a_stile_h%C3%A9ro%C3%AFque">Aeneid</a> (1541), dedicated to the king, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-I-king-of-France">Francis I</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-virgils-aeneid-85459">Guide to the Classics: Virgil’s Aeneid</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Hélisenne de Crenne was the pen name of Marguerite Briet, the daughter of a legal family from Abbeville. Few details of her life are certain, but we know that she obtained a legal separation from her husband, Philippe Fournel, Lord of Crenne, and moved to Paris, the centre of French literary activities and publishing. There she owned several properties. It appears that her son, Pierre, was a student there in 1548.</p>
<p>Hélisenne was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctv8pzd9w.13.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A229d2b299d35576fbbd95e9cea46e807">the first living woman of the century to be printed in France</a> and hers was <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095647244">the first autobiographical novel to be published in French</a>. The publication of her works was remarkable in several ways. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383945/original/file-20210212-13-dyj6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="line drawing of royal court scene" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383945/original/file-20210212-13-dyj6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383945/original/file-20210212-13-dyj6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383945/original/file-20210212-13-dyj6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383945/original/file-20210212-13-dyj6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383945/original/file-20210212-13-dyj6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383945/original/file-20210212-13-dyj6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383945/original/file-20210212-13-dyj6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration from the translation of Virgil’s verse depicts Hélisenne presenting it to the king.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15101304.r=helisenne%20de%20crenne%20eneydes?rk=21459;2">Bibliothèque nationale de France</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fornication-fluids-and-faeces-the-intimate-life-of-the-french-court-71982">Fornication, fluids and faeces: the intimate life of the French court</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Speaking out</h2>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=vHx_DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">Women represented less than 1% of all identifiable published authors in 16th-century France</a>. Female literacy and broader education was not as high as for men at the same social levels. </p>
<p>Women at court were producing sophisticated intellectual and creative works that circulated in manuscript. Print publication provided a more open and visible expression than manuscript circulation, but was limited to a more select few. Even women in powerful social positions acknowledged expectations that women should restrict their speech to the domestic sphere. </p>
<p>Most women writers provided lengthy justifications or apologies for their venture into print. Hélisenne <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=vHx_DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT83&ots=Z0Z5o0h2Ks&dq=mention%20of%20immodest%20love%2C%20which%20according%20to%20the%20opinion%20of%20some%20shy%20women%20could%20be%20judged%20more%20worthy%20to%20be%20conserved%20in%20profound%20silence%20than%20to%20be%20published%20for%20a%20widespread%20audience.&pg=PT83#v=onepage&q=mention%20of%20immodest%20love,%20which%20according%20to%20the%20opinion%20of%20some%20shy%20women%20could%20be%20judged%20more%20worthy%20to%20be%20conserved%20in%20profound%20silence%20than%20to%20be%20published%20for%20a%20widespread%20audience.&f=false">claimed to hesitate</a> to make “mention of immodest love, which according to the opinion of some shy women could be judged more worthy to be conserved in profound silence than to be published for a widespread audience”. Nevertheless, she pressed on.</p>
<p>Rather than locate herself in a line of female authors, Hélisenne identified herself in a tradition of the male canon for her authority to write. The opening phrase of her <em>Le Songe</em> recalled none other than Cicero as her model: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>…in imitation of him, the desire arose in me to relate in detail to you a dream worthy of recording.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-enheduanna-princess-priestess-and-the-worlds-first-known-author-109185">Hidden women of history: Enheduanna, princess, priestess and the world's first known author</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Small books to carry</h2>
<p>Print publication offered a woman without elite networks access to a large pool of readers, and perhaps a way to reach potential patrons at court. </p>
<p>The dedication of her translation to Francis I and her praise of his sister, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-of-Angouleme">Marguerite de Navarre</a> (another prolific author whose works appears in print over the course of the century), in her Letters suggests that Hélisenne may have hoped for their patronage.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250622/original/file-20181214-185243-1q9dhip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250622/original/file-20181214-185243-1q9dhip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250622/original/file-20181214-185243-1q9dhip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250622/original/file-20181214-185243-1q9dhip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250622/original/file-20181214-185243-1q9dhip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250622/original/file-20181214-185243-1q9dhip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1277&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250622/original/file-20181214-185243-1q9dhip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250622/original/file-20181214-185243-1q9dhip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1277&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Le Songe de madame Helisenne Crenne (1541)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bibliothèque nationale de France</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The staggered release of her writings seems to have been planned to heighten their impact. Her publisher, Denys Janot, mainly published works in French, targetting a popular market and using on-trend Roman typeface rather than the heavy, old-fashioned Gothic script.</p>
<p>Most of Hélisenne’s works, like those of other female writers, were in <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/books/rarebooks/collecting-guide/understanding-rare-books/guide-book-formats.shtml">small sizes</a> such as octavo, duodecimo and sextodecimo. These were portable and cheap, unlike the larger-sized folio and quarto scholarly and religious works intended to be consulted in libraries as part of a long-lasting record, though her translation of Virgil’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12914.The_Aeneid">Aeneid</a> was produced as a folio, with extensive woodcut illustrations.</p>
<h2>A female perspective</h2>
<p>Hélisenne was one of the first women writers who sought publication of her work seemingly as a conscious contribution to contemporary popular literature. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383959/original/file-20210212-13-kbysui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383959/original/file-20210212-13-kbysui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383959/original/file-20210212-13-kbysui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383959/original/file-20210212-13-kbysui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383959/original/file-20210212-13-kbysui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383959/original/file-20210212-13-kbysui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1174&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383959/original/file-20210212-13-kbysui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1174&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383959/original/file-20210212-13-kbysui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1174&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348760867l/5412940.jpg">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Her novel, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5412940-torments-of-love">The Torments of Love</a>, involves an unusual structure, retelling the same events from the perspective of three different narrators: Hélisenne, her lover Guénélic, and Guénélic’s best friend, Quézinstra. Each section offers new insights to the overarching narrative, and each has its own distinctive tone and style.</p>
<p>The work’s balancing of elements from chivalric literature and a new emotional sensibility culminates in its conclusion as a battle between Athena and Venus over the book itself.</p>
<p>Her translation of Aeneid was equally radical, creatively embellishing the original from a female perspective with a highly sympathetic presentation of Dido’s plight and women’s loyalty in love.</p>
<p>She was very proud of her publication in the city that was the intellectual and publishing centre of France, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=yorgAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=noble+Parisian+city">saying</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… it is an inestimable pleasure to me to think that my books are on sale in this noble Parisian city, which is inhabited by an innumerable multitude of wonderfully learned people.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-catherine-hay-thomson-the-australian-undercover-journalist-who-went-inside-asylums-and-hospitals-129352">Hidden women of history: Catherine Hay Thomson, the Australian undercover journalist who went inside asylums and hospitals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A commercial success</h2>
<p>Hélisenne’s work were a commercial success, going through nine editions in a short, intense period to 1560.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383949/original/file-20210212-23-1wfho93.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pencil drawing on young woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383949/original/file-20210212-23-1wfho93.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383949/original/file-20210212-23-1wfho93.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383949/original/file-20210212-23-1wfho93.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383949/original/file-20210212-23-1wfho93.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383949/original/file-20210212-23-1wfho93.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383949/original/file-20210212-23-1wfho93.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383949/original/file-20210212-23-1wfho93.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A nineteenth-century artist’s imagined Helisenne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dictionnaire-creatrices.com/static/uploadfolder/evidensse_creatrice/2017/09/CRENNE_H%C3%A9lisenne.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Torments of Love is Hélisenne’s only work to be dedicated to female readers who she called “all honest ladies”. Elsewhere, she assumed her works would be of interest to everyone, including the king. </p>
<p>A later editor did not agree. Claude Colet explained in the introduction to the 1550 edition of her works that <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=yorgAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Claude+colet%27s+introduction">his extensive simplification of her Latinate style for young ladies</a> was “to render the obscure words or those too much like Latin into our own familiar language, so that they will be more intelligible to you”.</p>
<p>The last known evidence of this groundbreaking author is in 1552 but, in her lifetime, she had achieved a remarkable series of literary firsts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108249/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Broomhall receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
The first French novelist wrote about an adulterous affair and moved to Paris after separating from her husband.
Susan Broomhall, Director, Gender and Women's History Research Centre, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/150543
2020-12-02T19:08:08Z
2020-12-02T19:08:08Z
In our own voices: 5 Australian books about living with disability
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371928/original/file-20201130-17-h9ygr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C18%2C4168%2C2829&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-happy-women-disability-having-600w-376635907.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fiction and non-fiction works about disability and Deafness are often hampered by stereotypical representations. A disability is frequently presented as something to “overcome”, or used to characterise someone (ever notice all those evil characters portrayed as disfigured?). </p>
<p>These representations obscure the joys, frustrations and creativity of living with disability and Deafness. </p>
<p>Dutch author <a href="https://www.corinneduyvis.net/bio/">Corinne Duyvis</a> started the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ownvoices&src=hashtag_click">#OwnVoices</a> movement on Twitter because she was frustrated that calls for diversity within the publishing industry did not extend to diverse authors. Originating in discussions of young adult fiction, #OwnVoices aims to highlight books written by authors who share a marginalised identity with the protagonist. </p>
<p><a href="https://oxlifewriting.wordpress.com/what-is-life-writing/">Life writing</a> also provides firsthand accounts of disability and Deafness, showing what it is like to navigate a world designed for able-bodied people. In addition, these books help people with disability and Deafness learn more about their condition, and create community.</p>
<p>Australia has an established <a href="https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/12996363">literary tradition of writing about disability</a>. Here are five books by Australian disabled writers that reveal insights into their lives and conditions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/creating-and-being-seen-new-projects-focus-on-the-rights-of-artists-with-disabilities-124270">Creating and being seen: new projects focus on the rights of artists with disabilities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>1. Alan Marshall’s Hammers Over the Anvil (1975)</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371918/original/file-20201130-19-vvguvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hammers Over the Anvil book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371918/original/file-20201130-19-vvguvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371918/original/file-20201130-19-vvguvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371918/original/file-20201130-19-vvguvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371918/original/file-20201130-19-vvguvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371918/original/file-20201130-19-vvguvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371918/original/file-20201130-19-vvguvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371918/original/file-20201130-19-vvguvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many readers will be familiar with Marshall’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1954212.I_Can_Jump_Puddles">I Can Jump Puddles</a> (1955), the first book in his series about growing up and living with polio in rural Australia. </p>
<p>Where that book is a cheerful and somewhat sanitised account of living with a disability, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4564062-hammers-over-the-anvil">Hammers Over the Anvil</a> (1975), the fourth and final book in Marshall’s series, is more realistic. </p>
<p>Marshall’s publisher <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essay/alan-marshall-helen-keller/">refused to publish the book</a>, thinking it would tarnish his image. Despite — or perhaps because of — his brutal treatment, Marshall shows a keen sympathy for disenfranchised people and also for animals.</p>
<h2>2. Donna Williams’ Nobody Nowhere: The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic Girl (1991)</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371917/original/file-20201130-13-18odlpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Nobody Nowhere book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371917/original/file-20201130-13-18odlpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371917/original/file-20201130-13-18odlpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371917/original/file-20201130-13-18odlpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371917/original/file-20201130-13-18odlpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371917/original/file-20201130-13-18odlpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1167&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371917/original/file-20201130-13-18odlpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1167&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371917/original/file-20201130-13-18odlpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1167&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Donna Williams was not diagnosed with autism until she was an adult; prior to that she was thought to be deaf and psychotic. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240236.Nobody_Nowhere?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=xY2Rlc5GSc&rank=1">Her story</a> begins at age three and is thick with sensory details, which both delight and overwhelm Williams. She recounts interactions with hostile people — including her own mother, who wanted to admit Williams to an institution. </p>
<p>This book was the first full-length, published account by a person with autism in Australia. It became an international bestseller, spending 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was translated into 20 languages.</p>
<h2>3. Gayle Kennedy’s Me, Antman & Fleabag (2007)</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371921/original/file-20201130-19-8a76ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Me, Antman & Fleabag book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371921/original/file-20201130-19-8a76ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371921/original/file-20201130-19-8a76ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371921/original/file-20201130-19-8a76ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371921/original/file-20201130-19-8a76ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371921/original/file-20201130-19-8a76ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1174&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371921/original/file-20201130-19-8a76ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1174&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371921/original/file-20201130-19-8a76ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1174&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6271288-me-antman-fleabag">this book</a>, Gayle Kennedy, of the Wongaibon people of south west New South Wales, uses a series of engaging vignettes to describe her life as a First Nations woman who had polio. </p>
<p>Kennedy was sent away for treatment. When she returned, her parents seemed like strangers; it took a while to readjust. Though the subject matter sounds heavy, this humorous and accessible work is rich with stories about the importance of family (including dogs!) and the impact of racism. </p>
<p>It is also an important book because it chronicles some of the experiences of First Nations people with disability. It won the David Unaipon award in 2006.</p>
<h2>4. Andy Jackson’s Music Our Bodies Can’t Hold (2017)</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371923/original/file-20201130-19-13ebaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Music Our Bodies Can’t Hold book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371923/original/file-20201130-19-13ebaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371923/original/file-20201130-19-13ebaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371923/original/file-20201130-19-13ebaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371923/original/file-20201130-19-13ebaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371923/original/file-20201130-19-13ebaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371923/original/file-20201130-19-13ebaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371923/original/file-20201130-19-13ebaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Poet Andy Jackson, who has a condition called <a href="https://www.marfan.org/about/marfan">Marfan Syndrome</a> that affects the body’s connective tissue, began performing poetry to give himself more control over representations of his body. </p>
<p>His <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37925153-music-our-bodies-can-t-hold?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=8OXcrQ6JO5&rank=1">collection</a> consists of biographical poems of people with Marfan Syndrome, some of whom he interviewed, and historical figures who are <a href="https://hartfordhealthcare.org/services/heart-vascular/conditions/marfan-syndrome#:%7E:text=Abraham%20Lincoln%20is%20the%20most,bin%20Laden%20had%20Marfan%20syndrome.">thought to have had the condition</a>, including Abraham Lincoln, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, Mary Queen of Scots, composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and blues guitarist Robert Johnson. </p>
<p>Poetry, with its focus on voice, is strongly connected to the way that bodies express themselves, often in unique ways. As Jackson writes at the end of his poem Jess: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>now look at this photo and tell me</p>
<p>you still want sameness.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>5. Carly Findlay (ed), Growing Up Disabled in Australia (2021)</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372122/original/file-20201201-19-da4dsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Growing up Disabled book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372122/original/file-20201201-19-da4dsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372122/original/file-20201201-19-da4dsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372122/original/file-20201201-19-da4dsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372122/original/file-20201201-19-da4dsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372122/original/file-20201201-19-da4dsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372122/original/file-20201201-19-da4dsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372122/original/file-20201201-19-da4dsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The final book on my list is one I haven’t read yet — but I cannot wait until I can. Edited by Carly Findley, who has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyosis">ichthyosis</a>, this collection to be <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/growing-disabled-australia">released early next year</a>, will highlight the range of childhoods experienced by people with disability in Australia. </p>
<p>We will be able to read about how young people manage ableism and the (sometimes) soreness of not fitting in, and interviews with prominent Australians such as Senator Jordon Steele-John and Paralympian Isis Holt. </p>
<p>I lost most of my hearing when I was four, and when I was growing up I didn’t read a single book that featured a character who was Deaf. Books like Growing Up Disabled will help young Deaf and disabled people recognise themselves in Australian literature.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-shadow-whose-prey-the-hunter-becomes-review-back-to-back-theatres-exciting-reframing-of-disability-124003">The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes review: Back to Back Theatre's exciting reframing of disability</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In my own hybrid memoir, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46206962-hearing-maud?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=hqfHdjl3B2&rank=1">Hearing Maud</a>, I weave together my experiences of Deafness with those of Maud Praed, the Deaf daughter of 19th century expatriate <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/praed-rosa-caroline-8095">Australian novelist Rosa Praed</a>. </p>
<p>Maud and I were born 100 years apart, and although our lives went in radically different directions many of our circumstances are the same — especially the expectation that we conform to a hearing world. My disability is often invisible, and I wanted to explain the relentless and exhausting attention that is needed for me to function. Deafness is far more complex than simply not hearing.</p>
<p>There are thousands more examples of the ways authors can write about living with disability. The <a href="https://www.idpwd.com.au/">International Day of People with Disability</a> is a great time to start reading.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/on-screen-and-on-stage-disability-continues-to-be-depicted-in-outdated-cliched-ways-130577">On screen and on stage, disability continues to be depicted in outdated, cliched ways</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150543/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica White does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Rather than presenting a disability as an obstacle, life writing can explore the joys, frustrations and creativity of living with disability or Deafness.
Jessica White, UQ Amplify Associate Lecturer, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/150280
2020-11-23T19:04:17Z
2020-11-23T19:04:17Z
10 ‘lost’ Australian literary treasures you should read – and can soon borrow from any library
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370707/original/file-20201123-23-18rjej8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C3000%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Perfecto Capucine/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many culturally important books by Australian authors are out of print, hard to find as secondhand copies, and confined to the physical shelves of a limited number of libraries. Effectively, they have become inaccessible and invisible — even including some Miles Franklin award <a href="https://authorsinterest.org/2020/03/17/the-availability-of-miles-franklin-winners-as-ebooks-audiobooks-and-in-print/">winners</a> by authors such as Thea Astley and Rodney Hall.</p>
<p>To ensure these works can be read, a team of authors, librarians and researchers are working together on <a href="https://untapped.org.au/">Untapped: the Australian Literary Heritage Project</a>. </p>
<p>By digitising out of print books and making them available for e-lending, the project will create a royalty stream for the authors involved, as well as income for the arts workers we are employing as proofreaders.</p>
<p>Commercial publishing lists, such as <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/text-classics">Text Classics</a> and Allen & Unwin’s <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/house-of-books">House of Books</a>, do a great job of breathing new life into some of Australia’s lost books. But they often focus on literary fiction, to the exclusion of genre fiction, children’s books and non-fiction, which also need to be preserved. </p>
<p>Here are 10 of our favourites we’re excited to digitise so you can borrow from your local library straight to your e-device. We expect these and other books in the project to be available in the first half of 2021 – and you too can nominate a book for inclusion in the collection <a href="https://untapped.org.au">here</a>. </p>
<h2>Working Bullocks (1926) by Katharine Susannah Prichard</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370738/original/file-20201123-15-11cjw0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370738/original/file-20201123-15-11cjw0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370738/original/file-20201123-15-11cjw0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370738/original/file-20201123-15-11cjw0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370738/original/file-20201123-15-11cjw0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370738/original/file-20201123-15-11cjw0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370738/original/file-20201123-15-11cjw0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370738/original/file-20201123-15-11cjw0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Before <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1961207.Coonardoo">Coonardoo</a> (1929), Prichard’s best known work, there was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1486451.Working_Bullocks?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=bMF4Zov4Em&rank=1">Working Bullocks</a>. </p>
<p>The novel describes the trials of Red Burke, a bullock driver in Western Australia, trying to make a living in a post-war Australia.</p>
<p>Just after the novel’s original publication, it was described by John Sleeman of The Bookman in the UK as “the high-water mark of Australian literary achievement in the novel so far”. </p>
<h2>Metal Fatigue (1996) by Sean Williams</h2>
<p>Sean Williams has written over 50 books, including co-authored titles with authors such as Shane Dix and Garth Nix which have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3422321-metal-fatigue">Metal Fatigue</a> was Williams’ debut. Set in a small American city 40 years after the end of a nuclear war, the residents must decide if they want to join the newly forming Re-United States of America.</p>
<p>Depicting a dystopic future of violence, shortages and a divided USA, it still feels remarkably current today. </p>
<h2>I’m Not Racist, But… (2007) by Anita Heiss</h2>
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<p>This poetry collection from activist, writer and member of the Wiradjuri Nation, Professor Anita Heiss, skewers Australia’s racist underbelly. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1535445.I_m_Not_Racist_But_">I’m Not Racist, But…</a> explores identity, pride and political correctness; proposes alternative words to the national anthem; and reveals how it is to grow up as an Indigenous woman in Australia.</p>
<p>This is a landmark work along Australia’s slow road to racial reckoning.</p>
<h2>Space Demons (1986) by Gillian Rubinstein</h2>
<p>The multi-award winning <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2484204.Space_Demons">Space Demons</a> was Gillian Rubinstein’s first book and began the much-loved trilogy of the same name. </p>
<p>It follows four ordinary kids drawn into a dangerous new computer game – instead of simply watching the game on the screen, they become part of it. And there is no way to know if they will escape.</p>
<p>With its gripping plot and local setting, Space Demons introduced many children to Australian science fiction – and led to many Australians first discovering their love of reading.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-adults-think-video-games-are-bad-76699">Curious Kids: Why do adults think video games are bad?</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Noonkanbah: Whose Land, Whose Law (1989) by Steve Hawke, with photographs by Michael Gallagher</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370739/original/file-20201123-17-14r9h8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370739/original/file-20201123-17-14r9h8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370739/original/file-20201123-17-14r9h8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370739/original/file-20201123-17-14r9h8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370739/original/file-20201123-17-14r9h8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370739/original/file-20201123-17-14r9h8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370739/original/file-20201123-17-14r9h8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370739/original/file-20201123-17-14r9h8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>In 1979-80, the Yungngora people protested to stop the American company Amax drilling for oil on a sacred site on <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-05/noonkanbah-dispute-remembered-40-years-on/9833232">Noonkanbah Station</a>, Western Australia. </p>
<p>This book is the detailed first-hand account of what became a high profile, ground-breaking land rights campaign, leading to the formation of the Kimberley Land Council. The Yungngora people wouldn’t have their native title rights recognised until 2007.</p>
<p>Alongside the reporting by Hawke, <a href="https://www.perthnow.com.au/community-news/eastern-reporter/steve-hawke-dedicates-book-out-of-time-to-mum-hazel-c-887976">son</a> of former PM Bob Hawke?, the book includes photographs taken by anthropologist Michael Gallagher. </p>
<p>This is an essential work of Australian history.</p>
<h2>The Unlucky Australians (1968) by Frank Hardy</h2>
<p>Frank Hardy was known for his political <a href="https://labouraustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/hardy-francis-joseph-frank-19531">activism around labour rights</a>, and as the author of 16 books. Almost his entire backlist is out of print, with the notable exception of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/500740.Power_Without_Glory">Power Without Glory</a> (1950). </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2333095.The_Unlucky_Australians">The Unlucky Australians</a>, Hardy tells the story of the Gurindji people and the opening years of the strike they began in 1966. </p>
<p>Their protest against poor working and living conditions, seeking the return of their traditional lands, lasted nine years. </p>
<p>The Whitlam government returned some of those lands in 1975 with the historic transfer of “a <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-historic-handful-of-dirt-whitlam-and-the-legacy-of-the-wave-hill-walk-off-63700">handful of dirt</a>” and the strike led to the passage of the historic Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act in 1976. </p>
<p>A vital piece towards understanding the shameful labour conditions inflicted upon Indigenous Australians, this book should never have gone out of print. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-historic-handful-of-dirt-whitlam-and-the-legacy-of-the-wave-hill-walk-off-63700">An historic handful of dirt: Whitlam and the legacy of the Wave Hill Walk-Off</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Mandala trilogy (1993-2004) by Carmel Bird</h2>
<p>Inspired by three real life charismatic and dangerous individuals, these dark stories of abused trust and misplaced faith are transformed, taking on a gothic quality, with complex narratives, unlikely narrators and fairy-tale elements. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39249.The_White_Garden">The White Garden</a> is an ambitious novel following the misdeeds of the psychiatrist Dr Goddard (or Dr God, for short) in a hospital in the 1960s. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/757817.Red_Shoes">Red Shoes</a> takes us into the world of a religious cult. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39251.Cape_Grimm">Cape Grimm</a> looks at a religious order after its members are killed by their charismatic leader.</p>
<h2>The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks (2003) by Brett D'Arcy</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/130130.The_Mindless_Ferocity_Of_Sharks">The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks</a> is coming-of-age story about “Floaty Boy”, an 11-year-old with a love of body-surfing, his family, and what happens when his older brother disappears. </p>
<p>Described by the Australian Book Review as “Tim Winton on speed”, D'Arcy shines his own spotlight on Western Australia, exploring the duality of a life spent between the waves and the shore – and what happens when a family becomes torn apart by loss.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Untapped will launch with a free online celebration on November 24 at 6pm. Register for the launch <a href="https://events.unimelb.edu.au/MLS/event/9102-rescuing-australias-lost-literary-treasures">here</a>, nominate a book for inclusion at <a href="https://untapped.org.au/">untapped.org.au</a> – and let us know what you think we should digitise in the comments.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Giblin and Airlie Lawson receive funding from the Australian Research Council. This work is supported by ARC grants FT170100011 and LP160100387. 'Untapped: the Australian Literary Heritage Project' also receives funding and support from the State Library of Western Australia, the Australian Library and Information Association, the Australian Society of Authors, Libraries Tasmania, Ligature Press, Libraries ACT and Libraries SA. As other partners come on board, they will be listed at untapped.org.au.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>In addition to A/Professor Rebecca Giblin and Dr Airlie Lawson, the research team includes Dr Paul Crosby (Macquarie University), A/Professor Imke Reimers (Northeastern), and Mr Joshua Yuvaraj (Monash University). </span></em></p>
Many important Australian books have found themselves out-of-print and hard-to-find. The Untapped project aims to change that, bringing classics to a library near you.
Rebecca Giblin, ARC Future Fellow; Associate Professor; Director, Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, The University of Melbourne
Airlie Lawson, Postdoctoral Fellow, 'Untapped: the Australian Literary Heritage Project', The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/150572
2020-11-20T16:53:51Z
2020-11-20T16:53:51Z
Marcus Rashford’s book club couldn’t come at a better time – children’s reading is at a 15-year low
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370558/original/file-20201120-23-sga2rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=310%2C42%2C4839%2C3091&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It is important that children sees themselves in the books that read. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cute-little-boy-reading-book-library-258035060">wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>England international footballer and child poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54972339">has announced</a> that he is launching a book club. The initiative will distribute books to children, particularly those from vulnerable and underprivileged backgrounds, in order to promote reading and literacy.</p>
<p>Studies have shown us how vital reading – specifically reading for pleasure – is for <a href="https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Readingforpleasurestoppress.pdf">academic and economic</a> success, as well as for <a href="https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Mental_wellbeing_reading_and_writing_2017-18_-_FINAL2_qTxyxvg.pdf">mental health</a> (among other things). Reading, according to the National Literary Trust, encourages children (particularly girls) <a href="https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Girls_and_aspirations.pdf">to dream about the future</a>. </p>
<p>But the number of children reading every day for pleasure is at its lowest since the National Literacy Trust started monitoring it in 2005. In 2019, <a href="https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Reading_trends_in_2019_-_Final.pdf">only 26% of young people (under 18) read every day</a>. Although engagement with books has risen during lockdown, some children have faced <a href="https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/National_Literacy_Trust_-_Reading_practices_under_lockdown_report_-_FINAL.pdf">greater barriers due to library closures</a>, amongst other things. </p>
<p>Former children’s laureate Michael Rosen has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/29/children-reading-less-says-new-research?utm_content=119595709&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-305211376223003">said</a> these findings should act as “a wake-up call for the government”. And we already know that Rashford <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/08/marcus-rashford-overwhelmed-as-government-pledges-170m-to-help-families">can cause a stir at Westminster</a>. So his intervention could become a much-needed force for change.</p>
<p>Rashford says that reading and books are cool. <a href="https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Gift_of_reading_-_research_summary.pdf">Children who own books are more than twice as likely</a> to agree that reading is cool than those who don’t. But what if you don’t have access to books, like <a href="https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Gift_of_reading_-_research_summary.pdf">384,000 children and young people (mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds) in the UK</a>? And, more specifically, what if you don’t have access to books that you can see yourself in?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1329049202169700353"}"></div></p>
<p>My own research, along with that of the <a href="https://clpe.org.uk/library-and-resources/research/reflecting-realities-survey-ethnic-representation-within-uk-children">Reflecting Realities project</a> by the
Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, has also demonstrated how woefully underrepresented people of colour are in <a href="https://clpe.org.uk/library-and-resources/research/reflecting-realities-survey-ethnic-representation-within-uk-children">children’s books</a> and <a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/globalassets/resources/represents/booktrust-represents-diversity-childrens-authors-illustrators-report.pdf">children’s authorship</a>. A few weeks ago, my new <a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/">BookTrust Represents</a> report was published in conjunction with the new <a href="https://clpe.org.uk/">Centre For Literacy In Primary Education (CLPE)</a> report, which tracks the number of children’s books by and about people of colour published in the UK. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-books-to-read-to-children-that-adults-will-enjoy-148568">Five books to read to children that adults will enjoy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Both reports show progress over the past three years (2017-2019): the number of protagonists of colour <a href="https://clpe.org.uk/clpes-reflecting-realities-survey-ethnic-representation-within-uk-children%E2%80%99s-literature-published">increased fivefold, from 1% (2017) to 5% (2019)</a>, while the number of authors of colour <a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/globalassets/resources/research/booktrust_represents_2020_report.pdf">increased from 5.58% to 8.68%</a>.</p>
<p>It is important to stress that these numbers are still very low, particularly when we consider that <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/812539/Schools_Pupils_and_their_Characteristics_2019_Main_Text.pdf">33.5% of school-age children in the UK are from ethnic minority backgrounds</a>. There is a long way to go before representation in children’s books and publishing authentically mirror UK society. And it will take collective action to break down the systemic barriers that cause under- (and mis-) representation.</p>
<h2>Reaching a wider audience</h2>
<p>This is why initiatives like Rashford’s book club are very welcome. In light of my research, I support the book club’s focus on quality inclusive youth literature: books that are authentically representative of the society that we live in. “No matter where you grow up”, Rashford <a href="https://twitter.com/MarcusRashford/status/1328630274603814914/photo/2">wrote in a statement</a>, “talent should be recognised and championed”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1328630274603814914"}"></div></p>
<p>Books provide insight into a variety of different lives and cultures. They have an important role in holding up a <a href="https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf">mirror to the world or offering a window into another</a>. What they reflect impacts how young readers see themselves and the world around them. Inclusive books are important for children of all ethnicities and from all socio-economic backgrounds. </p>
<p>This new book club, with Rashford at the helm, will bring inclusive books into the consciousness of a much wider audience. Rashford has already made strides in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/01/marcus-rashford-takes-aim-at-child-food-poverty-with-new-taskforce">tackling inequality in the UK</a> and this initiative will help bridge the cultural and educational divide.</p>
<p>Rashford will also <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/books-for-children/marcus-rashford">co-author several books, in partnership with MacMillan Children’s Books</a>, beginning with <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/marcus-rashford/you-are-a-champion-unlock-your-potential-find-your-voice-and-be-the-best-you-can-be/9781529068177">You Are A Champion: Unlock Your Potential, Find Your Voice And Be the Best You Can Be</a>, based on Rashford’s life (May 2021). Two books, aimed at children over six, will follow in 2022. This <a href="https://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/navigate-the-world.html">age group is significant</a> because it covers a critical period in academic development where there is often a decline in children reading for pleasure. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1328676684430761984"}"></div></p>
<p>Rashford can now add author and cultural gatekeeper to his list of accolades, and, by centring himself as such, will be a role model to aspiring writers and publishers – something my previous <a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/globalassets/resources/represents/booktrust-represents-diversity-childrens-authors-illustrators-report.pdf">BookTrust Represents report highlighted as an enabler</a> for young people of colour to join the industry.</p>
<h2>Don’t forget about existing authors, books, and publishers</h2>
<p>While this intervention by Rashford is exciting, it’s important to acknowledge the activists, authors, publishers, and booksellers that have been supporting inclusive youth literature for decades. Bookshops and supermarket bookshelves may be dominated by bestselling and celebrity books, but other books, with smaller marketing budgets abound. Here are five of my favourite books for young people (published in 2020), by British authors of colour, to tide you over until Rashford’s book club begins next year:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-infinite/patience-agbabi/9781786899651">The Infinite by Patience Agbabi</a>: A time-travelling mystery and adventure by a much-celebrated poet.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.hachetteschools.co.uk/landing-page/when-secrets-set-sail-by-sita-brahmachari/">When Secrets Set Sail by Sita Bramachari</a>: Another magical book, on a hidden part of Indian history, by this stalwart author. </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-features/features/2020/september/joseph-coelho-on-the-girl-who-became-a-tree/">The Girl Who Became a Tree: A Story Told in Poems by Joseph Coelho</a>: Ancient legends and modern-day grief merge in this book in verse.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/17601/Boy-Everywhere-by-A-M-Dassu.html">Boy, Everywhere by A M Dassu</a>: A beautifully written debut about the plight of Syrian refugees.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623722/when-life-gives-you-mangos-by-kereen-getten/">When Life Gives You Mangos by Kereen Getten</a>: Another dreamy debut about friendship, loss, and small-town life.</p></li>
</ol><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150572/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Ramdarshan Bold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Research shows action is needed to get more kids reading for pleasure – especially those from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds.
Melanie Ramdarshan Bold, Associate Professor of Publishing and Book Cultures, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/149725
2020-11-17T18:50:10Z
2020-11-17T18:50:10Z
Unpacking the magic of Miffy, a simply drawn, bunny-shaped friend
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369513/original/file-20201116-21-r0wnz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C9%2C2029%2C1422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dick Bruna, Miffy at the gallery 1990. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy and © Mercis bv Amsterdam</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>She couldn’t get much simpler in visual terms. A white bunny cutout, dots for eyes and a little crisscross mouth. But Miffy is an enduringly endearing rabbit. </p>
<p>Called <em>nijntje</em> in the <a href="https://www.miffy.com/the-name-miffy">author’s native Dutch</a>, Miffy was originally created by Dick Bruna for his son. Now <a href="https://www.royaldutchmint.com/65-years-of-miffy-in-coincard/en/product/11603/">65 years on</a>, Miffy remains universally popular. </p>
<p>Miffy books are available in 50 languages and have <a href="https://www.miffy.com/a-global-success">sold millions</a> of copies around the world. A <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614180/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">stop-motion animated television series</a> brought more world fame and a <a href="https://nijntjemuseum.nl/?lang=en">Miffy museum</a> in Bruna’s native Utrecht was established in 2016.</p>
<p>Bruna, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/17/miffy-creator-dick-bruna-has-died-aged-89">who died in 2017</a>, was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/feb/15/booksforchildrenandteenagers.lisaallardice#:%7E:text=Since%20her%20first%20appearance%20in,whom%20she%20was%20originally%20designed.">reportedly stopped daily near his home for selfies</a> with teenage fans and Miffy merchandise features heavily at popular <a href="https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-chiba/in-chiba_suburbs/article-a0003116/">Japanese tulip festivals</a>. </p>
<p>An exhibition, <a href="https://www.artmuseum.qut.edu.au/whats-on/2020/exhibitions/miffy-and-friends">Miffy & Friends</a>, is soon to open at the QUT Art Museum Gallery. As its director Vanessa Van Ooyen <a href="https://visual.artshub.com.au/news-article/sponsored-content/museums/andrea-simpson/how-miffy-inspires-australian-avant-garde-artists-261374">has noted</a>, Bruna’s illustrations have a deceptive simplicity, which belies the artistry behind them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/childrens-books-must-be-diverse-or-kids-will-grow-up-believing-white-is-superior-140736">Children's books must be diverse, or kids will grow up believing white is superior</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Shades of Mondrian</h2>
<p>It is that very simplicity which, in part, gives Miffy her long-lasting charm. The illustrations are instantly appealing, even for very small children. </p>
<p>Researchers have found that reliably <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5276997/">positive responses to simple curvilinear shapes</a> seem to be present early during development, before language is acquired. Researchers also hold that children associate more positive emotions, like happiness or excitement, with bright colours. Bruna seemed to understand this instinctively from the beginning. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369514/original/file-20201116-19-1ibhuct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Miffy bunny illustration in flowery dress" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369514/original/file-20201116-19-1ibhuct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369514/original/file-20201116-19-1ibhuct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369514/original/file-20201116-19-1ibhuct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369514/original/file-20201116-19-1ibhuct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369514/original/file-20201116-19-1ibhuct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369514/original/file-20201116-19-1ibhuct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369514/original/file-20201116-19-1ibhuct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dick Bruna, Miffy’s birthday 1970.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy and © Mercis bv Amsterdam</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The blocks of colour — Bruna cited countryman <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-piet-mondrian">Piet Mondrian</a> and <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/henri-matisse-1593">Henri Matisse</a> as inspirations — have a universality to them. The settings are not country-specific and, when landscape is depicted, it too can be read as applicable to anywhere and everywhere. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/26/books/move-over-mondrian-its-miffys-turn.html">Bruna wrote</a> for a 2005 illustration exhibition: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I hope that the child’s imagination is stimulated to see things in their simplest form … so that life, with all its complications, becomes a little clearer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Miffy is <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/basics/anthropomorphism">anthropomorphic</a>, a little white rabbit doing many of the everyday things that lots of children do. She was “born” when the author was on holiday with his family and <a href="https://www.miffy.com/about-miffy">started telling his son stories</a> about a little rabbit in the garden. </p>
<p>In story books, Miffy plays with friends, goes on outings with her parents, helps to paint her room, goes to the zoo and the beach and helps in the garden. There is a wholesomeness and innocent joy in the easily relatable tales.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369508/original/file-20201116-23-18r17sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Miffy character postage stamp" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369508/original/file-20201116-23-18r17sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369508/original/file-20201116-23-18r17sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369508/original/file-20201116-23-18r17sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369508/original/file-20201116-23-18r17sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369508/original/file-20201116-23-18r17sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369508/original/file-20201116-23-18r17sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369508/original/file-20201116-23-18r17sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You’ve got Miffy mail.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/holland-circa-2005-stamp-printed-260nw-96688879.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the books help make potentially difficult situations or experiences familiar and less frightening, such as when Miffy goes to hospital. Miffy is apprehensive but she is met by a friendly nurse who helps her undress and put on hospital clothes and gives Miffy a pre-operation injection, (which didn’t hurt as much as she had feared). When she wakes from the anaesthetic, Miffy is comforted by the presence of the nurse and then a visit from her parents. </p>
<p>Miffy’s school activities will be familiar to those children who have already started formal education and enticing and intriguing for those getting ready to start. </p>
<p>Friendship features strongly in the books. Miffy’s walk to school with friends is warm and exuberant and they are welcomed by the teacher when they arrive. Soon Miffy is enjoying learning to write, how to add up and — her very favourite — listening to the teacher reading a story.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369516/original/file-20201116-23-170ss72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Buffy draws simple pictures" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369516/original/file-20201116-23-170ss72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369516/original/file-20201116-23-170ss72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369516/original/file-20201116-23-170ss72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369516/original/file-20201116-23-170ss72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369516/original/file-20201116-23-170ss72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369516/original/file-20201116-23-170ss72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369516/original/file-20201116-23-170ss72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dick Bruna Miffy at school 1990.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy and © Mercis bv Amsterdam</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-i-always-get-children-picture-books-for-christmas-127801">5 reasons I always get children picture books for Christmas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Easy reading for small hands</h2>
<p>The size of the majority of the Miffy books (16 centimetres square) makes them easy for small readers and pre-readers to hold. </p>
<p>The language is accessible but does not patronise young readers or “talk down” to them. The rhyme and structure of many of the stories gives them four lines on each page with the second and fourth lines rhyming. </p>
<p>This formula gives a welcome familiarity to the books. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369515/original/file-20201116-13-cff831.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bunny soft toy in blue and white dress." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369515/original/file-20201116-13-cff831.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369515/original/file-20201116-13-cff831.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369515/original/file-20201116-13-cff831.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369515/original/file-20201116-13-cff831.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369515/original/file-20201116-13-cff831.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369515/original/file-20201116-13-cff831.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369515/original/file-20201116-13-cff831.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cute and cuddly Miffy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bruna wrote and illustrated more than 100 books, many of them about Miffy. There are Miffy activity books, sticker books, board books, and special titles like <a href="https://www.miffy.com/news/miffy-x-rembrandt">Miffy x Rembrandt</a> which introduces children to the works of two Dutch masters: Rembrandt and Bruna. <a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/miffy_s-123-by-dick-bruna/9781742975092">Miffy’s 123</a> and <a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/miffy_s-abc-by-dick-bruna/9781742975108">Miffy’s ABC</a> books use the character as a stimulus for teaching foundational literacy and numeracy.</p>
<p>In addition to screen adaptations and the continuing popularity of the books themselves, there are many items of merchandise to keep Miffy’s appeal alive. The merchandise encourages book sales and reading and the reverse is true too. Miffy <a href="https://miffyshop.co.uk/collections/books">appears on everything</a> from clocks, cushions, keyrings, clothing and lunchboxes to lamps. </p>
<p>In her native Netherlands, Miffy likenesses are printed on babies’ bibs; there are plush toys in traditional Dutch dress and there is a Miffy room at <a href="https://keukenhof.nl/en/">Keukenhof</a>, the large flower gardens at Lisse. </p>
<p>Miffy is perfectly ubiquitous, her simply drawn face always friendly. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T7tCfCOtZ70?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Miffy, a sweet little bunny.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="https://www.artmuseum.qut.edu.au/whats-on/2020/exhibitions/miffy-and-friends">miffy & friends</a> is a free exhibition at QUT Art Museum from November 21 until until 14 March 2021. It will then tour to Bunjil Place Gallery in Melbourne from 3 April–13 June 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margot Hillel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Simply drawn, universally appealing. A new exhibition provides an opportunity to marvel at Miffy’s global success.
Margot Hillel, Emeritus Professor, Children's Literature, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/142043
2020-07-30T05:26:58Z
2020-07-30T05:26:58Z
Kokomo by Victoria Hannan, a millennial fiction that spans generations
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350055/original/file-20200729-29-1uz22el.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C15%2C1006%2C1072&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.hachette.com.au/victoria-hannan/kokomo">Hachette</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Kokomo, published by Hachette</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>You know, Kokomo’s not even a real place … Well, it is, but it’s an industrial city in Indiana, it’s a long way from the tropical paradise they’d have you believe.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Victoria Hannan’s <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/victoria-hannan/kokomo">Kokomo</a> – which won last year’s <a href="https://creative.vic.gov.au/news/2019/all-the-winners-of-the-2019-victorian-premiers-literary-awards">Victorian Premier’s Literary Award</a> for an unpublished manuscript – is a novel about loss, exile, homecoming, family and, above all, love. </p>
<p>When Mina leaves her life in London and rushes home to Melbourne because her agoraphobic mother has finally left the house, she begins to realise that her idea of the past is based, like the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJWmbLS2_ec">Beach Boys’</a> imagining of Kokomo, on a profound misconception.</p>
<p>At first Mina finds herself suffocating in the house she grew up in, where her mother has spent more than a decade hiding since the sudden death of Mina’s father. Mina returns to a site of deep trauma and eventually reveals the mysteries beneath it: why did her mother become a recluse? And why did Mina abandon her mother and move to London?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350075/original/file-20200729-25-1g0v5c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rumpled bed sheets" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350075/original/file-20200729-25-1g0v5c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350075/original/file-20200729-25-1g0v5c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350075/original/file-20200729-25-1g0v5c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350075/original/file-20200729-25-1g0v5c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350075/original/file-20200729-25-1g0v5c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350075/original/file-20200729-25-1g0v5c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350075/original/file-20200729-25-1g0v5c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kokomo follows Mina’s search for love, sometimes in the wrong places.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1530685220108-0ebdc8c85742?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=2100&q=80">Mink Mingle/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/review-kate-grenvilles-a-room-made-of-leaves-fills-the-silence-of-the-archives-141985">Review: Kate Grenville's A Room Made of Leaves fills the silence of the archives</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Love … or something like it</h2>
<p>Love, in Kokomo, is complex, fearsome, and elusive.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, the book begins with Mina declaring she has found love: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Love is being turned inside out together, all that pink splayed and splayed, everything on show for each other. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This epiphany comes as she gazes at her long-desired colleague Jack’s penis, falling into a rhapsody: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… so tall and pink, a soldier standing to attention, a ballerina in first position. It was tipping its hat to her, inviting her to dance. Mina saw herself as a sailor lost at sea and Jack’s penis as a lighthouse alerting her to the presence of land, to the presence of safety.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But Jack’s penis is not the beacon she hopes. Mina is such a stranger to love she has misidentified it – instead repeating patterns of passive longing inherited from her mother.</p>
<p>When two-thirds of the way through the book we switch from Mina’s perspective to that of her reclusive mother, Elaine, we discover her complicated attitude to love has been learned in turn from her mother – a woman quick to anger, who Elaine suspects hid an affair for many years. </p>
<p>Mina also engages in doomed romantic pursuits. But the most reciprocal and generous relationship she experiences is with influencer and pretty best friend Kira. It’s Kira who tells Mina her mother has been seen outside her house. As they revive their real-life friendship (as opposed to a social media one) Kira helps Mina confront the source of her pain: her mother’s abandonment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350074/original/file-20200729-21-1ffn4wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman on phone sits alone in cafe" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350074/original/file-20200729-21-1ffn4wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350074/original/file-20200729-21-1ffn4wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350074/original/file-20200729-21-1ffn4wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350074/original/file-20200729-21-1ffn4wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350074/original/file-20200729-21-1ffn4wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350074/original/file-20200729-21-1ffn4wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350074/original/file-20200729-21-1ffn4wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mina turns to social media in her spare moments, drawn to the idealised lives she sees there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1546629199-46b58dc813e7?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=2128&q=80">Unsplash/Daniel Salcius</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Millennial writers and stories</h2>
<p>There’s been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/wheres-the-great-millennial-novel-a-gen-xer-wonders/2019/04/11/bfdcc74e-5175-11e9-8d28-f5149e5a2fda_story.html">controversial discussion</a> about the gap where a great “millennial” novel should be. The generation, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/">those born between 1981 and 1996</a> who came of age during the digital revolution, are often portrayed as lazy, unprofessional, narcissistic <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20171003-millennials-are-the-generation-thats-fun-to-hate">snowflakes</a> obsessed with selfies and social media.</p>
<p>But this generation of fiction writers is telling complex and nuanced stories.</p>
<p>Take Britain’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/17/what-makes-a-millennial-novel-olivia-sudjic">Olivia Sudjic</a>, herself a victim (or beneficiary – depending on your point of view) of the “millennial author” label. Sudjic defines a group of novels not by the age of the authors alone. She looks to their common interests in rootless or directionless characters, mental illness, dark humour, alienation, and the effects of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/late-capitalism/524943/">late capitalism</a>. She notes an ironic or suspicious attitude to self-identity.</p>
<p>Ireland has Sally Rooney, the US has Ottessa Moshfegh and Ocean Vuong. <a href="https://www.victoriahannan.com/">Victoria Hannan</a> is among Australia’s new crop of young(ish) authors writing stories about contemporary young(ish) Australia.</p>
<p>Kokomo brims with references to popular culture and concerns. Mina tries and fails to self-medicate her anxiety and depression with alcohol. Her marketing job yields disappointment as it reveals its sexist foundations. She struggles with feelings of failure, and is alienated by life as a grown up. Millennial characters resonate with readers by examining the discomfort and disillusionment many of us feel when faced with the realities of life in late capitalism.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-yield-wins-the-miles-franklin-a-powerful-story-of-violence-and-forms-of-resistance-142284">The Yield wins the Miles Franklin: a powerful story of violence and forms of resistance</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>(Anti-)social media</h2>
<p>Hannan’s includes social media and mobile technology as part of the fabric of Mina’s life.</p>
<p>Mina nurtures a secret crush on her colleague, Jack, who appears to (maybe, sometimes) reciprocate her feelings. But when she leaves London for Australia after almost hooking up with Jack (the lighthouse penis episode) she has no way of knowing where their relationship stands. Instead of calling him to find out, she obsessively stalks him on Instagram, allowing his likes and new friendships to fuel her anxiety and create a highly speculative narrative about his emotional state and feelings for her.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350062/original/file-20200729-17-lp9812.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kokomo book cover, title with photo of woman's hands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350062/original/file-20200729-17-lp9812.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350062/original/file-20200729-17-lp9812.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350062/original/file-20200729-17-lp9812.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350062/original/file-20200729-17-lp9812.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350062/original/file-20200729-17-lp9812.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350062/original/file-20200729-17-lp9812.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350062/original/file-20200729-17-lp9812.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.hachette.com.au/victoria-hannan/kokomo">Hachette</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any time Mina has a free moment she turns to her phone, scrolls Instagram and allows herself to be drawn into the idealised versions of life she sees there.</p>
<p>Mina acknowledges not only the deficit of social media as an interface for human connection, but the deterioration it has facilitated in her own friendships. </p>
<p>Kokomo is a book in which many young(ish) readers will see their own lives and interior landscapes mirrored, but it’s so much more than that. It’s about those things that bust generational boundaries: love, family, friendship, home.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142043/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Maguire does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Kokomo by Victoria Hannan has been touted as a ‘millennial novel’ – but its search for love and connection are timeless.
Emma Maguire, Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, James Cook University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/130948
2020-02-17T18:55:09Z
2020-02-17T18:55:09Z
Books in a post-f@#^ world. Are we all sworn out yet?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314925/original/file-20200212-61966-1ifjiwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=74%2C60%2C4392%2C3280&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paris-france-oct-4-2018-view-1214057809">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Warning: this piece features frequent coarse language that may offend some readers.</em></p>
<p>Since Adam Mansbuch’s 2011 bestseller, <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Go-Fuck-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X">Go the Fuck to Sleep</a>, book titles have been swearing profusely to grab audience attention. The author followed up on the winning formula with <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Have-Fucking-Adam-Brozmen-Mansbach/dp/1922182885/ref=pd_sim_14_2/357-4384291-7485421?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1922182885&pd_rd_r=97afc7a7-c4bd-4815-b2f2-46a5c7e14779&pd_rd_w=qcvbk&pd_rd_wg=JtiPa&pf_rd_p=c779f01d-7183-40c0-9bc9-71e99e10ccd3&pf_rd_r=5420E4TM696FSP13VJF6&psc=1&refRID=5420E4TM696FSP13VJF6">You Have to Fucking Eat</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Now-There-Are-Two-You/dp/1922268348/ref=pd_bxgy_img_3/357-4384291-7485421?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1922268348&pd_rd_r=14ec7c06-e823-433b-a236-a8e8a662565e&pd_rd_w=5gfRg&pd_rd_wg=o3Ccx&pf_rd_p=1448c0ee-ce43-442e-9139-04d5d859bb21&pf_rd_r=WXMTCWMHTJYYXXQMFN1Y&psc=1&refRID=WXMTCWMHTJYYXXQMFN1Y">Fuck, Now There Are Two of You</a>. </p>
<p>Book covers compete with a barrage of information and images, so it’s no wonder many writers resort to shock tactics. It works. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28257707-the-subtle-art-of-not-giving-a-f-ck">The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck</a> is testament to this, selling 2 million copies and translated into 25 languages. Without the “Fuck” this would very likely have been a different story. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314931/original/file-20200212-61917-32lxlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314931/original/file-20200212-61917-32lxlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314931/original/file-20200212-61917-32lxlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314931/original/file-20200212-61917-32lxlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314931/original/file-20200212-61917-32lxlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314931/original/file-20200212-61917-32lxlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314931/original/file-20200212-61917-32lxlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314931/original/file-20200212-61917-32lxlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/7430">Microcosm</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Presumably hoping to ride on the back of this success, upcoming releases include <a href="https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/7430">Fuck Happiness</a> and <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/599537/the-middle-finger-project-by-ash-ambirge/?ref=PRHC1FB24CAE0&aid=15577&linkid=PRHC1FB24CAE0&utm_source=Portfolio_Sentinel_Current&utm_medium=Advertising&utm_content=&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Middle_Finger_Project_Buzzfeed_Newsletter&pdivflag=1">The Middle Finger Project</a>.</p>
<p>In the English language, at least, fuck and other words on the more extreme end of profanity are the last frontier of using language to shock. In 2020, we find ourselves in a place of extremes so they come in quite handy. </p>
<p>But with so many fucks on book covers, where do writers go from here to express our fear, horror, rage and disgust? </p>
<h2>Heard it all before</h2>
<p>Eventually we become desensitised to the overuse of words. Shit, a taboo for older generations, is now so lacking as an obscenity it is written on the covers of notebooks and pencil cases available in stationery chain stores popular with schoolchildren, such as <a href="https://www.kidspot.com.au/parenting/parenthood/parenting-style/thank-you-typo-for-teaching-my-sixyearold-the-fword/news-story/eed4c20b2c08f4f108845e50c2c9d041">Typo</a>.</p>
<p>According to a 2019 ABC <a href="https://about.abc.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ABC-Review_Coarse-Language-in-Media-2019.pdf">study</a> of 1,538 subjects, Australians are seeing and hearing more coarse language than they did five years ago, both in the media and in public. </p>
<p>“In line with this normalisation of coarse language, concerns relating to the use of coarse language in the media have diminished over time,” the study found. Of people studied, 38% were offended by coarse language on TV, radio or the internet in 2019, compared with 47% in 2011. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U08XWOx3XYM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Go the Fuck to Sleep grabbed the attention of parents worldwide.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tennis, one of the last bastions of politeness, does constant battle with players like Nick Kyrgios who rack up <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/aug/15/nick-kyrgios-in-hot-water-again-after-latest-clash-with-umpire-in-cincinnati">massive fines</a> for dropping the F-bomb on the court. </p>
<p>Fines, like detention, seem to be on the train that has left the station when you consider reputable online booksellers currently carry almost a hundred books with fuck in the title. Most of these are self-help books, because we are, obviously, quite fucked and need help, and cookbooks, such as Yumi Stynes’ <a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/the-zero-fucks-cookbook-by-yumi-stynes/9781743793947">The Zero Fucks Cookbook</a>. Kitchens seem to be a hotbed of fucks, a trend set some time ago by Gordon Ramsay.</p>
<p>Meaning and language are in a constant evolution and can act as a moral barometer. Expressing the fears and horrors of her times 200 years ago, author Mary Shelley created a “fiend”, formed through “unspeakable” horrors. Some initially derided the work as “<a href="https://romantic-circles.org/reference/chronologies/mschronology/reviews/qrrev.html">disgusting</a>”, but the extremes of her Frankenstein left an impact on literature and society of mythic proportions, without resorting to profanity or cheap tricks. She left the unspeakable to our imaginations, yet it broke boundaries and challenged our understanding of life and human nature.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314930/original/file-20200212-61917-m01qdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314930/original/file-20200212-61917-m01qdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314930/original/file-20200212-61917-m01qdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314930/original/file-20200212-61917-m01qdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314930/original/file-20200212-61917-m01qdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314930/original/file-20200212-61917-m01qdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1230&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314930/original/file-20200212-61917-m01qdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1230&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314930/original/file-20200212-61917-m01qdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1230&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/lady-chatterleys-lover-9780241951545">Penguin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1959, the unabridged edition of D.H. Lawrence’s <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/lady-chatterleys-lover-9780241951545">Lady Chatterley’s Lover</a> was published with several instances of fuck. The edition was <a href="http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol03/12/23.pdf">banned</a>. In 1963, fuck was included in the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/A_Dictionary_of_Slang_and_Unconventional.html?id=jLlNygEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English</a>, triggering complaints to schools, libraries and the police. </p>
<p>Taboos and standards are forever in flux and younger generations always seek a boundary to break through. In our times of consumption and greed, we are eating our way through those boundaries at a great rate, along with as many of the Earth’s resources as we possibly can.</p>
<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>Several hundred book covers later, fuck is completely worn out. </p>
<p>Sure, there is still coarser language that will work for a few years until it also becomes a meme; until we wear it out as a book title or, perhaps, if we think too hard about what it means and how we might use it. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314932/original/file-20200212-61966-1pt35fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314932/original/file-20200212-61966-1pt35fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314932/original/file-20200212-61966-1pt35fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314932/original/file-20200212-61966-1pt35fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314932/original/file-20200212-61966-1pt35fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314932/original/file-20200212-61966-1pt35fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314932/original/file-20200212-61966-1pt35fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314932/original/file-20200212-61966-1pt35fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/the-zero-fucks-cookbook-by-yumi-stynes/9781743793947">Hardie Grant</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Language can only evolve creatively with a dynamic culture, deep education and critical practitioners of the literary arts, within and outside of the academy. Words are weapons; they are our way of making sense of life and without them we are unspeakable.</p>
<p>Language and how we use it really matters. It creates knowledge, culture and community. If we are to navigate our way through the future and avoid reaching a place of anarchy, we need a language for it.</p>
<p>Resorting to coarse language on book covers could be a symptom of society’s collective misery, but it could also be attributable to the starvation of the arts by government and a desperate need to grab readers’ attention. If literature loses the power to shock then it loses an important mode of engagement, according to postcritical theorist <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Uses-Literature-Rita-Felski/9781405147248">Rita Felski</a>. It’s enough to make you want to swear and curse and scream. Unfortunately, as a word to save for extremes, we have really fucked up fuck. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Donna Mazza’s new novel has an f-word in the title but it’s <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/Fauna-Donna-Mazza-9781760876302">Fauna</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130948/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donna Mazza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
With hundreds of book covers displaying previously taboo swear words, are publishers losing the ability to shock readers?
Donna Mazza, Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts, Edith Cowan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/120718
2019-09-10T22:26:15Z
2019-09-10T22:26:15Z
New Can-Lit ‘indie’ book imprint is anything but
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291136/original/file-20190905-175714-ndy71e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Despite its rhetoric of innovation and experimentation, the indie-style imprint Strange Light is brought to us by a company that is already dominating the country’s literary space.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amine Rock Hoovr /Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a book buyer or reader, you may have recently encountered the new literary imprint <a href="https://strangelight.com/">Strange Light</a> — a project spun off from the hugely successful digital literary magazine <a href="https://hazlitt.net/"><em>Hazlitt</em></a>. </p>
<p>Although the <a href="https://hazlitt.net/about">fact of its ownership is muted</a>, Hazlitt magazine and the new “indie” Strange Light are both owned by Penguin Random House. <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/about">Penguin and Random merged in 2013</a> to become Canada’s largest book publisher and the world’s largest trade book publisher. Seventy-five per cent of the shares of Penguin Random House are owned by Bertelsmann, a German multinational media corporation.</p>
<p>Instead of its corporate identity, the magazine’s mission emphasizes its open, experimental, creator- and reader-driven environment. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Hazlitt is a home for writers and artists to tell the best stories about the things that matter most to them … Hazlitt is … humane, diverse and committed to stories and writers not heard anywhere else.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Random House Canada launched <em>Hazlitt</em> as part of its digital strategy in 2012. According to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/new-e-mag-from-random-house-aims-to-brings-back-the-essay/article4493913/">Brad Martin</a>, then president of the company, the goal was to use websites for more than just the traditional purposes of sales and marketing. </p>
<p>In 2012, digital self-publishing ventures such as <a href="https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/">Amazon Kindle Direct</a> loomed large. As Canadian journalist <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/new-e-mag-from-random-house-aims-to-brings-back-the-essay/article4493913/">John Barber</a> noted in an article on <em>Hazlitt</em> in 2012, Random House Canada’s forays into digital publishing constituted an effort to stay relevant — and profitable — at the edge of a “frontier pioneered by innovative outsiders.”</p>
<p>The publishing sector has only grown in size since then, as the previously unthinkable success of startups such as Canada’s <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/">Wattpad</a> attests.</p>
<h2>Strange Light</h2>
<p>This year, Penguin Random House Canada launched the <em>Hazlitt</em> imprint <a href="https://strangelight.com/">Strange Light</a>, a project dedicated to the work of “unpredictable, innovative authors telling personal and provocative and experimental stories, even — and especially –– those that defy easy categorization.”</p>
<p>Strange Light’s debut title, Sara Peters’s <em>I Become a Delight to My Enemies</em>, mixes poetry and prose. In a literary field utterly dominated by prose fiction — the novel — this is indeed “innovative” and “experimental.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1128290790646714368"}"></div></p>
<p>The embrace of generic diversification at Penguin Random House can only be a good thing. Regarding this embrace, however, we might hold our collective breath. </p>
<p>Strange Light plans to release two memoirs, a work of literary non-fiction, and a novel in 2020. Where is the poetry? The prose poem? The graphic novel?</p>
<p>Book buyers in Canada choose novels over poetry. According to <a href="https://www.booknetcanada.ca/">Book Net Canada’s</a> statistics, fiction represented just under 30 per cent of all unit sales of books in Canada in 2016. By contrast, poetry represented less than one percent. </p>
<p>Yet even if it could make Canadians read more poetry and mixed genre work, would Strange Light work to serve the diversification of Canada’s literary field, as its mission statement suggests? </p>
<h2>Experimental stories</h2>
<p>When thinking about how to introduce experimental stories and diverse points of view to readers in Canada, the primary issue is not one of genre or form. It is also not exclusively a question of publishing writers from a diversity of cultural backgrounds. Both of these factors matter, but they relate to a larger one.</p>
<p>The main issue is a question of ownership. According to the Book Net Canada statistics for 2016, 95 per cent of fiction, non-fiction (including poetry), young adult and juvenile books sold in Canada were published by foreign-owned publishers. </p>
<p>Penguin Random House Canada is the biggest of these, followed by HarperCollins Canada. Together, these two companies dominate literary publishing in Canada. According to investigative journalist Elaine <a href="http://biblioasis.com/shop/non-fiction/hand-canlit-dunnit/">Dewar</a>, Penguin Random House Canada had cornered 32 per cent of the Canadian trade book market in 2016.</p>
<p>We do not have a diverse literary ecosystem in Canada; its diversity has shrunk rapidly in the past two decades. Two recent accounts amply demonstrate a narrowing of Canada’s publishing activity: Rowland Lorimer’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13592803-ultra-libris"><em>Ultra Libris</em></a> analyzes the role of cultural policy in this process, while Elaine Dewar’s <a href="http://biblioasis.com/shop/non-fiction/hand-canlit-dunnit/"><em>The Handover</em></a>, reveals how “The Canadian Publisher” McClelland & Stewart was sold to Random House despite foreign investment rules that should have prevented it. </p>
<h2>Resilience of small houses</h2>
<p>Since at least the early 1970s and the introduction of the Canada Council’s block grants to Canadian-owned publishers who are actively producing and marketing Canadian books, a modest <a href="https://www.lpg.ca/publishers">small-press ecology</a> has managed to survive in this country. </p>
<p>Publishers such as Kentville, Nova Scotia’s <a href="http://www.gaspereau.com/">Gaspereau Press</a>; Windsor, Ontario’s <a href="http://biblioasis.com/">Biblioasis</a>; and Penticton, British Columbia’s <a href="http://www.theytus.com/">Theytus Books</a> bring Canadians books that would not otherwise see the light of day. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291163/original/file-20190905-175700-skar6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291163/original/file-20190905-175700-skar6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291163/original/file-20190905-175700-skar6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291163/original/file-20190905-175700-skar6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291163/original/file-20190905-175700-skar6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291163/original/file-20190905-175700-skar6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291163/original/file-20190905-175700-skar6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Book cover for a reissue of b.p nichols’ ‘beginnings.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/books/bp-beginnings-poetry-by-bpnichol/">Book Hug Press</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although now fairly well known as Michael Onddatje’s first publisher, Toronto’s <a href="https://chbooks.com/">Coach House Books</a> might also be remembered for its early forms of experimentation. The house made its mark in 1967 with b.p.nichol’s <a href="http://www.bpnichol.ca/archive/documents/journeying-returns"><em>Journeying & the Returns</em></a>, a slim volume in a blue and purple cardboard case that also contained assorted objects to be experienced alongside the poems, including a thumb-flip poem the size of a stack of sticky notes.</p>
<p>More recently, Québec’s <a href="http://memoiredencrier.com/">Mémoire d’encrier</a> offers us the unique poetry of <a href="https://www.ledevoir.com/lire/536184/grand-angle-la-lumiere-de-josephine-bacon">Joséphine Bacon</a>: French and Innu-aimun sit on each twinned page, giving the reader access to a language few in Canada have any opportunity to encounter. </p>
<p>Perhaps there is room for many different kinds of initiatives committed to boundary-pushing books in Canada’s literary field. </p>
<p>I hope that is the case. But do not be fooled: despite its rhetoric of innovation and experimentation, the indie-style imprint Strange Light is brought to us by a company that is already dominating the country’s literary space and that is clearly not indie. </p>
<p>This is one more sign of the desertification of our media ecology, not its diversification. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120718/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jody Mason receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is a member of the New Democratic Party of Canada. </span></em></p>
Don’t be fooled by the ‘indie’ rhetoric surrounding the new imprint of Penguin Random House Canada, a multinational corporation. Only time will tell if it will do much for the diversification of Can-Lit.
Jody Mason, Associate Professor, Department of English, Carleton University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/114426
2019-03-27T23:13:59Z
2019-03-27T23:13:59Z
Grab your tickets to our live election events
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267261/original/file-20190403-177184-sffrxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C10%2C1135%2C616&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Join us in your closest capital city. </span> </figcaption></figure><p>Join us in your closest capital city as we ask some of the country’s top experts what’s missing from the debate in the lead up to the 2019 federal election. </p>
<p>Each event will address the most pressing issues facing Australia and feature leading Conversation authors and editors, including Michelle Grattan and Amanda Dunn in Melbourne, Michelle Grattan, Peter Martin and Frank Bongiorno in Canberra, Anne Tiernan, Eddie Synot and Liz Minchin in Brisbane, Alex Reilly, Carol Johnson and Misha Ketchell in Adelaide and Jane Hall, Sarah Kaine and Peter Martin in Sydney. </p>
<h2>Canberra SOLD OUT</h2>
<p>Wednesday 3 April, Australian National University <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/events/in-conversation-with-michelle-grattan-ao?mc_cid=0048c9f7a2&mc_eid=%5BUNIQID%5D"><strong>REGISTER</strong></a></p>
<h2>Sydney SOLD OUT</h2>
<p>Thursday 11 April, Gleebooks <a href="https://gleebooks.worldsecuresystems.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=313754&mc_cid=0048c9f7a2&mc_eid=%5BUNIQID%5D"><strong>BUY TICKETS</strong></a></p>
<h2>Brisbane</h2>
<p>Wednesday 17 April, Avid Reader <a href="https://avidreader.com.au/events/the-conversation-advancing-australia-panel-discussion"><strong>BUY TICKETS</strong></a></p>
<h2>Melbourne</h2>
<p>Wednesday 24 April, Federation Square <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/your-qa-with-michelle-grattan-tickets-56772101885"><strong>BUY TICKETS</strong></a></p>
<h2>Adelaide</h2>
<p>Thursday 9 May, University of Adelaide <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/advancing-australia-ideas-for-a-better-country-tickets-57966882506"><strong>BUY TICKETS</strong></a></p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266210/original/file-20190327-139361-ozfjwp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266210/original/file-20190327-139361-ozfjwp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266210/original/file-20190327-139361-ozfjwp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266210/original/file-20190327-139361-ozfjwp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266210/original/file-20190327-139361-ozfjwp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266210/original/file-20190327-139361-ozfjwp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266210/original/file-20190327-139361-ozfjwp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Enjoy 30% off Advancing Austrlalia: Ideas for a Better Country today only.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Buy the book</h2>
<p>Politics in Australia is in a dire state. We have the diagnosis, but what’s the cure?</p>
<p>In this collection of essays, the country’s top academic minds look at the key issues and chart a way forward.</p>
<h2><a href="https://mup.com.au/books/advancing-australia-paperback-softback">Buy your copy here</a></h2>
<hr>
<p><em>Apologies to those who won’t be able to make it to one of these events – we hope to host events in Hobart, Perth, Darwin and some of Australia’s regional cities in coming months (keep your eyes peeled). Discount code not valid with other deals or books. Code not valid on e-books. Discount code expires 12am Friday March 29.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114426/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
How do we advance Australia? Grab your tickets to hear Australia’s top experts answer just that.
Molly Glassey, Digital Editor, The Conversation
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/111237
2019-02-08T09:45:54Z
2019-02-08T09:45:54Z
Dan Mallory’s unreliable narrative: how to get ahead in publishing
<p>People across the global book trade have been engrossed by a ripe scandal engulfing one of their own – publisher-turned-author Dan Mallory, whose novel <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/30/thriller-reviews-woman-in-the-window-child-finder-the-feed">The Woman in the Window</a> was one of the runaway bestsellers of 2018. One tweet summed up the buzz:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1092482919543771141"}"></div></p>
<p>The comment from the literary agent Laura Williams refers to a lengthy article in the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/02/11/a-suspense-novelists-trail-of-deceptions">New Yorker</a> about Mallory, who writes under the pseudonym A J Finn. As the headline explosively proclaimed, Mallory’s life “contains even stranger twists” than his fiction.</p>
<p>These twists, according to the New Yorker, include repeated lies: about his mother’s death from cancer, his own cancer diagnoses, an Oxford PhD, a job offer from a rival publishing company which leveraged promotion. He also, the article suggests, may have impersonated his brother, sent abusive emails, and – most curious of all – left plastic cups of urine in the New York office of his boss (“messages of disdain, or … territorial marking”, speculated the New Yorker – although it went on to quote a spokesperson for Mallory saying he hadn’t been responsible for that).</p>
<p>The article is careful to present evidence for these revelations via both named and anonymous sources, or to state that certain allegations are unproven. The revelations are either denied by Mallory, or blamed in a statement on “dissembling” produced by severe mental illness. </p>
<p>Even more curiously, Mallory’s uncompleted PhD focused on Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr Ripley – that twisty tale of a man who murders and then impersonates another. His own The Woman in the Window presents its readers with an unreliable first-person narrator who witnesses - or does she? - a crime. </p>
<p>An unreliable narrator – and an unreliable author? Literary liars and impersonators weave their tales through publishing history. Remember the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/books/27oprah.html">“memoirs” of James Frey</a>, A Million Little Pieces, which presented as fact made-up scenes of drug addiction and alcoholism?</p>
<p>Fiction-writing fraudsters also abound: prize-winning Australian Helen Darville <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230287846_10">falsely presented herself</a> as the Ukrainian “Helen Demidenko” and wore peasant blouses ti publicise her book: The Hand That Signed the Paper. Meanwhile JT LeRoy’s novelised tales of an abusive boyhood turned out to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/20/jt-leroy-story-modern-literary-hoax-?fbclid=IwAR1mfsO3TdqtEAHizcKqyLFh8fRHKvUf45_4ad3IiW9hUXNZG8qWITR65Sc">entirely invented</a>, their author represented in public by a (possibly) transgender impersonator.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257699/original/file-20190207-174867-728puj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257699/original/file-20190207-174867-728puj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257699/original/file-20190207-174867-728puj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257699/original/file-20190207-174867-728puj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257699/original/file-20190207-174867-728puj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257699/original/file-20190207-174867-728puj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257699/original/file-20190207-174867-728puj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who is JT LeRoy?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brad Coy</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Literary hoaxers</h2>
<p>Mallory joins an infamous line of <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/10/literary-hoaxes-and-the-ethics-of-authorship">literary hoaxers</a>, then. But what might this torrid tale tell us about the mental and physical health of the publishing industry?</p>
<p>Social media commentators quickly identified an issue beyond the tricksy questions of truth and lies: that of Mallory’s rapid career trajectory. A “Waspy” family background was polished by an elite US college education, employment at a New York publisher, postgraduate studies at Oxford, a London publishing job and promotion. Then back across the Atlantic to a $200,000 salary and a book deal brokered through his professional networks.</p>
<p>As one much-retweeted comment put it, alongside all the tawdry revelations of the story, it also spoke volumes about the problematic pattern of publishing career paths.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1092438449712517120"}"></div></p>
<p>The New Yorker has multiple accounts of how Mallory seemingly charmed writers and fellow publishers, and there’s no implication – other than light borrowing of plots and characterisation – that his writing is not his own. Good looks operated alongside that charm, until the beguilement revealed its multiple deceptions. But the question of how to get ahead in publishing, and those who get to make such rapid ascents, remains.</p>
<h2>Glass ceilings, whiteness and class</h2>
<p>Publishing and the literary world have serious issues of access and inclusion. The roughly equal number of <a href="https://www.publishers.org.uk/news/releases/2019/diversity-of-uk-publishing-workforce-detailed-in-extensive-survey/">men and women in board positions</a> in UK publishing does not represent the preponderance of female staff lower down company hierarchies – about 66-80% of people in the industry are women, surveys variously report.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly this glass ceiling creates a gender pay gap: <a href="https://www.bookcareers.com/salary-survey-2/bookcareers-com-salary-survey-results-2017/">16% in 2017</a> and some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/23/gender-pay-gap-figures-reveal-big-publishings-great-divide">even worse figures</a> in 2018’s mandatory reporting from larger companies. Publishing also has its <a href="https://www.interscriptjournal.com/online-magazine/sleaze-o-meter">sleaze and #MeToo claims</a>.</p>
<p>In terms of ethnic diversity, a <a href="https://www.publishers.org.uk/news/releases/2019/diversity-of-uk-publishing-workforce-detailed-in-extensive-survey/">2018 UK Publishers Association survey</a> showed the BAME workforce of publishing to be under 12%. This is marginally below the 2011 <a href="https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/ethnicity-in-the-uk">census figure of 13% in England and Wales</a>, but it’s far below the 40% of London, where UK publishing is highly centralised (itself presenting issues of <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/northern-fiction-alliance-host-regional-diversity-roundtable-933416">regional diversity</a>). </p>
<p>Repeated surveys have demonstrated <a href="https://www2.le.ac.uk/institutes/cameo/publications/cuts-2">publishing’s diversity deficit</a>. Scholarship from <a href="http://www.mediaindustriesjournal.org/index.php/mij/article/view/144">Anamik Saha</a> and <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783030105211">Melanie Ramdarshan Bold</a> focuses on the challenges of cultural production for writers of colour. Over a period from 2006-2016, Ramdarshan Bold identified, only 8% of young adult books published in the UK were by <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12109-018-9600-5">writers of colour</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257715/original/file-20190207-174883-1hyiwbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257715/original/file-20190207-174883-1hyiwbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257715/original/file-20190207-174883-1hyiwbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257715/original/file-20190207-174883-1hyiwbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257715/original/file-20190207-174883-1hyiwbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257715/original/file-20190207-174883-1hyiwbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257715/original/file-20190207-174883-1hyiwbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257715/original/file-20190207-174883-1hyiwbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Knights Of, who sidestepped traditional publishing by crowd-sourcing funding for a pop-up bookshop to sell diverse books.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Knights of</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like other creative industries, publishing is a middle-class activity, with working-class publishers and writers frequently recounting stories of prejudice and cultural condescension – eg. in publisher Laura Waddell’s <a href="https://www.404ink.com/nasty-women/">Nasty Women</a> chapter, and in Dead Ink’s anthology of working-class essays <a href="https://deadinkbooks.com/product/know-your-place/">Know Your Place</a>.</p>
<p>The 2018 report <a href="http://createlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Panic-Social-Class-Taste-and-Inequalities-in-the-Creative-Industries1.pdf">Panic! Social Class, Taste and Inequalities in the Creative Industries</a> shows publishing’s class demographic to be “especially grave”. Less than 13% of publishers are from working-class backgrounds, while more than 33% have upper middle-class origins.</p>
<h2>The whiff of privilege</h2>
<p>Such individual and statistical accounts of exclusion demonstrate why the wild story of one already-privileged individual bluffing his way higher and higher up the publishing echelons has caused so much consternation. If the story is true, Mallory repeatedly fooled university admissions offices and publishers’ employment processes. But what employment practices enabled him to rise, even when his story had started to unravel? And how did his apparent charm and good taste enable him to fail upwards? The answers to these questions remain in a dysfunctional swirl of rumour, anonymous sources, non-disclosure agreements and myth-making that probably won’t hurt Mallory’s book sales. </p>
<p>But there are wider systemic and institutionalised issues at play here: the urine scent-marking in the editor’s office (whether proven to be Mallory or not) is a metaphor for the regimes of value in operation within publishing. There is <a href="https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/handle/1893/25816#.XFrTTlz7Q2w">a mystique about taste</a> – a whiff of privilege – that prevails unhelpfully and often prejudicially in the publishing industry. Such inequitable practices govern which hot new literary property we pick up next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Squires does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The strange story of the author one of 2018’s bestselling novels reveals a lot about some careers at the top end of publishing.
Claire Squires, Professor in Publishing Studies, University of Stirling
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/94859
2018-04-13T11:03:48Z
2018-04-13T11:03:48Z
Man Booker International Prize shortlist a boon for small publishers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214694/original/file-20180413-566-grrfao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=138%2C91%2C1307%2C764&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://themanbookerprize.com/international/news/man-booker-international-prize-shortlist">Man Booker International Prize</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Six books, six languages, two former winners and a bonanza for independent publishers: the Man Booker International Prize – the UK’s most prestigious prize for translated fiction – has <a href="http://themanbookerprize.com/international">announced its 2018 shortlist</a>. Whittled down from a longlist of 13 titles spanning the globe, the six titles to make the cut are translated from Arabic, French, Hungarian, Korean, Spanish and Polish.</p>
<p>This year’s nominations have been selected by a panel of five judges, chaired by novelist Lisa Appignanesi with fellow writers Hari Kunzru and Helen Oyeyemi alongside poet and translator Michael Hofmann and journalist Tim Martin. The shortlist includes Han Kang and Deborah Smith – who <a href="http://themanbookerprize.com/international/news/vegetarian-wins-man-booker-international-prize-2016">won the prize in 2016 for The Vegetarian</a> – and László Krasznahorkai – who <a href="http://themanbookerprize.com/resources/media/pressreleases/2015/05/19/man-booker-international-prize-2015-l%C3%A1szl%C3%B3-krasznahorkai">won the prize in its former iteration in 2015</a> – when it was awarded for an achievement in fiction evident in a body of work.</p>
<p>The winner of the 2018 prize will be announced on May 22 at a formal dinner at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London – and the £50,000 prize will be divided equally between the author and the translator of the winning book.</p>
<p>The Booker Prize Foundation has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/09/man-booker-prize-2014-shortlist">rejigged the flagship award</a> in recent years. An <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/17/british-writers-big-us-prizes-americans-win-booker">awful lot of handwringing</a> has been devoted to the decision to include US authors as contenders for the “main” award, The Man Booker Prize. But very little attention has been paid to the decision to <a href="http://themanbookerprize.com/resources/media/pressreleases/2015/07/07/evolution-man-booker-international-prize-announced">overhaul the group’s international prize</a>. Originally introduced in 2005, the Man Booker International Prize was intended as a global-facing sister award – with a twist. The original version of the International prize was a biennial award honouring an entire body of work by a living writer of any nationality and in any language (as long as their work was available in English). </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214700/original/file-20180413-587-c3x9ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214700/original/file-20180413-587-c3x9ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214700/original/file-20180413-587-c3x9ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214700/original/file-20180413-587-c3x9ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214700/original/file-20180413-587-c3x9ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214700/original/file-20180413-587-c3x9ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214700/original/file-20180413-587-c3x9ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ahmed Saadawi has been shortlisted for his award-winning book, Frankenstein in Baghdad.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Man Booker International Prize</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The original format was a noble pursuit, but the Man Booker International was inevitably overshadowed on the global literary stage by the Nobel Prize for Literature. As of 2016, the Man Booker International Prize now awards a single book – but one that has been originally written in a language other than English, then subsequently translated and published in the UK. </p>
<p>The International Prize’s unique selling point is the emphasis on collaboration between author and translator, even down to sharing the prize money. The focus on collaboration is what makes the International Prize, for me, a truly exciting event in the literary awards calendar. </p>
<h2>Focus on translation</h2>
<p>Arguably, the change has been for the better but the comparative lack of attention on the international award is still indicative of mainstream publishing’s general disinterest in translated fiction – bar the occasional bestselling “Scandi Noir” and international phenomenon such as Italy’s <a href="http://elenaferrante.com/">Elena Ferrante</a>, of course, the latter shortlisted for the prize in 2016, along with translator Ann Goldstein.</p>
<p>Although we shouldn’t be tempted to see the commercial popularity of Jo Nesbø and the relative success of Ferrante as a sea change in translated fiction’s fortunes in UK publishing, there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic. Adam Freudenheim of Pushkin Press <a href="https://www.britac.ac.uk/blog/fiction-translation-publishers-view">suggests that</a> “there’s definitely greater and wider awareness of fiction in translation as a result of such successes”, pointing to the new format of the Man Booker International Prize as “doing a great deal to raise the profile of such books”.</p>
<h2>Small publishers to the fore</h2>
<p>Crucially, the prize is raising the profile of those small presses and independent publishers who are at the vanguard of translated literature. As well as the aforementioned Pushkin Press, notable small publishers specialising in translated literature include <a href="https://www.tiltedaxispress.com/">Tilted Axis Press</a> and <a href="http://www.andotherstories.org/">And Other Stories</a>. This year’s shortlist is dominated by titles from independent presses, including two books from <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/tuskar-rock-moves-profile">Tuskar Rock Press</a>, and one each from <a href="https://www.maclehosepress.com/">MacLehose Press</a>, <a href="http://portobellobooks.com/">Portobello Books</a>, <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/about">Oneworld</a> and <a href="https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/">Fitzcarraldo Editions</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"984687285886054401"}"></div></p>
<p>The role of independent publishers in supporting translated literature is not lost on the judges for the International Prize: announcing the longlist earlier this year, Appignanesi <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/12/man-booker-international-prize-longlist-han-kang-laszlo-krasznahorkai">declared</a>: “I think we have to raise our hats to independent publishers. It does cost money to translate, it’s harder to publish, harder to sell.” </p>
<p>The International Prize has even had a direct impact on the range of translated literature available in the UK: Kang and Smith’s inaugural win in 2016 for <a href="http://themanbookerprize.com/books/vegetarian-by">The Vegetarian</a> meant that Smith had extra funds for her non-profit small press, <a href="https://www.tiltedaxispress.com/about/">Tilted Axis</a> – which is “on a mission to shake up contemporary international literature”.</p>
<p>Translated fiction may be a small part of the British reading diet but it is one that is steadily growing. In 2015, The Bookseller reported that translated fiction only accounted for 1.5% overall and 3.5% of published literary fiction. Yet translated fiction <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/sales-translated-fic-grow-96-328500">provided 5% of total fiction sales</a> in 2015.</p>
<p>Only time will tell if the appetite for translated fiction in the UK can continue. In the meantime, let’s toast the shortlisted authors and translators. If you’ve yet to enjoy translated fiction, this year’s shortlist is a good place to expand your global reading life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94859/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Rushton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The best translated fiction available in English.
Amy Rushton, Lecturer in English Literature, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/82307
2017-08-11T01:31:54Z
2017-08-11T01:31:54Z
Love of bookshops in a time of Amazon and populism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181643/original/file-20170810-27672-n64m24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Saturday is Love Your Bookshop Day –
but bookshops face many challenges.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There was genuine positivity at this year’s Australian Booksellers’ Association Conference in Melbourne in June. The mood was one of camaraderie and optimism at the sharing of good news. And it only brightened with the news that our National Bookshop Day was to be rebranded this year as <a href="http://www.loveyourbookshopday.com.au/">Love Your Bookshop Day</a>. Why not?</p>
<p>Saturday is that day. Expect to see your local bookshop buntinged, postered, streamered and perhaps offering special bargains. Assuming, of course, you have a local bookshop. </p>
<p>Store numbers have steadied in recent years and, as was reported at the conference, both independent and chain or franchise booksellers are expanding. Children’s book sales in particular are performing well. (“The bookshop is dead. Long live the bookshop,” reads a plaque at Embiggen Books in Melbourne’s CBD.) </p>
<p>But over the past couple of decades the sector has wrestled with the challenges of superstores, GST, the GFC, one-sided international post deals, ebooks and online-only undercutters.</p>
<p>Now the greatest of these online stores, certainly in terms of market share, will soon be competing with Australian bookstores from a new base here. Amazon has secured a massive distribution centre site near Dandenong in outer-eastern Melbourne. Dire predictions for parts of the Australian retail sector <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-04/amazon-will-send-retailers-to-the-wall-gerry-harvey-says/8774012">have already been made</a>. </p>
<p>Local booksellers too will need to adjust to this new environment, in which Amazon will likely reduce its delivery time and charges significantly. This will place downward pressure on book prices, and thus booksellers’ margins and capacity to survive.</p>
<p>Amazon has itself experimented with physical bookstores in recent times, to underwhelming reviews, but its primary focus has, of course, been on being able to offer <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17660462-the-everything-store">“everything” at the “everyday low prices”</a> of its American precursors (and sometime role models), Walmart and Costco.</p>
<p>Today’s booksellers must choose what to put on their shelves from around 7,000 new releases each month. As all of these will be on the “shelves” of Amazon, local booksellers will need to maintain an intimate knowledge of what will appeal to their customer base.</p>
<p>This curatorial role, which has always been part of what good booksellers do, takes on extra importance in the digital age. Curating, one might say, is the opposite approach to that of Amazon, which instead expertly removes barriers to purchasing, encouraging impulse buying. The extra services local booksellers provide, in addition to low prices and the range of stock, will likely need beefing up also. Community building will be the order of the day.</p>
<p>The current shrinkage of review pages of broadsheet newspapers will also hurt many bookshops, as they depend on a degree of consensus as to what is important and valuable to read.</p>
<p>Price instability may well grow in Australia with the arrival of Amazon. Publishers have argued over the decades that this instability also discourages consumer confidence.</p>
<p>The Productivity Commission doesn’t accept arguments in favour of maintaining price levels for some products in order to keep the costs of others down. But regulatory bodies have special challenges when confronted with large, diverse conglomerates, such as Amazon. It has the capacity to drop prices for products in one category (such as books) to maximise competitiveness, while the overall bottom line is propped up by more profitable parts of the business (such as Amazon Web Services).</p>
<p>In the face of aggressive price cutting from firms like … well, Amazon … regulatory bodies concerned with fair prices for consumers are yet to find an effective means of properly accounting for the fact that its success has been partly based on exploiting publicly developed (and funded) technology and infrastructure, determined strategies of tax minimisation, aggressive use of IP and patent law, and sustained intransigence towards its workforce’s self-organisation and unionisation.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181725/original/file-20170811-6108-ypmit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181725/original/file-20170811-6108-ypmit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181725/original/file-20170811-6108-ypmit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181725/original/file-20170811-6108-ypmit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181725/original/file-20170811-6108-ypmit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181725/original/file-20170811-6108-ypmit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181725/original/file-20170811-6108-ypmit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181725/original/file-20170811-6108-ypmit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andy Griffiths: a bookshop favourite.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carol Cho/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On Tuesday morning this past week, a crowd of parents and kids waited in the cold out the front of our local suburban bookshop till, at 9 o’clock, they could rush in and buy the latest Treehouse book, by Andy Griffiths. The bookseller handed out free copies of a quality cookbook to parents. Community spirit, human connectedness and customer loyalty all bloomed nicely.</p>
<p>As the legendary Collins bookseller, Michael Zifcack, recalled in his memoirs,
“I realised early on that customer service was the secret of successful bookselling.”</p>
<p>I’ll be heading to that local shop on Saturday, but can also, of course, appreciate the access to more or less every available product that online shopping provides. No doubt there is room for both retail models within our society.</p>
<p>What remains most important, when thinking about the health of the book industry here, is that no matter how cheap we make these products, there won’t be effective demand for them unless people have the time and desire to read. </p>
<p>This desire, in turn, rests most powerfully on the belief that what one knows and says matters; that democracy, its public sphere, and reason, evidence and logic are the driving forces of one’s society. For all of us, that challenge is ongoing and, broadly speaking, we will get the books and bookshops we deserve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Hollier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Despite dire predictions, bookstores are doing well: they are curators of taste and community hubs. But their challenges are many – from the arrival of Amazon Down Under to a ‘post-truth’ climate that devalues knowledge.
Nathan Hollier, Director, Monash University Publishing, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/77174
2017-05-09T01:52:51Z
2017-05-09T01:52:51Z
Has the print book trumped digital? Beware of glib conclusions
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168487/original/file-20170508-20745-141cpks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What will an eBook be 20 years from now? What will a book be?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Voyagerix/shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While just a few years ago, headlines predicted eBook supremacy and the demise of the paper book, that’s now reversed. They’re now saying <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/27/how-ebooks-lost-their-shine-kindles-look-clunky-unhip-">the Kindle is clunky and unhip </a>and paper books are cool and selling well as eBook sales crash. But are today’s claims any more accurate than those of 2012?</p>
<p>The latest round of headlines was triggered by UK Publishers’ Association figures noting a fall in consumer eBook sales of 17% in 2016, while physical book sales rose 8%. This statistic seems straightforward enough on the surface, but it pays to go deeper.</p>
<p>Mainstream media have long been in the habit of relying on figures from publishers’ associations, retailers’ groups and Nielsen data, but the industry has changed. While these measures are accurate, they are only accurate in terms of what they measure, and they represent far less of the industry than they once did. They are no longer a proxy for the industry.</p>
<h2>A recent history of eBooks</h2>
<p>Amazon’s Kindle was launched in November 2007. Barnes & Noble followed with their Nook in October 2009 and Kobo with their eReader in May 2010. Apple’s launch of the iPad in January 2010, meanwhile, introduced a non-specialist device that gave a pleasing eReading experience. US eBook sales rose 1260% <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/business/media/audiobooks-turn-more-readers-into-listeners-as-e-books-slip.html?_r=1%20">between 2008 and 2010</a>. By early 2011, US advisory group Gartner reported that industry researchers were <a href="http://www.afr.com/lifestyle/arts-and-entertainment/books/unlikely-saviours-as-bookshops-win-battle-to-stay-in-business-20150317-1m17yq">predicting a 70% annual growth rate</a> for eReader sales globally.</p>
<p>In February that year, the REDgroup, the parent company of Angus&Robertson and Borders in Australia – chains responsible for 20% of the country’s book sales – <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-really-went-wrong-for-borders-and-angus-and-robertson-341">went into receivership</a>. Retailers across the industry in Australia were noticing a downturn. After 5% growth in 2009, Australian book sales contracted slightly in 2010, then dramatically in 2011, with falls of 13% in volume and 18% in value, and significant falls continuing into 2012. </p>
<p>In January 2011, Amazon announced that, for the first time, it was selling more eBooks than paperbacks. According to Nielsen figures, US eBook sales went from US$69m in 2010 to US$165m in 2011, a 139% increase. They increased a further 30% in 2012 and 13% in 2013. </p>
<p>Nielsen figures, though, only record sales of books <a href="http://www.isbn.org/faqs_general_questions">with ISBNs</a>, something many independently published eBooks do not have. Despite not counting many eBooks, Nielsen still recorded sales as increasing, albeit probably at diminishing growth rates each year.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168494/original/file-20170509-20725-hfj0u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168494/original/file-20170509-20725-hfj0u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168494/original/file-20170509-20725-hfj0u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168494/original/file-20170509-20725-hfj0u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168494/original/file-20170509-20725-hfj0u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168494/original/file-20170509-20725-hfj0u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168494/original/file-20170509-20725-hfj0u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In January 2011, Amazon announced that, for the first time, it was selling more eBooks than paperbacks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Artem Evdokimov/shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With increases in both average smartphone screen size and smartphone use, the 2014 to 2015 period marked another shift – the phone was becoming a significant reading tool. According to US Nielsen surveys, while the percentage of the eReading population reading primarily on tablets had increased from 30% in 2012 to 41% in 2015, the number of eBook buyers who used their phones to read at least some of the time increased from 24% to 54% in the same period. </p>
<p>Judith Curr, publisher of <a href="http://www.simonandschusterpublishing.com/atria/">Atria Books</a>, stated in 2015 that,
“The future of digital reading is on the phone. It’s going to be on the phone and it’s going to be on paper”.</p>
<h2>Peak eBook?</h2>
<p>EBook sales in the US, though, appeared to plateau at 2013 levels, according to Association of American Publishers figures, and then dipped early in 2015. In the UK, the Publishers’ Association reported digital sales for the year 2015 falling slightly and print sales growing minimally. “Readers take a pleasure in a physical book that does not translate well on to digital,” the Publishers’ Association stated, and declarations of “peak eBook” became commonplace. Those figures, though, do not tell the whole story.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/13/books-ebook-publishers-paper">Simon Jenkins admitted in The Guardian last year</a> when declaring that peak digital was at hand, the adult colouring book fad made a contribution to print sales in 2015. Unlike fiction blockbusters, sales of colouring books are almost entirely in print format. </p>
<p>In the case of the UK market, the £20.3 million generated by adult colouring books in 2015 matched the growth in the overall print market. Without it, the pattern of zero or negative growth seen in the preceding seven years would have continued. In the US, Nielsen reported that sales of adult colouring books surged from one million units in 2014 to 12 million in 2015. Australia was also part of the adult-colouring craze. Nielsen BookScan’s November 2015 Australian top 20 featured eight colouring books, each one of them outselling the most successful Australian novel.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168495/original/file-20170509-5468-1jjc2km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168495/original/file-20170509-5468-1jjc2km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168495/original/file-20170509-5468-1jjc2km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168495/original/file-20170509-5468-1jjc2km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168495/original/file-20170509-5468-1jjc2km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168495/original/file-20170509-5468-1jjc2km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168495/original/file-20170509-5468-1jjc2km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The adult colouring book fad was a huge boon to print sales in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other factors were at work as well. Following the renegotiation of pricing between major American publishers and Amazon, eBook prices rose in the US Kindle Store in late 2014 and 2015. Until then, Amazon had pushed publishers to keep prices no greater than $9.99, and buyers had become conditioned to paying less than $10 for eBooks. </p>
<p>Publishers that increased prices above that mark subsequently recorded a fall in eBook receipts, and some identified higher prices as a factor. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/e-book-sales-weaken-amid-higher-prices-1441307826">According to journalist Jeffery Trachtenberg</a>, publishers viewed this pricing change as involving “some sacrifice, but they felt it was worth it to keep Amazon in check”. </p>
<p>The specific books published from one year to the next had an impact too. Some publishers noted that 2015 saw fewer “hot” titles. With nothing to match Frozen and the Divergent series, children’s and young-adult eBook sales fell 45.5% in 2015 in the US.</p>
<h2>eReading growth not counted</h2>
<p>While the Association of American Publishers’s figures are based on a survey of 1200 publishers and often seen as authoritative, the Amazon Kindle Store stocks many independently published titles and titles published by small and micro publishers not captured by the survey. </p>
<p>At the same time as the association was reporting a drop in overall eBook sales, Amazon, the retailer with the majority of the US eBook market, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/e-book-sales-weaken-amid-higher-prices-1441307826">reported increases</a> in sales in terms of both units and revenue.</p>
<p>And other avenues were opening up that facilitated continued growth in eReading that was not feeding into the statistics. Public libraries were lending eBooks and subscription eBook libraries were opening for business – Oyster in September 2013, Scribd the following month and Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited in July 2014.</p>
<p>While subscriber downloads earned an author readers and, in the case of subscription libraries, revenue, they did not count towards sales.</p>
<p>David Montgomery, CEO of publishing services company Ingenta, drew on these factors <a href="http://www.ingenta.com/blog-article/5-predictions-for-trade-publishing-in-2016/">to declare last year that</a> publishing had split into two markets, with a widening gap between them. </p>
<p>Self-published and micro-published authors, particularly those writing genre fiction, were pricing their eBooks much lower and claiming an increasing share of the market, particularly through Amazon, while large publishers were increasing eBook prices in a way that reduced eBook sales. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168496/original/file-20170509-20757-opl99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168496/original/file-20170509-20757-opl99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168496/original/file-20170509-20757-opl99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168496/original/file-20170509-20757-opl99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168496/original/file-20170509-20757-opl99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168496/original/file-20170509-20757-opl99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168496/original/file-20170509-20757-opl99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The subscription eBook library Scribd opened in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This pattern has continued, and the rhetoric that pits one format against another appears to be continuing too. At the Digital Book World conference in January 2017, <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/retailing/article/72563-the-bad-news-about-e-books.html">Nielsen presented 2016 data</a> from more than 30 traditional US publishers showing a fall in eBook sales from 2015 to 2016 and hardback unit sales overtaking eBooks for the first time since 2012. </p>
<p>Despite their data being an estimate and covering relatively few publishers, Publishers Weekly ran its story on the presentation with the headline <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/retailing/article/72563-the-bad-news-about-e-books.html">“The Bad News About Ebooks”</a>. The week after the conference, the Sydney Morning Herald published a Bloomberg-sourced piece headed <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/how-print-beat-digital-in-the-book-world-20170127-gu09a2.html">“How Print Beat Digital in the Book World”</a>.</p>
<p>Association of American Publishers (AAP) data released in February 2017 appeared to confirm the decline of eBooks, with eBook sales for the first nine months of 2016 down <a href="http://newsroom.publishers.org/publisher-book-sales-were-1113-billion-in-the-first-three-quarters-of-2016/">18.7%</a> on the year before.</p>
<p>However, at the Digital Book World conference in January, other evidence was presented that attracted less media attention.
An <a href="http://authorearnings.com/report/dbw2017/">analysis by the Author Earnings website</a> (an aggregator and analyser of eBook sales data) identified that, outside the world of traditional publishing, authors who were self-published, independently published or published directly by Amazon imprints, had sold more than 260 million eBooks worth more than US$850 million in the US in 2016. </p>
<p>Total eBook sales by Amazon – which makes up 83% of the US eBook market by volume and 80% by value – rose by <a href="http://authorearnings.com/report/february-2017/">4%</a> from early 2015 to early 2016, at the same time as eBook sales recorded by the AAP were falling. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168497/original/file-20170509-20745-ek0iwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168497/original/file-20170509-20745-ek0iwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168497/original/file-20170509-20745-ek0iwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168497/original/file-20170509-20745-ek0iwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168497/original/file-20170509-20745-ek0iwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168497/original/file-20170509-20745-ek0iwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168497/original/file-20170509-20745-ek0iwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168497/original/file-20170509-20745-ek0iwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Self published authors are claiming an increasing share of the market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While no direct comparison exists for the UK market - where the Publishers’ Association reported a 17% fall in consumer eBook sales from 2015 to 2016 - <a href="http://authorearnings.com/report/february-2017/">42%</a> of eBook sales in that market are by self, indie or Amazon-published authors. This added up to 40 million of the 95 million units sold in the UK in 2016 – a percentage that is growing as the eBook market share held by the larger members of the Publishers’ Association falls.</p>
<p>The publishing industry has changed. It is no longer solely the domain of members of publishers’ associations and books with ISBNs that allow easy tracking and accumulation of data that appears robust but tells much less of the story than it once did.</p>
<h2>Moving beyond the ‘format wars’</h2>
<p>It is too easy to have our attention grabbed, and sometimes our biases or hopes confirmed, by an appealing set of statistics from an authoritative source, and to misunderstand what those statistics are measuring.</p>
<p>It is also too easy to fall into viewing the evolution in eBook and print sales solely through the prism of Amazon and its often public power struggle with publishers, and to be <a href="http://www.textjournal.com.au/april17/earls.htm">drawn too deeply into seeing the future of publishing as one format versus another</a>. </p>
<p>While it is possible to speculate about the future trajectories of the eBook and paper book markets, many confident pundits have been wrong before, as new factors have emerged that have significantly impacted reader behaviour and sales patterns.</p>
<p>From the practical perspective of writers wishing to connect their work with readers, it is prudent to see both paper and eBooks as significant for any book-publishing project in the present and near future, and to develop strategies to meet both of them. It is also prudent to look beyond both platforms to another, one that had long been regarded as a peripheral player: audiobooks.</p>
<p>All we can be sure of is that the digital platform is still evolving. What will an eBook be 20 years from now? What will a book be?</p>
<p><em>Nick Earls will be available for a live author Q&A Wednesday from 1pm to 2pm. Post your questions below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Earls’ research has been supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. He is a member of the Australian Society of Authors.</span></em></p>
Reports of the decline of the eBook are premature. The publishing industry is changing rapidly and data that appears robust tells us less than it once did.
Nick Earls, PhD Candidate in Creative Writing, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.