Thursday 1 September 2011

Sackcloth and Ashes

Scanning the Bookseller today, I found this link about author Lloyd Shephard and ended up reading the whole article in the Guardian -
"This time last year, I was metaphorically invited to the only party I've ever wanted to be seen at. My first novel, The English Monster, was picked up by an agent, and then by a publisher, Simon and Schuster. It hits the streets in March 2012.

I've made it, I thought to myself as I clutched my invite to the most exclusive set of all. I'm going to be a published author.

So imagine my surprise - nay, dismay - to discover that publishing's streets were not paved with gold, but stalked by the anxious, the gloomy, the suicidal.

"Publishing's dead!" shouted men in sackcloth on Bloomsbury street corners. I had arrived at the party, but the coats were being handed out, the drink had dried up and the hostess had collapsed.
So I asked myself (somewhat desperately, positively naively): are things really that bad? What is the actual state of book publishing in Britain? Can writers really only look forward to a life of penury? Or should I stick my head in the sand, if only to deaden the sound of commissioning editors weeping into their lattes?

Follow the link - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/30/death-books-exaggerated - it's well worth reading, for both aspiring and published authors.

1 comment:

Jen Black said...

Before anyone tells me the link doesn't work - I know. I've checked it 3 times, and it is correctly copied. Maybe the Guardian doesn't like referrals from blogs? I don't know. But I'll say it is worth citing the Guardian for the 30th August and finding it that way. Honestly.

More flames on the fire

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