Sunday 27 November 2011

Publishing hits rock bottom

As writers we all struggle to get published. We toil all through the night when all sensible people are sleeping.

Our characters tug at our sleeves and lead us on a merry dance when we’re meant to be concentrating on something else: life stuff like paying the bills and taking the rubbish out.

We don’t have leisure time because we’re too busy scribbling away.

We end up with back problems (from sitting hunched over our laptops or notebooks), relationship problems (‘you care more about your writing than you do about me’), drink problems (there’s a reason I’m teetotal) and some of us even end up relying on heavy duty narcotics (I’m not there, yet, but give me time).

Maybe we writers should be sending pictures of our bums to publishers instead of head shots

So nothing sticks in the craw more than reading that the publishing industry, who hand out meagre advances to writers (if they hand out advances at all) can somehow come up with bucket loads of cash to hand to ‘celebrities’ to supposedly write books.

Pippa Middleton is the latest to be given a book deal. According to reports she’s been given a 400k book deal by Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin books to tell us how to be the perfect party hostess.  

According to these reports, Pippa who’s never so much as had an article published will write the book herself. It’s up to you whether you believe that or not as most celebs get ghostwriters.  

Ms Middleton is just the latest in a long line of ‘celebrities’ to get huge book deals and she won’t be the last.

Footnote - If you have no idea who Pippa Middleton is, lucky you. She’s the sister of Kate Middleton who married Prince William. She became famous because apparently she has a nice bottom.

Sunday 6 November 2011

Publish and be damned (I was)


Today I learnt something new about myself. I am a racist. It came as a big of a shock because I'd no idea.

At least according to someone who posted a comment on the article I wrote for Shadowlocked, 8 British Shows the Americans couldn’t do.

I didn’t make any racist points. All I did was state that for various reasons there are some British shows that American TV couldn’t make as well, mainly because of things like settings and American TV’s perchance for guns.

But, that’s the thing, once your work is out there – especially out there on the world wide web – you have no control over what people say and in this case what they post.

Does it make you angry and get you upset when you read criticism like that? Of course it does, but like a lot of things in life you just have to get used to it. People will always disagree with you and sometimes that will mean they get personal.

Do I think I’m a racist just because someone wrote it? Hey, if someone wrote I was a millionaire would it make it true?

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