Saturday, September 16, 2006

Hobby Horse 1 - Secondhand books

Rant alert. There's something that's bugging me. Secondhand books and Amazon Marketplace. Let me explain.

If you go onto Amazon and search for, as an example, my book Fleshmarket, you'll find it there. Good. However, you'll also be tempted to look at 'New and used'. This takes you to Amazon Marketplace. Here, you will find Fleshmarket sold at as little as 1p. Big problem - not for you, but for me.

Some of these 'new and used' books are not genuinely secondhand and have never earned a royalty: some may have 'leaked' from the publisher's warehouse before earning a royalty, for various unclear reasons, such as returns that have not been resold; others are proof copies, marked as 'not for resale' (which is a problem if they are offered before publication; and perhaps not such a problem later, as most are bought as collectors' items and PROBABLY don't affect real sales much - EXCEPT that some buyers on Amazon Marketplace will just be buying them because they're cheap and won't care or notice if one is a proof). Others are genuinely secondhand. NONE of them brings me any income. And it's the first and third categories that I'm irritated by. But I don't entirely understand how the first category comes about, so let's focus on secondhand books and the fact that authors don't get royalties from them.

So what, you say? Aren't royalties just a bonus? What's the difference between buying a book secondhand and buying anything else secondhand. Don't you get properly paid?

Ah, there's a big difference and no, royalties are not a bonus. And no, I don't get properly paid - not until people buy my books, in shops or through internet sites like Amazon, but NEW. Authors are paid an advance - money set against the royalties on future sales. If you cause an author to lose a future sale, you are actually taking away the prime source of payment. In effect, you are taking the author's wages. It's NOT like buying a piece of clothing, where the maker is being paid a wage or salary which does not depend on how many are sold.

So, when you buy a book secondhand, that sale brings no royalty and denies the author his or her rightful income.

And, authors are generally not well off. If you want to know the facts: more than two thirds of members of the Society of Authors earn LESS THAN HALF the national average wage. And half of the Society's members earn less than the minimum wage.

If we erode authors' incomes, we cause a situation where authors cannot write the wide and deep range of books which they currently do. Publishers will only want to publish books which will sell in truckloads, rather than the full range as they do now. Authors will not be able to write books on topics which are of huge interest only to a few thousand people. 'Will it be popular?' will be the only question publishers ask, instead of 'Will it be brilliant? Will it be useful? Will it be important?'

So, the increase in the secondhand market is damaging to authors, to literature, to academic quality, and ultimately to readers themselves.

I'm not saying don't buy secondhand. After all, secondhand bookshops are a great way of finding a book that is out of print (so you couldn't buy it new). And buying a book that is out of print can sometimes leading to that reader buying another book by the same author. And I don't want to knock charities. However, realise that what you do has consequences. And realise that Amazon Marketplace in particular is potentially threatening author income by its huge success.

Finally, let me remind you of Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he or she is the author."

There! I've said my piece!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Turning Japanese

Got the author copies of the Japanese edition of Mondays are Red today. How very weird. And there's even a picture of my dog on the front cover. (Yes, she did have a small part in the book). It's very disorientating having a book back to front. But I am delighted to be in Japanese. I recently gave the Polish editions of Mondays are Red to a woman who bought my bike from ebay. Yes, don't worry - she was Polish. Still is, as far as I know.

Just waiting for the Serbian edition of Blame My Brain now ...

Monday, September 11, 2006

Why Ghostly Galleon?

Why Ghostly Galleon? All will be revealed. More to the point, why on earth have I decided to start this blog NOW, when I have a million and one other things I should be doing? Probably because I have a million and one other things I should be doing.

Maybe because I have a new book coming out in November and I am at that stage when I am convinced it's going to dive into the void, never to be seen again. And I'd kind of be sad about that.

It's called the Highwayman's Footsteps. It's set in 1761 in the north-east of England and features a highwayman. No it doesn't - it features a girl and a boy, who are both highwaymen. It's been described as 'Robert Louis Stevenson on caffeine'. I like that! Pure adventure, exciting, frightening, thought-provoking. There's death and horror, cruelty and injustice. But friendship and loyalty, bravery and beauty too. And it was great fun to write, more fun than anything I've done.

ANYWAY, there's an added twist: you see, my favourite poem of all time is Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman. You know, the one where Bess, the landlord's 'red-lipped, black-eyed daughter', and her lover, the handsome highwayman, die at the hands of the dastardly redcoats. Or, to be precise, Bess shoots herself to warn him 'with her death' and when he hears what she has done, he rides back in fury and allows himself to be shot 'down like a dog in the highway'. ANYWAY, the point is that I decided that Bess and the highwayman had had a child, a girl, also called Bess, brought up by her father in the devious ways of a highwayman.

But that's not the twist. Last week, I went to stay in Alfred Noyes' old house and while I was there I actually LISTENED to an old recording of him reading his wonderful poem. An utterly amazing experience. I've written about it for Carousel magazine and several other places are interested in publishing it after Carousel comes out.

So, do you know now why Ghostly Galleon?

In which case, you might be surprised to know that Noyes' original first draft didn't use 'ghostly galleon' but 'Flying Dutchman'. How do I know? Because his grandson gave me a copy of an early draft, in the poet's own handwriting ...

How did all this come about, this visit to the house and listening to the tape? Because of the poet's daughter - Lady Nolan. She read my book and gave permission for me to use the poem. 'Why don't you go and stay in our old house?' she said. 'And listen to an old recording of my father reading The Highwayman?'

How could I refuse?