When Elitists Control The Book Industry, Everyone Loses.

I read a great article by Mercy Pilkington, as it not only illustrates how difficult it is for independent authors to break into the industry but also the BS that's perpetrated by higher ups in the industry to prevent indie authors from getting ahead. I can say for a fact that the Canadian book industry is just as biased towards independent authors. Adding to Pilkington's article, government-funded organizations such as the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA)—with regards to authors—only hands out grants to those they refer to as 'professional writers.' What's their definition of a professional writer? Someone who's not self-published. By that definition, Joe The Plumber and Sarah Palin are considered to be professional writers, even though Joe's first book tanked and Harper Collins claimed that Palin didn't even write what they considered to be a book. Although it may be their intention to promote the arts in Canada, they're doing the opposite because by excluding Indie authors, the CCA is hurting many careers.

Those who've read any of my books would know that they're all professionally edited, have professionally-designed book covers, and are professionally researched. They can also be found in bookstores and in libraries across the island of Montreal and in Barbados. I also do my own promotion, attend book expos, and even got a television interview last summer.

What's good about being traditionally published is that the publisher takes care of the editing and distribution of their books. On the flip side, even if an author is traditionally-published, publishers won't necessary allocate huge funds that are needed to promote them—leaving their authors to do most of the marketing themselves. Furthermore in most cases, the author has no say on how the book cover will look. As for the price (which is usually very high) publishers control that too. When that's all done, the author usually only keeps 10-15% royalty off of the sale of their own book. On the other hand, independent authors usually keep 70%.

There's a popular myth that all indie novels are substandard. Rubbish. Not all traditionally-published authors are bestsellers. To be fair, I've read some great novels that were traditionally published. Consequently I've also read some that were so bad that I wondered how high on crack the editor was when they chose to accept the manuscript.

Mercy Pilkington did a great job exposing the truths about the publishing industry in general. As for my opinion about the Canada Council for the Arts, I don't have any respect for them. With the funds they receive from the Canadian government, would it hurt them to have a grant section that's reserved for indie authors? By the same token, would it be to their detriment that they recognize the achievements of Canadian indie authors. By implementing guidelines that are designed to exclude an important segment of the arts community, they not only come across as being unprofessional and uninformed, but also a sad bunch of elitists.

How do Celebrity Books hurts real authors.

How do Celebrity Junk Books hurt real authors.

I took part in a radio broadcast in October of this year where one caller asked me why is it that some of the most hated celebrities get book deals through the back door whereas real writers constantly get overlooked. I told her that although thousands of people may not like a particular person that may have gotten a book deal, publishers would take an interest in that person simply because the individual has a platform. In other words, the individual has a large enough fan base. And regardless of the person’s talent and credibility—or lack of in most cases—publishers stand to profit more on their investment than if they were to publish a novel from a lesser-known but more deserving author. Is this fair? No it isn’t. However in this day in age it has become a necessary evil in the publishing world to put money before talent. Bestselling author, John Irving (pictured on the right), said in an interview that he worries for new writers and admitted that his first novel would never have been published had it been written today. Why has this trend evolved? Is it because of the economy? Is it because of the rising popularity of digital over print media? Those may be the answers. However one fact that is overlooked is that readers also control the publishing industry. That’s right. It all comes down to the ones that choose to buy Celebrity Books. And I specify Celebrity Books and not books written by celebrities because almost all of them are ghostwritten. The only way that this unfortunate trend will change is if book lovers boycotted Celebrity Books just because they are celebrities and focus on writers with credibility.

A very good online acquaintance of mine and fellow author, Donna Carrick, said that when she approached agents with her book, she was turned down by all of them. Many of them gave her the same excuse: that Americans would not be interested in a story that takes place in China. I laughed when I read this, considering that The Bourne Supremacy (the novel, not the movie) took place in China and is a bestseller. The truth is that agents are gatekeepers for publishers and have established relationships with acquisition editors. Agents know what publishers are looking for, and it’s what’s hot at the moment. Take for instance, Sarah Palin. She’s had so much bad press in the past several months—mainly due to the fact that she could never back up her quotes (Remember the Katie Couric interview? ‘Nuff said). Yet, her book outsold Dan Brown’s latest thriller. Rupert Murdoch biographer, Michael Wolff, wrote in his column that Palin’s publisher, HarperCollins, “Does not really believe Sarah Palin has written a valuable book—or even that it is really a book, not in the way that HarperCollins has historically understood books, or in the way that people have counted on HarperCollins to have understood a book.” Add insult to injury, Palin did not even write her own book. This illustrates how publishers are so desperate that they will peddle celebrity junk to bookstores before effectively marketing quality books that are written by real authors.

The literary world is continuously going through major changes. Publishers are desperate to recover the millions that they’ve lost in books that either broke even on their initial investment or haven't sold well. Remember Joe The Plumber’s book? Yeah, he had a book too. At a book signing at Borders in Washington, DC in February, 2009, only eleven people attended, fewer remained behind to buy his book. Oh yeah. It crashed and burned, which serves his publisher right. This is the type of message that readers need to send to publishers more often. If more people exercised proper judgement, publishers would have no choice but to drop the fake Celebrity Books and invest more in quality fiction and non-fiction that are written by real authors. As for Palin’s book, all I’ll say is this. I already watched her numerous times on television make an ass of herself—for free. I won’t spend money reading about her doing it.

Russell Brooks is the author of the upcoming action/thriller, Pandora's Succession. Visit here to join the mailinglist to hear excerpts and receive updates.