Book Marks: Closures, Employee Welfare

"...book publishing should be more than a vehicle for Dr. Phil or Tony Robbins or even the bestselling books that rightly deserve their place on the list. It doesn't mean that everyone should get to have their book published—but rather that there should be more room for more perspectives and less gatekeeping or curating the trends and landscapes that dictate what sells and what sinks." Kristen McGuiness is all for more diverse voices in publishing, and independent publishers are helping out.

Sadly, one independent bookstore won't be part of that effort. Mount Zero in Hong Kong closed down "after weekly government inspections spurred by anonymous complaints forced it to put up the shutters." Things haven't been well for the territory's cultural sector since Beijing imposed a national security law and bookstores and other establishments have had to toe the line.

Meanwhile in Orange County, California, the sudden closure of a book distributor has left a bunch of independent presses and authors wondering how to move forward. Some of these appear to be writers and publishers of titles that aren't considered mainstream, and with this distributor folding, these titles may now be even harder to source, unless an alternative is found.

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As BookTok makes waves in reading and publishing, some feel that the community could use their pull to make life better for authors and people in the publishing industry. The Gateway, the University of Alberta's official student newspaper, argues that if BookTok could get a certain book out just months after its predecessor, surely it could demand that publishers treat their workers and authors right.

Employee welfare is also the focus of Maris Kreizman's piece in Literary Hub, where she says there are too many books out there being pushed by major publishers, and the people working on these books can't keep up with the schedules. Volume doesn't necessarily mean productive or profitable, not when quality has to be sacrificed. "What a remarkable change it would be if corporations would allow their employees to do the best job they can with each book that the company has chosen to buy, rather than allowing them to flail."


Right, what else is up?

• "At the age of 29, I was anxious just like many others. When you turn 30, you feel like you really have to become an adult. So what should I do with my life? I didn't have an answer, but I knew that was not the way to live." Hwang Bo-reum, author of the bestselling Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, talks to the media about her writing and journey to publication, and how she found herself in a similar situation as the book's protagonist. A review of the book can be found here.
• "Evelyn Waugh once wrote, 'We possess nothing certainly except the past.' But how do you write about the past when the common ground we stand on isn't settled, and history keeps intruding on the present?" For author Peter Blauner, writing historical fiction is like treading on constantly shifting sands. Writers have to be mindful of the context of the times they write about and how some things might be triggering. But seems he's here to write, not to coddle readers.
• "... [Australian crime author Garry] Disher says there was 'a kind of cultural cringe that if it is Australian, it can’t be good enough and if it is crime, it is therefore junk fiction.'" Enjoy this snapshot of Disher's decades-long career from the Guardian.
• "Crouching over piles of books in a market stall in Cairo one day in the fall of 1993, Iman Mersal stumbled upon a slim volume with a gray cover and a catchy title: 'Love and Silence.'" What Mersal read sparked a years-long quest to learn about this novel's author, Enayat al-Zayyat, who battled depression for most of her life and ultimately committed suicide in 1963. The result was Traces of Enayat, translated by Robin Moger and published in April.
• "One big mistake that we make is believing that if we are writing for children, we need to dumb it down. We don't. It actually has to be a lot smarter when you are writing for children. Because you not only need to ensure that you're holding their attention with every single word, but also bring the message across without being too verbose." A Q&A with author Abhishek Talwar on his writing career and writing for children.
• "The trend towards apps that summarise books so that you can 'think better' is likely to have the opposite effect – if we don't use our minds to reflect deeply, we may lose our ability to think critically at all." So says writer Susie Alegre in the Guardian, regarding the use of book summary apps, especially those powered by AI. Summarising key points in big books, particularly non-fiction, may provide an easy way out for busy people, but it may backfire, making our brains lazy and messing up our ability to absorb, process, and retain information and knowledge. Eventually, we may forget how to read and think.
• On the subject of AI: Kester Brewin wrote an AI transparency statement for his book, God-like: A 500-Year History of Artificial Intelligence in Myths, Machines, Monsters, even though he wasn't asked to. Brewin included it in his book to promote discussion on what tools authors are using in their craft, "partly because research shows that a lot of generative AI use is hidden." It's not perfect but as there's yet no reliable way to screen AI content, "we at least need a means by which writers build trust in their work by being transparent about the tools they have used," writes Brewin.
• In The Washington Post, several super readers share tips on how to read more. These people's reading capacity is incredible. Between 150 and 400 books a year! And they tell you how they manage.