Book Marks: Books In Wartime, Authors And Self-Promotion

"Books remain powerful. Amid all the offerings of digital media – from bingeable shows to news blogs and funny videos – reading still has a place for many of us," writes Beth Driscoll, Associate Professor in Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne, in The Conversation. "Adaptable and enduring, books have not been replaced by new media, but sit alongside them: they circulate not only in print form, but as audiobooks and online serials; they are adapted for other media."

In times of crisis, one might turn to books for clarity, if not an escape. A much harder activity for those in Ukraine, where Russian bombardments also target the book publishing industry. According to Voice of America:

"According to the Ukrainian Book Institute, Russian strikes and other aggressive actions have destroyed 174 libraries and almost 2 million books. "The Smithsonian Institution, located in Washington, has also documented the massive destruction of Ukraine's book publishing facilities, some of which are designated as cultural heritage sites, as well as libraries and archives."

Which is perhaps why there's a book boom in the besieged country at the moment. Shelled by an aggressor, Ukrainians have been turning to books for an escape, and perhaps some hope of peace.

Anastasia Yehorova, an IT project manager whose husband is in the military, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that she has bought "five times more books than she used to before Russia's full-scale invasion." However, "the real reason I buy more than I can read is because I am afraid that the Russians will force us to flee again ... and that we won't be there anymore – and neither will Ukrainian books."

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With myriad ways authors can promote their books – often because they HAVE TO – they are increasingly turning to marketers so that they can concentrate (more) on writing than the other stuff. But is what they're paying worth it? Shouldn't their publishers do all that work?

This isn't new, as Maris Kreizman notes. "There are lots of independent publicists who've been working with authors to supplement the work of their in-house teams for years." But she provides some points to ponder when considering shelling out extra for promotions and coverage.


Elsewhere:

• "Even for a writer who has made a specialism of slim, succinct books, this one is short," writes Claire Armitstead at The Guardian about Raja Shehadeh's book, What Does Israel Fear from Palestine? "Why, he asked in 2016, did Israel not take inspiration from South Africa's journey towards the abolition of apartheid? His conclusion, eight years later, is damning. 'The very high human and material cost of the war in Gaza proves that what Israel fears from Palestine is Palestine's very existence.'"
• "What does the world miss when a beloved author's work is left incomplete? Does the possible loss justify the risk that the finished product isn't what it might have been? ... What does it mean for an author's work to be released into the world without that author's blessing?" Posthumous publications may never go out of style, nor be free of controversy. Somewhere out there though, someone may be happy to read such a publication.
• "I just wanted to 'Cuti-cuti Malaysia' at that time, but later I decided I to write about it. I have a very good memory and so when I look through my photos and FB posts, it is easy for me to write about the things I saw and did then, even though a lot of time has passed in between." Lam Ching Fu returns with the second instalment of My Journey By Bus, which features Pahang, Terengganu, and Kelantan.
• Debut Singaporean author Lee Wen-yi's novel, The Dark We Know, has been picked up by Gillian Flynn Books – yes, that Gillian Flynn – and is expected to be released on 13 August. Like some, she started writing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The young adult novel follows a teenage art student as she unites with an estranged childhood friend and battles a supernatural evil in her small town.
• In an interactive session on 15 June at The Red Bari coffee shop in Kolkata, editors Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri and Maitreyee B. Chowdhury fielded questions from the audience about books, writing, and publishing. Both speak from their experience in India, but their advice may also apply regardless of where you're from or who you're submitting to.
• "Both [Edgar Allan] Poe and the novice printer Calvin F.W. Thomas were just eighteen when the poet handed over his manuscript, presumably at Thomas's shop at 70 Washington Street in Boston, and paid him to make it into a book. The result was forty pages of unevenly printed verse bound in drab tan wrappers the shade of a faded tea stain." The startling story of Tamerlane and Other Poems, Poe's debut collection, which is now a much-sought-after item by bibliophiles.
• Here's an incredible story about a public library in the United Kingdom that's become more than a place to read and borrow books. When you learn of how social safety nets are being gutted here and there, it's no surprise some turn to public libraries for certain essentials.
• During a book event, Librairie Gouraya, a bookshop in the Algerian city of Bejaia, was raided by police who detained an author, the publisher, and several others. No explanation was given, but The New Arab suggests it might have to do with the Koukou publishing house, which "has been subject to censorship in recent years."
• Free online library Internet Archive had to take down half a million titles after a clutch of book publishers sued them for copyright infringement. "To restore access, IA is now appealing, hoping to reverse the prior court's decision by convincing the US Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit that IA's controlled digital lending of its physical books should be considered fair use under copyright law," reports Ars Technica.
• Like an ouroboros: "Ban This Book, a children's book written by Alan Gratz, will no longer be available in the Indian River county school district since the school board voted to remove the book last month," reports The Guardian. Of course it happened in the US state of Florida, and it was because a parent challenged the book. The children's book is about a kid who couldn't borrow a book from a library because it was challenged by, yes, a parent, prompting her to start a library of banned books.