Book Marks: BookTok's Future, Graphic Novels, Publishers

As the ban on TikTok looms in the United States, several BookTokers speak to the media about what the ban could mean for them, BookTok, and the publishing industry. At the very least, BookTokers could migrate to another platform, and existing video platforms could make some changes to accommodate the expected exodus.

Rachel Ulatowski weighs in on the issue at The Mary Sue, voicing concerns that some authors would potentially lose a vital lifeline that helps their livelihoods, skipping past hurdles in traditional publishing routes. "Many authors have turned to TikTok because it’s their only option to be able to do the work they love in a flawed industry."

Publishers are in no apparent rush to adapt, noting that the ban is scheduled to go into effect on 2025. As for portability, The Washington Post's director of video, Micah Gelman, noted that "The videos ... are transferable from TikTok to YouTube Shorts." Will the community rebrand as "BookShort" or "BookTube" though?

In the end, it doesn't matter where the community migrates to. BookTok is apparently here to stay and it'll continue doing its thing, as always. Meanwhile, TikTok has filed a suit to block the law that would ban the app in the US. What's next? Staying tuned.

---

Graphic novels and comics appear to be getting kids to read in Australia. The growth in the graphic genre hints at its growing popularity, but it's not just because the pictures are pretty.

Comic creator and illustrator Marcelo Baez, considers comics and graphic novels "the gateway to literacy", adding that "I talk to parents ... of the kids that I teach in the workshops ... and it's comics that gets them interested in reading," he told Cairns Post.

The portal also quotes Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) CEO Cathie Warburton: "At a time when the number of people reading for pleasure in Australia is declining, and when the health and wellbeing benefits are proven, getting kids excited by reading is more important than ever."

---

"The article ['No One Buys Books' by Elle Griffin] paints a nearly apocalyptic portrait of traditional publishing, in which nothing works, few make money, nobody reads, and the whole industry might go poof at any moment. ... The only problem is, the picture isn't true." Lincoln Michel at Slate unpacks Griffin's viral article and provides some facts to counter some of the claims in it.

I think this article was (also) mentioned by someone writing in Daily Kos. The data Griffin uses comes from a court trial regarding Penguin Random House's merger with Simon & Schuster, where PRH tried to justify the move. "The problem is, [Griffin] is relying on bad data and a mindset from a trial where it was in the publishers' best interests to downplay their market power."

Publishing is tough, but perhaps not as tough for the likes of PRH and the other major international publishers. They're less vulnerable to market forces compared to smaller publishers. Still, wouldn't operating costs for behemoth corporations that arise from mergers be astronomical? Especially when the suits at the helm are more concerned with P&L than the quality of the output and the welfare and well-being of authors and employees? Perhaps putting more emphasis on the latter two would be better for the industry than shareholder-pleasing moves that tend to end up gutting the enterprise.


Also:

• "Ultimately, The Last Man seems to celebrate the notion of life itself as worthy, whatever form it takes. Of course, we should attempt to reverse the damage we've wrought on the planet. But it might also behoove us to practice humility in the face of nature's awesome forces." What lessons can a novel by English author Mary Shelley teach us about our impact on and our relationship with Earth?
• "I often have thoughts like why can't we have a prettier subway logo? Why are our government websites so cheap looking? Why do 'Ah Bengs' like changing LED lights so much?" Graphic designer Jun Kit's Ugly Malaysiana catalogues and champions Malaysian kitsch as a celebration of "the underdogs, the undocumented, the unimpressive, and of course, laughing about the craziness of it all."
• Daryl Yeap, great-granddaughter of businessman and philanthropist Yeap Chor Ee and author of the book about him, returns with the story of three women and their ties to Java's sugar tycoon, Oei Tiong Ham. The book, As Equals: The Oei Women Of Java, "begins in the late 1880s in Semarang, Java, the year that Tiong Ham's daughter Oei Hui Lan was born – an auspicious year for Tiong Ham, who made his first million that same year," reports The Star.
• National libraries across Europe have been pillaged of antique books written by renowned authors, which have found their way to auction houses in Russia, the Guardian reports. This gang had pilfered at least 170 books in what amounted to an international operation. "The books were stolen in 2022 and 2023 from national and historical libraries in France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Switzerland."
• The Lion Above the Door, a children's book by Onjali Rauf, was inspired by a Singaporean World War II pilot who flew with the British RAF. The author was recently in Singapore for speaking engagements in several schools and expressed a wish to meet the airman's family "so that they know what he means to not only her, but also to the thousands of children now learning and wanting to find out more about his story," reports the Straits Times. Rauf got her wish.
• "For my own writing, I always choose authenticity over commercial stuff. I tell my agent I don't want to hear any sales numbers or reviews. I don't want to let external factors beyond my control affect my creative mindset. I wouldn't fault anyone for doing so though – I don't consider it selling out. At the end of the day, writing is work." A profile of Singaporean author Kyla Zhao in Her World. She also gives a good piece of writing advice: "... it's never going to be a good time. So you should just start now."
• Who'd guess that Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, and The Valley of Amazement, among others, would write, illustrate(!) and publish her nature journal about birds in her backyard? The illustrations alone are enough to send one into another valley of amazement. As with many, she seems to have picked up the hobby and drawing skills during the pandemic lockdowns.
• "There is no proper form or proper time for grief. There is no need to be hard on ourselves if our grieving process doesn't match what other people expect. Grieving feels different for different people, and there are infinite permutations for what it might look like." Grief and sibling relationships are among the topics explored in Malaysian-born author Yeoh Jo-Ann's novel, Deplorable Conversations with Cats and Other Distractions.
• Some tips on writing and storytelling for journalists and writers of narrative non-fiction, from the book Truth Is The Arrow, Mercy Is The Bow: A DIY Manual for the Construction of Stories by author and essayist Steve Almond and an interview with the author.
• "Over the last few years, Indian publishers have taken a cue from their counterparts in the West as they increasingly consult social media influencers to create a buzz around the latest releases. But what we are now seeing are influencers trying out the role of author themselves and often creating bestsellers." In India, influencers are diving into authorship, with encouraging results. Having a reputation and substantial viewer base helps.
• Say "hi" to the world of private book collections and learn what motivates collectors, what makes for a rare book, and the future of the hobby. This article is too brief for a deep dive into the subject, and it doesn't seem to address or acknowledge how some of these rare books in collections might have been stolen from elsewhere. Many reasons compel one to collect, and for many private collectors proud of their efforts, caretaking is usually the goal, as rare-books collector Tom Lecky states in the article.
• "Once a dream, [author Lauren] Groff's vision of a bookshop with purpose acquired new urgency as she observed what she calls 'authoritarian creep.' Florida led the country in attempted book bans last year, with 2,672 challenges, the American Library Association reported." Groff may not be from the Sunshine State, but she seems determined that her bookstore The Lynx be a stronghold against the wave of authoritarian bans on books and restrictions on what can be taught at schools and institutions of learning.
• "Why is Tan Twan Eng in the running for all the prizes?" some might ask when they get wind of his inclusion in the shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Which, admittedly, he qualifies for and has won in 2013 for The Garden of Evening Mists. "Why does Tan Twan Eng win all the prizes?" some might ask when they hear about the latter. Here's my take on that. TL;DR: no, he does not win nor qualify for "all the prizes".

Finally, something that's not about books: a piece about powder supplements by novelist Rachel Khong who subjected herself to some of the remedies she wrote about. She also weaved some history and family stories into it, making it more compelling.

(Interestingly, Khong has Malaysian roots, and the book tour that stressed her out enough for her to try ashwagandha was for her first novel, Goodbye, Vitamin. Funny, how things fall into place.)

Dodgy-looking and -sounding supplements aren't exclusively American – plenty has been said and written about their healthcare system, so one shouldn't be surprised Americans are turning to alternatives. We have these here too in Malaysia and in some instances, consumption has had dire consequences. Man, the lengths we go – from an apple a day to expensive mystery powders – to stay healthy.

Book Marks: Author Angst, Pondering Publishing

Blockbusting authors aside, most authors tend to be paid peanuts in comparison. This guy Ian Winwood, writing in The Telegraph, seems to have realised that being number one in an Amazon subcategory or rave reviews doesn't boost sales, and how the publishing sector treats authors (and its employees) needs to be improved. Is an authorpocalypse looming ahead?

I'd like to think this piece is more than just an ad for Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World by Dorian Lynskey, a book about doomsday tropes and the stories based on them. After all, Winwood isn't the only author who has things to say about, for instance, how advances are paid in instalments that leave one a bit short on cash for an amount of time.

But as long as suits are more concerned with shareholder equity than making good content and taking care of employees and authors, little will change for authors, if at all. One silver lining is that we will keep telling stories all the way to the end.

---

"Books don't sell"? "Everyone would be better off on Substack or similar platforms"? Not entirely true, apparently. Publishing is difficult, but the writer of that piece seems to believe publishers are good at their jobs but are downplaying their capabilities so they don't need to make the changes they need to get better.

This is in relation to the Penguin Random House–Simon and Schuster monopoly trial, where I think the two companies are trying to justify the merger by claiming it will make them work better. Do big firms have to do a merger every time they feel they're not performing? Can't they just, well, change? In the words of the writer: "Change, however, is only possible if we don’t just accept that self-interested words of people who were trying to get paid in a big merger."


Elsewhere:

• Considering how bookworms tend to grow their to-be-read piles, is it okay to throw away books when it's time to? Michelle Cyca seems to think that's fine, and has no problems using a book until it falls apart because books are, well, books. "At the end of the day, a book is just paper and ink and glue. Its soul is something else entirely, less tangible but more enduring than an object on a shelf."
• "Other than as a cautionary tale about hubristic zealotry, I doubt many people want to relive the reign of Mad Queen Liz and even fewer will want to hear her rant to them that none of it was her fault. So who on earth is this book intended for?" This review of former British prime minister Liz Truss's book will make you wonder how she managed to last as long as she did. Lettuce not do that again, please.
• "A 2023 study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, of more than 10,000 young adolescents in the U.S. concluded that children who start reading for pleasure from an early age tended to fare better in cognitive testing and had better mental health in their adolescent years." A dad featured on Newsweek may not have heard of this study, but his practice of giving books to his kid instead of a phone seems to be paying dividends.
• Publishers may be fighting back on book bans, but I'd say it's more to do with optics than it is about doing the right thing, although a bit of the latter is a plus. More diverse points of view means more stuff to sell, and publishers seem to be aware that bookworms tend to be more interested in diverse material. Only a handful are pushing for books to be banned across the US, and shame on conservative figureheads riding high on this ripple sparked by frivolous reasons.
• "The Malaysian Indian community is central in a lot of my stories because that is my community, my voice. If I have other voices I want to write about, I take it upon myself to research and get input from members of that community. What's important is that we debunk the myths and misconceptions we have of one another." Malachi Edwin Vethamani has something to tell you in his new collection of stories.
• "Whenever I travel abroad, I am invariably introduced as China’s most controversial and most censored author. I neither agree nor disagree with this characterization—I’m not bothered by it, but neither do I feel particularly honored by it." Read an excerpt from Sound and Silence: My Experience with China and Literature by Yan Lianke, where he talks about state censorship, artistic integrity, and the market forces behind publishing.
• According to journalist and author Tracie McMillan, the advantages of being White all her life (thus far) came up to US$371,934.30. CNN interviews her, where she speaks about how she benefitted from "policies and practices that have systematically hurt Black Americans" – a topic she tackles in her book, The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America.
• Kristen Arnett at Literary Hub answers questions about what to do when someone sends you unsolicited writing for comment, putting summaries of books in book reviews, and paying for blurbs. Useful advice.
• "It's not the first time I've gotten irritated at book recommendations on social media," writes Danika Ellis on Book Riot. Someone will ask for recommendations for a very particular kind of book and receive replies recommending books that have no relevance to the original request. ... TikTok, Reddit, X/Twitter, and other social media are notorious for recommending the same books over and over again, regardless of whether they're relevant to the request. " So who does Ellis recommend for book recommendations?
• "The book preview list is a highly imperfect form of coverage that seems to be, along with best-of the year lists, the most widely used kind of book reportage in media. With overall book coverage being pared down at most outlets, such lists have grown widely outsized in importance for authors and publishers and readers, as well as the writers who contribute punchy blurbs to them." So how does Maris Kreizman put together a preview list of "titles to look out for"?
• "His reaction to The Magic Eye showed Kubrick's image-control obsessions taken to extremes. He didn't just make edits – he erased the entire project. Now, almost 55 years after Neil Hornick completed it, readers can finally make their own judgments about the book Kubrick was so implacably determined to keep from public view." The book Stanley Kubrick didn't want published will be released at the end of April. What's a film director who can't handle criticism?
• Since 2018, a schoolteacher in India has been issuing a call for book donations ahead of World Book Day on 23 April for the school's library. But his efforts don't stop at cultivating the reading habit among students. "Following his efforts to collect books for students and cultivate a reading habit in them, students have even begun writing their own stories," reports The Times of India.

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.

---

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.

Book Marks: FanFic, Banned Book Club

Quite a few things going on. So let's get to it...

• "If someone wanted to nourish a child into loving literature, you could hardly do better than the Folletts. Wilson was a Harvard graduate who worked in publishing, first at Yale University Press and later Alfred A. Knopf, all while finding time to contribute to The Atlantic. His wife, Helen, was a former teacher and Wellesley graduate who gave up her career for their children." The story of child novelist Barbara Newhall Follett, who vanished into thin air.
• Meet Natalia Cheong, the teen author of The Cat on the Bridge. Not just an author but also the manager of a virtual book club and a host of her own online talk show. And the book? It's about "Toby the cat navigating the Rainbow Bridge – a realm for departed animals. Natalia weaves themes of pet loss, human-animal bonds, and personal insecurities, drawing from her own experiences as a teen."
• "...fanfiction is some of the best writing out there, excelling at hooking readers and keeping them enthralled. Given that this is the goal for any writer who wants to gather and grow an audience, studying fanfiction and how it pulls off this particular magic trick can help unlock the secrets to telling a story that captivates fans." Author Laura R. Samotin makes the case for fanfic and what the writing community can learn from it to transform publishing.
• Books that can't be published in Russia are being released elsewhere. Get acquainted with the practices of tamizdat and samizdat, which are returning as Vlad the Impaler's regime tightens its grip. I know few governments who'd literally poison people who write books they don't like, whose thoughts they can't control. Shudder.
• Free Malaysia Today spoke with Malaysian-born poets Malachi Edwin Vethamani and Shirley Geok-lin Lim for World Poetry Day on 21 March. More recently, FMT reported that the national book policy will be reviewed, an exercise that hasn't been conducted "since the policy was introduced 39 years ago on Nov 27, 1985."
• Australian author and journalist Paul Malone pays tribute to the forgotten and unsung World War II heroes from Sarawak with a book titled Forgotten Heroes. The book was was launched in Bario "in conjunction with the 79th anniversary of the landing of eight paratroopers under the Z Special Unit of the Allied Forces ... led by Tom Harrison on March 25, 1945 in the Kelabit homeland of Bario," Borneo Post Online reported.
• "I'd wanted to quit copywriting for years, hated office jobs, felt my time, abilities, and soul were being wasted in them. I'd felt secure as a single, independent woman with no want for children because Mom was there to call on when I felt alone. In her absence, I was unmoored; I needed a change." After her mother passed away, Mickie Meinhardt moved back home and opened a book-and-wine shop. Reminded of Hwang Bo-reum's Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, but sadder.
• The shortlist for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award is out and our nominee, Hades by Aishah Zainal, didn't make the cut. Ah well, this batch has some serious contenders, and to choose six out of 70 titles? The winner will be announced on 23 May, during the International Literature Festival Dublin.
• Get acquainted with the genre known as fabulism, which "fights against being placed in a neatly wrapped box," according to Lyndsie Manusos at Book Riot. "When fabulism is at play in a work, it often resists the why. Fabulism does not explain the magic system or fantastical elements. It doesn’t go into why a character suddenly sprouts branches as limbs, or why a character is back from the dead. It — the fantastical, the magical, the weird — just is."
• A graphic novel about books being banned in Korea is facing the heat from the book-banning fever in the United States. Banned Book Club is set during the 1980-87 military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan and depicts the situation in Korea during that time. "The book is based partly on co-author Kim [Hyun-sook]'s own experiences growing up in 1980s Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province," reports The Korea Times. "[Co-author Ryan] Estrada says it was researched thoroughly via first-hand memories, interviews with the real people who experienced similar events, primary documents and historical documents."
• "Despite possessing the talent and capability to write, many women find themselves confined to the role of homemakers due to the lack of conducive environments for reading and writing at home. ... For many of us, the time dedicated to creating art is stolen time, squeezed in between household chores and employment." An interview with author Manisha Gauchan in The Kathmandu Post, on her writing and the lack of support for women writers in Nepal.
• "The best kinds of books are the ones with attributes that are unquantifiable, which is a big reason why people are so much better at recommendations than algorithms are. ... What is unquantifiable is horrifying to the corporate overlords, of course, but it's the magic that connects readers with particular books." Lo, the seven types of book recommendations asked of Maris Kreizman at Literary Hub, and her replies.
• A Latinx reimagining of classics such as Frankenstein, Hamlet, and The Great Gatsby? From The Sacramento Bee: "These stories are among the classics reworked in a new book to ensure more youth read stories by and about Latinos. West Sacramento author Sandra Proudman, 35, spearheaded the effort, recruiting more than a dozen diverse Latino writers to each produce their own contemporary twist on canonical tales." Hell, why not?
• Were enslaved people employed to write the Bible and spread Christianity around the Roman empire? Theology professor Candida Moss says "yes" in her book, God's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible. Among her aims is to highlight the contributions enslaved workers made to the Bible and the religion. "The writing, the editing, the copying, the movement of those early Christian texts – what you might call 'missionary activity' – all of that’s being done by enslaved workers."
• "I think the rise of romantasy is certainly in part because people do have the vocabulary of fantasy. Romance is one of the biggest genres in the world, so of course people want to see, or are able to read, fantasy romances in a way that might not have been true before." Holly Black speaks about, among other things, the romantasy boom, BookTok, and making hooves sexy. Whut.

Finally, something to make the skin crawl: Harvard has removed the human-skin binding of a book in its library. AFP reports that "A copy of the 19th-century book Des Destinées de l’Ame — or Destinies of the Soul, a meditation on life after death — was found in 2014 to be bound in the skin of a deceased woman." Apparently, anthropodermic bibliopegy – what the practice is called – used to be a thing, until it wasn't.

Book Marks: Márquez, Authors Equity, Feline Fee Waivers

The release of Gabriel García Márquez's Until August had people talking, and over at Book Riot, Rebecca Joines Schinsky thinks that's okay, as long as publishers are upfront with regard to the reason(s) for publishing something posthumously. "There are plenty real reasons for readers to be interested in a posthumously published work, publishers and estates don't need to fudge the backstory."

While some are willing to give Márquez's sons the benefit of the doubt, for the publishers, one reason will always be money. Is it grotesque if money was the only reason? Perhaps, but as long as the publishers are ready for the brickbats that come their way if word ever got out... . For someone as famous as Márquez, anything he wrote will be read and discussed, so whether Until August was a good decision is probably best left to readers to judge. Published and be damned.

In Esquire, Alex Belth dives into the world of posthumous publishing and ponders whether it is a betrayal to release an author's unpublished works after they're dead, in defiance of their wishes to have them destroyed. The answer seems to be "yes", with a huge "but". Belth appears to build a case for posthumous publishing, stating that pretty much anything goes once a writer passes on and how deprived the literary world would be if some choice titles had been destroyed. And if writers don't want their works published, they should dispose of them while they still can.

---

Maris Kreizman at Literary Hub is dismayed to learn about the business model adopted by new publisher Authors Equity, specifically their use of freelancers for publishing projects. "Rather than offering book workers the stability and benefits of full-time employment, Authors Equity will rely on the gig economy to get the job done," she writes. "Look a little more closely, and 'growing pool of freelancers' is a terrible euphemism for 'jobs are disappearing and more and more of us are fighting for scraps by competing for freelance gigs.'"

Dan Sinykin also touches on the gigification of publishing in The Baffler, with a detailed look at the players in Authors Equity and wonders if it or any others like it will ever disrupt publishing at a time where further conglomeration of the industry seems increasingly less viable.

Years ago, I pondered whether a publishing model based on crowdsourcing would upend the landscape. Instead of a firm like Authors Equity, alll the freelancers would gather for a project and disperse when it was done. I still think it's an option, especially for indie authors.

Of course, those involved need to work well with each other, and a corporation provides the framework for that. But I see the collaborative spirit when it comes to projects involving VTubers and I can see that happening in publishing.

---

Cats rule the home and the heart. Now they're helping forgive fees for late and even damaged library books in Massachusetts. According to MiNDFOOD...

"A librarian is a book lover, a cardigan lover and a cat lover," Jason Homer from Worcester Public Library said. "Our staff has a lot of cats. Some of the staff were in a meeting and they were coming up with ways to bring people back to the library, and they thought, 'What if we removed as many barriers as possible and told people they could show us a picture of a cat, draw a picture of a cat or just tell us about a cat?'"

What an a-meow-zing idea. A picture of a cat in exchange for getting your fees for late or damaged library books waived is the cat's whiskers. I see this working only as a time-limited deal or libraries in the US will be short of books at a time when they're struggling with costs, sourcing issues, book bans, and adminstrative and legislative woes.

Speaking of libraries, there are several little ones set up at Taman Wawasan Recreational Park in Puchong. The books are mostly donated, while others are purchased from recycling centres. "Everybody can borrow up to five books at a time," said retired headmaster Lee Kim Siew, who established the reading stations. "One family can take over 30 books! There's no limit: you can return after one year, two years or three! No limit, no fee!" No need for cat pictures here.


Elsewhere:

• "I try to come back every year for Chinese New Year, and call it good juju or fate, but all the good things that have ever happened with this book have coincidentally happened while I was in Malaysia." Debut author Vanessa Chan returned home to promote her novel, The Storm We Made.
• Chinese Nobel laureate Mo Yan, author of Red Sorghum, has become a target of fanatical Chinese nationalist trolls for allegedly insulting China's "national heroes and martyrs". Criticism against China is being pushed back against by these "pinkies": an army of angry, jingoistic and mostly young netizens who swarm over any perceived insult to China and Xi Jinping's government, however minor or remote – a throwback to the days when Mao Zedong unleashed the Red Guard on those seen as his adversaries. The country may have 99 problems but this ain't one of them.
• "Charissa Ong's tale of success in publishing begins with a scenario that would be relatable to many. While working at an advertising agency, the mindless drag of routine work was getting her down." A profile of Charissa Ong, author and publisher of the poetry and short story collection Midnight Monologues, in Tatler Asia.
• "Like most ghosts, I became one unexpectedly – when a publisher I'd previously worked with on my own memoir ... asked if I would be any good at writing someone else's. I said I'd never tried. Then the publisher told me what my fee would be, at which point I agreed, on reflection, that I was perfect for the job." A ghostwriter speaks his mind and reveals what he feels about seeing his work – all without his name on them – on display at a bookstore.
• A dispatch from the London Book Fair details the hot trends during the event, including #BookTok and romantasy, the imapct of AI, the climate, and Palestinian voices.
• "Thus begins a series of stories that unfold back and forth between 1921 and 1910, a period Tan [Twan Eng] captures in vivid detail, especially the changing hues of the tropical landscape; the culture and behaviours Willie absorbs and stores away; and imposing mansions where masters and memsahibs command a host of the local help — all-too-familiar characters who hold no surprises — and throw regular parties at which gossip is lapped up with the same relish as the liquor." Late, but this review of Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors in The Edge is worth a read.
• The Hindu posts a tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett days before the anniversary of his death nine years ago, praising his world building and noting the unique format of his novels.
• Is Russia so strapped for bodies that it's "encouraging" schoolchildren to sign up for the army? Because that's what a textbook on a new subject seems to be hinting at. What's more is that this new lesson, "Fundamentals of Security and Defence of the Motherland", is reportedly "compulsory for high school students aged 15 to 18 in Russia and occupied territories in Ukraine." And this lesson replaces one called "Fundamentals of Safe Living".
• When Microsoft design chief Jon Friedman's son wanted to write a book about him coping with anxiety, the dad turned to generative AI program DALL-E for the illustrations. The results are incredible, but is it really the way to go? Especially when generative AI is a source of anxiety for many artists and other content creators?
• Companies are offering immersive fantasy events targeted at #BookTok audiences and they seem to be taking off. As avid readers of fantasy or romantasy novels making their rounds on the social media channel, they would be receptive to a night out, dressed as their favourite characters and reliving the books' choicest scenes. Do authors get a cut for their universe coming to life in this way?
• Some people don't like Robert Kiyosaki, and after reading this article, I'm firmly entrenced on that side. Bragging about being US$1.2 billion in debt is one thing, but calling those with "contrasting economic ideologies "communists"? While he also seemed to pan another author who pitches a debt-free ethos, Kiyosaki acknowledges that not everyone can manage debt like he does. I don't know how I can sleep at night while owing US$1.2 billion.

Book Marks: Until August, Fried Rice, And Another Book Banned

Gabriel García Márquez's last and unreleased novel, Until August, has been published by his sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo García Barcha. Thing is, the previously unfinished work was supposed to be destroyed. So, why? "Having reviewed the manuscripts, his family determined that they contained the essence of the writer who has captivated so many readers for decades," CNN reported. While conceding that publishing the book was a "betrayal", the sons felt it "definitely has many of (his) outstanding characteristics: beautiful prose, knowledge of the human being, power of description."

Unsurprisingly, this decision stirred up a maelstrom of a debate over an author's legacy. A creator's final wishes regarding their work should be honoured, but would doing otherwise harm their legacy? Márquez's sons don't think so and greenlit the release. Some have viewed this "betrayal" positively, including one writer living with dementia, who feels heartened by how the author, who also had dementia in his final years, continued to write.

Others aren't as sanguine. The Latin American Post expressed trepidation over the sons' defiance of their father, which it says "raises profound questions about the sanctity of an artist's final wishes and the responsibilities of those left to steward their legacy." The outlet adds that the dilemma "resonates deeply in Latin America, a region where the reverence for literary giants often intersects with the tumultuous realities of its political and social fabric." At least one critic doesn't think Until August is all that, and several local readers drew parallels with the posthumous publication of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman.

Márquez is a towering figure in Latin American literature and the region appears to have claimed him as its own. But the decision to release his work wasn't made by some third party but his immediate family. Even if they have the right to say "this was a bad idea", outsiders have less of a right to determine what happens to this work.

Whether Márquez will be peeved by this we will never know, but this is a family matter and should be treated as such. The book is out and being read, analysed, and discussed, as book should be.


Okay, what else...

• Erica Eng's Eisner Award-winning webcomic "Fried Rice" has gone to print and will be distributed by Gerakbudaya. The print edition "includes 30 pages of new content and 'remastered' pages," The Star reports. "I don't know if I'd have published Fried Rice if not for the recognition," Eng told the local English-language daily. "Before winning the award, I thought it would just be a fun art project and I wasn't expecting anything to come of it. Without the award, I don't think I would have gotten this far."
• Gay NOT OK! The ban on the book Gay Is OK! A Christian Perspective in Malaysia remains after the book's publisher, Gerakbudaya and the author, Ngeo Boon Lin failed to pursue the appeal against the ban at the Federal Court. The book was banned on November 2020. Malay Mail Online also provided more details on the ban and the court's decision.
• Romantasy is booming, thanks in part to #BookTok, but if you thought Sarah J. Maas created the genre ... not quite, according to Canadian book blogger Rachel Sargeant. "We're looking back at Mercedes Lackey and like J.R. Ward and all these, these women who wrote these fantasy romance books in the '90s and the 2000s," she told CBC Radio. "I feel like those aren't being put in the conversation at all."
• An author's work isn't done after the manuscript goes to print. Besides the next book, one has to do marketing and promotion: social media, meet-and-greets, websites. But is it necessary to churn out essays based on the themes of one's book for publication? Tajja Isen has some thoughts on that. "...in practice, such essays can make for a tricky genre, which embodies an expectation that shapes other parts of the promo process, from interviews to personal branding: that writers be ambassadors or educators for their books' issues, even if those issues are incidental to the work."
• Author Jeff Hoffmann wonders why men don't read more fiction. "I can't think of another storytelling medium that allows us to inhabit the subjectivity of a character more deeply than fiction. And seeing the world through another's eyes, especially someone completely different than us, helps us to strengthen our empathy muscle. Greater empathy makes us better parents, better spouses, better managers, better friends." Not to worry, Hoffmanm has some suggested titles to start with a~nd maybe his own? Yes, I've seen Twitter threads like this where the writer drops their book, newsletter, Ko-Fi, etc., but I empathise. We have to earn a living.
• Do historical works need to be rescued from obscurity by literary critics? Bringing back old literature to make them somehow relevant to our times "seems to miss the idea that reissues may have inherent value because they have aged, or even simply because they are enjoyable," according to a critic in The New York Times. "We don't rescue and recirculate authors in order to do right by them, but because their work is a piece of history. We need to understand literature in its own right and as an expression of its own time and context, even if that context is horrifying or alien or uninviting or problematic."
• In Nicholas Russell's interviews book critic Becca Rothfeld, he seems to be lamenting the state of book criticism and sees Rothfield's work as something to aspire towards: "What critics like Becca do so well is convincingly make the case for a higher form of discernment. We should be asking more of our art and the ways we engage with it. More than that, we should be practicing this discernment often, with generosity but also specificity."
• A publisher recalls the publication of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and the aftermath. One part sticks out, highlighting one potential problem with who bans books and how it's done: "...Syed Shahabuddin, an MP from Bihar and the editor of the monthly magazine Muslim India, lodged a complaint about the contents of the book and appealed to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to ban it immediately. Shahabuddin had not read the book and neither had Home Minister Buta Singh who would have to act on the matter."
• Book Riot looks at a new publisher that promises authors a bigger share of the pie and dives into some of the elements of its business model. They seem to find things about it that makes it viable but one suggests waiting a bit longer to see if it will pan out.
• "A well-executed conlang can bolster a film's appearance of authenticity. It can deepen the scenic absorption that has long been an obsession for creators and fans of speculative genres such as science fiction and fantasy." The New Yorker explores the topic of constructed languages (conlangs) in such productions as Dune and Game of Thrones.

Book Marks: Hugo Hiccup, Corrain, AI Book Fraud

The exclusion of several authors from shortlists in last year's Hugo Awards, held in Chengdu, China, was reportedly decided by the award's administrators because of the venue. "Leaked emails from the organisers of the prestigious Hugo awards for science fiction and fantasy suggest several authors were excluded from shortlists last year after they were flagged for comments or works that could be viewed as sensitive in China," the Guardian reported. Among the authors affected were RF Kuang and Xiran Jay Zhao.

Sci-fi news portal Gizmodo stated that Esther MacCallum-Stewart, the chair of the upcoming Worldcon in Glasgow, has apologised "for the damage caused to nominees, finalists, the community, and the Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards" and outlined "steps to ensure transparency and to attempt to redress the grievous loss of trust in the administration of the Awards."

Just another day of catering to Beijing's neurotic aversion to dissent. In the case of the 2023 Hugo admin team, not well handled either, apparently. Paul Weimer, another affected writer, was flagged for previously travelling to Tibet. "But Weimer said he had only been to Nepal," the Guardian stated.

---

Cait Corrain, the author of Crown of Starlight, spoke to The Daily Beast about the apparent psychological breakdown, fuelled by substance abuse, that led her to review-bomb a bunch of novels by authors of colour on Goodreads. Corrain denies she's racist and that it was "an unfortunate coincidence" that her targets were writers of colour.

The authors Corrain targeted aren't convinced, however. The contents of the interview and the timing of the release (during Black History Month in the US) were criticised, and they don't seem to believe the reasons she gave for her behaviour or her denials of racism. On top of that, Goodreads review-bombs of certain BIPOC books commenced, probably by those who support Corrain rather than Corrain herself.

"Several of these authors previously got the chance to speak out in a separate interview with The Daily Beast," The Mary Sue noted. "Unfortunately, many have now been blindsided by that same outlet giving Corrain a platform. The interviews were even conducted by the same journalist."

---

AI-written books keep flooding the market. The New York Times takes a peek at AI-generated biographies of people who recently passed on, noting the inaccuracies and errors in several and that some of these books were available just days after they died. And AI-assisted grifters don't limit their subjects to the dearly departed. A terse report stated that books "full of fake news" regarding King Charles III's illness, presumably days after his cancer diagnosis.

And like Jane Friedman, horror writer Brian Evenson learnt that he had published a new novel when he didn't. An impersonator is using his name to sell a shoddy AI-generated work, and pleas to have the book removed from Amazon fell on deaf ears. Instead, the retailer added a note to the product description calling it a "fake book" and a fraud. I feel that it's about as effective as Twitter's community notes because the book would have made its rounds and fleeced enough people before being flagged. Also, if it brings people to the site, why not?


Alright then, next up...

• In The Star, author, poet, and publisher Ninot Aziz speaks of her outfit Hikayat Fandom, the Dragonlore: From East and West anthology, and the magic of myths and storytelling. According to The Star, "The diverse offerings of Hikayat Fandom, ranging from themed anthologies to children's series, novels, and graphic novels reflect the duo's commitment to preserving and sharing cultural wealth of the region."
• "How well do you remember the 1990s?" Free Malaysia Today asks Malaysians, to introduce economist Hafiz Noor Shams's book, The End of the Nineteen Nineties, published by Matahari Books. FMT reports that "this book offers a view of the events at the end of that decade that shaped the present-day political, societal and economic landscape; a time of much hope and visions of unity, fraught with political upheaval and uncertainty."
• The market for same-sex romance books is growing, according to AlterNet. "From May 2022 to May 2023, sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew by 40%, with the next biggest jump in this period occurring for general adult fiction, which grew just 17%," the report stated. While it notes that LGBTQ+ romance books are still a small slice of the print-book romance pie, "the structural changes they've made in romance imprints have fostered an outpouring of more diverse love stories."
• Gerakbudaya has published an updated version of The Life in the Writing, a biography on the notable Malaysian scholar Syed Hussein Alatas by his daughter Masturah Alatas. This edition is almost twice as long as the original version by Marshall Cavendish and will be featured at this year's KL Alternative Bookfest at Central Market in Kuala Lumpur from 22 to 25 February.
• Penang-born author Daryl Yeap, author of The King's Chinese: From Barber to Banker, has released a second book titled As Equals: The Oei Women of Java. Malay Mail Online reports that the book "is about the lives of three Chinese women, Hui-lan, Ida and Lucy who are from the powerful Oei Tiong Ham family of Dutch-occupied Java."
• Has the bookbot invasion begun? BookBot, the latest venture by book retailer BookXcess, is part of a partnership with CoffeeBot, a Penang-based coffee-vending machine supplier. So far, the book-vending machines have been deployed at two locations: Subang SkyPark at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport and KidZania at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara. The report by The Star also noted that MPH Bookstores introduced the concept in 2011 but it never took off. Citing "high retail overheads post-pandemic", BookXcess boss Andrew Yap says now is the right time for this initiative.
• Seems Malaysians can't have nice things because we don't appreciate them. Recently, a thief stole some books from Books n Bobs in Taman Desa. "The bookstore, on its Facebook page, said the incident unfolded around midday when a criminal entered the bookstore premises and proceeded to fill a large bag with books before nonchalantly walking out without making any payment," the New Straits Times stated. Books n Bobs sells and accepts preloved books and has several branches in the Klang Valley. Theirs is a self-checkout system operating mainly on trust, which the thief exploited. The NST adds that the owner is asking the public for assistance in looking for the perpetrator.
• The inaugural Women's Prize for Nonfiction kicks of with its longlist of "16 titles published between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024," reports Publishing Perspectives. Titles include Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista, Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, and Shadows at Noon by Joya Chatterji. The winner will receive £30,000. The shortlist of six titles will be announced on 27 March and the winner will be revealed on 13 June. Nothing unusual about this, but ... published "between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024"? Shortlist out on 27 March? How does this work? Do they review advance reading copies too?
• Michiko Kakutani, "the most feared woman in publishing"? Dan Kois at Slate prefaces a short review of Kakutani's latest book, The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider, with a glowing overview of her career as The New York Times' book critic, then wonders, "Why has a respected and feared book critic turned to writing books, and particularly these kinds of books?" Kois asks. "Why does Michiko Kakutani want to be David Brooks, or Yuval Noah Harari, synthesizing potted history and the Way We Live Now between the pages of hardcovers?"
• Some feel-good news: In Voorheesville, New York, author Mark Cheverton spoke to some schoolchildren about his writing and publishing journey. The author of a series of novels in the Minecraft universe, Cheverton started writing novels for his son after the latter was cyberbullied while playing Minecraft online. Despite receiving more than 250 rejections (for real?) by agents, he persisted and self-published his first novel on Amazon, which became a modest success.
• "I've always been fascinated by the shape-shifting foxes of Chinese literature, so I did a lot of research about the ancient cult of the fox, which has its roots in northern China, and likely spread from there to Korea and Japan." California-based Malaysian author Yangsze Choo talks about her latest novel, The Fox Wife; myths about fox spirits, and whether she would write a novel set in the present.
• AI can't write books (yet), but can it edit? Four editors put ChatGPT to the test, and the results were predictable. While ChatGPT "can give credible-sounding editorial feedback", and may help with grammar and spelling, it cannot provide individual assessments or expert interventions that require human editorial intelligence. For the foreseeable future, human editors still have a job.
• "Though I frequently joke with my husband about how our dog, Stevie Nicks, and our cat, Meg White, are my children, sadly, I did not actually give birth to them. I did, however, recently birth a book of my life's work, and I'm still recovering from that labor." In Literary Hub, debut author Tawny Lara dives into her post-publishing blues and wonders if these feelings are similar to postpartum depression. An author's work isn't done once copies of the book is sent for print and this can impede their post-publication activities.
• Adélia Sabatini, commissioning editor of fashion titles at Thames & Hudson, is quoted in the Financial Times as saying, "Fashion loves a good story, so it's no wonder so many designers and fashion houses are looking to books for inspiration, and as a way of sharing their ideas." The FT report looks at the intersection between fashion and literature, which has been there for a long time.
• Esther Walker bought the "publishing sensation" Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros for her 12-year-old. Walker soon had second thoughts about that after looking at its contents. The Bookseller also ponders whether books targeted for YA readers should be adultified to that extent. More books for the young adult segment are getting racier but parents shouldn't panic. I'm not for censorship, but parents and guardians should think about gatekeeping what their kids are reading when they're of a certain age.

Book Marks: Somewhere In The Kuala, Dalit Literature

A picture book with no dialogue, Somewhere in the Kuala, an illustrated children's book published by Suburbia Projects, takes readers around Kuala Lumpur. Readers follow two children who try to return home after being separated from their parents while on a tour of the city.

"Produced by illustrator Lisa Goh and lecturer/freelance designer William Chew, the book is a recipient of the Think City–PNB 118 Merdeka Grants Programme," The Star reports, adding that "the idea for the book was inspired by their love of walking in cities, a habit picked up during their time in university and working in London."


Elsewhere:

• "India publishes around 90,000 books a year," South China Morning Post reports. "Among these, around 150 titles in 2017, less than half a per cent, were by established Dalit authors, according to Frankfurter Buchmesse, which runs one of the world's largest book markets." Hence, small publishers in India are stepping up to push Dalit literature.
• "The stories of these time-honoured street vendors have always captivated me. Particularly my father's story, as he's been a hawker for the better part of his life." Tan Chew Ngee speaks about her debut novel, Sweet Braised Duck, which was launched at last year's Singapore Writers Festival. The book is loosely based on her father's life.
• "...a lot of social conservatives seem to believe that if their kids simply never find out about homosexuality or transgenderism, they're guaranteed to grow up to be cisgendered heterosexuals," writes Laura Miller at Slate. She then argues that teens aren't getting that knowledge from such books and that the book bans aren't about LGBTIQ+ issues.
• "In [Bianca Bosker's] book [Get the Picture], she dares to break down the strange codes and customs of the contemporary art world – why, for instance, it is entirely gauche to call something 'beautiful' or why must gallerists say they 'placed' a painting rather than announce that they 'sold' it?" This book sounds intriguing; hope it won't disappoint.
• Pro-Palestine authors continue to face censorship and punitive actions for their stance, and among the latest is Bosnian author Lana Bastasic, who, according to Middle East Eye, "cut ties with her German publisher over its 'silence on Gaza'" and has been dropped from a literature festival in Austria.
• "[Kristin] Hannah wanted both to shine a light on the nurses who served in Vietnam and to explore the larger context of a changing America. 'Americans were learning that their government was lying to them about really important facts, and the whole national consciousness began to change,' Hannah said." Kristin Hannah speaks to Seattle Times about her new novel The Women, women in war, political divides, and honouring and helping war veterans.
• "It was the right time for a book that pokes fun at the thoughtless way in which we've been building up images of other people, making assumptions about people's reputations and inner selves, and how we've had so much fun tearing them down." Ahead of her appearance at the Brisbane Writers' Festival, R.F. Kuang speaks to the Sydney Morning Herald about her book, Yellowface, and the themes behind it.
• Michela Wrong, a British journalist and author of Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad, said she feared being attacked in her home after receiving online backlash. The Independent reported her claim that "an unnamed British public relations firm played a 'key role in orchestrating' an online hate campaign against her in response to the book, which includes strong criticism of rebel leader turned Rwandan president Paul Kagame."
• The BookTok phenomenon has undoubtedly led to more people reading. But has it also contributed to overconsumption in books? The Student ponders this question, pretty much arguing "yes", stating that "Much of the content on BookTok centres around reading as many books in a short time as possible", with less emphasis on the quality of what is read and more on what is popular. One antidote to this might be putting more time into the reading hobby: be selective about what one reads and to enjoy a book at one's own pace.
• Oh g*ds no, J.D. Barker, this is not how you promote a book on BookTok. Soliciting racy clips from influencers for your latest release? Barker claimed that a PR agency issued the call via email. He has distanced himself from it and apologised, but that was not enough for his agent, who dropped him. Seriously, folks, don't.

Book Marks: Local Author News, Hugo Exclusions

I know I've been away for a bit, dropping my pledge to update once a week. But the publishing sphere seemed to have been quiet at the year-end and beginning of January 2024, so there wasn't much of note happening.

Also, I caught COVID in early January. The worst I've ever felt in a couple of years and I had to go see a doctor for medication and get more RTK test kits while ill. To my dismay, the nasal swab returned a strong positive result, though I should have guessed from my feverish brow and limbs that felt like lead.

And who knew all the medical equipment I bought on separate occasions on a whim – pulse oximeter, digital thermometer, and blood pressure monitor – would come in handy?

So I'm taking it easy for now, and I'll only be posting as and when sufficient material is available, while I wait and see what else COVID has done to me. Back to the usual programming...


Ipoh-based teacher Aishah Zainal's debut novel Hades was nominated by the National Library for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award. Published by Gerakbudaya, the novel is about a delinquent called Kei who forms a bond with a young mother who's his neighbour in a dilapidated flat. "At its core, Hades is a tale of the underdogs – of those living in poverty and what it does to people, especially women," Aishah tells The Star.

Getting into the shortlist will be hard as the competition is tough. There's Eleanor Catton (Birnam Wood), Paul Harding (This Other Eden), Barbara Kingsolver (Demon Copperhead), and Gabrielle Zevin (Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow), among others. Still, Aishah is with good company, and we wish her the best.

Also in the news is Vanessa Chan, whose debut novel The Storm We Made has been named the "Good Morning America: Book Club Pick" for January by US television channel ABC. Set in Malaya before World War II, it follows a Eurasian housewife who is lured into spying for the Japanese and the consequences that follow for her and her three children.

---

RF Kuang's novel Babel should have been a nominee for last year's Hugo Awards. But the organisers of the award seem to have felt differently. Apparently, Kuang and fellow author Xiran Jay Zhao were excluded from the 2023 Hugo Awards that took place in Chengdu, China, as were several others.

The Mary Sue failed to get any explanation from the Hugo Awards for this exclusion, but speculates that politics may have been a factor. "Through their books and social media activity, Zhao has spoken out against the alleged Uyghur genocide in China and even once questioned if they would be allowed into the country for this reason, while Kuang has been open about how her father was a part of the Tiananmen Square protest."


Okay, what's next?

• "Writing about books means there is always something new I should be reading. But there is also always something old that I should understand—there are always books whose moment I might have thought slid past me, but it didn't, or books I just never saw before." Molly Templeton ponders why some books meant for their readers take so long to find them. Perhaps "the time wasn't right", as some would say.
• "Usually there are about eight or nine books per month that I'm interested in, that I note down on my trusty spreadsheet, and I get a chance to read four or five of them. But in March of 2024 there are 30 books on my radar that I want to read." Some might consider this a good problem to have but Maris Kreizman isn't so sure. In Literary Hub, she explores what's behind the deluge of new releases for March 2024.
• Associated Press reports that Max Chapnick, a postdoctoral teaching associate at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, "believes he found about 20 stories and poems written by Louisa May Alcott under her own name as well as pseudonyms for local newspapers in Massachusetts in the late 1850s and early 1860s." Best known for Little Women, Alcott wrote a whole lot under various pseudonyms, leaving behind a pile of material for scholars like Chapnick to go through.
• A Q&A with Lucille Abendanon about her debut middle-grade historical novel The Songbird and the Rambutan. "The book is inspired by the real life stories of my Oma ["Grandma" in Indonesian] Emmy," Abendanon tells The Nerd Daily. "She was a prisoner of war in Tjideng during WW2. I would visit her in The Netherlands from wherever I was living in the world, and we would talk for hours about her life during the war."
• A recent Twitter drama involves a poet called John Kucera who was revealed to have plagiarised the work of other poets, including local writer May Chong. Various journals and other publications have discovered evidence of Kucera's plagiarism and removed the problematic pieces. Dude was prolific, it seems.
• Speaking of plagiarism, a court in Turkey ordered Turkish author Elif Şafak and Doğan Publishing to pay a total of 252,000 Turkish liras for plagiarising the work of another Turkish author, Mine Kırıkkanat. "The case was brought to light by Turkish author Kırıkkanat, whose work 'Fly Palace' was copied by Şafak in her 'Flea Palace'," the Hurriyet Daily News reported. From the publisher's response, an appeal may be filed.
• "I never imagined that my own manuscripts would end up in the hands of an editor like Marek, much less be the last he ever worked on. In 2018, I was searching for an agent for my first novel, The Reflecting Pool. Connections and good fortune put me in touch with my agent, Judith Ehrlich, who, in turn, introduced me to Marek. I couldn't have known just how impactful this introduction would be." Otho Eskin recalls his publishing journey and Richard Marek, the editor who changed his manuscript and his life.
• "...sometimes research becomes an excuse not to write, because you can endlessly go down these rabbit holes. There comes a point when you just have to write." The Indian Express speaks to Abraham Verghese about his novel, The Covenant of Water, "a multi-generational epic inspired by his grandmother's memoirs of what it felt to be a child."

Book Marks: BookTok on BBC, Salled Ben Joned

All right, let's get to it, shall we?

• A self-published author and a bookshop owner tell the BBC how #BookTok is changing lives and publishing. But is the hashtag "pushing other book review sites to the side"? A clutch of one-minute videos may feel more genuine than text reviews, but in the age of AI, who can say? Different formats can complement or compete with each other. It doesn't have to be a zero-sum game.
• "For most of my life, I was never really aware of the impact of his work. But in my 40s, I became aware that he had contributed something quite unique and important to Malaysian culture." Sydney-based journalist, singer and guitarist Anna Salleh, eldest daughter of poet-writer Salleh Ben Joned, launched a new book that chronicles her father's life and literary journey.
• "Geungsi is my first local creation and graphic novel after settling back down in Singapore. I wanted to produce more local works for my own country. I was hopeful and until today, I think I'm still hopeful, but I realised that it's not as easy as I thought." Singaporean author Sean Lam hopes to make the jiangshi (reanimated corpse in Chinese folklore) trendy again through his work.
• In an edited extract from author Monica Ali’s 2023 PEN HG Wells lecture, she talks about experimenting with AI and comes off not worrying too much about AI taking over from human writers. What concerns Ali more is that "the bookpocalypse, when or if it comes, will mean an increasing homogenisation, driven by a 'dataset' that is simultaneously massive and narrow in its worldview, supported by a 'more like this' algorithm that crowds out diverse voices or those that challenge the status quo."
• Does jacket copy say too much sometimes? Tajja Isen at The Walrus seems to think so. She seems to feel that jacket or back-cover copy in some books sets up what readers should expect from and feel about them in a way that's "controlling, even demeaning" when all she wants is "a premise and some vibes, a taste of tone, a flicker of the voice the book contains. I don't want to be told what's about to happen, even in the vaguest sense. And I definitely don't want to be told what it's 'about.'"
• The spate of book bannings in the United States have people across the Atlantic a little bothered. Some attempts to stealth-ban books seem to have been made, but for now, the kind of fever engulfing the States is not likely to cross over to the United Kingdom ... yet. Back in the States, public libraries are fighting back against book banning. The San Diego Public Library is participating in the Books Unbanned programme that provides access to scores of books pulled from shelves at public and school libraries.
• Books by and about Palestinians have been censored or kept out of the limelight for decades, but since 7 October, Palestinian authors, and other figures seen to be supporting the Palestinian cause, have been facing discrimination, including the cancellation of their appearances at events.

Book Marks: Genres, Singapore Libraries, Ian Fleming's Productivity Hack

"Genre is a confining madness; it says nothing about how writers write or readers read, and everything about how publishers, retailers and commentators would like them to," writes Alex Clark in The Guardian. "This is not to criticise the many talented personnel in those areas, who valiantly swim against the labels their industry has alighted on to shift units as quickly and smoothly as possible."

The title of the article asks whether literary genres should be abolished, but I don't think it's necessary. And Clark's example of "a boiled egg" for lunch and something "complicated" and "unfamiliar" at dinner time strikes a chord with those whose lunchtime go-to on some days might be a kopitiam breakfast set of half-boiled eggs with kaya toast. "These are not perceived as contradictions, but as perfectly reasonable options available to those of us lucky enough to have them," he writes.

Let genres stay. If publishers or agents can't find a suitable pigeonhole for the next possible hit, be certain that new ones will be invented.

Okay, moving on...

• Libraries across the United States and the United Kingdom are closing down, but those in Singapore seem to be adapting to changes in the reading and literary landscape. In Channel News Asia, Singapore's National Library Board reported that "as of August, 78 per cent of Singapore residents visited NLB’s libraries and archives and accessed its content in the preceding year, up from 61.7 per cent in 2022, and 72.5 per cent in 2019 pre-COVID-19.
• "Innovators and business professionals are constantly bombarded with stimuli that fragment their attention. The proliferation of digital devices and social media means that distractions are not just external but also reside in our pockets, making concentrated work a significant challenge." A solution? Ian Fleming's "Rule of Forced Boredom": putting himself in a distraction-free environment where he could either write or do zilch. But to write a book in two weeks?
• "While many people know the city for its military base, Paju [in South Korea] is also home to the nation’s elaborate book publishing hub — officially known as Paju Publishing Culture, Information and National Industrial Park but commonly referred to as Paju Book City. Around 900 book-related businesses, including printing presses, distribution companies and design studios, line the streets, and signs reading 'Paju Book City' are everywhere." Not sure why this idea isn't as widespread as it should be, but one supposes that political will and leadership play a role.
• "If Prophet Song is a dystopia, then, like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale, it's one whose events are already happening around the world. ... The recent rioting in Dublin, and the shock and disbelief that greeted it, give the novel an uncomfortable extra timeliness." In The Guardian, Justine Jordan believes the winner of the 2023 Booker Prize is – or should be – waking western societies up to the forces threatening their sociopolitical fabric.
• In the wake of a shark attack, Mike Coots took up photography and shark conservation. His book, Shark: Portraits, is part of those efforts. "His book is a way to hopefully get the masses to look at sharks in a different light; not as murderous creatures stalking humans, but as an incredibly beautiful example of evolution. The book is years in the making. Thousands of photos taken over nearly a decade culled down to 200."
• "...Reylo fanfiction is no longer something you can just find on sites like AO3. In fact, several Reylo authors have made the jump from fanfiction to traditional publishing in recent years, transforming their fics into original works you can find at your local bookstore." The romantical shipping of Star Wars characters Rey and Kylo Ren goes mainstream with Reylo-inspired fiction and audiences are lovin' it.
• "Every generation decries the fall of civilization and the lack of young kids reading," Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan tells Rolling Stone. "You can find quotes from the ancient Greeks talking about how the world is doomed because of ’these kids today.’ Personally, I think kids are our best reason to be hopeful, and I think they will keep reading as long as we give them stories they love." YA authors including Riordan defend the genre as movie adaptations of YA works flounder.

Book Marks: Big Fiction, AI, Malaysian Bus Journeys

Lacking material, I put off last week's post. As these things go, I probably should have expected to run smack into a deluge of stuff on books and publishing this week. Who was it that said publishing activities tend to slow down towards the end of the year?

Anyway, this is what cropped up in the past two weeks...

In The New Republic is a review of Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature by Dan Sinykin, an assistant professor of English at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. A part of it reads...

"As publishers grew far larger—and ever more concerned with the bottom line—the lives of editors and authors transformed. More than ever before, they became cogs in a corporate machine, responsible for growth and returns on investment, necessarily responsive to the whims and demands of capital—and these pressures increasingly showed up in their output."

And how. I'm sure this is increasingly the case as publishers push more books out and the editorial process suffers as a result.

Sinykin and his book are cited in this prediction about the (near) future of books in Esquire. I'm not dismissing it outright, so let's see how many of these come true.

---

Over at Observer, writers and publishers weigh in on how to cope with AI. "Reports of companies and individuals using A.I. to spread misinformation, infringe copyright and steal authors' identities have dominated discussions of the technology's role in the books we consume," goes the report. As the technology develops, publishers are finding it harder to detect AI use in submitted work, while writers seem to be thrilled with how AI is supercharging their productivity.

Meanwhile, several editors look at the adoption of AI in publishing and ponder where the tech would fit in the editorial workflow. "While generative AI's current appeal lies in creation, it requires human motivation and direction. This is the kind of briefing and tweaking that editors and publishers historically have done: acquiring, commissioning, copy editing. Our role has included adopting and adapting text to create (or curate) connections with audiences, elevating prose to the best it can be, or the perfect fit for that category."

Not everyone is sanguine about AI. This writer, whose farewell to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has proven premature now that Altman looks set to return as CEO, appears concerned that chatbots at workstations is but a step towards a dystopian post-human future. Also: "Even if we assume that the creation of a superintelligent AI is plausible, let alone desirable, was Altman ever the right man for the job here?"


Also:

• "A bus ticket gets you places. An open heart gets you hidden Malaysian experiences." Lam Ching Fu, author of the developing My Journey By Bus series, is profiled in Options @ The Edge. After covering stopovers in Perak, Penang, Kedah and Perlis in his first book, his second book takes readers from Pahang to Terengganu and Kelantan. In progress is part three, which covers Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor. You gotta hand it to him to embark on such a project. Will it help spur improvements to the bus system? One can hope.
• Malaysia's youngest author? Meet Karen Chew, author of What Can an 8-Year-Old Tell You? While she was only eight when she started writing her book, she had begun to write when she was only about three to four – "first with a diary and later a blog," goes the report. One factor in her achievements has to be how she is schooled. Now we have to wonder just how Herculean efforts would be to get the current national education system to that level where every third or fourth child can write and publish a book at age eight.
• "People have agency. People are going to write what they want to. I'm not here to tell people what they can and cannot write. I'm here to ask them should they be writing that story? And I think more people should ask themselves that." After speaking up on Tillie Cole's problematic dark romance novel, BookTok creator Sat and others who have aired similar views found themselves harassed by fans of the novel. Questions are raised over how taboo themes should be addressed in fiction, specifically the dark romance genre.
• "...the most troubling side effect of #Booktok is how the publishing industry responded to a glut of younger, easily influenced consumers moving deeper into the romance genre. The plan, it seems, to entice and retain these customers was to take the embarrassing bodice-ripping, kilt-clad, flowy-hair heroes off the covers of romance novels and instead churn out aesthetic, minimalist designs." TikTok may be shifting copies, but what if erotica dressed up in YA covers are among those? And if a customer is about to pick a volume of stealthed smut off the shelf, should booksellers intervene?
• Lots have been observed and said about Javier Milei, who's set to be Argentina's next president, so perhaps it's no surprise that the controversial far-right figure is apparently a plagiarist too. El País claims Milei lifted whole passages from an article written by Mexican scientists for his book, which was published in 2020. "Accusations of plagiarism hung over Milei throughout his entire career, whether it be his academic publications, his campaign spots or even his autobiography," the portal adds.
• Could this be one of history's longest-running literary scams? The BBC reports that fake Robert Burns manuscripts "made by a forger in the 1880s, have been fleecing collectors for 140 years." While the counterfeiter was caught and imprisoned in 1893, many of the fakes still circulate. "Genuine Burns manuscripts can fetch tens of thousands of pounds at auction today," the report adds, "so there is cash to be made through the fake papers." How many people have been Burn-ed, I wonder?
• "It's believed Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations as a form of introspection rather than for larger public consumption. The entries range from blunt maxims to cogent dissertations, and there is no definitive organization to the work—though some patterns have been identified, with themes organized around Stoic philosophy." Though Meditations may not have been written for a wider audience, this self-help classic has become one of the go-tos for those seeking wisdom and life lessons.
• "My stories, thoughts, and insights are crafted with care, but they must struggle to find their place in a family budget that is under pressure to prioritize where every dollar goes. In this economic climate, choosing between a Netflix subscription and a Patreon pledge is not a matter of preference — it's a hard financial decision for many." Joan Westenberg ponders writing as a career in these trying times.
• "I knew at once that I would say yes—not because I felt any particular sense of confidence but because I was fully committed to trying. There are so few things we can do for the dead; this was something I could do for her." When she died, Rebecca Godfrey was working on a novel about heiress and art collector Peggy Guggenheim. Friend and novelist Leslie Jamison was approached to finish Godfrey's work. Jamison's quest took her on an odyssey of sorts, delving deep into Godfrey's thought processes, the life of the novel's subject, and her friendship with Godfrey.
• Former Huntsville Public Library employee Elissa Myers shares her experiences working at the library with Book Riot. "Her work is less about the book banning–that is there, too–but about what it means to be a queer librarian in a time of unmitigated bigotry, much of which is being directed at public employees in education and libraries."
• "Despite being a nation with a reputation for prudishness about sex, the British don't seem to have any problem reading about it, at least not if you go by the enduring popularity of one the country's most successful writers, Jilly Cooper." Explore Cooper's career, a brief history of the "bonkbuster" (urh), and the British affair with raunchy novels.
• "There's a reason why Medieval art is particularly, well, weird. While paintings and sculptures that remain from most other periods in history were generally produced by trained artists, the illuminated manuscripts made in Medieval times were often authored by monks and tradespeople, who weren’t necessarily following artistic conventions of the era." Can't get enough of the @WeirdMedieval Twitter account? The book is now out.
• "Hubert Seipel, an award-winning film-maker and author, admitted receiving support for his work on two books charting the Russian leader's rise to power and offering portrayals described as sympathetic to him." A German publisher has stopped selling books by Seipel after an investigation revealed he received payments from companies linked to an oligarch close to Russian president Vladimir Putin.