The Publishing Paradigm: Commercialisation versus Creativity

On 4 May 2009, I was on a panel at the inaugural Alice Springs Writers Festival. The festival was small, but the enthusiasm of the writers there was enormous. The Chair of the panel, Peter Bishop - then of Varuna, The Writer's House - encouraged the audience of would-be writers to retain their creativity, to keep their individual voices, despite what editors, publishers and agents might tell them the market needed. I was more cautious. While it is, of course, very important creative writers maintain their individual voices, if they are going to develop a sustainable career path through writing, authors need to be aware of the market they are entering and the forces that operate within it. For instance, authors need to be cognisant of the role of the acquisitions or commissioning editor in the development of publishing lists and their rejection policies. While most editors and publishers I know profess to be, and, on the face of it, are, open-minded and genuinely interested in quality manuscripts, they have their own foibles and idiosyncrasies. These are further compounded by the strictures of their employers. In the main, a great non-fiction book is not going to be taken up by a publisher whose eye is focused only on the fiction market, even when an editor champions it. Likewise, a literary novel with potential sales of 3000 is not going to be considered in the acquisitions meeting of a publisher that has decided it will only publish books capable of selling 20,000 copies or more. These days, much more so than in the past, an editor also has to convince the sales force that a book will sell, why and to whom. In this context, a chick-lit title is an easier option than a beautifully crafted novel aimed at teenage boys. Why? Teenage boys are not reading and rarely buy books (Australia Council for the Arts, 2009). Young women, however, are still avid readers and book-buyers.