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The independents will have their day

WHEN Boris Johnson pockets £2million for a flop book and even the lowest-level TV celeb can top up their salary with a six-figure advance for a murder mystery or two, maybe it's time to accept that the traditional publishing business isn't 100 per cent focused on quality.

The alarm bells were already tinkling when Sarah, Duchess of York, unleashed Budgie the Little Helicopter, and practically bouncing off the wall by the time Madonna's 'The English Roses' sashayed into bookshops.

This is all on my mind even more than usual as I continue the Sisyphean promotional push for 'How Soon Is Now?' and prepare 'End of a Century' for release next February.

The response from readers to 'How Soon..?' has been incredible – I wrote on this blog last week about the uplifting impact of the fantastic five-star reviews the book has been granted over the past week alone.

Readers who connect with the book really connect with it, and I think part of that is that is because they're discovering it for themselves. I know very well that feeling of discovering any kind of art – whether it's a book, a record or film – without a barrage of hype or publicity. There's a personal connection there, something which takes that artefact way beyond the realms of mere product. It's yours.

Seeing people make that connection with 'How Soon Is Now?' has been both moving and profoundly gratifying. People are coming to the book without any of the scepticism or cynicism which often accompanies an encounter with the Next Big Thing: That element of 'Go on, then. I've heard all about you. Impress me.'

It's a slow, steady process, but that kind of grassroots support is essential for an independent project like 'How Soon Is Now?' – especially when there's precious little support from any of the channels more used to being fed content by the mighty traditional publishing machine.

Self-published authors have a daunting mountain to climb when it comes to snatching any kind of mainstream support or promotion. There's a widespread – and increasingly wrong-headed – assumption among mainstream reviewers (and this includes many of the supposedly more independent denizens of rising platforms like TikTok etc) that books from trad publishers arrive with an automatic guarantee of quality, while independent and self-published books must be viewed with immediate scepticism.

Certainly, there's plenty of rubbish in the indie and self-publishing sphere, but there's just as much rubbish – albeit attractively-packaged and enthusiastically hyped rubbish – coming from the big publishers.

In fact, as I've mentioned here before, it was reading one distinctly lacklustre book by a much-heralded writer which finally gave me the push I needed to stop waiting for the nod from the big boys and start releasing books on my own.

The quality of non-traditionally-published work is rising all the time as more and more writers opt out of an increasingly dysfunctional industry, where money is thrown at a select few (usually celebrity-focused) books, and all the mid-list and low-level writers are left to sink or swim (and handle all their own marketing, while they're at it).

There are strong parallels with the music business of the late 70s and early 80s, with independent labels rising up to provide an innovative alternative to an increasingly staid and fad-obsessed mainstream.

It'll take time, but mainstream reviewers will eventually catch up with the breadth of talent choosing to sidestep the more familiar publishing channels. It may take another few lacklustre thrillers from a morning TV presenter or another romance from a Strictly judge, but they'll get there in the end – and they'll have a lot of fantastic books to catch up with once they do...

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This is the blog of Scottish writer Paul Carnahan, where you'll find occasional updates on writing projects, along with old photos, random ideas, inconsequential witterings and assorted other oddities. Anything else you'd like to see here? Email me via the form at the bottom of the page!

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