Developing the Author Within

Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.
~ Winston Churchill ~

 

The Book Publishing Industry:
In the great little book Up the Best Seller Lists. Kathleen Brehony and Karen Jones report on a survey published by the Association of American Publishers. This survey of 16,000 households in th US claims that.

– 60% of households don’t even read books.

– 60% of Americans had not purchased a book in the last 6 months.

– 57% of books that are purchased are never read.

The numbers from this survey look quite das but the fact is that books change lives. In his presentation to the Committee, Mr. Roch Carrier, a distinguished Canadian author and Canada’s National Librarian, described Canada’s network of some 22,000 libraries as a place where life-transforming discoveries are made and careers are launched. He stated: “Had I not opened a book… I would probably be a forestry worker, like all of the good friends I had back then. Books changed my life. When I visit a library and see the librarian give a child a book, I wonder if she is [also] about to change that child’s life.”

Ms. Carole David of the Quebec writers’ union argued, Canadian libraries help fulfil several essential roles: First they … encourage people to read …and educate readers. They are also important as information providers. [Furthermore, they] … advise users and encourage them to read works that go beyond bestsellers. In voicing many of these same sentiments, Claude Primeau, of the Canadian Publishers’ Council emphasized that what his fellow publishers wanted was “a strong public library community” and “a public library community that presents itself as the modern information centre in every community.” He explained: We need, in this country, a strong bookselling and library community in our schools. … I can remember when public libraries and school libraries would phone me in November saying ‘Have you got any books? We have to spend our budget.’ Then all that disappeared. … So now we really have to dig. … the kids [are] selling chocolate bars and so forth. That’s not healthy for our children, and my grand children.

In the Standing Committee’s 1999 report, A Sense of Place A Sense of Being, the members stressed that: We need creators. We need them because it is the creators — more than anyone — who shape our cultural identity and give us our sense of who we are and where we belong.

This sentiment has been echoed repeatedly throughout the course of the Committee’s roundtables and meetings. As a member of the Committee observed in a meeting with Canadian Heritage representatives, a lot has been said about the needs of publishers, but “how does this include the creator? … I think that’s an integral part of the chain. And if we don’t look at that … then we’re

missing a great opportunity.”

(Source: Government Report; The Challenge of Change: A Consideration of the Canadian Book Industry http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/36/2/HERI/Studies/Reports/heri01-e.html February 10, 2003)