sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

In the News Part 2

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It seems I’m not the only one blogging about the issue of Angus & Robertson charging distributors and publishers a fee for shelf space (see my posting below). Entries are popping up all over the blogosphere, and the general consensus is that it is a dud decision on A & R’s part.

You can read opinions other than mine at Larvatus Prodeo an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective, or at Calvin, technology notes for lawyers – law, technology, computers and a few other things, and finally at Ben Peek (it’s a blog).

It would be nice to think that some of this outrage would make a difference to A & R’s decision.

In the News

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I don’t often focus on the business side of publishing, because I’m a writer, not a publisher, and not an expert at matters such as costs and distribution and so on; but something in the news has disturbed me as much as it has disturbed some of my fellow Australian authors.

An article in the Brisbane Times, available online here, reports that bookstore chain Angus & Robertson (A & R) are demanding a payment from smaller distributors and publishers if they want A & R stores to continue to stock their books. If the distributors don’t pay up, their books will no longer be sold in A & R stores.

Among those companies affected are Towerbooks, which distributes Carpentaria, this year’s Miles Franklin Award Winner, and Walker Books, who publish popular series such as Where’s Wally? as well as wonderful Australian authors such as Libby Gleeson.

So, come August 17, if you want to buy Carpentaria, or your children want Where’s Wally?, you may need to shop elsewhere than A & R.

As an author, this alarms me for two reasons. One is that it seems the chain is trying to stich up a deal which makes it even harder for new and lesser known publishers and authors to get into stores, at the same time dictating to their customers that they can’t access these books, and secondly that, if these distributors and publishers pay these hefty fees, these fees ultimately increase the cost of producing each book, meaning either higher priced books, lower returns for authors (who are currently fortunate if they receive 10% of RRP as their share) or that publishers will simply have to cut back on their production. They’ll take fewer risks with new authors and new titles.

In the end, it is the creators and the reading public who will miss out.

But wouldn’t it be wonderful if these distributors refused to pay? Because, in the end, if a consumer wants to buy Carpentaria or Where’s Wally? and can’t get it at A & R, they’ll go down the road to Dymocks or Borders and buy it there. Who loses out then? A & R.

Nine New Reviews

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I have just added nine new books to Aussiereviews – that makes a grand total of 43 new reviews this moth. I think that is the most ever in one month. The new nine were all reviewed by me, but there have also been reviews this month from other reviewers, which is why the total is so high.

My favourite in this new batch is Killer Mackenzie, by Eve Martin, a young adult novel set in the Outback. It’s a funny read, best suited to teenage girls. Here’s a taste for you:
We drove along Sturt Creek’s main street, Main Street. (No joke!) If that was the main street, I hated to think what the other streets were like – if there were any other streets. I saw a Swimming Pool sign, so that was something. Sturts Creek seemed to have only one of anything: one chemist, one bank, one doctor, one supermarket, one milk bar…Definitely not somewhere you’d ever come for a holiday, so what was I doing there?
If you want to read the review, you can do so here.

My review pile doesn’t seem to be getting any smaller – they arrive as quickly as I can review them – quicker sometimes. But lucky me! I never run out of good reading material.

Pemberthy in Busselton

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‘Granma‘ left a comment to let me know that Pemberthy is a much loved resident at her house in Busselton. Wonderful news. Busselton is a nice beach-side town in the the South-West, a place I visit often.

The map now looks like this, with the new dot the orange one on the South West coast.

Have you seen my beautiful picture book, Pemberthy Bear? I’m tracking his progress around the country – you can see my original post here. As you can see from the map, Pemberthy is a well-travelled bear.

Poetic Pemberthy

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Pemberthy, the singing, blogging bear has written another poem. This time he’s been quite adventurous and written a triolet. This is a French poetic form with eight lines, and the challenge of repeating lines, but Pemberthy likes challenges. You can read his new composition here.

Youtube Funnies

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A writer friend sent me a link to a You-tube video today, which had me laughing more than I’d done in ages. It has some rude words in it, so I’m not going to post it here because this is a kid-friendly blog, but if you’re old enough and have ever had problems with proofreading, then click here to see why I’m laughing.

The guy’s name is Taylor Mali and he’s an American teacher, poet and comedian. I enjoyed the first one so much I watched two other clips featuring him, and the one titled What a Teacher Makes is probably my favourite, being a teacher myself, though I don’t profess to be as wonderful a teacher as he sounds.

If you’ve enjoyed those two, there’s a third one here, which is also very good – and very true.

Enjoy!

Sometimes a good laugh keeps you going.