Literary Heritage

Recently an old wardrobe I used as a bookcase collapsed, spilling books all over the floor. Those little bits of plastic just could not take the strain any more. That made me look through the books on my shelves. Nearly 500 of those books are by authors that I have helped to publish their own work over the last twenty years. There have been many more writers who have gone it alone, but I no longer have their books.

Looking over the titles there's some really good stuff there, and a sprinkling of mistakes. One guy insisted on producing his novel in bold sans serif font making it the most difficult book to read (I didn't).

When I started, over 30 years years ago, it was a hazardous business even thinking about publishing your own work. Today it has become much easier. Ebook are the easiest, but we still need a handy reader that is given away free, or at very low cost. Once that's available everyone will carry one around all the time. It could be that the Ipod will become a standard item, and we will not read but listen to books.

Real progress has come with digital printing. I now use an on demand printer for my books and that gives me a direct link to major distributors in UK and USA, effectively giving world-wide coverage. Go into any bookstore and you can place an order for one of your books, which will be printed to your order and delivered to the store in a matter of days.

I ha’ve never made any money from my support for authors, but I feel passionately that authors should be able to reach readers,– and especially those readers who are not even born yet.

Our literary heritage is in serious danger. The Tudor poets could not survive today, nor could the melancholics of the Victorian era, yet they and many others, contribute to the richness of a cultured society.

Culture today depends upon commercial success, good looks, football prowess, sex-appeal and serving the lowest common denominator. Mass-market appeal is drowning out progress, at least the sort of progression I dream about. Perhaps we are drifting into a primitive world. One day the lights will be switched out and no-one will understand why.