Golden Era Over For Scottish Publishing

The recent golden era for Scottish publishing is threatening to come to end following last week’s announcement that funding for Scottish publishers is to be axed.

Birlinn, Canongate, Mainstream, and Black & White – all Edinburgh-based publishers – had bucked a UK trend, and created a powerful reputation for Scottish publishing in recent years. But the recent row over financing looks set to tear the industry apart, with some publishers now involved in public slanging.

In a surprise development, Hugh Andrew, owner of Birlinn/Polygon, resigned from Publishing Scotland (PS). Andrew cited the increase in grant money awarded to PS from the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) while subsidies to publishers were simultaneously axed, as his main reason for leaving.

Andrew referred to the new e-commerce portal, BooksfromScotland.com, which was launched as a “Scottish rival to Amazon.com”, but which has only sold a fifth of its projected sales target. Andrew described the returns as “pitiful” and accused the portal of “bleeding cash”. He also said his own website “sold at least twice” as many books while costing five times less than BooksfromScotland.com to run.

“I look at the costs to achieve a particular result, and I am staggered,” he explained. “The main spur for my decision to resign from Publishing Scotland is the increase in grant for the body that is meant to represent Scottish publishing. It is getting a 30% increase in grant in the same year that grants to publishers are slashed.

“In other words, the quango that is meant to represent Scottish publishing has enjoyed a massive increase in grant, whereas those it is meant to help have their grants are hammered. There is something seriously wrong.

Bill Campbell, joint MD of Mainstream Publishing countered Andrew, however, and said: “Scottish publishing is in good health. Hugh Andrew’s reaction doesn’t surprise me but it slightly saddens me. Publishing Scotland does a lot to help the industry.

“I have my own reservations but I don’t throw my rattles out of the pram to make a fairly shallow point.”

Related Links
www.birlinn.co.uk
www.scottisharts.org.uk
www.publishingscotland.org

—
Colin Galbraith writes articles and reviews on a wide variety of subjects. For more information please visit: http://freelance.colingalbraith.co.uk

Scottish Arts Council Scraps Block Grants to Scottish Publishers

The Scottish Arts Council has axed grants to several Scottish publishers worth around £100,000. Publishers have been informed they need not apply for any of the “block grants”, in a controversial move that has brought widespread dismay within the industry.

The announcement will affect small and well-established companies alike, such as Polygon and Luath Press.

However, grant funding for individual books has been increased by £40,000, nut critics have argued that by cutting the block grants, it will make it much tougher for publishers to plan and invest.

The cuts prompted Hugh Andrew, chief executive of the Birlinn/Polygon group, to call for an examination of arts council spending.

“Block grants help publish work like new Scottish fiction,” said Andrew. “It’s getting to the stage where we have to have a root-and-branch examination of where our money is going. It seems the amount of money given to bureaucrats and quangoes is increasing at the expense of those on the front line.”

He questioned why Publishing Scotland, the organisation which works for the “support and development” of the sector, received about £200,000 in annual funding, twice the block-grant fund.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Arts Council confirmed that the block grant fund has gone from £100,000 to nothing, and that it had been “suspended temporarily for this financial year”.

Related Links
www.scottisharts.org.uk
www.birlinn.co.uk

—
Colin Galbraith writes articles and reviews on a wide variety of subjects. For more information please visit: http://freelance.colingalbraith.co.uk

The Latest Issue of The Scruffy Dog Review

It’s been a long road, but it has all been worth it.  Click here to check out the latest issue of The Scruffy Dog Review. The Author Interview is with Marcus Sakey, author of THE BLADE ITSELF.

Also, we have the latest installments of SCOTLAND’S TREASURE and THE LITERARY ATHLETE and wonderful fiction and poetry.

Come on and check us out!

 

The Scruffy Dog Review Website

The Scruffy Dog Review Website is temporarily unavailable while we move servers. It should be up and running by the end of the day on Wednesday, April 23rd.

JK Rowling Testifies To “Wholesale Theft”

Scottish writing phenomenon JK Rowling told a court in New York this week, that plans to publish an unofficial Harry Potter encyclopaedia amounted to “wholesale theft”.

As a result of being embroiled in legal action against Steve Vander Ark and his publisher RDR Books, Rowling also stated she has had to stop work on her new novel because the action had “decimated my creative work”.

Rowling denied the case was anything to do with money, and accused Vander Ark of “an act of betrayal” in using her popular fantasy fiction series as the foundation for his book, The Harry Potter Lexicon. “He has simply taken it and copied it - it is sloppy, lazy and it takes my work wholesale,” she said.

Rowling also told the New York court she had intended to write her own encyclopaedia and donate the proceeds of its sales to charity.

In response to the action filed by Rowling’s solicitors, RDR Books accused the Scottish author of seeking to “claim a monopoly on the right to publish literary reference guides, and other non-academic research, relating to her own fiction”.

The case will be heard until the end of this week.

Related Links
www.jkrowling.com
www.rdrbooks.com

—
Colin Galbraith writes articles and reviews on a wide variety of subjects. For more information please visit: Colin Galbraith Freelance

Irvine Welsh To Write Trainspotting Prequel

It’s official, and probably not all that surprising, but Irvine Welsh has finally decided to write another novel involving Renton, Sick Boy, and Spud.

The announcement that a prequel to Trainspotting is to be written comes 15 years after Welsh penned those first historic words: “The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling,” and 6 years after he released the sequel, Porno, which saw the characters trying their hand in the adult movie industry, as opposed to injecting heroin in and around Leith.

The new book will take the story back a couple of years before Trainspotting, which was set in mid-1980s Edinburgh, to chronicle the decline of the gang from young guys out for a laugh, to full-on drug addicts with real-life problems.

Fans of Welsh will be absolutely thrilled at the announcement, perhaps more so than the literary establishment in Scotland, which has long seen Welsh as an unqualified author who got lucky. But that has never bothered Welsh, who can quite easily point to a very popular publishing back catalogue, Hollywood success based on his writing, a backlog of literary projects, and of course, several million in the bank.

Welsh says he was prompted into making the decision after finding discarded material for Trainspotting in his attic. He explained: “The thing is basically a prequel and will be about how Renton and Sick Boy went from being daft, young guys just out for the buzz to total junkies. It focuses on them when they are a couple of years younger, and shows how their attitudes and behaviour start to change as they become more defined by the drug and the culture around it.

“I had a great deal of material that, for various reasons, namely pace and because it didn’t fit the time frame, wasn’t suitable for the previous books. There’s a particular section about Renton and Sick Boy’s first visit to London to stay with their friend Nicksy in Hackney that I always wanted to publish, but it was just a bit too long.

“The others are first and second drafts from 1991 based on the same diaries and notes as the original Trainspotting. I only found them as I’ve been looking through boxes that have been in the attic for years – and I thought they’d been slung out ages ago.”

Welsh’s latest novel, Crime, will be published in July and he also has an anthology of short stories due for publication in 2009.

Related Links
www.irvinewelsh.net

Colin Galbraith writes articles and reviews on a wide variety of subjects. For more information please visit http://freelance.colingalbraith.co.uk

Scottish Writer in Legal Battle to Save Name

An up-coming Scottish writer was handed a legal citation for libel yesterday, for using a friend’s name in a short story without permission.

Edinburgh-based Colin Galbraith, the author of several works of poetry and fiction, is being taken to court by his friend Craig Cameron, for using his name in a story entitled Blackpool Tower, in an anthology called, Tales from the Seaside, which aimed to celebrate the British fascination with the culture of seaside resorts through the medium of poetry and prose.

In the story, Cameron is portrayed as being “overly plump, with a penis so small one could easily mistake it for a leech that has attached itself to his genitals.”

Cameron said of his author friend: “We’ve been friends for over 20 years, but this is just not on. I’m not the biggest chap in the world – you know, down there - but I do like to think of myself as a bit of a lady pleaser. This will just ruin me. How can I ever show my face in Rosco’s Nightclub ever again?”

While Mr. Cameron’s comments may sound somewhat comical, the author of the piece failed to see the funny side. If found guilty of the offence, Galbraith could face a fine of up to £10,000 as well as a possible six months in prison.

Since the citation was issued, the publishers of the anthology, Smashing Press, have ordered the removal of all copies from bookshelves around the country, as well as those for sale on the Internet, until the matter has been resolved.

When asked to comment, Galbraith said: “If the matter gets to court there’s only one way to prove my innocence - I’ll ask him to get his dick out. Then the laugh will be on him.

“Cameron has a wee willy, it’s as simple as that. There’s no two ways about it.”

~ Colin Galbraith ~
www.colingalbraith.co.uk

Scottish Crime Authors To Go Head To Head At The Galaxy British Book Awards

Scottish writers have again fared well in the short list for the 2008 Galaxy British Book Awards. The nominations were announced last week at a reception hosted by Richard & Judy, whose Channel 4 Book Club has been hugely successful in bringing together a wide range of authors to readers.

Ian Rankin has been nominated again for the same award he won last year, in the Crime Thriller Of The Year category, for his final Rebus novel, Exit Music. Joining him, is fellow Scot Val McDermid, and her book, The Grave Tattoo.

The two authors had a much publicised, and very much misquoted spat in the British Press, after comments made by Rankin at the Edinburgh Book Festival last August. The fact he was taken out of context, and the firm friendship that already existed between the two authors, was largely ignored by the media in favour of curried headline grabbing.

Now, with the two authors going head to head in one of the most prestigious literary awards in Britain, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

Other Scots up for an award include Ewan McGregor in the Popular Non-Fiction category, for his co-written book, Long Way Down, and Stef Penney in the Newcomers section, for The Tenderness of Wolves.

Readers are again able to vote this year, and have a wide variety of options to register their choices. Voting is possible through the Galaxy British Book Awards Shortlists Magazine, available in bookshops and libraries across the UK, as well as online at www.galaxybritishbookawards.com.

Last year almost 200,000 members of the public joined the voting, the highest ever participation. Voters this year will also have the chance to enter a draw for £1,000 of National Book Tokens, sponsors of the voting process, with five lucky winners receiving £200 worth of National Book Tokens each.

Now in its 19th year, the winners will be revealed on 9 April, at a ceremony in the Grosvenor House, London.

GALAXY BRITISH BOOK AWARDS - 2008 SHORTLISTS

Reader’s Digest Author Of The Year
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Harper Perennial)
Khaled Hosseini (Bloomsbury)
Doris Lessing (Fourth Estate)
Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape)
David Peace (Faber & Faber)

Tesco Biography Of The Year Award
Agent Zigzag by Ben MacIntyre (Bloomsbury)
The Blair Years by Alastair Campbell (Hutchinson)
My Booky Wook by Russell Brand (Hodder & Stoughton)
On The Edge by Richard Hammond (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Spilling the Beans by Clarissa Dickson-Wright (Hodder & Stoughton)

Books Direct Crime Thriller Of The Year Award
Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child (Bantam Press)
Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell (Little, Brown)
Exit Music by Ian Rankin (Orion)
The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid (Harper)
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke (Orion)

Waterstone’s Newcomer Of The Year Award
Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Bloomsbury)
What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn (Tindal Street Press)
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (Quercus)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Doubleday)

Sainsbury’s Popular Fiction-Award
An Absolute Scandal by Penny Vincenzi (Headline Review)
The Ghost by Robert Harris (Hutchinson)
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (Pan)
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Bloomsbury)

Play.Com Popular Non-Fiction Award
Don’t Stop Me Now by Jeremy Clarkson (Michael Joseph)
A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr (Macmillan)
Long Way Down by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman (Sphere)
Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson (Chatto & Windus)
The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane (Granta Books)

Richard And Judy’s Best Read Of The Year Award
Blood River by Tim Butcher (Chatto & Windus)
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (John Murray)
Notes From an Exhibition by Patrick Gale (Fourth Estate)
A Quiet Belief in Angels by R J Ellory (Orion)
Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann (Black Swan)
The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris (Viking)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Bloomsbury)
The Visible World by Mark Slouka (Portobello Books)
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies (Sceptre)

WH Smith Children’s Book Of The Year Award
Born to Run by Michael Morpurgo (HarperCollins)
That’s Not My Penguin by Fiona Watt (Usbourne)
My Pony Care Book by Katie Price (Random House)
Kiss by Jacqueline Wilson (Random House)
Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman by Francesca Simon (Orion)

The Book People Outstanding Achievement Award
No shortlist

Related Links
http://www.britishbookawards.co.uk

~ Colin Galbraith ~
www.colingalbraith.co.uk

The Importance of Lists

If you regularly read my column here, in the Scruffy Dog Review zine, and my blog Ink In My Coffee, you know that I talk extensively about making lists before submission.

My column in the last SDR dealt with the importance of researching agents/editors, etc. BEFORE you query. I can’t tell you how sick and tired I am of reading posts on the writing boards from a newbie squealing about a positive response from an agent or publisher and then wondering if the rate being charged to read/edit/publish is fair.

In other words, the person is being scammed. And, if the writer spent more than five minutes on any of these boards paying attention, not only would the writer know that WE are paid for our work to be published, we do not PAY, but the newbie would already have bookmarked the Predators & Editors site and the Whispers & Warnings site.

Research FIRST. That way, you know the place to where you submit is legitimate. And you also send them the materials they want and need to make a decision. Some agencies want a query letter. Some want a query and a synopsis or outline. Some want all of the above with sample chapters. If you want your manuscript accepted and published, learn to follow the guidelines.

Taking the research process a step further, if you take the time to make a list of potential agents and publishers for each project, you save yourself an enormous amount of time and sanity. It keeps you from repeating work.

In other words, while you’re in the revision stage of your manuscript, take out your Writer’s Market or go on the site or go to whatever agent or market listing you most trust. Read through potential markets for your work. I make three lists: An A list, a B list, and a C list (this is detailed in my last column; I don’t want to repeat too much information). I also jot down which materials each agent or publisher on the list requires in the initial contact.

I cross-check my choices with Predators & Editors AND with Whispers & Warnings. I go to the agent or publisher’s site to see if any information is different.

And then my research is complete. I polish the manuscript, I take out the “A” list, and I begin. I set up my tracking sheet, I send out my first batch of queries, or make my first submission or submissions. I keep careful notes. If a further request is made, I send off the requested materials THE SAME DAY ON WHICH IT IS ASKED. The longer you wait, the more likely the agent or editor has moved on to someone else’s material.

If I get a rejection, I make a note and move on to the next one on the list. I don’t have to pull out the listings and get online and start the research all over again. I do double-check online to make sure the person still works for the agency or publisher if the list I created is more than two months old, because people move from job to job quickly in this industry. But I don’t have to start from the beginning.

The more efficiently you streamline your submission process, the more quickly you get your materials out, and the better chance you have of landing a contract. If you have to start over each time you make a submission, not only do you lose valuable time, you lose momentum. Also, on a psychological level, having a list of potential markets helps in the rejection process. Instead of having to heave yourself out of bed to find another potential market, you just shoot it off to the next one on the list. It helps you treat it like a business, and keeps each rejection from being as much of a personal hurt. Some of that rawness will always be present, but creating an efficient submission machine will help you keep track, publish more, and keep up your spirits.

–Devon Ellington

World Book Day Celebration In Scottish Schools

This Thursday 6 March sees the UK and Ireland celebrating the joy of books and reading, in the form of World Book Day. Backed by UNESCO, this initiative is marked in over 100 countries, although all the other nations celebrate the occasion on 23 April.

The reason for this date difference is because of recent successes involving Scottish schools. Organisers hold World Book Day during term time, to make the most of schools in Scotland participation.

World Book Day is a partnership between book publishers, sellers, and other interested parties, who come together to promote books and reading for the personal enrichment and enjoyment of all.

One of the particular aims of World Book Day is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of reading books. This is done through the provision of opportunities to purchase books at discounted cost, and an itinerary of events and activities that schoolchildren can get involved in.

To support this aim, a Schools’ Pack is produced full of ideas and activities, display material, and other information, on how schools can get more involved in World Book Day. These are posted out to every school in the country that registers for the World Book Day beforehand.

National Book Tokens Ltd along with participating booksellers, also offer school children a World Book Day £1 Book Token. The Book Token can be exchanged for one of the nine specially published World Book Day £1 Books, or is redeemable against any book of their choice at a participating bookshop.

Events in Scotland

WBD at National Library of Scotland
Edinburgh
06 March 2008, 10:00
Contact: 0131 623 4675

Type of event: Tour behind the scenes of the National Library

This year’s WBD will be celebrated by the National Library of Scotland with the opportunity to see behind the scenes of your National Library and see what’s new and what is changing. Tickets are available in advance only for the three different tours: 10 am, 12 pm and 2 pm.

WBD at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Edinburgh
From 06 March 2008 to 07 March 2008, 18:30 to 19:45

Type of event: The Lost Happy Endings

A magical event suitable for all ages! The Botanic Garden Edinburgh are hosting a musical promenade adventure through the Botanics, based on the children’s book by Carol Ann Duffy. This event will be performed by Craigroyston Primary, Victoria Primary and music students from the University of Edinburgh. Warm clothes are strongly advised for this event as the route winds round through the easily accessible garden through the East Gate, Inverleith Row. Tickets are available from the Botanics shop at the East Gate in advance, cash only.

WBD at The Glasgow Academy Prep. School
Glasgow
06 March 2008
Contact: Jean McMorran - 0141 956 3758

Type of event: Book fair and dressing up

To celebrate WBD the school will be dressing up as a character from their favourite book. There will also be WBD wall displays across the school and the pupils will be bringing in books to prepare for a book fair to raise money for charity.

Related Links
www.worldbookday.com
www.unesco.org

~ Colin Galbraith ~
www.colingalbraith.co.uk