fireworks

I confess: sometimes I don’t pay close attention to US holidays.  Really, I don’t pay close attention to any holiday outside of Christmas, but I do wear a red poppy for Remembrance Day in November.  Memorial Day weekend seems to be all about BBQs and shopping sprees and fireworks—and I do love fireworks, and may look for some tonight.  But the point of the holiday is to honor those who serve in the armed forces, the many veterans and war dead.  This morning I woke up to the news that at least ten civilians were killed when Israel attacked a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.  They were still in international waters—so what happens now?  Who gets to decide what’s fair, when the use of deadly force is justified?  The Israeli prime minister has cut short his trip to Canada and won’t be coming to Washington D.C. as planned.  I’d like to hear him explain this incident…

I realize I ought to clarify something—I was not at BEA; I was at the Javits on Thursday and Friday for the Book Blogger Convention.  All I saw of BookExpo were the folks lugging suitcases full of free books up 34th St.!  However, thanks to C-Span, I was able to watch an interesting panel yesterday on “The Value of the Book.”  Picture this: a stage set with plush black leather armchairs, a couple of potted plants, and a large screen off to the side so folks way in the back can see close-ups of the panelists.  And which experts were selected to debate the value of a book?  Six middle-aged white men in suits and ONE white woman, agent Esther Newberg.  It didn’t take long for her to remark, “This grouping is worse than the Supreme Court!”  And she tried—unsuccessfully—to stop Scott Turow from using “you guys” as a “gender-neutral” term…I watched this panel and felt the same way I felt as I watched the Wall Street big wigs when they were called before Congress.  When asked what advice she would give to an emerging author, Newberg admitted she wasn’t looking for new authors…and wealthy, established author, Turow (also incoming president of the Authors Guild) was hard to stomach, too—he actually cited the US Constitution and its copyright provisions while claiming authors have a right to a “monopoly”—his main beef was that publishers (“you guys”) allowed the simultaneous release of the hard-cover and e-book edition of new books (with e-books priced much lower).  Claiming he supports public libraries (which provide for people like me who can’t afford to buy hardcover books), Turow nonetheless felt $28 was a reasonable price for “the reading experience” books like his provide.  Moderator Jonathan Galassi, President of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, then insisted that books are “an enhancement to civilization” and said he’s worried about author compensation (which Esther Newberg also found disingenuous—if you’re so concerned, raise royalty rates!).  The main voice of reason came from Bob Miller (Group Publisher, Workman) who asked Turow if he’d be ok with selling twice the number of books at half the price.  Skip Prichard from Ingram and Oren Teicher from the ABA were both trying to get the other panelists to be more forward-looking: you can’t go back to the way things used to be, so suck it up and start strategizing!  I don’t know if I’ll ever join the Authors Guild, but from what I heard last night, I don’t think Scott Turow could adequately represent me.  If YOU are a writer, ask yourself this: would you continue to write if you had to have a day job?  would you continue to write if your book only sold a few thousand copies?  why DO you write—for the money? the fame? the prestige?  in order to “enhance civilization”?  Some of us simply have stories we need to tell…we’re driven, consumed, passionate about the craft.  We write in obscurity, we write with only the slimmest chance of publication.  We often GIVE our books away, so happy are we to see somebody reading our work.  I’m not shedding any tears for Scott Turow or the publishers who desperately want to retain their control of the industry.  It’s a new day, you guys…