I’m currently writing the first draft of the sequel to As Winter Came and Went, and working on the motivations and life-goals of the main characters. The heroine, a young woman living in 1820s England, whose social background is what we’d call today upper-middle class has many interrogations about marriage: she longs to be independent and be able to do her own things, make her own decisions but, because of her background, of her family, of society, she is in a situation where if she marries, she will be dependent on her husband, and if she does not, being a woman, she will not have more freedom and be dependent on her parents.
Thankfully, things have changed today, in some countries at least. For a woman to make a success of her life is not synonymous with making a good marriage. Though there are still way too many inequalities, women can have brilliant careers, women can decide whether or not they want to bear/raise/devote their time to children, women can vote and make political decisions, etc. The road towards total equality is still long, in some parts of the world more than in others, but there has, in a couple of centuries, being major advances than can only give hope for the future, for women, but also for all the different minorities whose voices, for one reason or another, are not heard as they should be.
Anyhow, this post is not so much to talk about the condition of women as to share a comparison, maybe (probably) a very silly one, that came to my mind as I was writing my heroine thoughts. Aren’t writers in today’s world a bit in the same situation as women in the patriarchal society of 19th century Europe? Isn’t the publishing world like some sort of marriage market?
A publishing contract is a match between a writer and a publisher, just like marriage is a contract between two people. The writer brings a dowry, his/her book. In exchange, the publisher offers his protection and his name. Just like, in the 19th century, a man’s name and protection could help a woman to navigate her way in society, in the 21st century, the name of a publisher/publishing company, can give “respectability” (and credibility) to an aspiring author. There are even professional matchmakers, in the guise of agents. And writers depend on all these people, if they want to succeed, if they want their books to reach a wide audience.
Silly as it may sound, this comparison helped me pinpoint something that bothered me from the start when I started to interest myself at the publishing industry. We, authors, have the ideas, write the books, do all the hard work of editing and revising, and then what? And then we have to beg, we have to sell our charms, we have to smile and be ingratiating and seduce so that an agent will deign take an interest in us and propose a match to a publisher. And what do we get in exchange? A name, “respectability” and… pocket money (for we must be realistic: most authors do not become millionaires and cannot live solely from their writing).
So yes, I do think there is something of the patriarchal society in the publishing industry. And I’m not saying that to revile any publisher or agent, but, as a writer, I’m not sure our position is that enviable or that we have much freedom. Do we even have the power to decide what becomes of our book?
And this is why I believe self-publishing is such a wonderful opportunity and that it will become the future of publication. For self-publication, though it is a difficult route to choose, though it does not always give good results, though it does not have among the general public as good a reputation as traditional publishing, gives power to authors, and especially power over their own work and over their creativity. Yes, it is daunting to be the sole person responsible for the success of your book, but isn’t freedom and independence often daunting at first?
Some people rail at the fact that there are too many self-published books, whose quality is often mediocre. That the market is saturated by them. They’re right. But there’s another way to see this boom: self-publishing gives to people who would never have the opportunity to be published to get their work out there. And by doing that, it motivates more people to write and express themselves and find a voice through writing.
In a few decades, we have gone from a world were only a social elite could write and be published to one that gives people from all backgrounds the opportunity to become an author. To have freedom and speech, express it and share it with others. I suppose, self-publishing is part of the same social and economic phenomenon as the growth of the Internet.
So I won’t navigate my way through the marriage market that is the publishing industry. I’d rather take the destiny of my novel in my own hands, make my own creative decisions. And if it’s a complete failure? Well, I’ll only have myself to blame. And I won’t have any regrets.
Thankfully, things have changed today, in some countries at least. For a woman to make a success of her life is not synonymous with making a good marriage. Though there are still way too many inequalities, women can have brilliant careers, women can decide whether or not they want to bear/raise/devote their time to children, women can vote and make political decisions, etc. The road towards total equality is still long, in some parts of the world more than in others, but there has, in a couple of centuries, being major advances than can only give hope for the future, for women, but also for all the different minorities whose voices, for one reason or another, are not heard as they should be.
Anyhow, this post is not so much to talk about the condition of women as to share a comparison, maybe (probably) a very silly one, that came to my mind as I was writing my heroine thoughts. Aren’t writers in today’s world a bit in the same situation as women in the patriarchal society of 19th century Europe? Isn’t the publishing world like some sort of marriage market?
A publishing contract is a match between a writer and a publisher, just like marriage is a contract between two people. The writer brings a dowry, his/her book. In exchange, the publisher offers his protection and his name. Just like, in the 19th century, a man’s name and protection could help a woman to navigate her way in society, in the 21st century, the name of a publisher/publishing company, can give “respectability” (and credibility) to an aspiring author. There are even professional matchmakers, in the guise of agents. And writers depend on all these people, if they want to succeed, if they want their books to reach a wide audience.
Silly as it may sound, this comparison helped me pinpoint something that bothered me from the start when I started to interest myself at the publishing industry. We, authors, have the ideas, write the books, do all the hard work of editing and revising, and then what? And then we have to beg, we have to sell our charms, we have to smile and be ingratiating and seduce so that an agent will deign take an interest in us and propose a match to a publisher. And what do we get in exchange? A name, “respectability” and… pocket money (for we must be realistic: most authors do not become millionaires and cannot live solely from their writing).
So yes, I do think there is something of the patriarchal society in the publishing industry. And I’m not saying that to revile any publisher or agent, but, as a writer, I’m not sure our position is that enviable or that we have much freedom. Do we even have the power to decide what becomes of our book?
And this is why I believe self-publishing is such a wonderful opportunity and that it will become the future of publication. For self-publication, though it is a difficult route to choose, though it does not always give good results, though it does not have among the general public as good a reputation as traditional publishing, gives power to authors, and especially power over their own work and over their creativity. Yes, it is daunting to be the sole person responsible for the success of your book, but isn’t freedom and independence often daunting at first?
Some people rail at the fact that there are too many self-published books, whose quality is often mediocre. That the market is saturated by them. They’re right. But there’s another way to see this boom: self-publishing gives to people who would never have the opportunity to be published to get their work out there. And by doing that, it motivates more people to write and express themselves and find a voice through writing.
In a few decades, we have gone from a world were only a social elite could write and be published to one that gives people from all backgrounds the opportunity to become an author. To have freedom and speech, express it and share it with others. I suppose, self-publishing is part of the same social and economic phenomenon as the growth of the Internet.
So I won’t navigate my way through the marriage market that is the publishing industry. I’d rather take the destiny of my novel in my own hands, make my own creative decisions. And if it’s a complete failure? Well, I’ll only have myself to blame. And I won’t have any regrets.
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