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The Publishing Maze

17/1/2014

2 Comments

 
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I have found that as I progress into taking my writing more seriously, it has become imperative to keep an eye out on what’s going on in the publishing world.

Having a number of writing projects on the go and working full-time does not leave me much time for this, but I have decided to make a concerted effort to at least get about to more literary events which will enable me to learn more about what feels like ‘the publishing maze’.


At the tail end of 2013, I attended a literary event entitled, ‘The State of Black Publishing in the UK’. It was organised by Words of Colour Productions.


The panel consisted of four individuals from the publishing world. They were: Patsy Antoine, former editor at HarperCollins and former commissioning editor for Random House, Steve Pope former editor of The Voice newspaper and co-founder of X Press, Kadija (George) Sesay the founder of SABLE LitMag and series editor for the Inscribe imprint at Peepal Tree Press. The fourth was Jacob Ross, whom I have learnt a great deal from in writing workshops I attended in the earlier stages of my writing. I discovered at this meeting that he was also a former editor of Artrage Intercultural Arts magazine and an associate editor for fiction at Peepal Tree Press.

At the event, Joy Francis, Executive Director of Words of Colour Productions, informed the audience, that there is a long history of Black publishing in this country. However, one of the key messages I took away from the event was that Black publishing in the UK is next to non-existent or at least struggling to exist.

(Did anyone notice the word ‘former’ attached to the titles of most of the panelists?)

A member of the audience said they felt there was a lack of trust on the part of talented Black writers towards Black publishing houses and also a lack of collaboration and mutual support between the two.

Even before attending the event, questions which sometimes crossed my mind (and still do) are:

1.      Would Black writers benefit from having Black publishers?
2.      Do Black publishers have a better understanding and appreciation of the work of Black writers and hence are more likely to publish their work?
3.      Is getting one's work published simply a question of whether or not one's writing ‘meets the mark’ i.e. is interesting and of a high standard, therefore making it publishable and marketable?

Very intriguing, I’m sure most of you will agree. This is something I will return to again in future blog entries.

Do you have any thoughts on this?



2 Comments

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    All
    A Cupboard Full Of Coats
    African Writer
    Americanah
    Andrea `Levy
    Arts
    Beauty
    Beverley East
    Black Women
    Blossoms
    Business
    Calabash Literary Festival
    Caribbean
    Cats
    Chimamanda Adichie
    Chris Abani
    Cocks Crowing
    Commonwealth Short Story Competition Winner 2016
    Creatures
    Crime
    Crowning Glory
    Cuts
    Darker Times Publishing
    Debbie Flint
    Debut Novel
    Dub Poet
    Editing
    Emma Darwin
    Exhibit B
    Features
    Flooded
    Freedom
    Gatekeepers
    Goldsmith's University
    Hair
    Heat Wave
    Hedgehog
    Historical Fiction
    Holding On
    I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
    Jacob Ross
    Jamaica
    Joy Francis
    Kadija (George) Sesay
    Kendal Train Crash
    Kindle
    Lifestyle
    Linton Kewesi `Johnson
    Literary Editor
    London
    Lovers
    MA Black British Writing
    Maya Angelou
    MIR Online
    Mother
    Motivation
    Nella Larsen
    Parashar Kulkarni
    Passion
    Patsy Antoine
    Peepal Tree Press
    Poet
    Political
    Politics
    Prejudices
    Protoje
    Psychological
    Publishers
    Publishing
    Quicksand & Passing
    QVC
    Rape
    Readers
    Reaper Of Souls
    Relationships
    Reviews
    SABLE LitMag
    Saturday's Soup
    Short-story.me
    Sister
    Social Media
    Somalia Seaton
    Steve Pope
    Still I Rise
    Sunrise Pic
    The Bump
    The Long Song
    The Mathematics Of Love
    The New Black Magazine
    The Voice Newspaper
    Transatlantic Slave Trade
    Treasure Beach
    Vegetables
    Vladimir Lucien
    War
    Well-being
    Whistling Frogs
    Women
    Words Of Colour
    Writing
    Writing Projects
    Yvette Edwards

    Categories

    All
    A Cupboard Full Of Coats
    African Writer
    Americanah
    Andrea `Levy
    Arts
    Beauty
    Beverley East
    Black Women
    Blossoms
    Business
    Calabash Literary Festival
    Caribbean
    Cats
    Chimamanda Adichie
    Chris Abani
    Cocks Crowing
    Commonwealth Short Story Competition Winner 2016
    Creatures
    Crime
    Crowning Glory
    Cuts
    Darker Times Publishing
    Debbie Flint
    Debut Novel
    Dub Poet
    Editing
    Emma Darwin
    Exhibit B
    Features
    Flooded
    Freedom
    Gatekeepers
    Goldsmith's University
    Hair
    Heat Wave
    Hedgehog
    Historical Fiction
    Holding On
    I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
    Jacob Ross
    Jamaica
    Joy Francis
    Kadija (George) Sesay
    Kendal Train Crash
    Kindle
    Lifestyle
    Linton Kewesi `Johnson
    Literary Editor
    London
    Lovers
    MA Black British Writing
    Maya Angelou
    MIR Online
    Mother
    Motivation
    Nella Larsen
    Parashar Kulkarni
    Passion
    Patsy Antoine
    Peepal Tree Press
    Poet
    Political
    Politics
    Prejudices
    Protoje
    Psychological
    Publishers
    Publishing
    Quicksand & Passing
    QVC
    Rape
    Readers
    Reaper Of Souls
    Relationships
    Reviews
    SABLE LitMag
    Saturday's Soup
    Short-story.me
    Sister
    Social Media
    Somalia Seaton
    Steve Pope
    Still I Rise
    Sunrise Pic
    The Bump
    The Long Song
    The Mathematics Of Love
    The New Black Magazine
    The Voice Newspaper
    Transatlantic Slave Trade
    Treasure Beach
    Vegetables
    Vladimir Lucien
    War
    Well-being
    Whistling Frogs
    Women
    Words Of Colour
    Writing
    Writing Projects
    Yvette Edwards

    Categories

    All
    A Cupboard Full Of Coats
    African Writer
    Americanah
    Andrea `Levy
    Arts
    Beauty
    Beverley East
    Black Women
    Blossoms
    Business
    Calabash Literary Festival
    Caribbean
    Cats
    Chimamanda Adichie
    Chris Abani
    Cocks Crowing
    Commonwealth Short Story Competition Winner 2016
    Creatures
    Crime
    Crowning Glory
    Cuts
    Darker Times Publishing
    Debbie Flint
    Debut Novel
    Dub Poet
    Editing
    Emma Darwin
    Exhibit B
    Features
    Flooded
    Freedom
    Gatekeepers
    Goldsmith's University
    Hair
    Heat Wave
    Hedgehog
    Historical Fiction
    Holding On
    I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
    Jacob Ross
    Jamaica
    Joy Francis
    Kadija (George) Sesay
    Kendal Train Crash
    Kindle
    Lifestyle
    Linton Kewesi `Johnson
    Literary Editor
    London
    Lovers
    MA Black British Writing
    Maya Angelou
    MIR Online
    Mother
    Motivation
    Nella Larsen
    Parashar Kulkarni
    Passion
    Patsy Antoine
    Peepal Tree Press
    Poet
    Political
    Politics
    Prejudices
    Protoje
    Psychological
    Publishers
    Publishing
    Quicksand & Passing
    QVC
    Rape
    Readers
    Reaper Of Souls
    Relationships
    Reviews
    SABLE LitMag
    Saturday's Soup
    Short-story.me
    Sister
    Social Media
    Somalia Seaton
    Steve Pope
    Still I Rise
    Sunrise Pic
    The Bump
    The Long Song
    The Mathematics Of Love
    The New Black Magazine
    The Voice Newspaper
    Transatlantic Slave Trade
    Treasure Beach
    Vegetables
    Vladimir Lucien
    War
    Well-being
    Whistling Frogs
    Women
    Words Of Colour
    Writing
    Writing Projects
    Yvette Edwards

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