Thursday News: Publishing and free speech, new Nora Roberts tv series, a reviewer’s manifesto, and lesbian emojis
Publishing Newsbook adaptation / Book Reviews / censorship / children's lit / diversity / emojis / Free Speech / Islam / Judaism / LGBTQIA+ / marketing / Nora-Roberts / television22 Comments
Oxford University Press reportedly barred pigs and anything pork-related from children’s book – Although the headlines for this story are pretty sensationalized, but it’s actually a pretty interesting issue. Tossing aside the usual claims of “political correctness,” the heart of this story is the tension between artistic freedom/free speech and pragmatic business decisions (or perceived pragmatism) by publishers who want to sell their books in as many markets as possible. I have many thoughts on this issue, but I’ll throw it back to you for now: is this different/in what ways is this different from publishers telling Romance authors that certain things don’t sell and should be avoided?
It is “incorrect to ascribe this to self-censorship — it’s more a case of global market forces at work,” said Lydia Moëd, an agent with the Canadian literary agency The Rights Factory and a veteran of the U.K. children’s publishing industry.
“If there’s a choice between having a pig or, say, a bunny, as a minor character in a particular children’s book, publishers are aware that choosing the pig character will severely limit the book’s potential international market,” she said.
The ultimate result, said Ms. Moëd, is that large publishers end up seeking out books with “as few cultural barriers as possible.” –National Post
Canada’s Omnifilm Entertainment Options Latest Nora Roberts Book Trilogy (Exclusive) – So in the wake of Outlander’s substantial success as a television series on Starz, Nora Roberts’s Romance trilogy of Dark Witch, Shadow Spell and Blood Magick is being adapted for television. Set in Ireland and containing supernatural elements, the series will be written by Emily Andras, who is the executive producer of Syfy’s Lost Girl. I’m pretty sure that the Hallmark Channel has a series based on Debbie Macomber’s novels, too, so this is not a new phenomenon, but it does seem to be picking up steam lately.
Vancouver-based Omnifilm has also hired Paulo de Oliveira, mostly recently co-executive producer on Starz’ Outlander series, as its new senior vp scripted development and executive producer, based in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with Blood Magick as his first assignment. . . .
De Oliveira told The Hollywood Reporter that, like Starz’ epic Outlander series, which is set to return with another eight episodes in April 2015, the Blood Magick drama will follow closely to the book series. The Omnifilm project is being structured as a Canada/Irish co-production, likely to be shot in Ireland and then posted and finished back in Canada. –Hollywood Reporter
How (this) Reader would wish for her review to be received by the author – I recently discovered The Moonlight Reader (Christine) when she wrote a very good post on the Kickstarter fiasco. This post is a response to one that I’m not going to link to, but which has been making the rounds as an example of how NOT to talk to readers (i.e. tell us how to review books). Christine addresses a number of arguments, from ‘if you think it’s so easy to write a book, why don’t you do it?!’ (my paraphrase) to the ever-popular ‘my book is my baby’ lament. It’s clever, it’s funny, and it presents yet another opportunity to thank those authors who support independent reviewing and readers in general. This one’s not for you, but you may appreciate it, nonetheless. –The Moonlight Reader
Meet The Woman Who Created A Whole Suite Of Lesbian-Themed Emojis – For everyone who thinks emojis are generic representations, think about how little diversity there is among them, and what, exactly they’re representing. Enter Kimberly Linn, who began creating lesbian emojis as a joke among her friends (and out of frustration at Apple’s lack of emoji diversity), but who ultimately gained 10,000 followers on Instagram, where she posted her images. And now, thanks to the foresight of her ad agency employer, an app was developed from Linn’s drawings, and the designer has plans to make the line inclusive LGBT representation.
Lesbian Emojis isn’t on the iMessage keyboard — Linn said that was an “insurmountable problem” — but the app lets users copy and paste her emojis into iMessage or open up a new iMessage in the app.
Each emoji takes anywhere from 20 minutes to four hours to make. Some of the nearly 70 she’s made so far include a fish taco, a U-Haul truck, and a pack of Parliament cigarettes. –Business Insider
So, if it’s fine to ask that a pig be replaced with a bunny, is it also fine to ask that a character of a less popular race be replaced with one from a more popular race? Because I strongly suspect Hollywood does this. After all, it’s just a business decision.
Thanks’ for linking to Christine’s response. I am still waiting for the times when “book is my baby” expression will if not disappear, at least become rare. Although I heartily wish for it to disappear, because no, it is not.
Robin, I’m not finding The Moonlight Reader’s post on KS on her site. Could you give a link, please?
#weneedporcinebookes
To quote from one of my daughters’ favorite books when they were little, “Wibbly Pig is sad. He needs a hug.”
The world contains practices, beliefs, and behavior some applaud and some condemn. This is life. Books should reflect that, not some bland, inoffensive version of it that never existed and never will.
Go this route and the only books children will be given to read will be blank ones with pages that resist being written on (heaven forbid they make up their own stories).
So Wilbur of Charlotte’s Web and Winnie the Pooh’s Piglet are not welcome?
Well, I’m glad nobody stood in the way of publishing the Toot and Puddle books or the Mercy Watson books–we enjoyed those a lot when the kids were little!
Looking at Amazon under “Books > Children’s Books > Animals > Pigs” I found “The Three Ninja Pigs” which I just might have to order.
I would think Green Eggs and Ham would be more problematic than Olivia, as what is forbidden is not pigs themselves but their consumption.
@Maria F:
Hi, Maria. I also have a booklikes blog, where I post most of my reviews. I often cross-post, but for some reason I didn’t cross-post that one. You can find it here: http://moonlightreader.booklikes.com/post/1079996/the-amount-of-wilful-ignorance-being-displayed-by-some-a-few-authors-over-the-kickstarter-incident
Thanks!
Publishing has always been a business. Publishers want to make the most money as possible from each book.
The way I see it, the large NY publishers cater to the masses, the largest number of readers possible. The smaller publishers and the self-pubbers often find profitability in the niches. If I’m looking for a unique read, I usually don’t look for these in NY releases. (there are exceptions of course but often these exceptions are often ‘tested’ in self-pub/small press first and purchased by NY or the writer has already proven she has a huge readership).
And yes, editors ask romance writers to tweak stories to maximize income (dark haired heroes sell more than blond heroes, dukes sell more than earls, men with tatts sell well right now, etc). The writer has a choice to make the change or walk away, perhaps to self-pub.
@Jez Morrow: Winnie the Pooh isn’t even welcome in Tuszyn, Poland! In light of everything that happened in Paris last week, this article is just damn depressing. #weneedporcinebooks
@Cynthia Sax: perhaps the blandness of what is coming out of NY today is why fewer and fewer people are reading. At least television is taking some chances on stories that might be offensive to some (Modern Family, Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, Lost Girl, Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy etc. etc, etc. – and surprise, surprise, having great success, which then results in producers taking more chances.
Leaving out pigs is one thing (how very sad for us Winnie the Pooh fans!) but what about the atlas published by Harper Collins for use in Middle East schools that omitted Israel entirely!
>Collins Bartholomew, a subsidiary of HarperCollins that specializes in maps, told the Tablet that it would have been “unacceptable” to include Israel in atlases intended for the Middle East. They had deleted Israel to satisfy “local preferences.”<
Apparently the Tablet is a Catholic publication that first wrote about the issue, I saw the story in the Chicago Tribune.
@Christine: thanks for the link! (Agree with post and am enjoying exploring your blog.)
I think it’s the equivalent of a publisher suggesting that an author of a children’s book not show people eating horse meat (perfectly fine in France but would result in a number of people cringing in Britain or the US).
You are never going to produce a book that is free of stepping on cultural sensitivity (I cringe every time I see a book depicting someone sitting on a table) but if you are trying for an international audience it makes sense to suggest avoiding the things that will stop large swathes of people from buying your book.
This strikes me as a bit of a beat up to be honest.
There’s also this piece at the end of the story
”
One Canadian publisher noted that many European children’s books never make their way onto North American bookshelves because they contain scenes of nudity or sex.
“Month after month, I see absolutely beautiful books and say ‘oh, it’s too bad about that couple copulating up in that cloud’ … that makes it difficult in our market: it’s probably not going to set the world on fire, sales-wise,” said Sheila Barry with Groundwood Books in Toronto.
”
Strangely nobody seems to be objecting to the fact that a European author who wants their books to sell internationally is probably going to be told that they will have better sales in America if they tone down the nudity and the sex.
I love Christine/Moonlight Reader’s rants against entitled authors. She had some great posts during #HaleNo also.
@Joanna: That atlas is chilling and creepy. Eliminating pigs is bad enough, but eight million people live in Israel (not all of whom agree with their government, either). To figuratively erase them from existence is very disturbing, especially in light of the rising antisemitism in Europe.
@Annamal: I’m really curious about this cloud copulating children’s book. Whaaaat?
@Christine @ Moonlight Reader: Me too…=)
@Christine @ Moonlight Reader: Although I can think of one exquisitely illustrated british children’s book that did have a well hidden pubic hair visual pun.