Books and the People Who Love Them

I have lots of reasons for loving physical books—the feel of the pages between my fingers, the variety of fonts, the smell of the paper and the glue in the binding, the way they look lined up on a shelf. I love all sorts of libraries—big and little.

On Saturday I went to the opening of the Maud/Olson Library in Gloucester, a huge effort undertaken by Ralph Maud to bring together all the works the poet Charles Olson was known to have owned, referred to, or read. The library operates under the auspices of the Gloucester Writers Center. For the moment, the books are organized alphabetically by title, so E.E. Cummings and Agatha Christie are half a shelf apart (perhaps the only time in public too). There are other wonderful juxtapositions but I mention the library this morning as I write because after several years of writing fiction I stood in a library packed with serious nonfiction, including many titles I had known and worked with. It was like coming home. http://www.gloucesterwriters.org

My library is similar to a garden. I add plants and weed out others. I trim and move and replace. We began years ago with pansies and now we have roses and the pansies are relegated to pots on the porch, where they thrive. I can’t say my library is a true rose garden, but both garden and library are works in progress.

My thoughts on books today are prompted in part by an appeal I came across for donations to

the Greenville High School/Indian Valley Academy, a tiny town in Greenville, CA, with a tiny school and a library that hasn’t been able to loan books for a few years, and had no money to buy any new ones either. They’re hoping to change that. I mention this because as I read through the article I got more and more excited about finding someone who wanted books.

Books seem to have become both expensive and disposable, turning into a mass of clutter the minute you carry them out of the store. I donate to the library book sale every year, and usually buy as many as I donate. But the library has trouble recycling the books to other sellers at the end of their sale. We have a huge second-hand bookstore in our area, but most online sellers are picky about what they will take. So when I saw the appeal for books (and yes, suitable for a school but not textbooks) I was excited, delighted, and went searching for titles to send. Someone out there wants (yes, WANTS) books.

The person making the request asked only for one book from anyone reading the piece, but I’m sending at least four and maybe more. I’m so happy to send them where they’ll be valued.

To read more, go here. The article is about two-thirds down in the list. And as I turn my attention to photographs to illustrate this piece, I think about how easy it is to make me happy (or anyone else who loves books).

The two books of my own I'm sending are mystery novels that I think will be appropriate for high-school students because my friends' children read them. I'm sending Last Call for Justice and Come About for Murder. In addition, I'm sending two memoirs by young women and some nonfiction about the West.

Free Books

The publishing world continues to get stranger and stranger. On LinkedIn, one thread is devoted to writers arguing about whether or not they should give away their books for free, as a teaser for a series, to get readers interested in their work overall, or just as a way to get their name out there. This debate can get rather heated. On some days, as the emails come pouring into my computer, I wonder if the posters are getting any other writing done. Pricing e-books at $0.00 on Amazon as a sales gimmick is a hot topic, and will remain so for quite a while.

The debate on LinkedIn fades in comparison to the story of the Concord Free Press. Founded by Stona Fitch, the press has published perhaps a dozen books in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The press is supported by donations and grants, and all books are given free to those who request them. Each requestor is asked to make a donation to the charity of his or her choice, and let the press know what that is. The website includes a page listing the donations. In total, the press has prompted charitable giving of over $409,250. Fitch has succeeded in his goal: “we’re publishing books that connect reading and giving like never before. And that’s enough for us.”

I decided to give this a try and placed an order for Zig Zag Wanderer, a story collection by Madison Smartt Bell. The order page came up and I was asked to check off three questions about whether or not I would make a donation to a charity I believed in or help a person in need, and then pass along the book. I checked off all three boxes. I have chosen the charity, The Gloucester Writers Center, and will also give them the book when I’ve finished reading it.

I have mixed feelings about the business plan of the Concord Free Press. As a reader and a socially conscious citizen, I love the idea of linking books, charity, and raising awareness or initiating discussion, but as a writer I cringe. Few of us in this world (and the numbers dwindle as I write) can afford to work for free. What does it mean for a professional writer, someone who takes the time to learn the craft, and work her or his way up the ladder of the profession of writer (small magazines, teaching, a first book, reviews and reviewing, and the rest of it) to give away a book that may have taken two or three years to write?

For decades, if not centuries, the lament of the writer has been that she is the last one to be paid. The publisher gets the money and divvies it out. The printer always gets paid, for obvious reasons, and so does the designer. The publisher gets paid because he controls the money, and the editors and proofreaders usually get paid. Anyone outside the office, and thus not in the publisher’s face every day, has a much diminished chance of seeing any money. I know because as a freelance editor I often had to make uncomfortable phone calls to a publisher insisting on payment. In the 1980s several small publishing houses in the Boston area went bankrupt, and the publisher walked away with what was left—the writers, freelancers, and staff got nothing. And now, it seems, we begin at that stage of nothingness. (I'm feeling very Buddhist today.)

I admit to deep ambivalence here. I admire what the Concord Free Press is doing, and I understand the passion behind the debate on LinkedIn. But I wonder what all this means for writers who have something to say, the skill to say it, and the determination to do so.

If someone else has insight into this new world, I hope you will share it.

To learn more about the Concord Free Press, go to www.concordfreepress.com

To learn more about the debate on LinkedIn go to LinkedIn, Books and Writers, For the sake of writers everywhere, please STOP this!

To learn more about the Gloucester Writers Center, go to gloucesterwriters.org

The Writer's Day: Orphan Works

Over the last few months I’ve been writing a lot of guest blogs to promote my new book, writing about India, photography, food, plotting, and other aspects of my series. I have completed or signed up for 20 posts and have several more to do. I think every post has to be different, and so far each one is. I love the story behind this book, the story in it, and writing it. I always seem to find something new to say about it, but in this post I'm doing something different.

On my own blog I write all sorts of things, including about a toaster that died and the gifts a dear friend left behind after her death. Sometimes I rack my brain to come up with something, and sometimes I come up with nothing. Last night, I listened to five writers talk about blogging and how they use it, their expectations and surprises. The results for all of them have been a surprise, edifying and fun and often unexpected. The program was presented by the Gloucester Writers Center and held at the Rocky Neck Art Colony Center.

So, today, I’m adding in a little of what I as a writer do every day. The first thing on my desk this morning is to report on the effort in Congress to consider legislation governing so-called orphan works of art and literature. This legislation would allow a publisher, journal, or anyone else to take over a book, for example, and reprint it for their own financial benefit if they deem the book to be an “orphan.” What is an “orphan” book? This is a book whose author, or copyright holder, cannot be located.

Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Every writer who reads this should be fully alert by now. Just how does someone decide the copyright holder cannot be located? Who decides if sufficient effort has been made? If due diligence has been conducted? Therein lies the problem. We have already faced this challenge in one form, and the Authors Guild and other writers’ groups, including the National Writers Union, beat back efforts to claim “orphan” works for another project. Now the discussion is back.

Today is the last day for comments to the Library of Congress on this topic. If you want to offer your opinion, you can do so online. You are asked to complete a form and attach your comments. The comments must be received by 5:00 pm today.

http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/comment-submission

To learn more about why this matters, go to

http://www.nwu.org and scroll down to the center of the page.

It is common to say that writers write. Indeed we do. But we also attend programs to learn more, lobby for or against legislation that affects us, send off books for charity events, teach classes, and read to the dog if no one else is around to listen to our current WIP.