Dinner Menu:
This week one of the most famous French literary prizes the Renaudot decided to include a self-published novel on its shortlist. This has created a storm of protest from the Syndicat des Libraires (booksellers union) not so much because it is self published but because the author has used Amazon as his platform which means bookshops cannot sell his book. although I have some sympathy for the bookshops because I feel they do provide an important service in allowing people to browse for books physically, I still find their position untenable. Marco Koskas' book Bande de Français was turned down by his existing publishers and therefore he had no choice other than to self publish a book he believed in. If we were to go along with the Syndicat des Libraires it would be akin to giving physical book publishers the exclusive right to defining what can be considered a book. I think a better solution would be for the booksellers to get it physically published now that it has been shortlisted for a Prize rather than trying to suppress it. After all most books on Amazon started in print so why can't we also go the other way from electronic format to physical?
- Sebaste au fenouil et olives
- Riz
- Eau maison
This week one of the most famous French literary prizes the Renaudot decided to include a self-published novel on its shortlist. This has created a storm of protest from the Syndicat des Libraires (booksellers union) not so much because it is self published but because the author has used Amazon as his platform which means bookshops cannot sell his book. although I have some sympathy for the bookshops because I feel they do provide an important service in allowing people to browse for books physically, I still find their position untenable. Marco Koskas' book Bande de Français was turned down by his existing publishers and therefore he had no choice other than to self publish a book he believed in. If we were to go along with the Syndicat des Libraires it would be akin to giving physical book publishers the exclusive right to defining what can be considered a book. I think a better solution would be for the booksellers to get it physically published now that it has been shortlisted for a Prize rather than trying to suppress it. After all most books on Amazon started in print so why can't we also go the other way from electronic format to physical?
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