Even the biggest doubters of the meteoric rise of
self-publishing over the past few years can’t deny its increasing legitimacy in
the industry and among consumers. When indie and self-published offerings are
filling the NYT best-seller list, sitting side by side with the big hitters
like Dan Brown and James Patterson, the sneering suddenly stops.
Well, it almost stops.
I’ve written before on my apprehension and cynicism in
regards to self-publishing, primarily in terms of quality and editing, but even
I can see how popular such books have become. They don’t fill the YA bestseller
list in the same way they fill the adult list, and when they do it’s with
familiar names like Abbi Glines, but the market is there (plus it’s become
harder and harder for new books that aren’t Divergent or John Green related to
break through to the top 15).
Why no awards for such books? Not just in YA but literature
in general? First of all, the simplest explanations are usually the right ones,
so let’s remember good old fashioned snobbery. Many awards committees across
literary genres, including big hitters like the Man Booker Prize, immediately
disqualify self-published novels from even entering consideration, regardless
of quality. After all, being traditionally published is not an automatic
indicator of quality or expert editing. Anne Rice, anyone? For many, including
the most traditional minded in publishing and criticism, the old way remains
the true way.
The genres self-publishing have really risen in are also not
ones traditionally given much attention by awards bodies, such as romance. Once
again, snobbery reigns supreme, as expected. Self-publishing hasn’t really been
the scene for the awards friendly literary fare yet. That’s not to say such a
scene won’t grow over the next few years as the big 6 tank and authors look for
more control over their work, but as it stands it’s not the case.
For readers, writers and awards bodies, there is seen to be
less risk and more legitimacy of quality in going through the tried and tested
process of agents, editors and the like, even when the sales and critical word
don’t back such claims up. For a lot of people, self-publishing automatically
invokes images of “50 Shades of Grey”, which, for all its massive sales and pop
culture conversation starters, was hardly Anais Nin.
Self-publishing may offer creative control but one must also
deal with total control over promotional efforts. Even the old way of things
doesn’t guarantee publicity by the cartload. There’s the Catch-22 situation for
many authors: awards help get publicity and readers but you also need publicity
to get awards.
For YA readers, a scene where blogging plays a huge part in
the circle of author promotion, interaction, etc, there’s a wider scene to
interact with, more people to connect with. YA bloggers can be stubborn and
dedicated sorts who adore a book so much that they want to bang on doors and
let everyone know about it. When a book clicks for the right audience, it can
become unstoppable regardless of its origin. How can readers translate this to
awards attention? Is such a thing possible?
So what’s the solution? I’m not sure there is one, at least
not an immediate one. Attitudes need to dramatically change first. Committees like
the Man Booker team need to widen their horizons and as more authors take the
plunge into self-publishing, I have no doubt that the awards scenes will
reflect that. It may take a hell of a lot longer than the rest of the industry
moves, as is expected, but it’ll get there.
This also raises the question of whether awards really
matter. We’d all like to pretend that our favourite things, be it books, TV
shows, movies, etc, are going to win all the awards and everyone as a result
will discover them and love them. Sadly, such things are Tumblr dreams (yeah, I
had plans to eat the Emmys committee when Hannibal got zero nominations). We like
to get defensive and pretend such things don’t matter and the rest of the world
is just stupid for not getting it (and they are stupid for not nominating
Hannibal, dammit!) It’s important to remember that the awards bodies,
particularly AMPAS and the Emmys ones, are made up of demographics that don’t
quite represent the average TV and film viewer. I cannot account for the boards
of ALA or the changing faces of the Man Booker judges’ panel, but intersectional
representation seldom happens in practice, as much as it is needed. So if we want
the awards to actually mean something to the average reader, perhaps the
committees should look into having their membership reflect the average reader.
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