Starters and Writers

Many Australian publishers question the ability of overseas publishers to market and distribute a London published book by an Australian writer in Australia. The emotional and commercial commitment to a book by a distributor, they argue, is not the same as that of a publisher. An Australian publisher also has a better perception of the market and the quantities required. In the case of the market being underestimated, reprints of sufficient quantity can be supplied relatively quickly. In general my experience as a bookseller would confirm these comments. The practice of overseas publishers publishing and editing Australian writers outside Australia and then attempting to sell that edition in Australia has been strongly criticised by some Australian publishers. Established Australian authors who publish overseas, they argue, do a disservice to the whole literary and publishing community. They deprive publishers of the revenue and profits they need to expand their publishing programs and they deprive Australian editors of valuable editorial experience. Expatriate Australian publisher, Carmen Callil is undoubtedly seen as the bête noire in this drama. Ms Callil was a founder of Virago Press and since its sale to the group that owns Jonathan Cape, Chatto & Windus, and The Bodley Head Ms Callil has been director of Chatto & Windus. She has always shown a strong interest in Australian writing. Australian writers are well represented in the Virago list and Chatto & Windus authors now include Barbara Hanrahan, David Malouf, and Christopher Koch. Next week at Writers Week during the Adelaide Festival Ms Callil will face two of her strongest critics, Laurie Muller from UQP and Brian Johns from Penguin, in a panel discussion which will be chaired by Hilary McPhee; the panel will also include Sonny Mehta from Pan in the United Kingdom. Ms Callil recently described comments made by one of her critics as ‘astonishingly patronising’. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, transpires from this panel. Freud and the Nazis Go Surfing is the title of Bill Green’s third novel which will be published by Pan in April. It’s a wonderful title, but l hear that it’s not really about Freud and Hitler catching the waves. Shortly before Christmas, the Macmillan Company of Australia announced that it had sold its beleaguered Mary Martin bookshop chain to the Wighton family of Adelaide. Macmillan had acquired the business from that Australian institution, Max Harris. Until a few years ago Harris had continued to run the business and it had evolved into a small chain of shops specialising in imported remainders which it touted with Max Harris’ distinctive copy and through a large mail order list of over 6,000 active customers. The progressive decline of the Australian dollar and increasing competition from other booksellers, who were suddenly discovering remainders, meant that Mary Martin was finding it increasingly hard to find those exclusive and unbeatable bargains it had been known for. One of the new owners is Rosemary Wighton who has been active in the arts and the women’s movement both nationally and in South Australia; she is also the current chairperson of the Literature Board and was an early editor of the Australian Book Review. About seventy per cent of Mary Martin’s current business is in the sale of remainders; as authors receive no royalties on their remaindered books Mary Martin seemed a slightly strange acquisition for Rosemary Wighton. The new managing director of Mary Martin, James Wighton, said last week that he wanted to head Mary Martins into the general market and to build up sales of new books to around fifty per cent in both the shops and through the extensive mail order list. He said that each store will be able to act independently in ordering new titles; under the previous management most buying was done centrally – now only remainders will be bought centrally. Australian writers should be able to expect more of a go in the new Mary Martins, which will include a new shop in Sydney soon and plans of further expansion. Another big acquisition recently announced was the purchase by Angus and Robertson A&R’s literary titles will not be handled by Salem House, as its thrust is solely to the general market and these will continue to be handled by their agent in New York, Al Zuckerman. At present Salem House has no editorial department and does not publish in its own right, although eventually it might develop its own program. The impact for Australian writers in the short term will probably be negligible, but if successful the acquisition could provide some writers access to the huge US audience. Publishers of the US book distributor Salem House are Angus & Robertson’s distributor for certain titles in the United States and when they approached A&R’s chief executive, Richard Walsh, about the possibility of selling he jumped at the chance. Salem House were a profitable company with a turnover of US$7million; its acquisition by A&R has given them not only a good investment but also an opportunity to learn about the US book market. Initially the approach will be cautious. A&R will not inundate Salem House with huge quantities of its Australian titles and the idea is to use Salem House to gain insight as to what works in the US market, both editorially and in terms of marketing and distribution. Richard Walsh remarked that quite a few overseas publishers have attempted to establish US subsidiaries, but most without success because they didn’t have that key experience in marketing and distribution. Over the past few years, A&R’s publishing programs have become more and more ambitious. ‘We may come to the stage where we have ideas here for projects that are too big for the Australian market alone – Salem House and our UK division may provide the international perspective and market to make such projects viable,’ Mr Walsh said. If lllywhacker was the obvious literary star of 1985, it will not be so easy to pick this year’s one from the field of new novels due from some of our best writers. Already announced are new works by Tim Winton, Patrick White, Blanche D’Alpuget, Kate Grenville, Robert Drewe, Elizabeth Jolley, and Rodney Hall. I think I feel more of a sense of excitement about these books than I would about a new Doris Lessing or John Fowles. Patrick White’s, Memoirs of Many in One, will as usual be published in England by Jonathan Cape and will be distributed here by a distribution company owned by Cape. Blanche D’Alpuget’s Winter in Jerusalem is scheduled for July publication in London by Secker and Warburg. Some copies will arrive here in due course. Ms D’Alpuget’s book is sure to attract a lot of interest; her most recent published work, the biography of Robert Hawke, was a huge critical and commercial success.

Mark Rubbo

From the New Issue

Tremor by Teju Cole

No Church in the Wild by Murray Middleton

Saving Lieutenant Kennedy: The heroic story of the Australian who helped rescue JFK by Brett Mason

Vincent Namatjira edited by Vincent Namatjira

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