During the School Library Association of NSW (SLANSW) Summit at Abbotsleigh last month, one speaker, Kate Temple (author), outlined obstacles she felt were preventing modern classics from being created.
One of the points raised was that publishers have overwhelmed booksellers with titles they should sell. For example, Kate mentioned that Gleebooks (Glebe) receives visits from 14 sales representatives per month, pitching up to 100 children's books per publisher.
In this instance, if each of the 14 agents pitches 100 children's books, that would be around 1,400 books per month, or up to 16,800 per year.
Amazing figure?
I can understand how the booksellers feel, because how is one able to fit so many new titles in and amongst the shelves of their store, and amongst existing titles, particularly if floorspace is small or if they want to focus on specialising in the sale of specific books, as a number do, especially independent book stores.
But at the same time, it reminds us that there are, in fact, more people than we think who are actually pursuing writing, whether it may be creative or sharing their knowledge of a topic that is very dear to them. It is a positive for society, and we are in fact richer for it
Consider how many are rejected when they submit a book manuscript, just to be considered for publication.
Sadly, though, the competition it creates means that few will "make it", particularly given limited shelf space. It's the same with any cultural pursuit, whether it is in music or art.
Some might say that the push to publish many different titles and to increase turnover in what is stocked is a barrier to books published today becoming classics.
I'll let time be the judge of whether a book is a classic. Did anyone foresee that Harry Potter would become what it is now, a classic, thirty years ago? Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was rejected by 12 publishers and initially had a print run of 500 in 1997. At the time, its publisher, Bloomsbury, was an unknown publisher. It has since sold 600 million copies, and Bloomsbury is a well-known publisher with Harry Potter as its flagship product
I was in Year 8 in 1999, and I first heard of Harry Potter in an English Lesson with my teacher, Mrs Morrissey, who mentioned she had read it and encouraged those in my class to read it. I don't remember any active advertising of it. By 1999, three books in the seven-book series had been published.
It gained momentum from there, with the first major coverage in the press as I recall for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2000. It spawned films, merchandising and even its own series of Lego sets.
The market may be overloaded with books, but there will be ones that stand out and will be passed down to future generations. I come from the generation that grew up with Harry Potter, and I do recommend the books to my Gen Z students.
And how old was I when I read Harry Potter? 33 . I am not a fan of fantasy books or a fan of magic, but the reality of my work sometimes forces me to leave my reading comfort zone because I do need to be able to recommend books to my students. I was motivated by the continued appeal, as I saw kids continue to read the series decades later, and by my mid-thirties, I had come to appreciate how significant it had become to my generation growing up, but the writing itself and being able to read a masterpiece.
