When is a writer not a writer?

Simon Acland - BookBrunch


When he or she publishes her own book, it seems. Or at least it seems that way to some of those in the literary establishment who run book prizes and organise writers' associations, writes Simon Acland

Self-published books are excluded from most literary awards, and the Historical Writers Association will accept you as a member only if your novel has been published by a third party commercial publisher, as I found out when my own application was turned down.

Marcel Proust, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, and Mark Twain are among the literary giants who might have fallen foul of these rules. Would Sir Walter Scott have been excluded from entering the historical novel prize that now bears his name as a result of being a partner in the publishing house that brought out his books (and nearly crushed him when it crashed)?

My writing lies leagues below those giants'. And of course the people who run awards and associations are entitled to set whatever rules they wish. But drawing an arbitrary quality line between "published" and "self-published" displays a quaint misunderstanding of the state of the publishing industry today.