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Nobel Herta Muller Books by Feltrinelli or Mondadori? No...



Original post

I have some difficulty writing this post.
As one who writes and considers books publications an essential tool to see my stories around - fortunately it is not the only one… - I am not impartial.
I hesitated several times, but then I started pushing the keyboard keys and here I am.
Basically this is my blog, isn’t it? I have no experienced editors to judge my words, here; there is no editorial board to decide the fate of the fruit of my wits.
There are just you in this place, the readers. You can do what you want, as always.
You can get to the end of the text or stop when you want; you may save my name because you liked what I said or pray the gods to make you forget me as soon.
There are you who read and us who write.
You and us…
It is to you that we speak; we should never forget it, even if we often use the great opportunity of writing to take care of us and only us.
Yet today I wish to get it out a little.
For years I heard a concept that pretends to explain many things about how is the world of fiction publishing, here in Italy.
First of all that in our country there are more writers than readers and people do not read books.
A publisher of many that I met told me that when only half of Italian aspiring novelists will buy at least a book a month, the market will be very healthy.
I agree, it is right.
However, do we want to say it all?
Are we talking about a market? Okay. A market is made by buyers and sellers.
Writers do not make the books market, publishers do.
Well, I never heard an Italian editor admitting another indisputable truth: if Italian people read a few books our publishers are to blame by first.
I ever heard sermons by pseudo-intellectuals pontificating about ignorant Italians, who do not read anything and watch only the TV.
Now I speak to you, you that write like me: how many times have you heard Italian publishers saying that the market is dead because people do not buy books? And which of them has ever said that the primary accountability is theirs? None, right? The fault is ever in the market, the ignorant Italians and writers who are not good enough, isn’t it?
Bullshits…
If this blog, even this post will receive a few readings I am accountable and no one else is.
And not for what I wrote, but because I decided to publish it and for what I really did to make it read, because I am also the editor.
Italian publishers are the first to account for the bad books market condition, especially the most important ones, as Feltrinelli, Mondadori and Rizzoli.
Nevertheless, this will never happen.
What should I expect from someone who has never published anything by Herta Muller, recent Literature Nobel?
And in Italy where can you buy one of his novels except by a small publishing house?

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