Edinburgh Notes
Each month Jenny Brown writes about Scottish literature and publishing world for the book trade magazine Publishing News www.publishingnews.co.uk.
Last month’s spat over funding for publishing in Scotland has left bruises, bewilderment – and some questions still hanging in the air. The row erupted suddenly, prompted by recent funding decisions by Scottish Arts Council. Faced with a difficult settlement, the Council cut the relatively new block grants for publishers totalling £100k while awarding an increase to Publishing Scotland. SAC defended this position by saying it was a temporary withdrawal, and pointed out that it continues to fund publications, but on an individual basis - and increased the pot by £40,000. Somehow SAC avoided the eye of the storm, and wrath descended upon the luckless recipient, Publishing Scotland. Hugh Andrew of Birlinn led critics of the decision, and was especially angry about the funding of Publishing Scotland’s new e-commerce site which, he claimed, had achieved just a fifth of the targeted sales. He resigned his membership of the organisation. There was some disquiet around the edges about the role and operation of Publishing Scotland, but most of the 68 members backed the organisation.
Some erroneous figures about levels of funding were bandied about in the press, later corrected. SAC leapt to Publishing Scotland’s defence, while the association’s Chief Executive Lorraine Fannin made a robust rebuttal to the criticisms, pointing out that the funding for publications and for organisations came from different budgets, and that the booksfromscotland website served an important function in disseminating information about literature in Scotland.
Creating the right structures for support to publishers is always challenging for arts councils – and I say this as a previous Head of Literature at SAC. Remember the problems for Arts Council England at the start of the year. The title-by-title funding means SAC has in effect more control over the literary output of publishers whereas the block grants enabled a handful of publishers to plan ahead. Instead of applying to SAC piecemeal for individual titles, publishers could put forward their aspirations for the year. Successful applicants last year were Birlinn (£17,500), Luath Press (£30,000), Sandstone Press (£5,000); two publishers applied for children’s lists, Barrington Stoke and Floris Books , and two specialist presses. The effect of block funding is perhaps less obvious with the larger publishers, but for a small press like Highland-based Sandstone, its impact was significant. The withdrawal of block funding also has repercussions for the all-too-rare newcomers on the scene such as Two Ravens Press which lamented the withdrawal of a system which encouraged publishers to be more adventurous.
A storm in a teacup? Not entirely. Scratch the surface and other larger issues are evident. The row comes at a time of general uncertainty and frustration about arts funding. The new quango Creative Scotland should take over from Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen next year, but depends upon first passing a new act of parliament. The bill got a rough ride on its first reading, leading to speculation that the new organisation may be further held up. Concern that there may be no specialist literature department in the new structure has led to renewed calls for the formation of a Literature Council to champion and fund the sector. Add to that the doubt about future support for creative industries, which until recently has been the preserve of Scottish Enterprise. Those in publishing have long gnashed their teeth in frustration as the enterprise quango made clear its preference for the games industry and animation over traditional content provision. Now Creative Scotland is positioning itself as a developer of creative industries, but it’s unclear how this will materialise. Plus of course the row also comes at a time when the book industry in UK generally has slowed; while large commercial houses are catching a cold, tiny independent publishers have a full-scale virus.
Rather than infighting, surely this is the time for all involved to start a bigger discussion about the support of literary publishing in the 21st century. Time to tear up the rule book, and debate what publishers need from their trade association – minimal services, or a full range. And tackle how to encourage entrepreneurial new presses, get to grips with widening the market for Scottish books, and work out whether publishers should be awarded grants, or repayable loans - or indeed whether they should be funded at all.
Posted on Jun 19, 2008 - 10:04 PM