Wales Book of the Year 2019 -- have the organizers learnt anything from the 2018 fiasco?

I've been around a long time, and have been actively involved in the Welsh literature and publishing scene since 1973 -- so you may take it as read, dear reader, that I want to see an industry that is vibrant and successful.  But I sometimes despair, because it is an industry that keeps on shooting itself in the foot.

In the last couple of years we gave seen open wounds on full display, exposed during the Medwin Hughes Panel investigations into the support mechanisms for literature and publishing in Wales. At times, in the Culture Committee "evidence sessions" dealing with the Report, the animosity and aggression between the warring tribes was so great that the Minister, Ken Skates, had to step in and tell everybody off. It was not an edifying spectacle, even though it provided some entertainment for the media.........

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41497925

Then in June of this year the Wales Book of the Year competition, which has always been organized by Literature Wales, became something of a laughing stock when Hugh Thomas, the BBC Wales arts and media correspondent, revealed that most of the shortlisted titles had sales figures so low that they had to be hidden rather than celebrated. Some of them had sales figures below 100 copies -- and even if those figures (based on EPOS records) were incorrect, and needed to be doubled or trebled to take account of non-EPOS sales, they were still an embarrassment. The industry responded furiously (as might be expected), but then the Chief Executive of Literature Wales made matters worse by claiming that the sales figures of one book went up by 400% as a result of the publicity associated with the competition (from an earlier grand sales figure of 20 copies), and sales of another went up by 1,433% (yes, you read the figure correctly!) to a grand total of 46 copies. You couldn't make it up..........

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44615365

Some of us have been worried for years about the extent to which the writing and publishing industries in Wales are dependent upon taxpayer subsidies, with the number of titles published used as a measure of "activity" or "success" and with sales figures treated almost as state secrets.  Anyway, good for Hugh for blowing this out into the open, and for revealing that the Wales Book of the Year competition (already heavily criticised by the Medwin Hughes Panel) is simply unfit for purpose. For years the contest has encouraged the ongoing publication of books that nobody really wants, that hardly anybody reads, written for the most part by writers dependent upon bursaries and subsidies. I don't blame the writers -- they just want to write and to get published, and will use whatever means they have to fulfil their ambitions. And of course the competition judges, who are both skilled and committed, and who deserve our thanks, will always find some of the submitted titles worthy and even exciting and innovative from a literary point of view. They will decide who gets the prizes, based upon "literary merit" and book appearance, and the winners will be delighted, and the bells will ring.  And I am not denying for one moment that there are great writers and great books out there, deserving of recognition.

But the system is broken, and it has to be fixed. Some way has to be found of blocking off books that are so insignificant that nobody wants to read them; and somehow the definition of "worth" has to be adjusted to incorporate a calculation of reader appeal and commercial viability. I would like to see a rule stating that only books with verified sales of over 1,000 copies may be entered.  I would also like to see a rule requiring publishers to demonstrate that they have a marketing budget and a marketing plan for any title submitted.

It now appears that (after a period of some uncertainty) Literature Wales will continue to organize the competition for 2019. The eligibility criteria and guidance notes for applicants are here:

http://www.literaturewales.org/our-projects/wales-book-year/eligibility-criteria-submissions/

I don't have the old sets of rules from previous years, but it looks as if nothing has changed. That is quite extraordinary, given what Hugh Thomas revealed last June. The judges will simply be asked to judge the books placed in front of them on the basis of "literary creativity", without any questions asked about up-to-date sales records or commercial viability. Now that's all very well within a cosy space occupied by artistic people, but books are commercial products that cannot -- or should not -- exist in an environment where they have no market.

Then we have the "People's Choice" category of the Book of the Year awards,  organized in association with the Wales Arts Review.   Everybody knows that it does not actually involve a proper people's choice at all -- a list of titles is provided for "the people" to vote on.  But who decides on the makeup of the list, and what are the criteria used?

Will authors and publishers who know that their books will not sell be deterred from entering them for the 2019 contest? I doubt it. But unless some very specific advice is given to judges to take some "viability" criteria (such as reader appeal) into account during the judging process, I foresee a situation in the spring of 2019 in which most of the shortlisted titles will once again have sales figures of less than 100 copies.

The media will be on the case immediately, and quite right too.  There will be more murmurings about corruption, favouritism and incestuous relationships.  There might even be questions about the expenditure of taxpayer's money.   I foresee another fiasco in the making. Wales held up for ridicule, and not for the first time.  And what good will that do for either the writers or the publishers of Wales?