Re-Reading The Silk Worm: A Dark Insight Into Publishing?
It goes without saying that, as a member of the ‘Harry Potter generation’, I think J.K. Rowling is fantastic. I suspect that I am not in a minority in admitting that the Harry Potter series was amongst the first, if not the first, books I read, or at least fell in love with. Some questioned back in 2007 whether Rowling would have anything else to write after the release of Deathly Hallows. The answer has been a resounding yes. Personally, I have enjoyed both the standalone novel The Casual Vacancy and the expanding detective stories in the Cormoran Strike series (written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith). It is the second novel of that series, The Silk Worm, that I am going to talk a little about here.
Before I go any further, I want to make it absolutely clear that I hold no prejudice against traditional publishers or the traditional system. Although I have gone for the self-publishing route myself – arguably hybrid-publishing – I’d be pretty ecstatic if a publisher such as Harper Voyager offered me a deal. I have taken this road because I felt it was the best one for me to take at the time. That’s it really. However I do love to think about the industry, which is still in a state of change, and where it may or may not go. With that out of the way, on with the post.
Back in early October I discovered that the third book in the series (A Career of Evil) was due to come out, so I re-listened to The Silk Worm audio book in preparation. I found that I had a completely different reaction to it the second time around. This is probably due to the fact that I have now embarked upon the perilous course of becoming an author and The Silk Worm, while under the umbrella of a larger murder mystery, is a book all about the world of writing and publishing.
The victim of the tale, author Owen Quine, is found dead in some of the most gruesome circumstances imaginable. This is made all the more ominous when it is discovered that Quine met the same fate as the hero of his last controversial manuscript. The manuscript in question is called Bombyx Mori – the latin term for a silk worm – and is controversial because it seems to attack nearly everyone in the author’s life, including major figures in this London’s literary world. Agents, editors, whole publishing houses, other authors and aspiring writers are all included in the roster of suspects and characters.
A lot of the meaning of this passed over my head on first reading because they were just characters to me. Not the fact that the characters were writers, editors and so on, but what they represented. And what they represent is the nightmare anyone in those professions dreads. Naturally the characters in a crime series were not all going to be joyful and enjoying successful careers. That would hardly be fitting for the tone of a macabre tale of resentment and murder.
There is the victim Owen Quine, whose debut book is widely held to be his only worthwhile piece of work. He has since been living off of the projected hope that he might one day produce something of an equal calibre. This is a scary thought for any writer or author. Yes, your first book being a success is overwhelmingly positive. But how do you maintain and build upon that success? How do you do it all again?
Running parallel to Quine’s story is that of his once close friend Michael Fancourt, who has gone on to become a bestseller. Fancourt highlights a very different problem. I interpret that his money, fame and renown, have ingrained misogynistic and overly cynical beliefs into his work and his person. One wonders whether Fancourt is really like that or whether we are always seeing the public front of Fancourt, the persona he puts on in order to rile up interviewers and drive up his sales. Although his position is likely where authors would prefer to be in, rather than the destitute Quine’s, it seems Fancourt has become known for writing and acting in a certain way and is stuck with that. Few would wholeheartedly say they would embrace this, especially as most writers would like to develop and try new things when they can.
Quine’s agent, Elizabeth Tassel, is a failed writer turned agent. She began with a promising roster of authors – Fancourt included – who have now either left her or declined in prominence. Her bitterness at being left on the fringes of literary London is plainly displayed. Although I know little about agents, I can imagine this would be a painful place to be.
Daniel Chard is the president of the publishing house, Roper Chard. He is another unlikeable character, though he is designed to be so. Through Chard we are given insight into the worry of publishers about ‘digital books’ and how they are going to make money in this day and age. His most memorable line, in my mind, was his allusion to needing ‘more readers and less writers.’ These days, he says, everyone is a writer and not enough people are reading. Frankly it is impossible to tell Rowling’s own opinion on this matter. Like all good writers she reflects all sides of the issue. Chard’s stock phrases and opinions are ones we have all heard a thousand times before. And yet they become paradoxical when we enter Chard’s mansion, custom built and designed with the huge wealth he has evidently accumulated over the years. His worries over money and the future are undermined by the financial resources he can seemingly afford to throw around. Michael Fancourt is brought over to Roper Chard for an estimated £500,000 – just think of how many debuts he might have financed with that amount of money? Instead, Chard and his business seems to be punting more money on the big names rather than investing in the future talent. This seems to be the case in our own world too, where advances for debuts and established names are polarising further and being signed to a major house is no longer a guarantee of success. There is certainly an uncomfortable truth at play in The Silk Worm.
Perhaps the lowliest of all characters in The Silk Worm is the woman who represents the self-publishers. Kathryn Kent, Quine’s mistress, has written a series of erotic fantasy novels and published them on Kindle. She has been rejected by agents and editors alike, including Quine’s own agent Tassel; who at one point tells detective Strike how god awful they are. She has developed a reflexive hostility towards publishers, claiming they don’t actually look for ‘good books anymore’ and they will only take on books which ‘fit their sale categories.’ Again, these are typical stock phrased arguments that we’ve all heard many times before. Anyone as rancorous and aggressive as Kent is not a true self-publisher – she is hardly professional.
“[Publishers] don’t want to take a chance on something that hasn’t been seen before, it’s all about what fits their sales categories, and if you’re blending several genres, if you’re creating something entirely new, they’re afraid to take a chance.” (Kathryn Kent)
Rowling’s book is in no way a debate on traditional vs self-publishing, but it is an interesting insight into the psyche of it all. What is most intriguing is how she portrays the zealot natures of both sides. Both Chard and Kent are fairly extreme in their opinions, but they are not terribly far from reality – I suspect there are many out there who would sympathise with both. Yet each extreme throws up the childish, almost naïve nature of stubbornly adhering to one belief. Chard and Tassel ought to recognise the talent that might be out there, while Kent ought to accept that her books are being rejected for a reason and think about improving them.
A particularly reflective moment for detective Strike comes in an expensive restaurant, where he witnesses Chard approaching the son of a famous rock star to encourage his father to write and publish an autobiography with Roper Chard. Strike notes the disparity in opportunity between this rock star – who has his pick of the publishers – and another struggling character he has met, Pippa Midgley, a transgender woman about to undergo gender reassignment surgery and hoping to publish her own life’s story.
Finally, there is Leonora Quine, the wife of our unfortunate victim and a painful reminder that even those closest to a writer may not read or be interested in their work. Leonora states that she only reads her husband’s books ‘when they’ve got the covers on.’
Robin and Strike
It is an often overlooked aspect of writing that sometimes even your family and friends just won’t care enough to read it. Your audience is probably not who you would expect it to be. In my own limited experience, I discovered that some of my most enthusiastic beta readers were actually people with whom I had minimal or no face to face contact. They were friends of friends, some even off in different countries. It is why I’d argue you ought to get your work out under a lot of strangers’ noses in order to gauge how you’re doing.
After reading this post, you would be forgiven for thinking that all this publishing business makes up the majority of the novel. Far from it. The Silk Worm focuses on the characters of Strike and his associate Robin. Rowling’s greatest skill has always been her delicate yet powerful characterisation and this continues into her detective series.
I had a completely different experience with The Silk Worm the second time around. It kicks off a discussion on the world of writing and publishing despite that never becoming the focus of the novel. The arrogant character of Michael Fancourt claims that literature is only true art if it provokes and stokes debate. For anyone like myself, The Silk Worm certainly does just that.
