publishers

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that JK Rowling’s just brought out a novel, The Casual Vacancy. On the face of it, it’s as different from Harry Potter as night from day. It’s a slice of gritty realism, exploring the impact of the class wars on a pretty English town. But scratch that surface and you’ll find a morality tale, a clash of good versus evil featuring a cast of Dickensian proportions. Just like Harry Potter.

JK Rowling is part of a tradition of storytelling that has been somewhat shelved in recent times, with the constant need for publishers to classify books according to genres and the desire for authors to display their literary prowess with artful prose. We have always loved stories and JK Rowling has managed to tap into that ancient storytelling urge, while bringing old-fashioned storytelling values into the modern age. Even the title, The Casual Vacancy, has a retro feel.

Here are a few of the ingredients of her storytelling magic.

1, Morality Tales

In Writing for Grownups, the BBC interview that was held this week, JK Rowling said she couldn’t understand why the whole world wasn’t obsessed with morality. She uses her characters to explore what motivates characters to do good or bad. Her characters aren’t just black and white stick figures; they are a complex blend of vice and virtue. But as in the best fairy stories, good always triumphs.

2. Large Cast of Characters

Like Dickens, Rowling’s tales are populated with a large cast of characters, representing every shade of the social spectrum. Their antics are presented by a God-like narrator who can see around corners. This narrative technique can be slightly distancing; you never quite feel you get inside the heads of characters. That’s probably why it’s become less popular. But ultimately, in Rowling’s stories, there is a central character you can get your teeth into.

3. Plot Driven Narrative

In the quest to create compelling characters and convey an important message, authors these days often forget about the value of just telling a straightforward story. A story that hurtles along at a crackling pace and carries you with it until you come back to earth. That’s what Harry Potter was and The Casual Vacancy promises something similar.

I have to confess I’m cheering at the release of The Casual Vacancy. As I said previously, the realistic novel is slowly regaining popularity. The release of The Casual Vacancy is likely to cement that popularity. After a long period of doubt, readers who enjoy big-hearted stories about people like us will be rewarded.

This week, my publishers, Book Republic, agreed to release the rights of The Pink Cage to the library run by National Council for the Blind (NCBI). They didn’t have to do it. After all, the NCBI Library is copyright exempt, so there are no royalties to be gained. But they showed themselves to be leaders in making books accessible to visually impaired people without the usual delay.

Visualy impaired and blind people get a raw deal when it comes to books. Whereas the rest of us can stroll into a bookshop, pick up the hottest new release and get stuck into it straight away, blind people have to wait two or three years before an audio book publisher picks it up or the book is converted to Braille. I continue to feel incredibly lucky and privileged that I can read regular print at close range, that there is no barrier between me and the printed word.

Blind and visually impaired people read books in various ways. Braille and audio are the best known and there are also large print books for partially sighted people. Some people scan books onto their computers and use their screen readers or magnification software to read.

Things have improved somewhat with the arrival of the ebook, but ebooks come in PDF form and most PDFs aren’t picked up by screenreader software. And for magnifier users like me, the print is faint and close packed. Even with my magnifier, I still have to plus plus plus it to get it some way readable. Still, when the text to speech function in an ebook is enabled, people using screenreaders can read ebooks. And the good news is, the text to speech has been enabled on the Pink Cage ebook, so it’s accessible right now.

When the book comes into the NCBI library, it will be available in Braille, audio and large print. I reckon I’ll get hold of a large print book for readings, so I won’t have to bring a rainforest of paper with me. I’ve been told work will begin on the book in August, so I’m looking forward to spreading the word when it’s available.

Making books accessible needn’t be just a feelgood gesture from publishers. It’s estimated that 200,000 people in this country have some sort of sight problem. So there’s a whole market of book lovers to be tapped into if publishers make the leap and strive to make books accessible as quickly as possible.