Books are so bland...

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Gob
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Books are so bland...

Post by Gob »

Matthew Broberg-Moffitt is 'gender queer' and of 'non-binary identity'. He suffers from autism, learning disorders and narcolepsy – suddenly falling asleep at any time of the day.

Of Romany heritage, he has experienced homelessness and poverty, is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and has a genetic birth condition.

The good news is that he is perfectly placed to work as a 'sensitivity reader', vetting authors' manuscripts before they are published.


And that's exactly what he does, helping eliminate lapses in taste or authenticity when it comes to writing about, say, homelessness or narcolepsy – and protecting future readers from feelings of offence or 'triggering' moments of distress.

However distinctive he might seem, Broberg-Moffitt is no one-off.

Listed on the website of a leading American agency, he's part of a rapidly expanding 'sensitivity' industry which aims to offer guidance in a world where diversity is king and stereotypes must be avoided at all cost.

But its critics say the movement has American publishing by the throat. 'Sensitivity readers', they say, are the 'imagination police', terrifying authors into self-censorship lest they inadvertently upset readers from one minority background or another. And their influence is growing ever stronger.

According to a New York publishing source who asked to remain anonymous, no US book is printed without being first run past a person, or sometimes a whole committee, so that it can be examined for questions of sex, gender identity, race and a range of 'trigger' subjects including sexual assault, suicide, disability and domestic violence.

'It's a boom industry,' said the source. 'It's been growing for the past few years but in the last year it has become the norm.'

Already worth an estimated $35 million (£24.5 million), it is projected to be a $100 million (£73 million) business as soon as 2025.

'Publishers and authors are terrified of being cancelled,' the source continued. 'Social media is so swift and brutal. We are living in a hair-trigger society where one false move can destroy your livelihood.

'Manuscripts are being run past people of colour, members of the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities, those with mental health issues – anything you can think of, really.

'When you are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in an author and a publicity campaign, it makes sense to desensitise the book to any criticism.'

These risks were played out last summer, when the novel American Dirt was 'cancelled' despite glowing reviews from critics and the powerful endorsement of Oprah Winfrey's Book Club – because the author Jeanine Cummins was a white woman writing about Mexican immigrants.

Cummins was accused of 'cultural appropriation' and a book tour was called off after 'Latinx' critics accused her of 'taking the Mexican experience and using it to make money off the back of those who have died crossing the Rio Grande'.

'That scared the hell out of us,' said the source. 'That book was a sure-fire success. Until it wasn't.'

It is a testament to the influence of the woke lobby and its social-media cheerleaders that so few publishers dare go on the record, particularly in the US.

But a glance at the list of 50 or so sensitivity experts at the Salt & Sage agency, which includes Mr Broberg-Moffitt, shows the bewildering scope of what's now at stake.

The specialists include Sachiko Burton, who is a 'white-presenting' expert in Japanese-American characters. Mixed race, she understands trauma, sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress, fat-phobia and abusive relationships.

Ravi Teixeira, who is hard of hearing, offers expertise in 'transmasculine and non-binary people' as well as mental illness and writing about people of colour.

Nicole Hawken can call on her experience of sociopaths and traumatic home childbirth, plus sexual assault and a range of mental health difficulties including anxiety, depression, addiction, bipolar problems, narcissism and mental abuse by parents. Al McKay is an expert on the 'rural queer experience', gaslighting and veganism.

Meanwhile, Mr Broberg-Moffitt's range of specialisms is enhanced by archery, baking and cheesemaking, not to mention his experience as a classically trained chef, former substance abuse counsellor and a one-time Buddhist monk.

Salt & Sage has already published a number of 'How to' books for writers wishing to include characters who are black, asexual and overweight, and is due to publish 17 more, including guides on non-binary people, atheists and characters with anxiety.

Dot and Dash, another US agency, has sensitivity readers who can help on subjects from being Asian-American to having connective tissue disorder, tinnitus and being working class.

The company has produced a 'conscious language guide' suggesting, among other things, that using 'female' as a noun 'is perceived by many as derogatory toward women'.

No doubt such publications will be eagerly read in Britain, too, where sensitivity readers are already hard at work.

Philippa Willitts, for example, specialises in disability and mental health. According to her website, the proofreading fees start at £10 per 1,000 words, although adding a specialist LGBT sensitivity editing package to the course increases the cost to £14 per 1,000 words.

Another, Hamza Jahanzeb, offers to make sure that manuscripts don't 'include any adverse characterising or harmful tropes to marginalised communities'.

Georgina Kamsika offers her 'expertise as a British South Asian' to 'give feedback on whether you are perpetuating stereotypes and actively harming people like me'. People, that is, who 'don't like opening a book and being met with microaggressions and stereotypes'.

The consequences can be serious, after all.

Kate Clanchy might have won the Orwell Prize, but the vicious reaction to her recent memoir, Some Kids I Taught And What They Taught Me, left her traumatised.

Her crime was to use such well-worn phrases as 'chocolate skin' and 'almond-shaped eyes' when describing characters. She said that a Muslim girl was 'very butch-looking… with a distinct moustache.'

Accused of 'racist' and 'ableist' tropes in an overwhelming campaign of hostility on social media, Ms Clanchy issued a grovelling apology along with her publisher, Picador.

She is now undertaking a major rewrite in consultation with 'specialist readers'. The result, she hopes, will be 'more loving'.


continues...
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

Burning Petard
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Burning Petard »

"no US book is printed without being first run past a person. . . "

This is generality that is just too big for me to swallow. There are too many 'vanity press' opportunities, Amazon, special presses, even publishers here in the USofA that prefer books that are generally offensive to any group mentioned in this 'news' dispatch. It seems to me to come very close to 'fake news'.

snailgate

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Joe Guy
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Joe Guy »

Gob wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:02 am
.....And that's exactly what he does, helping eliminate lapses in taste or authenticity when it comes to writing about, say, homelessness or narcolepsy – and protecting future readers from feelings of offence or 'triggering' moments of distress.....
Between naps?

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Scooter
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Scooter »

So books that, in the past, would have jumped through innumerable hoops in determining whether they were marketable, are now going through a revised set of hoops to determine if they are marketable. And this is news because...?
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liberty
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by liberty »

Publishing houses don't seem to care about offending Christians. I usually check out four books' because I'm liable to reject two or three of them at least. I've noticed that many authors start off using a considerable amount of profanity, but as they gain popularity and power, they reduce the profanity. It seems that it is forced on the author by editors who think it makes their writing authentic. As they grow in popularity, they have more power and more control over their final product. I've gotten to the point now I tend to pick books by authors I have been satisfied with in the past; I know the language they will use.

I'm very tolerant of the language. I will accept obscenity and vulgarity with no problem, but I draw the line at profanity. It makes me think that most people in the book business have a grudge against God and never pass up an opportunity to insult him. It would make it easier for people to choose books if publishers used a rating system similar to how movies are rated.
I expected to be placed in an air force combat position such as security police, forward air control, pararescue or E.O.D. I would have liked dog handler. I had heard about the dog Nemo and was highly impressed. “SFB” is sad I didn’t end up in E.O.D.

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Gob
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Gob »

Scooter wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 10:18 pm
So books that, in the past, would have jumped through innumerable hoops in determining whether they were marketable, are now going through a revised set of hoops to determine if they are marketable. And this is news because...?

Because books are now being judged by the narrow and narrowing viewpoints of a small minority. How did "To kill a Mockingbird" get past the censors of yore, (if they even existed?)

Can you give us examples or evidence of the sort of "innumerable hoops" you talk about, and who determined these hoops should be jumped through?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

Big RR
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Big RR »

I'd be interested in seeing the statistics; I imagine that many more books are being published today because the costs of publication have greatly decreased. For example, I see Amazon will publish and sell any book submitted for a relatively modest fee; so far as I can see they provide no editing services (meade, I believe you have used this service--is this the case?), but will print or provide the book for download for a per copy charge. There may well be some standards they apply, but given the breadth of similar services, I imagine there are similar publishers that will publish anything. Yes, we have always had this sort of vanity press, but the costs have reduced to the point where they are available to almost anyone.

Likewise, there are a number of publishers that are tied to particular viewpoints which broadly increase the scope of books which are published and available. Books which may not be carried on the shelves of mainstream retailers can be freely obtained online by a simple searach.

Taking all of this into account, the major publishing houses are becoming less relevant; they clearly want to make a profit, and some have apparently decided to market books which are not provocative or controversial (except, perhaps, for books which will sell on the basis of the renown of the author--whether a popular writer or a politician or celebrity). This is hardly surprising as their share of the revenue pie is being divided into smaller pieces, which makes them less likely to take a chance on a controversial book as they may have in the past,

Indeed, the same is true of the recording industry, movies, and other forms of popular entertainment; we see far less works which do not hav broad popular appeal--but we can still find them, albeit as much lower production budgets, from non mainstream producer online

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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by MajGenl.Meade »

Big RR wrote:
Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:50 pm
For example, I see Amazon will publish and sell any book submitted for a relatively modest fee; so far as I can see they provide no editing services (meade, I believe you have used this service--is this the case?), but will print or provide the book for download for a per copy charge.
Pretty much, Big RR. Createspace provided a terrific template for books - one selects a cover design and can add color art of one's own choosing. I made these for Snooks:
Image

Image

This one used a piece of a Turner:
Image

There's a complete template for the content of the book and you get an ISBN free. They also had e-book conversion tools.

Amazon Kindle purchased Createspace (or already owned it and changed the name to theirs). There's now a better tool to change a print book into a Kindle e-book - Kindle Create.

Then the books appear like magic on Amazon and folks can buy them. Print on Demand. So far, no cost to me whatsoever.

My non-fiction Civil War book sells (or not) for R15.99 - my cut from direct Amazon sales is $4.20. "Author copies" of the book cost me $5.79 pph. So I'd say that Amazon makes at least $6 per direct sale.

The immodest authors consider that's not as modest as it should be. :lol: I was recently able to sell 15 books (purchased at author price) but as it was a museum/library endeavor I only added $2 per book.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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Gob
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Gob »

Have they been checked for any hint of sex, gender identity, race and 'trigger' subjects including sexual assault, suicide, disability and domestic violence. Do they conform?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

Big RR
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Big RR »

Sure; anyone who wants can buy a copy and check them. I used to ceck library books for sexual content when I was in grade school. :lol:

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Crackpot
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Crackpot »

Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.

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Long Run
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Long Run »

MajGenl.Meade wrote:
Mon Oct 18, 2021 4:03 pm
There's a complete template for the content of the book and you get an ISBN free. They also had e-book conversion tools.
Do they offer access to a room with 10,000 monkeys furiously typing, not that you would need that. 8-)

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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by MajGenl.Meade »

Gob wrote:
Mon Oct 18, 2021 4:41 pm
Have they been checked for any hint of sex, gender identity, race and 'trigger' subjects including sexual assault, suicide, disability and domestic violence. Do they conform?
All present and correct! Well, the two fiction books set in 1861-65 qualify on all grounds as being thoroughly scurrilous. I toned down the "n" word to read "darkie" except in one instance (I believe). There's rape (although not what you may think), sexual perversion, definite sexism, allusions to homosexuality/politicians/Guards regiments/Eton (all the same thing), and water melons.

Not the last, actually
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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Gob
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Re: Books are so bland...

Post by Gob »

As long as you don't portray black people as liking fried chicken, you should be ok.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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