We know the big names, the ones who win the Ockhams or other major awards. We know Eleanor Catton and Maurice Gee, Becky Manawatu, CK Stead and Emily Perkins. Fewer of us know Sarah A Parker, Kate O’Keeffe or Jayne Castel, yet all three are among a small handful of New Zealand-born authors who make a better-than-good living solely from their books.
Kiwis are readers – more than 85,000 people attended ticketed events at the recent Auckland Writers Festival, and between them bought 11,000 books – but there just aren’t enough of us to support our own fiction writers.
For Aotearoa-based authors to be commercially successful, they must look internationally: Stacy Gregg signed early on with HarperCollins UK for what would become multiple series of pony-themed books for tweens; Nicky Pellegrino is represented by Hachette UK for her novels, often set in Italy.
Genre romance writer Nalini Singh sells multitudes internationally for the Harlequin imprint; crime writer Ben Sanders has a deal with HarperCollins and has been shortlisted five times for crime fiction’s Ngaio Marsh Awards. His 2015 novel, American Blood, was optioned by Warner Bros, but Sanders still earns his main crust as a structural engineer.
Over the past decade, other writers have turned to self-publishing online, writing to market and maintaining a ferocious output that keeps readers wanting more. In most cases, those readers want more romance books, and Parker (fantasy), O’Keeffe (comedy) and Castel (historical) all offer variations on a theme of love.
Denne historien er fra July 6-12 2024-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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Denne historien er fra July 6-12 2024-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.
