Cautionary tale for writers

I was amused by a piece in the Guardian Review for 1st May by Blake Morrison about attribution.

When he was writing South of the River, he quoted from some pop songs, played in one of the scenes.  He knew about getting permission for quotes from living authors but hoped that using only a few words from each song would slide through unnoticed.  He also knew it's the author's responsibility to obtain and pay for them but left it until his editor did the job for him.

For quoting two lines of I shot the sheriff by Bob Marley it cost him £1,000.  And so on with the other songs.

So his advice to other writers is DON'T and if you have characters in your novel playing music, don't quote the lyrics.

Non-fiction books - an endangered species?

There was a very interesting article in the Guardian Review section on 16 May about the fate of serious non-ficiton in today's market.

Having worked in academic libraries for almost 20 years, I know there is a place for serious texts with a small readership. But it has to be said that too many books were published in the past without making them the slightest bit interesting. Many of the academics I worked with would have thought they were letting the side down by being easy to understand.

Certainly any academic writing books that a wider audience could enjoy were regarded as selling out. Even today, there can be a high level of peer criticism about books that appear short on seriousness and high on "easy to read".

I think that's nonsense. Of course we need people who aren't swayed by any need to be popular, but at the same time opening up subjects can have a major impact on people who suddenly have a door opened into a topic that had been difficult for them before.