Talking Publishing In The Middle East With The BBC

The debate about the future of publishing has never been more heated. From e-books to self-publishing, the landscape is shifting fast and many are wondering if traditional players will be able to keep up. We’ve already seen one element of that chain suffer: brick and mortar bookshops such as Borders who have had to fold because of the competition of online retailers. Amazon sells paper books of course, but also has a hold on the incredibly fast growing e-books market and even mighty Apple’s iBooks hasn’t been able to seriously challenge its grip. As far as I understand, the Kindle is outselling the iPad as an e-reader and all you have to do is visit both companies’ stores to realize how limited iBooks’ catalogue is in comparison with Kindle.

To some, this spells the end of publishing houses as we know them. To me, these changes mean that publishers and agents, who were traditionally the gatekeepers of the industry are seeing their influence dwindle, and that other players, especially authors, now have better control over their own destiny: if you have a good piece of work, and you know how to promote it, you can pretty much go it on your own and succeed. With minimum investment, you can get your book on the internet and the sky is the limit in terms of the promotion you can do both online and offline. In the Middle East, this is all the more important because the publishing industry is less mature, copyright is not respected and being an author is unrewarding.

Globally we haven’t yet seen high profile success stories for self-published books: the blockbusters of the past few years have been the likes of Twilight, the Hunger Games or 50 Shades of Grey who were published the “traditional” way, but there are numerous self-published writers who have managed to sell thousands of books on their own, better than most publishing houses' mid-list authors.

I’m lucky to have a good publisher (Turning Point Books) and I’m happy with my relationship with them, but I support fellow writers who decided to circumvent the submission/rejection cycle and do it on their own. Check out this clip of me discussing this with the BBC’s Ben Thompson, along with media man extraordinaire and self-published author Alexander McNabb as well as distributor Narain Jashanmal other members of the publishing industry in the Middle East.

Be Still My Beating Heart...

I've kind of been over the Louboutin thing for a while, but these shoes should come with a health warning.

It's the Christian Louboutin Snorkeling 100 Neoprene Boots, apparently made for ocean side cocktails, which I don't attend many of in London, but who cares?

A "Violent Romance" for your enjoyment: "Olives" by Alexandre McNabb

I’ve been craving good novels that are based in the Middle East. I like to think that mine, Summer Blast, is one of those ;) and I’ve just finished reading Olives by Alexander McNabb which definitely fits into this category.

This thriller, or “violent romance” as the book cover puts it, is set in Jordan. Paul Stokes, a British journalist comes to Jordan on a corporate publishing contract for the Ministry of Natural Resources. He gets in trouble with the law as soon as he touches down in Amman by picking a drunken fight with a policeman, which lands him in a court case. But this is not the only of Paul’s challenges, the boring job he thought he’d signed up for, is spiced up by the attractive ministry employee, Aisha Dajani, who’s assigned to take care of him, helping him settle into Amman and get the work done. Add an unsavory spy-like character from the British embassy, a colorful Swedish neighbor, an annoying boss and the many skeletons that seem to populate Aisha’s closet and you have a recipe for a read that will have you turning the pages (or swiping them since the book is also available in e-format).

Narrated in the first person, the tone is informal and the humor often British. The concept is clear: yes, the Middle East is not what westerners imagine, people are more “normal” and the women more modern than what most would expect. But the issues that we are all aware of remain at the heart of daily life: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but also the less publicized yet equally - if not more - political issue of water shortage.

As Paul falls for Aisha, sacrificing his existing relationship in the process, he learns that she comes from a family who was displaced when Israel occupied Palestine, they are now Jordanian but all yearn for their homeland and the olive farm that they have managed to hold on to, but is at threat inside Israel. Aisha’s father was killed in an Israeli raid and her brother committed a suicide bombing in retaliation. Now Paul suspects she could be supporting more acts of violence.

Poor Paul also finds himself in the middle of a high-stake bid for the privatization of water resources. The UK government wants him to spy on the ministry as well as Aisha’s older brother, favorite to win against the British proposal.

Throughout the book, Paul evolves from average expat to unwilling spy and potential pawn for Palestinian activists. As he becomes more deeply informed about conflicts of the Middle East, so does the reader, but in a seamless way, which is one of my favorite aspects of the book.

The story is largely based in Amman, with several trips to other parts of Jordan and references to countries in the region. Of course, what Paul experiences as an expat in affluent West Amman is not representative of the entire Kingdom, but it felt genuine to me, having visited Jordan on business many times, often with British colleagues. McNabb doesn't overbear us with details or fall into the cliché of trying to make a country “exotic”.

I really enjoyed Olives. It’s a fast moving thriller, set in a region that a lot has been written about, but in a fresh perspective and without patronizing, judgment or stereotyping. Get it in bookstores in the Middle East, or on Kindle, iBooks or other e-book formats.