What is Scuttlebook?
My thoughts so far are that Scuttlebook will be a combination of my book reviews (mostly of NZ books), interviews with other book reviewers, and book media industry stories. A recurring problem I have is the difficulty of getting anything published that isn’t praise-only, so I’ll be doing a bit of digging about that. I’ll aim to publish one edition every month.
What are your kaupapa?
I am self-employed in the book industry and as such have a lot of jobs other than book reviewing. My main income comes from my work as a literary publicist. One very strong value I have is keeping my publicity work separate from my reviewing work. This can get quite tricky as, having been in the ind for more than a decade now, I know a lot of people. I will therefore preface each review with a short note about any relationship I have with the author or publisher.
More broadly, I review books in good faith - I never set out to hate-read. When I do say something negative, I’m not aiming to shit-stir or hurt authors’ feelings. I genuinely believe that robust critique is an essential part of taking our own literature seriously. This applies to me as well of course. I’m always on the lookout for professional development to make my own writing better, and am very grateful to the teachers, editors and mentors who have helped me along the way.
And who are you?
My ancestors are English: my father’s people are from Warwickshire near the ancient Rollright Standing Stones, where they farmed the land. My father’s father was a professional gardener and waterlily specialist - in fact I may one day review his monograph on the subject.
My mother’s people are from The Potteries, in Staffordshire, so called because my ancestors dug up clay and coal from the earth and used it to make ceramics. When I was a child, my great-aunt Margaret took me on a tour of the Wedgwood factory where she worked. I think she was our final potter, at least for now.
My Pākehā parents immigrated here under the aegis of the Treaty of Waitangi, so we are tangata Tiriti. I was born in the shadow of Owairaka, in the rohe of Ngāti Whātua. I now live in the capital, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, in the rohe of Te Atiawa Taranaki Whānui.
I am bisexual, and disabled (and, as such, a proud member of the Crip the Lit disabled writers’ cooperative). I am currently in peri-menopause: it’s a heck of a time. I also keep bees, so stay tuned for weird rants about how Bridgerton is anti-bee propaganda.
Why do you review books?
Essentially: because I can’t not. Reading a book often fills me with a huge energy to tell someone about what I’ve read and how it made me feel, and reviewing helps disperse that energy.
I also do it because I love it. Reviewing helps me understand the worlds in which I live. It is a way of greeting and getting to know my own literary whakapapa. That sounds so pompous – and indeed I did go through a phase of acquiring Books of National Importance that I thought I ought to get to grips with, like an intellectual gym membership. It didn’t work: I couldn’t get through them. So now I let my instincts guide me from book to book, relying on that tug of I-want-to-read-you attraction.
Why did you start Scuttlebook?
Because it’s getting harder and harder to get reviews published. Fewer places run reviews and those that do have less budget and fewer staff hours to devote to it. Reviewing is often unpaid (stay tuned for a future piece about who pays what) and it’s difficult to get a negative review across the line (see future edition for details). In addition, I pride myself on always being five years behind the times, and I’m pretty sure that’s when newsletters started to really take off, so.
What’s the deal with the paywall?
Generally speaking, the reviews I’m republishing will be free to read, and the new stuff I’m writing specifically for Scuttlebook will be behind a paywall. Due to the blowback I get whenever I say anything even slightly negative about local pukapuka, I’m also going to paywall those reviews.
Psychologically, I’m also installing a paywall because it helps me to think of Scuttlebook as work-work (as opposed to hobby-work) and thus to prioritise it during normal work hours. This is in support of my kaupapa that reviewing is essential to our arts ecosystem and not just a weird afterthought.
For a much more detailed and thoughtful analysis of the politics of newsletter paywalls and platforms, see this edition of Iti te Kupu, Nadine Hura's newsletter [$]. I find Iti te Kupu to be both beautifully written and of enormous practical value to writers, and I strongly recommend subscribing.
What languages do you write in?
English is my native tongue and the only language I speak fluently. I have a tiny smidge of te reo Māori but am unsure how to use it. I don’t want to be tokenistic but I also worry that defaulting to English-only is cowardly. I am very open to ideas on this front.
What kinds of books will you be reviewing?
Historically I’ve mostly reviewed local literary fiction and poetry, so I’ll be republishing some of those reviews. However, now that I’m self-publishing, I’ll also be taking the chance to review some fanfiction, which is one of my all-time favourite genres. If you have any particular requests, let me know.
What else can I expect from Scuttlebook?
As I say, my main focus will be on book reviewing. However, since no one can stop me, I might also use this as a way to publish various of my essays that haven’t found a home anywhere else. For example, there’s one about the depiction of chronically ill women in Georgette Heyer’s Regency romance novels that I’ve been dying to write for ages.
