How long can the author's credibility last?
The publication of Zoya Pirzad's new novel after 22 years offers an opportunity to examine the link between readers' literary memory and their reception of new books.
Iranian Ambassador Arjan Literary Service (Ambassador Arjan); - Kaveh Salari: The presence of Zoya Pirzad's name in the bestseller list of the book market, at the same time as the publication of the novel "People of Magnolia" after more than two decades, raises a question that goes beyond the fate of a book. A look at the list of books of interest to the audience shows that the name of the author, the history of the works and the memory of the readers from previous encounters with literature are among the factors that can be considered in the market of authored books.
New book and readers' memory
The publication of "The People of Magnolia" by Zoya Pirzad in the fall of 1405, after a gap of about 22 years since the publication of the novel "Adat Me Kneem", is a remarkable event in the Iranian fiction literature market. In these years, Pirzad has remained in the readers' memory with his previous works, and now he has returned to the market with a new novel; A return that has attracted the attention of the book media and literature enthusiasts. "The People of Magnolia" is published by Jahan Kitab Publishing House. The importance of this event can be examined from an angle beyond the release of a new title. In a market where a large number of books are published every year and the attention of the audience is divided between various works, what makes the publication of an author's book after years of absence become a significant event? Have readers been waiting for the return of an author whose works they have read before? Has his literary background created an expectation about the quality and genre of the reading experience? Or has the publication of the book after a long hiatus aroused the curiosity of the audience by itself? To answer these questions, one must first distinguish between the media reception of a book and its sales. Publishing the news of an author's return, republishing parts of the book and attention on social networks can increase the visibility of the work; But measuring sales requires more detailed information. A book reaching a second printing, for example, is an indication of initial demand and the need for resupply, but alone does not provide a complete picture of the number of copies sold or the durability of reception. With this consideration, Pirzad's experience provides an opportunity to examine one of the effective factors in the book market, the credit that the author has gained over the years and through his works.
The author's name as an accumulated capital
For the reader, the author's name can carry a set of previous experiences. Someone who has read the works of an author and connected with his fictional world, when facing a new book, faces a different situation than a reader who sees the author's name for the first time. A long-time reader may already have an image of the language, characters, narrative style, or author's concerns. This knowledge can make it easier for him to choose a book. In this sense, literary credit can be considered a kind of accumulated capital; A capital that is gradually formed through the publication of works, reviews, awards, book introductions and readers' experience. This capital does not necessarily lead to the same result in all the works of an author, but it can play an important role in attracting initial attention. Zoya Pirzad is a perfect example to examine this situation. The novel "I turn off the lights" which was published in 1380, became one of the well-known works of contemporary Iranian fiction. This book received awards including Mehrgan Adab Award and Book of the Year Award, and in the following years, it found a place among the most read works of Persian literature. "We get used to it", Pirzad's next novel, was published in 2003.
Such history can play a role in the formation of readers' expectations of the new work. The audience who knows Pirzad from his previous novels, when buying "People of Magnolia" is probably not facing a completely unknown author. His name already brings a set of memories, evaluations and expectations. However, this relationship should not be assumed to be definite and one-sided. Not all buyers of the new book necessarily have read Pirzad's previous works, and not all readers of the previous works necessarily buy the new book. To know this relationship more precisely, you should ask the readers themselves what motivated them to buy the book. Examining the opinions of the audience, talking to booksellers and comparing the sales trend in the first weeks of publication can help clarify this issue.
long distance Forgetting or waiting?
In the publishing market, the time interval between two works can affect the position of the author in different ways. The continuous publication of works may keep the author's name regularly exposed to the audience; Conversely, a long pause can reduce attention to a name or provide context for waiting for its return. Pirzad's experience highlights the second question. He had not published a new novel in the interval between "We get used to it" and "People of Magnolia". However, his name was not removed from the readers' literary memory. His previous works were still published and available to the audience. For example, "We get used to it" has also been reprinted in later years; A sign of the continued presence of the book in the market supply cycle. Of course, the continuation of a book's publication should not be considered immediately equivalent to its high sales. The number of prints, the number of each print, the interval between reprints and the amount of remaining copies in the distribution network are all important in evaluating the sales situation. However, the continued supply of a work can indicate that the publisher still has a demand or capacity for its presence in the market. In the case of a writer like Pirzad, the long gap between two novels may have led to the formation of a certain expectation. Audiences who liked his previous works have been able to encounter a new story by the same author after many years. The release of a new book can activate the memory of previous works and bring old readers back to bookstores.
But this is not the only possible explanation. A long distance can also increase the news value of the publication. The media usually pay attention to the return of a well-known author after many years, and this attention exposes the book to an audience that might not have known about its publication under normal circumstances. Therefore, in order to measure the role of literary credit, the contribution of previous fame should be separated from the effect of media attention and publisher's advertising; A work that does not reach a definite result without additional information.
When names are placed together
Looking at the list of books of interest in online stores and book distribution networks, it is possible to compare Pirzad's status with other authors and works. In this list, names such as Soroush Sehat, Mohammad Charmshir, Majid Barzegar and Sanaz Asadi are placed next to well-known authors such as Pirzad and classic works such as "Bound Owl" by Sadegh Hedayat and "Ceshmahishay" by Bohor Alavi. "Shahnameh" with the correction of Jalal Khaleghi Moltaq is also seen in the same collection. This coexistence raises questions about different forms of credit in the book market. The prestige of a contemporary writer whose works have been published in recent years is not the same as the status of a writer whose name is part of the history of Iranian literature. Also, the public fame of a figure who is known in cinema and television is different from the credit that the author has gained over the years through publishing and criticizing literary works.
For example, the presence of Soroush Sehat with the book "Taxisari" makes it possible to examine the relationship between fame in different cultural fields and attention to the book. Does a part of his audience go to the book because of familiarity with his film and television activities? Or does the sale of the book depend more on the characteristics of the work itself and its introduction? The answer to this question requires data about the audience and the sales process. On the other hand, the presence of "Blind Owl" and "His Eyes" is a reminder of the place that classic works have in the book market. These works enter the market with the support of literary history, numerous reviews and established reputation. In these cases, literary credit is not limited to a single name; The work itself has achieved an independent position over time. The reader may buy the book because of the author's reputation, but it is likely that his motivation is to get to know a work that he has heard about many times or that he considers reading it as part of his literary experience. From this point of view, comparing Pirzad with Hedayat or Big Alavi should be done with caution. The sale of a new novel by a contemporary author cannot be put on the same level as the sale of a new edition of a classic work. The age of the book, the type of audience, the method of presentation and its cultural function are different. Despite this, the juxtaposition of these titles shows that the author's name and the literary history of the work can both be present in the audience's decision to choose a book.
How does literary credit become market demand?
Literary credit alone does not guarantee sales. An author may be respected by critics, but his books have a limited audience. In contrast, a book may sell well with extensive advertising, an interesting topic, or reader recommendations, without the author having a long history. However, the author's credit can reduce some of the uncertainty of the purchase. When choosing among hundreds of titles, the reader usually does not have complete information about the content of all the books. The familiar name of the author, the recommendation of a friend or a positive experience from a previous book may be effective in his decision. This process is important in the book market, because the buyer usually cannot evaluate the quality and full experience of reading the work before buying. In such a situation, the author's name becomes a sign of choice; A sign that, of course, may be confirmed or changed by the experience of reading a new book. Publishing a work that is weaker than expected can reduce the trust of the audience, and a successful book may increase the interest of the reader to follow the author's next works. Literary credibility, therefore, is not a fixed and unchanging phenomenon; It is formed and reconstructed in the interaction between works, readers, critics and the cultural atmosphere. On the other hand, a distinction should be made between literary credit and public fame. Reputation can attract initial attention, but to convert this attention into sustainable demand, other factors are also important, such as the quality of the work, price, access to the book, activity of the publisher and distributor, media introduction and readers' recommendations. In the review of the author's market, none of these factors can be considered absolute predeterminers.
From bestseller lists to reader recognition
Lists of online stores and book distributors provide a useful snapshot of a market segment; But these lists alone are not representative of the entire Iranian book market. Differences in each store's audience, warehouse inventory, distribution scope, list update time, and sales calculation method can affect the result. Therefore, the presence of a title in several lists can be considered as a sign for further investigation, not a definitive reason for determining its position in the entire market. In order to understand the role of the author's credit, it is very important to talk with market participants. Booksellers can explain about frequently asked questions of customers, how to choose a book, and the influence of the author's name on the purchase decision. Publishers can also provide information on the progress of orders, reprints, and initial reception. Along with this information, talking to an author's longtime readers can shed light on what motivated them to purchase a new work. In the case of Zoya Pirzad, certain questions can be asked, have the buyers of "Magnolia People" read her works before? Which of his previous works played a role in their decision? Did the long distance from the publication of the new novel matter to them? Did they find out about the new book through media and social networks? The answers can provide a more accurate picture of the relationship between literary credit and book purchase.
Finally, the experience of publishing The People of Magnolia is an opportunity to hypothesize that an author's credibility can persist over time and be reactivated when a new work is published. However, to turn this hypothesis into a documented result, sales data and reader experience should also be examined. What can be said at this stage is that the author's name is one of the signs that the audience considers when choosing a book; A sign whose meaning is made from the history of the works, the memory of the readers and the cultural position of the author. Authored book market is formed from a set of individual choices and cultural and economic mechanisms. Examining the author's credit can reveal part of this mechanism; Especially when the release of a new book brings a name back into the spotlight after years away. Pirzad's experience is a suitable starting point for this review, provided that we do not reduce the reception of a book to a single-factor explanation and collect more evidence to understand the relationship between the author and the reader.
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The publication of Zoya Pirzad's new novel after 22 years is an opportunity to examine the relationship between readers' literary memory and the reception of new books.
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