A meeting with the author and a presale of the novel will be held on Thursday, 3 December, at 6:00 p.m. at CIK Orzeł. Admission is free.
"Joachim" – the novel published in 2013 won the hearts of many readers in Poland. The continuation, "Joachim Zemsta", has a crime storyline, but it also features many favourite characters from the first part of the book. There is the official Teodor, the feminist and local journalist Diana, as well as the devout Catholic Grandma Róża and her gnome.
The literary platform Reading Space was the first to publish an excerpt from the novel. It is a service supporting authors. Below is an interview with the service’s creators, containing plenty of interesting information for literature lovers and creators of all ages.
The Reading Space team consists of three editors with more than 10 years of experience in the profession. In addition to their work, Ewa, Daniel and Asia are united by a passion for literature and a desire to promote books by Polish writers.
What is the Reading Space platform, and how do you differ from other literary services, blogs or publishers’ websites?
Reading Space is not a typical literary service where you can open an account and then upload whatever you want to the website. Nor do we focus on book reviews, as many bloggers do. Here, excerpts accompanied by summaries play the main role – anyone can read them and form their own opinion. We will be pleased if they share it in a comment. We are not affiliated with a particular publishing house, so our recommendations are not limited exclusively to the catalogue of one of them.
We promote not only books, but also authors. We interview them, asking about their working style, when they find time to write, what inspires them, and so on. We assist them in their careers by recording literary debuts and subsequent achievements and sending information about them to the press. Our literary service aims to connect not only authors and readers, but also publishers. We are preparing a newsletter addressed to the latter.
Thanks to Reading Space, publishers have the opportunity to read excerpts from novels that have not yet been published anywhere and to check, directly on the website, what opinions accompany them. We also invite publishers to “test” excerpts from works in which they are interested but whose publication they have not yet decided on definitively. Reading Space is also a good place to present books that have just been released.
What was the idea behind creating such a platform?
We believe that Polish literature – both the “highest-brow” kind and so-called popular literature – needs support. It competes on the market with a mass of translated novels, many of which are by no means distinguished by great artistic value, quite the contrary in many cases. Yet they are published because, for many publishing houses, buying a licence is an easier and cheaper solution than investing in largely unknown Polish authors, let alone debut writers and building their position. In addition, the marketing support provided by foreign publishing houses and literary agencies plays a significant role.
The lot of a beginning, and not only beginning, writer in Poland is not easy. Some publish their works at their own expense and then have trouble reaching readers and promoting their book. Those who work with publishing houses sometimes face similar difficulties. It often turns out that publication is only the first step, and many books end their journey at that step. Without promotion, advertising, marketing support and so on, they disappear in the flood of titles originating mainly “from abroad”.
We therefore created Reading Space because we want to promote interesting books, including those from the so-called popular genres, as well as authors whose work we like.
What benefits does a reader visiting your website receive?
At www.readingspace.pl, in addition to summaries of published and unpublished books, you can read excerpts and submit a request for the complete work or a longer section (the decision to make it available rests with the author). There are also interviews with writers. It is worth getting to know authors, because their experiences may be valuable to someone who dreams of writing their own book but does not know how to begin. Articles with advice on improving literary technique and achieving a successful debut will also appear soon, as will information about events such as author evenings, competitions and so on.
What are your plans for the future?
In the near future, we will develop creative, unusual forms of book promotion, organise author evenings “with a surprise” and thematic meetings. Of course, we are continually expanding the website, adding more and more books and interviews with writers. In the more distant future, we want to translate and “export” Polish literature abroad; hence the English name of the service – it is forward-looking.
What can you already boast about?
For now, the idea, because we have only just launched – a week ago. Ask us that question in a year. But even now we can say that we are pleased because we immediately attracted many talented authors to work with us.
We invite you to like the Reading Space fan page on Facebook.