Jack Edwards hits out at ‘snobbish’ gatekeeping in book industry

Book influencer and author Jack Edwards has addressed gatekeeping in the publishing industry.

Edwards is the first guest of series two of Like This Love This, a podcast hosted by Lucie McInerney, and in the debut episode, he shared his methods for heightening access to those who love books and reading.

Edwards, who is a leader in the book sub-committees on YouTube and TikTok, said that, after writing his first book, he has placed his focus on access to literature as “it’s such a gatekept industry” due to “snobbery”.

“I think that there’s a lot of intellectual snobbery involved in literature,” he said.

“I believe all books deserve the dignity of criticism –I don’t care if it’s a fluffy romance, if it's a murder mystery, if it's a thriller, if it's high-brow literary fiction. To me, everything is of equal value and of equal importance.”

Edwards continued: “Does that mean that all of those things are good? No, and that’s ok. I’m not in the business of wanting to point and laugh and say, ‘That’s bad.’ I’m in the business of thinking about how something can be better.”

Edwards, who runs the Inklings book club, said that, when he attends book festivals around the world, he speaks to the organisers about increasing access for those who don’t live anywhere the capital cities where they are held.

“If I get the opportunity to attend those events, I say to the organiser, ‘OK, I want to record them so it’s not just for the 250 people in the room; it’s for the thousands of people at home who might be interested in this as well.’”

Like This Love This is available wherever you get your podcasts, with new episodes released every Thursday.