PUBLISHERS' PROBLEM

Sig,-The problem posed by Miss Barclay in your issue is one that every Catholic writing for children has to solve. As I see it the position, as far as the British Isles is concerned, is this: If you want to make money, don't write books about Catholics, or with a Catholic background. If you wan't to write such books, don't expect to make money.
It's as simple as that.
Since most Catholics who write for children feet a real responsibility towards their readers, and a definite repugnance to the "silence" that Miss Barclay mentions, they look to Catholic publishers to make it economically possible to write Catholic stories. But Catholic publishers, always striving toreconcile theory with practice, are understandably wary of publishing many books which only too often result in a financial loss. Faced with an almost non-existent market for Catholic "juveniles" the Catholic writer with a living to earn must resign herself to keep the pot boiling on strictly "secular" tales, or else put up cheerfully with minute cheques, or in many cases none at all. As one who has taken both lines I think that from the "writer's" point of view the satisfaction in producing a truly Catholic juvenile story makes Up for the resultant loss of profit. For those who can afford it there is no more rewarding type of work. To write of religion "in general terms" may he unavoidable on some occasions, but no Catholic writer likes doing it. I should think that most Catholic writers would he willing to co-operate with publishers in the matter of royalties. But whether even then an extension of the specifically Catholic juvenile market is possible is a question that only the Catholic publishers themselves can answer. Dublin, Eire. C. M. K.