Madam, - Recent correspondence might lead readers to suppose that Irish academics prefer to publish abroad rather than in Ireland.
This is simply not true. Some do; some don't. Irish publishing houses continue to publish scholarly books to the highest editorial and production standards, as they have always done.
It seems a pity that the discussion has become focused on unsupported assertions that Irish scholars publish in Britain because of better terms and advances available there.
No doubt that is the case in some instances, but it is wrong to generalise from individual experiences.
Indeed, advances against royalties in academic publishing are low everywhere for the simple reason that specialised books have limited markets. Focusing on advances misses the point.
As to wider terms, I am well aware of horror stories involving Irish publishers - and British publishers too.
The horror stories are not the preserve of any national group: they are the preserve of a minority of bad publishers in all countries. The single reason, more than any other, that some Irish academics publish abroad has to do with prestige and career advancement.
In particular, the cachet attaching to publication by either the Oxford or Cambridge University Presses counts for a lot. Maybe it shouldn't but it does, and it looks very good on a young academic's CV.
The simple fact is that Britain and Ireland constitute a single market for books of all kinds, as the merest glance at any bookshop in Ireland will confirm.
Despite the huge gravitational pull of one of the world's biggest and most powerful publishing centres right next door, Irish publishing houses continue to publish across the entire literary range with confidence and distinction.
We are not perfect, and I don't deny that individual experiences can be adduced to our disadvantage, but we hold our own in uniquely difficult circumstances.
We don't expect credit for this, just an equitable acknowledgement of the facts. - Yours, etc.,
FERGAL TOBIN, Publishing Director, Gill & Macmillan, President, CLÉ: Irish Book Publishers' Association, Parnell Square, Dublin 1.
Madam, - I wholeheartedly agree with the views expressed by Cork University Press in today's letters (Oct 28th). Diarmaid Ferriter's comments on Irish publishing are opportunistic and inaccurate. Why didn't he give his book the title: Writes, Leaves, and Shoots?
The second comma is optional, I think. - Yours, etc.,
EDWIN HIGEL, Publisher, New Island, Dublin, Dundrum Rd, Dublin 14.