Western writers should take a leaf out of China's book

There was uproar in French literary circles last week when a self-published novel only available on Amazon was nominated for one of the country's most prestigious prizes.

Booksellers and traditional publishers were up in arms, with shrill predictions about the death of their industry and the demise of reading in general.

The basis for their frankly hysterical argument struck me as a mixture of protectionism and old-fashioned snobbery: How could a novel that hadn't cleared the gatekeepers of the traditional publishing houses possibly be any good?