fed square book market

This Saturday 5th July sees the relaunch of the Federation Square Book Market, featuring a new stall for independent Melbourne publishing. Present will be Torpedo, The Lifted Brow, The Sex Mook (and forthcoming Death Mook), Cherry Fox Press, Cloth Covered Button, Ampersand (once it’s printed) and a few others. By present I mean you’ll be able to buy those publications and meet the people behind them. We’ll have a stall there every Saturday, and be hosting little events too. First up is the Torpedo 2 launch, with 7 writers giving readings throughout the day. Find our stall in the atrium directly opposite the NGV bookshop, come and say hello, have a drink and bask in the new triangular format of the book market, whatever that means.

On Saturday, Torpedo will be launched and readings will take place in Cafe DeLuxe; session times as follows:

* 11am Ronnie Scott
* 12pm Neil Boyack
* 1pm Josephine Rowe
* 2pm Luke May
* 3pm Kris Allison
* 4pm Ruby Murray
* 4.30pm Jon Bauer

More info here

L.

best book launch idea ever?

I am kicking myself that I won’t be in town for this decadent vegan sugar extravaganza - at least, that’s how I imagine it will be… I also picture judge-bribing and sneaky underhand winning tactics - at least, that’s what I’d be doing if I was around to enter my super chocolate cake of amazingness:

Genius.

I’m loving the poster too, it was done by Jason Lingard who you will know (if you’ve been paying attention!) is the design guy behind The Sex Mook and, oh, pretty much everything Vignette Press does.

L.

thoughts on ewf

So the Emerging Writers’ Festival has been and gone. The festival sold out which is pretty amazing, though they re-opened door sales at about midday on Saturday so I think most people who wanted to go and left it to the last minute still got access. David Ryding, the Assistant Directors and all the volunteers put on an excellent and interesting festival. I was impressed.

Programming
I thought the programming was really diverse and interesting for it - the focus was firmly on the craft of writing and covered a real variety of genres, including theatre, lit fic, poetry, comedy writing, zines, performance and comics. And there was a good mix of panels, workshops and conversations.

One of my complaints about the MWF is that the pricing doesn’t allow me to pop into different sessions and discover new writers and ideas, but the weekend pass system of the EWF did, and it was great. (Unfortunately though I didn’t get to as much as I wanted to because I had panels on the Saturday and the zine fair on Sunday.)

A few of the panels got a bit contentious (sadly I missed them!) which means people were pretty engaged with the topics. And by all reports most panels had a lot of discussion going on in them, by the panellists and audience. Like I said, the variety of stuff on really seemed to work.

I thought having a final session where people can Q&A the festival director and suggest ideas for next year was an awesome idea, but sadly it seems like David Ryding and I were the only ones as he was the only person who turned up! (I was packing down at the zine fair.) I guess everyone put their suggestions onto the feedback forms…

Venue
The Town Hall is a pretty amazing venue but I still think its one failing is that it feels all closed off and inaccessible. The Porticoe Room was a central meeting point but it didn’t seem to be used much by festival-goers. The Town Hall doesn’t really encourage lounging around and mingling; it’s so formal. I loved the Scrabble and 48 Hour Play Generator at the BMW Edge though. That’s a great venue.

Festival Hub
The festival bar, FAD Gallery, was an awesome idea and made up for the lack of hanging out points at the Town Hall. On both days the bar was full of festival people, it was really fun and I met lots more people there than at the EWF. Some people complained about its vicinity to the Town Hall and I agree that it felt like a bit of a pain, but the bar was so cosy and writerly that I think it was worth it - plus I had some really good conversations with people walking to and from the bar, so it wasn’t all bad.

Ambassador’s Program
I think this was an awesome idea and seeemed pretty successful. A few ambassadors were more prominent than others but I guess you gotta expect that. Their session ‘Seven Enviable Lines’ was the festival highlight for me. It was really entertaining to hear their different (and same) points of view and advice… which included ‘don’t get drunk and be a wanker at public events’ (doh), ‘don’t wear your pajamas to work’ (doh) and ‘always be prepared for panels’ (doh).

Vibe
The atmosphere at the festival (and bar) was really vibrant and relaxed. I like these smaller festivals because they are all about discussion and the exchange of ideas, rather than the cult of the author, so it’s easy to be apart of the action.

Zine Fair
The zine fair was sadly much quieter this year than it was last year. I don’t know if that’s because of the cold or because it was Mother’s Day or because everyone ziney was at the festival panels but it just wasn’t buzzing.

‘It was good.’

L.

emerging writers’ festival

The Emerging Writers’ Festival is on soon, May 10-11 in Melbourne. The programming looks excellent and there is an overall focus on writing - not reading, not book-buying, but writing in all its forms. Poetry, literature, comics, non-fic, performance… it’s all covered, plus some practical panels and workshops about how the industry works.

Locus are running our starting a magazine skill-sharing forum, looking at ‘the opportunities, possibilities and pitfalls of starting your own publication’. It costs $5 on top of a festival pass. We’ll also be at the zine fair on Sunday, in the Atrium at Fed Square from 12-5.

Aduki’s Tristan Clark (author of Stick This In Your Memory Hole) will be sitting on a panel called Let’s Get Arrested, talking about political writing and the culture of it in Australia (Saturday 4-5).

Vignette Press friends and writers Simon Groth and Julian Fleetwood will also be at the festival, both sitting on the Everyone Wants To Hear What I’ve Got To Say panel, speaking about innovative ways writers can get their work out there (Sunday 10-11). Julian will also be running a skill-sharing forum on poetry and performance (Sunday 11.15-12) and Simon sitting on a panel about writers’ competitions (Sunday 1.45-2.45).

The festival is amazing value at only $35 for a weekend pass. Hope to see you there.

L.

indie publishing discussion

Last night’s Publishers With SPUNC session at the VWC was a really interesting discussion. Donna Bennet was chairing and the audience were very willing to participate and ask lots of questions, which was great - it makes it engaging for the panel!

After Tiggy, Jeff and myself introduced ourselves and our publications we started a chat about independent publishing as it relates to writers. So, what opportunities are out there, how to submit, what to expect in regards to payment, what a publisher looks for, that kind of thing. We also spoke at length about how vital it is to support the industry, by buying independent magazines/journals and going to events etc, and discussed the potential opportunities the digital revolution might offer to writers (and indie publishers).

After the initial introductions I was surprisingly relaxed and enjoyed the discussion immensely. Lots of people stayed for further conversation afterwards as well and commented on how much they enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too. I only wish I could be there for next week’s discussion.

market success

The Sticky Zine Fair last week was a roaring success, as you can see by this picture of the crowds. Lots of people just passing by stopped to have a look at what was going on, which was cool, and there were great stallholders and an excited vibe. Good job Sticky for putting it on (and for the juice just when we needed it most!), the arcade is an ideal spot for a zine fair.

Locus have now done quite a few markets and zine fairs, with varying degrees of success. Here are a few tips we’ve picked up along the way…

Running a successful market stall:

* Get the word out. Help promote the market or zine fair and let potential customers know you will be running a stall. You can do this by your email list, posting it to your blog or making an event on myspace/facebook. The more people who know what’s happening the busier the event will be.

* Make your table pretty. We have a tablecloth and spent a few bucks at the Reject Shop buying plate holders to display our books. Take a look at the table from the front when it’s set up to make sure it looks appealing to passers-by. Keep tidying your table so it looks neat all day. Free cookies or lollies will draw people to your table.

* Be friendly. You have a better chance of selling stuff if you engage with the people who stop at your stall. Start a conversation, ask a question or make a comment about a particular item that they are looking at. This was really hard for both of us at first, because we’re not super-salesy people, but after a few times we got better at it and now we’re fine with it.

* Keep up the conversations. At a non-book market or zine fair, people often won’t even stop to look at your table; books aren’t for everyone. This is when initiating a conversation is really important, because once they know that the books you have are recipe books or graphic novels or a literary magazine, they might remember that they have a niece’s birthday coming up and she’s into that sort of thing.

* Have one or two lines ready to describe your stuff when someone asks ‘what’s this?’. This can be surprisingly tough but after a while you get a feel for what works and what doesn’t. For example, with STIYMH we talk about the cultural commentary aspect rather than drop the P-bomb (politics), with Mini Shots it works best to say it’s a new concept magazine series before mentioning that it has short stories in it.

* Encourage people to pick up your books and flick through them if they want. If they buy, give them a fresh copy that hasn’t been thumbed through by a hundred people.

* Offer a discount. We sell all our stuff cheaper than retail price at markets and zine fairs. Tell people that everything is on special or put the old price and the sale price on clear display. Even if it’s only a buck or two, it can help to sway people’s decisions to buy.

* Take loads of change, it’s the one commodity that’s always in short supply at a market and you don’t want to miss a sale because you don’t have the right change or have enough change. A receipt book can sometimes come in handy too.

* Keep a tally of how many of each item you are selling. If you have a busy day it’s easy to forget exactly how many copies of a certain zine or title you sold.

* Have small items for sale. We take badges to sell for $1 or $2. Many people don’t buy books or don’t have the $10-20 on them to buy your stuff, but will drop a few coins on a little item that catches their eye. We spend our badge money on lunch or use it to cover stall costs.

* Have a business card, flyer, free chapbook or magazine (Emily uses aduki, Lisa uses business cards) to give away. Again, people might not buy your book there and then but will be interested in finding out more. Giving them a card or flyer or something with your web address means you might make a sale further down the line.

* If you send out email newsletters have a signup sheet so people can put their email address down if they want more information.

* Have a variety of things for sale. If you’re an individual with one book, team up with someone else or stock other titles if you can. Many people shy away from tables with just one product on it. I think you’d need to be really confident to take a single title to a market.

* Take food and water. It can be surprisingly tiring standing around for hours talking to people and selling your stuff. If you don’t know what’s going to be available to eat, take food so your energy doesn’t flag halfway through.

* Don’t lose heart. Some market days are awful and you can sit for hours without selling anything. Other days you don’t cover costs. Doing markets with someone else is always a bonus in these situations, because they will help keep your spirits up.

And here is a bonus photo of Locus at the fair:

(Photos by Sticky)

starting and running a magazine

…with Emily Clark and Lisa Dempster

Seminar: An informative workshop for anyone thinking of entering the world of magazine publishing. Workshop-style classes cover everything you need to know to turn your magazine idea into reality.

Topics include: Concept and planning, content development, sales and distribution, marketing, financials and legals, sustainable publishing practices, production and printing, and editorial management.

Emily Clark is the editor of aduki magazine and managing editor of aduki independent press. Vignette Press publisher, Lisa Dempster, has worked as a writer, editor and publisher for print and online media. She is currently producing Mini Shots, a new concept monthly magazine series.

When: Wednesday 12 March, 6.30-8pm
Where: The Victorian Writers’ Centre, Level 1, Nicholson Building, Swanston Street, Melbourne
Cost: $20 (VWC Members $15/$12)

For more infomation please email books.locus@gmail.com or contact the Victorian Writers’ Centre to book a place.

locus on final draft

In a stroke of bizarre coincidence, both aduki and Vignette publications were featured on 2SER’s Final Draft last week.

First, aduki’s Tristan Clark was interviewed about Stick This In Your Memory Hole.

Then, Jennifer Mills read The Lap, a short story that fetures in Vignette’s Mini Shots series.

The podcast is available to download here.

hitting the markets

Christmas is coming and Locus will be running a market stall at various locations around Melbourne and Sydney. So pop by and say hi if you’re in the area.

NYWF roundup

I have returned from the National Young Writers Festival tired, happy and a little sunburnt. Here’s my low-down of the event:

Vibe
TINA in general was a lot more chilled than I expected it would be. The sun was shining in Newcastle when I arrived and a few likely-looking sorts were floating around town and hanging in the park but the throngs of creative young hipsters that I had envisaged were absent. There was a really nice vibe actually. After grabbing a program and getting my bearings (park, festival club, King Street, Hunter Street, Darby Street) I began the festival with a much-hyped Blue-Tongue ginger beer in the festival club. I did not love it. Straight lager for me thanks. The relaxed vibe continued throughout the weekend, and I spent as much time hanging in the park as I did at various festival events. All the southerners were wandering around looking pale and happy, yay for sunshine.

Panels & roundtables
I facilitated a panel and a roundtable (more on them later) and popped into a few others, mainly in the festival club. The events were well organised and generally started on time and were well-miked (except for the Watts Gallery, where I facilitated a panel where supposedly the sound didn’t work; why no one said anything during the actual panel I don’t know). The venues were mostly great. The Watts gallery in particular was a lovely environment to have panels in but like the Emerging Writers Festival in Melbourne, the Town Hall feels a little weighty and important and… stuffy, perhaps. I fully support having panels in the Festival Club because it’s fun to wander in for a beer and end up hearing someone speak that you otherwise wouldn’t have gone to see but I wonder how disheartening it is for the panellists to see people talking and walking in and out during their discussion. Some of the panels and stuff had a few too many people on them I thought - one I did had six panellists and me which was a little difficult to manage because no one got to speak really in-depth on anything.

The programming itself was a bit hit and miss for me. There were a few things that really caught my attention and most were on Sunday (except ‘how to stop writing your first novel’ which I missed due to lateness and ‘google myspace and I’ll come on your facebook’ which I caught most of and was excellent). Unfortunately that was when I was at the zine fair; not sure who thought that having a ’state of publishing in Australia’ panel on at the same time as a small press and zine fair was a good idea.

Speaking of programming, whoever programmed the Radio National broadcast on Sunday night got things a bit mixed up - four high-energy music acts followed by a book reading. Vanessa Berry held her own in a noisy, drunk, hyped-up room of punters but I think it would have worked better if she were first.

Possibly my favourite session was an afternoon reading up in the Long Room of the Festival Club. Quite a few authors did extended readings from their work, which was really nice. It’s great to hear more than a sound bite for a change, and to be able to get into the characters and events in the reading. Highlights for me were Chris Currie and Shane Jesse Christmass.

Mega Mega Schmooze Fest & Launch
The schmooze fest was a bit quieter than I thought it would be. I met a few people but mostly I think a lot of us stood around and chatted with people we already knew. Or maybe most of us just already know each other, I don’t know. It was in a lovely location though, on a vaguely Roman-style balcony in the Civic Theatre where there was a cool breeze. I think something a little more structured would have worked well and forced people to mingle more.

The much-hyped Mega Mega Launch was good fun, though I only saw a little of it. Directly following the launch of the sex mook, we went upstairs to do some readings and stuff. Upstairs was very chilled out, with about 20 people, and we spent the rest of the launch flopping on the couches and listening to readings. Every now and then from downstairs we could hear the shouts and clapping and hilarity; I wish I had seen more of it. The format of MML was a good one. It was done as an awards ceremony, with each publication coming down to accept their awards and spruik their books.

I was a little disappointed that the sex mook was launched as ‘Lisa Dempster’s The Sex Mook’ - in fact, it’s Julian’s book and I am just the publisher - and also that the MC (Tom Doig) referred to Julian, Candace and I as ‘Lisa Dempster, Julian Fleetwood and some girl…’ But on the upside, we had Blyth dolls making out onstage and got a big cheer so I think it all went well.

Zine fair
The zine fair on Sunday was absolutely excellent and Ianto Ware did an incredible job organising it. The whole day went really smoothly and there were loads and loads of people around. We got a really great response to our Locus stall and I personally had a great day meeting lots of people and selling a heap of mooks. My favourite pick-ups of the day were a comic called The Plastic Age and some really quite wrong art stickers.

Bike library & open office
There was a bike lending scheme which was awesome. Open office was also incredibly cool but I wish it was open longer hours; every time I went there they either weren’t there or they were just packing up. But it looked fantastic when it was going, I wonder how many people were using it?

Green element
There was no one specifically in charge of green stuff as far as I could tell which was a bit of a shame. I like festivals with a green program, stuff like getting people to put their butts into old film canisters and take their cups back to the bar would have been nice. The festival club was using plastic cups which was a bit of a worry considering the amount of beer that was being consumed; not quite sure what a workable solution to this would be though. I noticed there was a real lack of bins. There weren’t really many extra bins around and not many recycling bins.

People
This is really hard to write without name checking a whole bunch of people and potentially looking very pretentious or else leaving someone out. But basically I met a whole bunch of lovely, hilarious and talented people and hung out with some lovely, hilarious and talented people that I already knew. If I hung out with you on the weekend and I was smiling, I’m talking about you. (Hi.) It was absolutely the times spent just chilling and chatting with new and old friends that made my festival experience so much fun.

Food & drink
Hurrah for the Hare Krishna’s who sustained me for most of the weekend with their tasty $7 dinner plates of vegan curry/dessert/lemonade. The gals who were running the festival bar must have been exhausted at the end as they seemed to be there the entire weekend without break but they were always smiling.

I’d like to fill this blog with links from the festival but their site doesn’t appear to be working. But here is the link if you want to check them out and start planning ahead for next year.

L.