publishing in the media

I’ve been meaning to blog about these things for ages but haven’t found time to create a critical response. But I think it would be remiss for any more time to pass without at least mentioning them:

Overland have had a nice discussion on independent publishing going on in their last two issues in particular. Issue 190 has culture vulture Mark Davis looking at the problems and prospects for independent publishing in Literature, small publishers and the market in culture. Also in that edition are two good (and related) features:Share and share alike by Emmy Hennings, looking at modes of digital reading; and The trouble with books by Jenny Lee, looking at changing book culture, in particular its how it might or might not become digitalised. Both those articles are available to read in full online.

Issue 191 of Overland has Nathan Hollier talking some more about the state of independent publishing; (from the website) he ‘traces the intersection of post-modernism and the free market in contemporary literary culture’. (I haven’t read this one yet!)

In the current issue of Meanjin there is an essay, The Other Way, by Wayne Macauley on Australian fiction publishing. In particular he looks at modes of publishing (small press, self-publishing), funding, and the culture of creating books.

In the Introduction of the current issue of Wet Ink there is what I consider to be a bit of a call to arms for publishers, particularly the independents. I’ll definitely blog about this in more detail (and hopefully the others too) at a later date.

In non-published news, I’ve read two excellent essays on independent publishing in the past two weeks. It’s gratifying to see that people outside of the sector (by which I mean not necessarily working in it) are noticing and taking interest in what’s happening in small press publishing in this country.

L.

found in books

This article made me wonder what sort of stuff I’ve left in my books over the years.

Be careful what you use as a bookmark. Thousands of dollars, a Christmas card signed by Frank Baum, a Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card, a marriage certificate from 1879, a baby’s tooth, a diamond ring and a handwritten poem by Irish writer Katharine Tynan Hickson are just some of the stranger objects discovered inside books by AbeBooks.com booksellers.

Adam Tobin, owner of Unnameable Books in Brooklyn, New York, has created a display inside his bookstore dedicated to objects discovered in books.

“It’s a motley assortment,” he said. “We’ve been doing it for about two years since opening the store. The display quickly took over the back wall and now it’s spreading to other places, and there’s a backlog of stuff that we haven’t put up yet. There are postcards, shopping lists, and concert tickets but my favorites are the cryptic notes. They are often deeply personal and can be very moving.”

The most valuable item discovered by Adam is a letter written by CS Lewis - author of the Narnia series – but his monetary finds have been limited to a $1 note now pinned to the display.

L.

magazine pod

At the end of last year I looked into doing Mini Shots as print on demand but couldn’t find any good POD printers that do tiny magazines. Very few do magazines at all, and those that do seem to be aimed towards the super-glossy, full-colour end of the market.

So I was interested to read about MagCloud, a POD publishing service (think lulu, blurb.com, etc) but specifically for magazines. They’re in extreme beta, are annoyingly only shipping to the US, and there’s not much info available on the site but it sounds like a promising idea.

From The Magizineer:

The web has changed our thinking about media in ways we’re still figuring out. Now we can make media without the bother of putting ink to paper. We can distribute it planet-wide in an instant. And the content can be customized to your tastes, personalized for each reader. It’s so obvious now, but it’s important to remember what a revolution this has been.

But there’s still something about paper. It’s not just because screens suck to read on (they do, but that hasn’t kept us from doing it all day). There is an intimacy about a good book, a pleasure to the glossy pages of magazines, and, ironically, a permanence to paper. (How many times has a website you really loved simply disappeared?)

So what if we could combine the best parts of the web (no waste, personalized content, open to all) with the best parts of print (sexy print quality, permanence, no batteries required)?

For the last year, I’ve been working on a project with HP Labs called MagCloud. The idea is simple, really. MagCloud enables anyone to start a magazine - a real printed magazine - with no giant pile.

If you can make a PDF, you can now publish a magazine.

L.

literary minded

Angela has started off a series of blog posts called The Best Unpublished Books. Part one talks about Christopher Currie and Amy Vought Barker, and it’s interesting to read her connection with the authors and what she thinks of their work.

L.

lit mag love

From The Magizineer:

…I’ll confess I didn’t read it all or this report would have arrived courtesy of the year 2016. But what I did was first rate: erudite yet plain-spoken, aggressively diverse and lined with the quiet confidence of masters at home in their craft. That the pieces keep to the theme yet live independently of it adds two benefits: The issue possesses a unity many magazines strive for yet refuse to admit matters only to them (most magazines aren’t read front to back or even completed) and that same unity makes the VQR feel like its supposed to be sat around in conversation, like a table, instead of read through alone, like a parchment scroll.

L.

fuel4arts

Fuel 4 Arts is a great web resource, well worth taking a look at if you haven’t before. In particular, they provide ‘global arts marketing tools and ideas’. The site has loads of stuff on it - reports, industry data, publications, content feeds, forum, directory, calendar… it can be a bit tricky to navigate through all the content but trust me, there’s some good stuff there.

How can fuel4arts help me?
fuel4arts provides practical information and advice normally unaffordable to arts professionals, including research, arts marketing case studies and articles, trend reports and an up-to-date database of industry contacts.

This professional development tool provides you with access to the broadest range of arts-specific marketing and audience development tools and expertise sourced globally.

Why would I use fuel4arts?

* Develop your professional practice
* Find out how to build new audiences for your art
* Gain inspiration for your marketing efforts
* Save time and energy by letting fuel4arts source and deliver information tailored to your needs straight to your desktop via fuel4arts Direct and What’s New Monthly

Who else uses fuel4arts?
Members are individual artists, arts professionals in organisations, consultants to the arts and arts educators. They share an interest in best practice marketing of the arts and come from all areas of the international arts and cultural industry.

Best of all it’s free, though you do have to join.

L.

remix my lit

The guys at CC Australia are running a fantastic new lit initiative, Remix My Lit:

The term ‘remix’ may be new but the idea itself is time-honoured. Remix is all about taking existing material and making something new out of it. It’s a familiar concept in music but extends to all creative content so why isn’t the literati getting amongst it?

There’s no reason why writers can’t mix, match, push and pull content to create remixed works. And that’s why remix my lit exists. We don’t like buzz words, but if we had to use them we’d probably say we are a web 2.0 online collaborative space for creative people who want to get stuck up to their elbows in remixing!

Their first project will be a competition, where some fantastic authors (including Cate Kennedy, Emily Maguire and James Phelan) will write short stories that are then released so that emerging writers can remix them. Cool, huh? They also have a Remix My Little Twitter Micro-Prose project happening.

L.

better world books

About six weeks ago I ordered a few books from Better World Books, an initiative aimed at saving books from landfill:

Better World Books is a self-sustaining, for-profit social venture whose mission is to capitalize on the value of the book to fund literacy initiatives locally, nationally and around the world. We partner with over 900 libraries and 1,600 college campuses across the U.S. and Canada, collecting unwanted textbooks and library discards in support of non-profit literacy programs.

Basically, they sell secondhand and ex-library books as well as new titles, and use their profits to promote literacy. It’s pretty cool, and a really cheap and environmentally friendly way to buy books.

I bought the three books pictured, a brand new Lonely Planet, an ex-libarary (and out of print) hardcover and a secondhand Eggers for just over $50 including shipping. Total bargain, especially considering the same LP book is retailing for $45.95 on their site.

It took ages for the books to arrive, and I ended up emailing their customer service because I thought the shipment had been lost. Turns out my post office put it in the wrong PO box (I can see how 296 could be misread as 629 - not) and I picked up the package on Friday. My dealings with their customer service was nice and friendly, and the books were wrapped in eco paper and the shipping carbon offset.

L.

bronwen hyde

You might recognise Bronwen Hyde’s name from the beautiful photography she did for the cover of Mini Shots last year, or as the photographer of the creepy Oh, You Beautiful Doll cover. Or maybe you’ve seen her on the interwebs or caught her exhibition at the Brunswick Street Gallery. She is very talented.

And now she sends word that she is offering portrait sessions, for both personal and promotional needs, as part of her new photography business. Ideal for an author photo, I hear you think? My thoughts exactly.

If you would like a quote for a session, feel free to email her at propaganda@bronwenhyde.com letting her know the following:

- Do you require basic headshots or creative portraiture?

- Do you require individual or group portraits? If group portraits, please specify the number of people.

- Do you require the images for personal use only, commercial use only, or for both personal and commercial use?

- Approximately how many final images do you require?

- Do you require the final images as low resolution files only (for web use), high resolution only (for print), high res and low res files (for print and web use), as prints, or all of the above?

- Are you agreeable to images from the portrait session being used on www.bronwenhyde.com and other non-profit websites as promotion for her photography?

- Are you agreeable to images from the portrait session being used in exhibition and / or print publications?

Please also feel free to provide any further information regarding your preferences for the location or style of shoot.

More samples of Bronwen’s portraiture work can be found in the facade section of her website: www.bronwenhyde.com.

L.

indiebound

From Publishers Weekly:

The American Booksellers Association unveiled a new initiative that will replace the nearly decade-old Book Sense. IndieBound, seen by ABA as more comprehensive than the Book Sense marketing program, is aimed at taking advantage of growing consumer interest in supporting locally owned business as well as businesses that incorporate sustainable business practices.

The ABA site has this info on it:

IndieBound is a community-oriented movement that enlightens the world about the value of independent businesses, promotes those values that make indies unique, and gives booksellers the tools for their stores and their communities to help spread the passion. IndieBound brings together booksellers, readers, indie retailers, local business alliances, and others who believe that healthy local economies help communities thrive.

Yay!

Then there’s the indiebound.org site, which is really nice-looking, easy to navigate and appealing. There’s indie top sellers, a community and ways to get involved, including a Declaration of IndieBound:

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for individuals to denounce the corporate bands which threaten to homogenize our cities and our souls, we must celebrate the powers that make us unique and declare the causes which compel us to remain independent.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all stores are not created equal, that some are endowed by their owners, their staff, and their communities with certain incomparable heights, that among these are Personality, Purpose and Passion. The history of the present indies is a history of experiences and excitement, which we will continue to establish as we set our sights on a more unconstrained state. To prove this, let’s bring each other along and submit our own experiences to an unchained world.

It’s a fantastic initiative. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was something like this for indie publishers as well?

L.