Smashwords and Open Library

It's a whole new publishing world out there. Here's an interesting discussion between Open Library and Smashwords founder Mark Coker. A brief summary of the ethos behind Smashwords:

"Smashwords represents 19,000 indie authors and small presses who handle the writing, editing and pricing of their books. We distribute these titles to major retailers such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo and Diesel. We believe that authors should maintain the creative and financial control of their work and receive the lion's share of income."

Another Impressive Author Website...

Sue Gillou's book "The Mayan Priest" is currently climbing the Amazon charts and doing especially well on the Kindle platform. Here's a list of some of the promotional factors that have contributed to her success:

Audio Books for All

Apple Computers don't do many things for free (or even allow you to access free things), but the podcasts category on their itunes store is an honorable exception. Within the podcasts are a subset of audio books recorded by an organisation called Librivox. This non commercial project uses volunteer readers to voice classic books in the public domain. As you would expect, the quality of recordings is variable. Hundreds of books have been recorded, and all comers are welcome to contribute. Audio books are also downloadable directly from their website. Overall, a very worthwhile project.

Vale Louis Braille Audio

With little fanfare, another victim of convulsions in the book trade: audio book publisher Louis Braille Audio. A long term client, Louis Braille Audio published unabridged audio versions of some of the finest Australian fiction, non fiction and children's literature. Director Pauline Meaney had an uncanny knack of selecting books that later went on to feature on shortlists and win awards. Operating as a part of Vision Australia, Louis Braille did important work and will be sadly missed.

Note: All of the covers featured in the image below are Chameleon Print Design originals.


Future Books and Dead Authors

Bibliophiles fear the impending death (or serious decline) of the printed book. We fear the often transitory and that the trivial nature of much web content and alleged reduction in attention spans will make long-form fiction and non-fiction less attractive. Even if we tentatively embrace the shift from paper to ebook, we sense perhaps that the very form itself is somehow obsolescent.

The Institute for the Future of the Book addresses these issues in a direct and engaging way, without the dispiriting jargon that accompanies much discussion on this topic. They pretty much skip over the current pallid ebook format and envisage a future embedded into the browser, with the book analogue of the future richly linked to the surrounding intellectual/cultural milieu.

Read more

The M(e)dium is the M(e)ssage

Ebooks are continuing their blitzgrieg assault on print publishing. Book publishing is starting to go through similar convulsions to the recording industry. Unlike the recording industry, piracy is not a massive issue (yet). But Ebooks are not just replacements for the printed book. They are something very different, and will become more different still. If the ebook does largely replace the printed version, designers, publishers and authors will have to make many adjustments. Ebook readers may expect a much more sophisticated and dynamic interface than a print book could ever supply. Their expectations of what constitutes a 'book' will rapidly alter. Content will shift to match these expectations. And unlike the printed book, which took essentially the same form for several hundred years, the ebook will be subject to continued and rapid development. 

Google eBooks

Yet another Google service/business has been launched to very little fanfare. Google ebooks offer a huge number of current titles and also older works now out of copyright. Given that Google has scanned a vast swathe of print books already (outraging many publishers) one would think they have a big advantage over other ebook providers. Their ebooks are only available for sale or download in the USA at present, though they promise this will soon expand to other markets. The formats available are PDF and epub. Most older books are available only in PDF format. In a best-case scenario, Google will provide effective competition for Amazon in this market. Google is often good at keeping entry costs low, and may allow publishers to keep more of the sale price of their ebooks.

Book Trilogy

Our client had written three books that followed a largely linear narrative, and were strongly tied to a single location in Africa (the Rift Valley in Kenya). Our cover designs used that landscape as a reference, bringing in additional images specific to the particular volume in the trilogy. The title typeface is Fairfield and supplies a framework for all three covers.

Selling Your Books to Libraries

Besides being one of the most positive and useful institutions in Australia, public libraries are also major book purchasers (in this time of bookstore bloodbaths), so authors should pay attention to them. Jerry Bell, author of Lighting Up Australia had this to say:

I found that librarians rarely responded to the written word. It seems that those doing the ordering are young, and live on the email, so once I began to email the librarian responsible for the ordering  at libraries all over Australia, I got very positive responses. It also helps to stress if a bit of Australian history is involved, as that is seen as desirable. 

Self Publishing Hints

Although the US book trade is enduring difficult times, self-publishing is more popular than ever. Perhaps that is actually a causal link — declines in traditional publishing lead to increases in non-traditional options. Many self-published books are intended only for a limited audience — the author's family, or a specific group. The Book Designer blogs about options for more ambitious self-publishers. Much of it is US-specific, but there are plenty of ideas that Australian authors can apply to their own promotional campaigns. For a bit of no-nonsense advice from Australia, try this from an established Science Fiction author.

Self-Publishing Author hints: Part 1

Self publishing or small press publishing does not have to be a royal road to obscurity and crates of unsold books. Active, savvy authors can drive healthy book sales. Here are a couple of tips from a multi-thousand selling Australian author:

Jacqueline Dinan, author of "A Woman's War", a work of fiction dealing with World War One, has focussed on giving talks about her book to interested groups. She says that:

  • The book came about because I married a history buff and realised that other than watching ‘The Sullivans’, my knowledge of Australia’s war history, was very limited. So, we set out to write a book for women like me.
  • Writing the book was the history lesson that I never received at either girls’ school that I attended.
  • I present to groups – Rotary, Probus, View, U3A, Legacy, War Widows, Educational, Shrine, RACV Club (they are all keen for speakers)
  • The power point presentation is about the research I did into Women on the Home Front & Men on The Western Front

In addition, Jacqueline was very active in soliciting reviews for her book prior to print publication. Reviewers included the Herald Sun, the Weekly Times and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.

Stay tuned for further practical tips for authors.

Using Createspace

Along with ebooks, print-on-demand publishing is experiencing a period of rapid growth. The biggest publisher of POD in the english-speaking world is Createspace, a subsidiary of Amazon. Like all giants, Createspace is capable of both creation and destruction. It has helped make publishing easier and accessible. However, as both publisher and distributor, Amazon/Createspace has a worrying amount of control over dissemination of the printed word. As one blog commenter pointed out: 

When an editor doesn’t like something you say, you find another editor or publisher. When one distributor doesn’t want to handle your book, you find another. And when one retail store refuses to place it on your shelves, other stores do and reap the profit. But Amazon plays all those roles and, even more important, it so dominates the market that some people think that if a book isn’t on Amazon, it isn’t in print.