SnowBlog
31 Mar 2008: Honest Marketing
oh really?
I have a love/hate relationship with marketing. I love the ju-jitsu effortlessness of good marketing. The way exactly the right combination of words and images can connect powerfully with people. But I hate the way marketing departments wreck otherwise good products. How so? Well, no matter how good a product is, marketing departments see it as their job to raise expectations even higher. They wouldn't feel like they'd played their part if customers weren't expecting more than they got. Which is why all of us are skeptical about marketing. Which is why marketeers have to make explosively mind-shattering claims in order to attract our jaded attention. A particularly short-sighted twist on this phenomenon occurred during the launch of Windows Vista. The ensuing court case is dragging lots of sordid details into the light.
Continue reading "Honest Marketing" »
posted on March 31, 2008 01:39 PM | link | Comments (6) | Leave a comment
29 Mar 2008: Hey! I *didn't* enter a prize!
Rob will be pleased with me. Last year I was shortlisted for the UK's Young Publisher of the Year nibbie, which was great, until it got to the evening of the award when my small brain finally started to think about what would happen if I won it. See, not only did you get a shiny nib trophy, but you also had the 'opportunity' to go to India for 6 weeks to learn about the Indian publishing industry. Great - unless you happen to be one of a tiny team running a company for whom the idea of being away from the business for more than an afternoon would require serious thought.
Continue reading "Hey! I *didn't* enter a prize!" »
posted on March 29, 2008 10:08 PM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
29 Mar 2008: I wanna be O'Reilly
Oh they are so cool. Let me name the ways:
Continue reading "I wanna be O'Reilly" »
posted on March 29, 2008 05:01 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
29 Mar 2008: Photography tip
Now I'm hardly a big expert on photography, but because we're publishers we do a lot with images. And there are one or two simple things I've picked up that are useful enough that it might be worth me passing them along. This is a tip about how to take photographs with fuzzy backgrounds. Now why would you want to do that? The answer is that it looks good. Movies do it the whole time. The actors' faces are in focus but the background isn't. The result: you look at the actors and think the background looks arty. Or think of it like this: your first decision is which direction to point the camera in. Your second decision is what to focus it on. And that second decision is taken away from you if everything is in focus.
Continue reading "Photography tip" »
posted on March 29, 2008 11:31 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
27 Mar 2008: Styles
I know some people didn't understand why using character and paragraph styles is a good thing when I banged on about them, but I am living the proof of it at the moment. I am doing some work for a client who has sent me a word doc that needs designing, in InDesign, before outputting to PDF. Sure enough, there's nary a character or paragraph style in sight. So rather than it taking me five minutes, it's taken me an hour for each word doc - and there are five of them - to manually identify and stylise the bolds, italics, headings and so on. So I will be charging them triple, and wasting lots of time. Shame.
I might start to insist on entry standards for readers of the SnowBlog. You're not allowed to read this blog unless you use styles. Hmm, tricky to enforce...maybe I'll create a written test. You have been warned.
posted on March 27, 2008 04:57 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
27 Mar 2008: What cats do all day
Such lazy creatures. A waste of young lives. Tut.
posted on March 27, 2008 02:57 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
27 Mar 2008: My secret shame
Yes, again I secretly entered a prize without telling Rob. You'll recall he finds it astonishing that I can be so busy with the normal, day to day running of the business and yet still wilfully load myself up with extra work which he sees no benefit to - other than a nice pat on the head. But, you see, the thing is, I *like* pats on the head.
He says it would be OK if, for every trade prize I enter, I also enter a competition for something useful, like a washing machine or to have the mortgage paid for a year. Or a hamper. So soon my front yard may be cluttered up with all manner of white goods and wicker.
Anyway, the photo is my entry for the Independent Publisher of the Year nibbie 2008 (the same one we won in 2006). I did it as a website, but also printed out the pages for the judges and put the website on discs for them. And I made my own paper CD cases. Pretty, no?
Fingers crossed!
posted on March 27, 2008 11:32 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
27 Mar 2008: Pet peeve of the day
I've been meaning for a while to register this mini-moan somewhere online. It is ultra dull, though, and relates to part of the ONIX message, so you'd best not click below. Move along, move along. These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Continue reading "Pet peeve of the day" »
posted on March 27, 2008 09:59 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
27 Mar 2008: Movie Night Mouse Release
Skip over this if you're a) bored of mouse talk or b) afraid of mice. But read on, dear blog-friend, if you want to see what kind of fierce mammal Em and I let loose on the county yesterday. The mouseless thumbnail to the left is the hastily constructed mouse nest that Em fashioned so that Calgon, the Murine Marauder, would have something to scamper under.
Continue reading "Movie Night Mouse Release" »
posted on March 27, 2008 09:21 AM | link | Comments (7) | Leave a comment
26 Mar 2008: U.S. Economic Problems
Continue reading "U.S. Economic Problems" »
posted on March 26, 2008 04:53 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
26 Mar 2008: The good thing about bad bosses
not Em
I have had the dubious pleasure of working for a number of awful bosses, and alongside a number of awful people, in my various roles throughout the years. Although they made my life miserable, I really do have to thank them. For it's when I've got too much to do, five or six urgent deadlines all pressing on me, and I start to feel a little bit hopeless, that I just have to think of those people, and a sort of steely resolve comes over me. I would hate to be anything like them, to the extent that if I feel myself start to whinge or feel sorry for myself, I just have to think "No! Mustn't be like X! Mustn't complain, or be self-obsessed, or be pathetic. Mustn't blame other people, or lash out, or feel sorry for myself." And without fail it puts me right back on track. I can handle anything except the thought that I might be like them.
So - deadlines! Workload! Pah! I scoff at you! You are nothing to me! I am invincible! etc. And a huge set of thank yous to those people who I've asked to help me out today at such short notice - you know who you are and you've saved my skin.
posted on March 26, 2008 01:24 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
26 Mar 2008: Google Tip
I use this little Google feature pretty often and it occurred to me that not everyone might know it. If I want to find something in an old SnowBlog post, so's I can link to it, I can use Google to find it, I just preface my search with this: site:www.snowbooks.com. So if I want to find blog posts about rabbits, I type site:www.snowbooks.com rabbits and Google only shows me rabbit links from the Snowbooks site. (If you have a Google toolbar on your web-browser, you may have a button that looks like the thumbnail there which does the same thing. Go to the site you want to search, type your search words into the Google toolbar and then hit that button instead of just hitting enter and it's as though you typed site:www.snowbooks.com.) Best of all, you don't have to type our domain name; you can put any domain name in there. How versatile is that?
Continue reading "Google Tip" »
posted on March 26, 2008 10:48 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
26 Mar 2008: Caught!
It's mouse-a-licious!
It's their insatiable lust for Calgon that proves their undoing. I have captured my first mouse. Once again, there was a rustling in the cupboard under the sink and this time I knew what it was. A scheming rodent had infiltrated my precious Calgon horde. I was able to open the door and throw a towel over the Calgon box before the mouse could super-speed away. Now it's cooling its many heels in a big plastic container, with a few unsalted nuts and raisins for fodder, and its Calgon box for shelter. I think I just need to provide it with a refreshing drink and it should be set until Em comes over this afternoon and we can take it on a walk with us and release it on the other side of the hill. Continue reading for a couple of rather fuzzy photos of my tiny beaver-like captive.
posted on March 26, 2008 09:07 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
26 Mar 2008: The climate change (book) crisis is over
About this time last year, I was looking for a book on climate change. I tried a couple of bookshops, including a major Borders and there was almost nothing. Books refuting the climate change 'hoax' were there, but none propounding the 'hoax' itself. But earlier this week I looked again and there are heaps of books. More than I have time to read. We might not have actually done anything quite yet to avert the coming catastrophe, but at least publishers are playing their part by helping us get informed. I still hold out some hope that we won't actually need to be underwater before we react and books have to be a good start. Thanks, World of Publishing!
posted on March 26, 2008 08:20 AM | link | Comments (9) | Leave a comment
25 Mar 2008: Think of it as evolution in action
Whilst I want to get rid of the cute little mice who sneak into my kitchen, I don't want to kill them. I surprised one today in the cupboard under my sink. It was inside a box, which it jumped out of when it saw me. It had hauled out one of the delicious morsels I keep in that box and chewed open the wrapping. I hope for its sake it hadn't eaten much. They're Calgon tablets and they get rid of limescale in your washing-machine. They will not do a small, muddle-headed mouse any good whatsoever.
posted on March 25, 2008 03:13 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
25 Mar 2008: Birthday treat?
My birthday is on the 4th of April. I can stretch a point and forgive the BBC for not starting the next season of Doctor Who until the day after. I mean it's the thought that counts. I just hope they've got me something nice. And not thirteen episodes of dudness.
posted on March 25, 2008 02:01 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
25 Mar 2008: No, no. After you.
pants
My MacBook is the first Mac I've ever owned. I like it very much. Although every now and then it stops responding, or responds very very slowly, because it's doing something more important. My Windows machines do this too, and at least in their case I'm better equipped to figure out why they're ignoring me. For instance, with my Windows laptop, every time I wake it up, I have to fight a duel with Symantec's anti-virus speed-bump software - a duel which I always lose. I want to browse a web page, the anti-virus software wants to check for online updates - and it's always me who has to wait. This means there's little point in my laptop waking up in 30 seconds, because it might well be a couple more minutes before I'm allowed to do anything.
Continue reading "No, no. After you." »
posted on March 25, 2008 12:51 PM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
25 Mar 2008: Plain English is our key value-added USP
Em pointed this out to me. She was trying to register a domain for one of our upcoming titles and it turns out it was already in use. Now I don't wish to be rude about the company concerned; they probably do a very competent job of... whatever it is they do. But Em and I come from a background of out-of-control corporate-speak and we both needed quite a lot of de-programming before we could talk normally again. Which is why we can be a bit hard on those still under the spell of shiny buzzwords. Again, apologies to the company concerned for choosing them as an example of opaque management happy-talk - they're hardly the only ones - but see what you make of their description of the service they offer:
Continue reading "Plain English is our key value-added USP" »
posted on March 25, 2008 10:27 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
24 Mar 2008: Taking apart the telly
David Jason looking understandably sheepish
As a trainee storyteller, I spend quite a bit of time looking at other people's yarn-spinning to see what works and what doesn't. When I see good work I wonder how the writer came up with it. When I see bad work I ask myself what makes it bad. Of course since no two people can agree on a definition of what 'worked', the answers to these questions are somewhat elusive. But for whatever reason, with visual storytelling, it seems a little easier to make progress in my post-mortems.
Continue reading "Taking apart the telly" »
posted on March 24, 2008 09:09 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
23 Mar 2008: Ha ha, weather. Very funny.
Monstrous snow bunny, courtesy of the BBC
You non-Brit types may not know this, but in this country the weather gods have a perverse sense of humour. Contrast and compare, say, with where Anna lives, in Minneapolis. In the winter snow piles up by the ton and the temperature might be below zero (Fahrenheit) for a couple of months. When the thaw comes, there are a few moments of Spring and then the temperature and the humidity both climb vertically until a Summer of roasting, sweltering mugginess sets in. The air is so hot and close that the mosquitoes grow to an impressive size and an apocalyptic lightning storm is never far away.
Continue reading "Ha ha, weather. Very funny." »
posted on March 23, 2008 11:44 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
21 Mar 2008: Awesome
Last night's Cure concert was just about the best night EVER. Over three hours of complete joy. Here's the setlist (I think, culled from various sites and memory).
posted on March 21, 2008 03:12 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
21 Mar 2008: Kindle figures
I can't find any figures on how many units of the Amazon Kindle have been sold to date. You'll recall that's the handheld e-book reader Amazon have been selling since late last year. It has a screen that lets you read in daylight. And it will download new books over the ether while you're out and about. All we know are these two things. 1) This is Amazon. They put a lot of effort into this so they must have been expecting significant demand. 2) They massively under-estimated demand and sold out after 5.5 hours. They have not been able to get back in stock since. Ever unit that comes in goes on clearing their order backlog.
So however many units have been sold, it's a lot more than Amazon were expecting. And if you look at the magnitude of the launch, they clearly expected to sell a lot. I'm just saying, is all.
posted on March 21, 2008 11:17 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
21 Mar 2008: Iraq in 23 words
Continue reading "Iraq in 23 words" »
posted on March 21, 2008 11:11 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
20 Mar 2008: Red Men review
Here's an interview / review of The Red Men by SciFi.com. Oooooohhh.
posted on March 20, 2008 01:21 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
20 Mar 2008: Do you know what today is?
It's Cure concert day!
Continue reading "Do you know what today is? " »
posted on March 20, 2008 12:32 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
20 Mar 2008: What is independence (again)?
This story in The Times caught my eye, because it's about Bertelsmann, the ten billion dollar media company that owns Random House amongst others and publishes Dan Brown. Turns out they're not doing too well, but that's an aside. It doesn't matter that they're only generating a 0.4% pa growth rate, because they're not listed on any stock market. They're an independent, privately owned company, run by the Mohn family. Their share price isn't going to crash as a result, thus devaluing the company (although they do have a hefty $6bn of debt, which is rather eye watering.)
So why isn't Random House a member of the IPG? Really, sometimes I think that the 'independent' tag is a misnomer. Other companies who do term themselves 'independent' have little in common with what I think of as indie publishers - Faber, for instance. And indeed, some companies who I think of as independent aren't, actually, since they're floated on one or another stock market. 'Small' is a much more useful term. I think I'll use that in future.
Not that any of this matters, of course. Just interesting.
posted on March 20, 2008 10:12 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
19 Mar 2008: It's in the bag (momentarily) [updated]
That rumply thing is a close-up of a rare Snowbooks bag (homemade of course, probably by Anna). It's wrinkly like that because I got it out of a drawer. I fetched it out because I'd cornered one of the plump country mice who sneak into my kitchen. I even got it into the bag. And then I made a fatal mistake and peered into the bag to check my prize. And it leapt out and zoomed away. Curses. So let that be a lesson to you all. In fact I bet there's some wise incomprehensible country saying about 'See ye not the bag'd mouse twitchin', lest it flee thither to yon kitchen'. Anyway, when I finally catch those meeces I'll try to get a picture of them, for anyone who doesn't find fuzzy rodents phobic (if I can do so without terrifying them too much).
Continue reading "It's in the bag (momentarily) [updated]" »
posted on March 19, 2008 05:46 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
19 Mar 2008: Maternity plans
Thought I'd let you know what my plans for maternity matters are, in case you need to know.
Continue reading "Maternity plans" »
posted on March 19, 2008 01:37 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
19 Mar 2008: Snowbooks
Not our name (yet)
For that is our company's name. Not Snow Books. Not SnowBooks. Not Snow. Not Snow Publishing. Not Snow Press. And my name is Emma Barnes, not Mrs Snow (although it would be cool if it was).
It sounds daft to say it but people get it wrong so often that I thought I'd make it crystal clear. And here is how you pronounce it. Here is how you do NOT pronounce it.
Apart from making me bemused, because I thought it was quite straightforward, misspelling makes it hard to track our press and blog coverage. 'Snowbooks' is a good, unique term to search for. 'Snow Books' brings up all sorts of stuff about people in cold climes having to stay indoors to read because it's too cold outside - less relevant to the smooth running of our business.
posted on March 19, 2008 12:18 PM | link | Comments (6) | Leave a comment
18 Mar 2008: TFP Prognosis (updated)
I just read this poor fellow's blog post about the tenterhooks on which he finds himself over the changing status of his publisher, The Friday Project (TFP). Reporting of the TFP situation has formerly focussed on the takeover angle. And then latterly, some figures about the sorts of debts involved have surfaced. Setting aside my earlier thoughts about the tragedy of all this and focussing only on the finances, what would it take to save The Friday Project?
Continue reading "TFP Prognosis (updated)" »
posted on March 18, 2008 11:42 AM | link | Comments (8) | Leave a comment
18 Mar 2008: Needle In The Snow
Not to be outdone by the Great Wall of China, here's Helen, friend of Kathryn at Multilingual Matters, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in front of real snow! And what fresh, lovely looking snow it is too. Why haven't we had snow in my bit of the UK this year? Grr.
posted on March 18, 2008 10:45 AM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
18 Mar 2008: Fiction sickness
I've mentioned this before, but ever since I started trying to write pretty words, I've found my enjoyment of other people's writing has diminished. Instead of getting swept up with the story, I find myself inwardly debating whether I would have used a particular word or phrase or style. How would I have written that? Would that have worked better? Would I be capable of writing that last paragraph? How long would I be able to maintain that tone?
It's entertaining in its own way, but not what reading fiction is supposed to be about. In some ways that makes it a good thing, purely from my point of view, that Snowbooks is trying to point itself in the direction of more non-fiction - simply because it's a safer business proposition. But I don't suppose our partial re-alignment will please 'fans' of this blog, because talk of writing here almost always means novels. But I am perennially interested to know your non-fiction predilections. Since the last time I asked, has anyone tucked into a good non-fiction tome and learned anything juicy or thrilling or mind-boggling? Care to share?
posted on March 18, 2008 10:23 AM | link | Comments (8) | Leave a comment
17 Mar 2008: Introducing Barnes Jnr
Needn't have worried - this one will be a black belt by 15. S/he was punching and kicking like a pro, with a strong heartbeat (like I know what I'm talking about - it was beating, put it that way) and 10 fingers and toes (you could see them!) 5 cm and due 2nd October - the day before my birthday. And personally, I think that's one pretty baby (no bias there!)
Phew, glad that was all positive! !
posted on March 17, 2008 03:31 PM | link | Comments (8) | Leave a comment
16 Mar 2008: Ultrasonic
Tomorrow's my first ultrasound appointment, so Andy and I are Having the Day Off (yes, you heard me) and getting the train up to Big London first thing. I am, naturally, nervous, about finding out whether it has the requisite number of limbs, heads etc. I was talking to my mum about it today, who said that in her day (she didn't use that phrase) they used a brass trumpet. Hmm. I wonder what they'll use in another 34 years time? What's the obstetric equivalent of a jet pack?
Continue reading "Ultrasonic" »
posted on March 16, 2008 08:42 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
16 Mar 2008: Today I have been mostly
writing a website for someone. And I think it's piggin' gorgeous. Ah, if only your website was as pretty and written in just one day. And I wrote snowbooks.com myself, which took slightly longer but is now all zoomy and automated (Rob did a lot of the automation). Phreoooow. Email me if you want me to make one for you (for money, let's be clear.)
posted on March 16, 2008 07:55 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
16 Mar 2008: U.S. Economy
Continue reading "U.S. Economy" »
posted on March 16, 2008 04:18 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
15 Mar 2008: Apologies to Denmark (and to a lesser extent Sweden)
Linking Denmark and Sweden
I don't know much history - certainly not much before about 1950. I was positively disbelieving when I first learned that Britain had taken time out from fighting Napoleon to nip over to Denmark, shell Copenhagen and steal their navy. That was 1807. The ultimate indignity is that most Brits don't even remember it as being part of our history. Anyway, as far as I know, we didn't cause Denmark any real problems for another 190 years. But then...
Continue reading "Apologies to Denmark (and to a lesser extent Sweden)" »
posted on March 15, 2008 10:34 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
15 Mar 2008: MAKE
I love MAKE magazine. It's filled with all the things I desperately wanted to do as a child and was never allowed. (Or in a few instances, things I did anyway and got into trouble for.) It's about how to take things apart and turn them into things that suit you better. How to modify, customise or make from scrap. And reading MAKE led me to Instructables, which is full of step by step instructions submitted by the general geeky public for performing all sorts of major and minor feats of hackery and re-purposing, but it also includes tips on crafts and pets and kids and lots more. I couldn't resist linking to one of the least useful and most surreal of their technical projects: How to assemble a computer inside a stuffed beaver.
posted on March 15, 2008 05:56 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
14 Mar 2008: Meece
If you don't like rodents, then don't click on the cheese thumbnail to the left because that's what you'll get a picture of. But if you do, then do, because I think they look nice. When I went into my kitchen this morning I heard rustling. That picture is what I found behind my fridge. I think I'm going to have to get humane traps to catch these little fellows and transport them out of my house (though in these old barns, apparently they come galloping back). But I'd rather have cute little buttons like these stealing my food and eating my wires than spiders doing whatever unspeakable things they do.
posted on March 14, 2008 08:20 AM | link | Comments (6) | Leave a comment
14 Mar 2008: U.S. Inflation
Continue reading "U.S. Inflation" »
posted on March 14, 2008 07:42 AM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
13 Mar 2008: Best part of a monkey (c.f. slang, monetary)
Here's an offer you don't get every day. If you remember a while back I made a big fuss about Naomi Klein's most recent book, The Shock Doctrine. I think it's important. But the subject matter doesn't interest as many people as it might. So I have a proposition. I have one pristine copy of the book to give away. I also have a crisp twenty pound note. If you are someone who would not ordinarily read such a thing, but you'd be prepared to do so for a free copy plus a twenty-pound incentive, then let me know and I will mail them both to you. Sadly I only have one of each on offer, but it's been bothering me that despite my best efforts I haven't persuaded a single, solitary person to read the thing, so desperate measures are called for. It's beautifully written and crammed full of information you really need to know. Plus there's twenty quid in it for you. So what do you say?
Update: I've had a taker for the book (though they kindly declined the cash). Now I just have to find someone who wants the twenty-quid. (Only joking)
posted on March 13, 2008 02:07 PM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
13 Mar 2008: Foxy roundup
This is rather circular, since their report just points back to this blog, but the Book Foxes have kindly included our win this week in their weekly book round up. Go there now for other interesting news, including a summary of the reporting on The Friday Project and Litopia podcasts.
posted on March 13, 2008 11:25 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
13 Mar 2008: Friday's Project is full of woe
I wonder if the saga of The Friday Project is finally coming to an end. According to their insolvency firm (quoted in a Bookseller article), their list is currently being sold off. I don't believe that publishers sell off their titles shortly before making a comeback. I think it's safe to say that they are being wound down.
Continue reading "Friday's Project is full of woe" »
posted on March 13, 2008 11:14 AM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
12 Mar 2008: CC
Snowbooks hasn't done much with e-books. We've offered them for sale through a third party, but we haven't got creative. We're not exactly getting creative now, but we're thinking it's about time we put out at least one title that that can be downloaded for free. Mysterious author Robert Finn has written a very short novel (around 40,000 words), called Underlife, as a prequel to his other full-length novels. Any minute now, As of now it's available in a few of the most popular electronic formats ready for strewing at the feet of online readers everywhere (just go here and scroll down).
Author Cory Doctorow, who is apparently based at the other end of Amwell street from us (though we've never met him), gives electronic copies of his books away for free and says it does wonders for the sales of his paperback editions. And The Friday Project, who I haven't always seen eye to eye with, certainly deserve praise for being pioneers when it comes to offering Creative Commons (CC) licensed downloads of their titles. (Update: I can only find one TFP title that has been CC licensed. But even if that's it, it's still one more than most other publishers.) Anyway, this is our attempt at dipping our hats in the water and throwing our toes into the ring. Let's see if anything happens.
______________
Emma's Update
If you'd like to offer your own blog readers Underlife for free, you can use this button!
Here's the code: cut and paste into your own html or blog post.
<a href="http://www.snowbooks.com/RobertFinn"><img alt="button" src="http://www.snowbooks.com/weblog/undelifebutton.jpg" width="130" height="74" />
posted on March 12, 2008 04:04 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
12 Mar 2008: U.S. Economic Troubles
Continue reading "U.S. Economic Troubles" »
posted on March 12, 2008 07:52 AM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
10 Mar 2008: Far Flung Needles
How cool is this? Here's a photo of Sarah Bower's son's friend reading Needle in the Blood... on the Great Wall of China! That has to be the most remote location it's been in - unless anyone knows differently!
posted on March 10, 2008 07:54 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
10 Mar 2008: Interview with Sarah Stovell
Read all about her here, courtesy of those smashing Foxes.
posted on March 10, 2008 07:52 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
10 Mar 2008: Exclusive Free Short Story
The wonderful Thomas Emson has written, for you lucky people, a free short story. Visit his author page now, click on the link on the left and treat yourself. Remember, you can also see his handwritten manuscript there.
posted on March 10, 2008 07:43 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
10 Mar 2008: Bookseller blog
I have written a piece for The Bookseller on this weekend's IPG conference. You can read it here. Thanks to Rob for helping me to edit it from something florid and overwrought to something a lot... better.
posted on March 10, 2008 01:29 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
10 Mar 2008: MORE good news!
This is a very good Monday. I'm thrilled to announce that The Red Men is on the shortlist for the prestigious Arthur C Clarke award, in some very fine company. Click below for the full shortlist.
Continue reading "MORE good news! " »
posted on March 10, 2008 10:05 AM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
09 Mar 2008: ITPOTY@IPA@IPG and a speech
Here, Rob, let me jog your failing memory:
Wheeeee! I can't tell you how chuffed I am to announce that Rob, Anna and I, aka Snowbooks, won the Independent Trade Publisher of the Year at the Independent Publishing Awards last night, held during the Independent Publisher's Guild conference. How exciting!
//Update//
I've just got a press release from the organisers, and here's what they said about Snowbooks:
"Snowbooks' award caps its rapid rise in publishing since it was set up in 2003. Judges liked its energetic marketing and publicity and its efforts to build close relationships with retailers and other partners in the trade. Snowbooks' lively website and design service for other publishers were also both praised. "The energy of this energetic publisher fizzes off the page," said the judges. "It's a very innovative company, great to work with, and likely to sustain its early growth in the years ahead." "
Isn't that nice? (And they spelled it right, and got the possessive apostrophes right, and everything!)
Continue reading "ITPOTY@IPA@IPG and a speech" »
posted on March 9, 2008 05:59 PM | link | Comments (11) | Leave a comment
09 Mar 2008: ?
Em was at the IPG/IPA awards last night in Brighton and she just called and asked me to pass on some important news, only I can't remember what it was. I remember she said that her husband, Andy, looked lovely in his new DJ last night. And I know she said they had a lovely walk along the beach this morning. And I recall her saying that everyone was really nice and friendly.
I know there was one other thing. It's on the tip of my tongue. Anyway, if I remember what it was, I'll update this post. Hope everyone's having a good weekend.
posted on March 9, 2008 12:52 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
09 Mar 2008: Unfiltered
Just a little political observation about negative campaigning.
Continue reading "Unfiltered" »
posted on March 9, 2008 10:28 AM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
08 Mar 2008: The good old web
Some days I miss the Internet of ten years ago. In those days I used to be able to order a book from Amazon and get it the next day. Every week that went by brought some new, cool online service. And best of all, everyone was talking about the 'last mile' and how to make it less of a problem. Getting things delivered to people's homes would need a new infrastructure. Couriers would re-invent themselves, home builders would install little outdoor safes where your purchases could be stored until you got home. Concierges would enjoy a renaissance. In those days we were only a couple of years away from solving all those home delivery niggles. But stuck here in 2008 the outlook is a lot less promising.
Continue reading "The good old web" »
posted on March 8, 2008 11:37 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
08 Mar 2008: Limited Edition
There's a first-edition copy of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon that might be worth more than all the others in a couple of years. Was it signed by the author? No. Is the cover studded with diamonds? No. But it is going to spend the next few months in space. It's being sent up with the latest freighter full of supplies to the International Space Station. It's a shame the science in it is all wrong. As anyone reading that particular copy will be aware, because they'll have the evidence of their own senses to remind them of that. But still, it would be more than a little bit cool to own a book about space exploration written in 1900 that spent part of 2008 orbiting the Earth. If no one else wants it, I'd like it as a reminder that along with all the bad stuff we do, humans also puzzle things out and collaborate on some pretty cool projects from time to time.
posted on March 8, 2008 08:05 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
07 Mar 2008: Neverware
Just in case anyone's interested, I thought I'd tell you about a project I've been working on. Yes, it's foolish and pointless. But I've learned a lot. But before I get into that, does anyone have a postal address for Neil Gaiman? (here's my e-mail if you do.) I'm not stalking him, but I happened to read about how disappointed he was with the way his Neverwhere TV project turned out in the mid-Nineties. So I thought I'd do something about that...
Continue reading "Neverware" »
posted on March 7, 2008 03:25 PM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
07 Mar 2008: Paranoia
I know I shouldn't give in to this sort of thing, but the sheer number of people I'm waiting to hear back from is making me paranoid. Good friends, who didn't reply to e-mails asking them if they were OK because it had been a while since I'd heard from them (fortunately they were fine). Business partners (not you, Em) who've promised to get in touch and haven't. People who are mulling over book collaborations for such a long time, I can't help thinking they've forgotten about them. I'm also waiting to hear back on holiday dates from a friend, script feedback from another friend (not you, Emma H., someone else), borrowed DVDs, ordered books. It's silence from people I'm close to and new acquaintances alike. I'm waiting on at least a dozen different things in all. Weirdly, even the spam e-mails have slowed to a trickle (though I'm not complaining about that). But I am starting to wonder if I'm turning invisible. (Hmm. Now when no one comments on this e-mail, I won't know if people are being funny, or I really am starting to disappear.)
posted on March 7, 2008 02:50 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
07 Mar 2008: Cue The Who's "I'm Free"
I don't want to get too carried away about this, because there's nothing special about eagles. They may be symbols of majesty and the glories of nature, but so are stoats and butterflies, in their own way. But honestly: a golden eagle has been just been released from captivity after 27 years. 27 years in which it didn't have enough room to get properly airborne. And now it's spreading its wings and learning to fly again. Literally for once. The symbolism centres of my brain are overloading. Three cheers for letting great big old eagles out of their cages.
posted on March 7, 2008 08:54 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
06 Mar 2008: Giving it away
Allow me to genuflect in Mr Godin's direction and link to a news item that supports his recent advice to the music biz. Check this out: "Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails made headlines again this week as he released his new, four-part instrumental album Ghosts I-IV, at a variety of price points, including a $300 super-deluxe package. He's also giving away Ghosts I at no charge, even throwing the tracks up on The Pirate Bay for anyone to download. And it appears to be working quite well for Reznor, who has managed to sell all 2,500 copies of his $300 package without major label backing or much in the way of splashy marketing. If Reznor's earlier experiments in digital distribution failed to recoup their costs, he's clearly learned his lesson: grossing $750,000 in the space of three days isn't a bad haul for any businessperson." Give it away for free and you can still make money from your most rabid, slathering fans. I have to say I'm intrigued by the possibility of books moving to a similar model, where luke-warm success with a million fans is worth very little, but total worshipful allegiance from a thousand might be enough to keep you in typewriter ribbon and correcting fluid (the retro writer's tipple of choice). My pal Jenn, who already swaps stories for groceries is way ahead of us here.
posted on March 6, 2008 01:02 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
06 Mar 2008: We was robbed
Well, we were, actually. Boy A from Serpent's Tail won the Spread the Word competition. And - guess what - it had been made into a film by Channel 4, had won prizes and was already selling well, in debut fiction terms. Ergo, people had heard of it, ergo they voted for it. From the press release:
"Originally published in 2004, by small independent publisher Serpent’s Tail, Boy A initially enjoyed modest sales. Sales were boosted when an adaptation of the book was aired on Channel 4 in October 2007. ...[Jonathan Trigell's] first novel, Boy A, won the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for best work in the Commonwealth by an author under 35, and the Waverton Good Read Award, also for best first novel of 2004."
I'm disappointed and actually a bit cross. The whole point of this competition was to uncover hidden gems. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
Rob's comment: I think the stated purpose of the award was to find a book 'which inspires debate and discussion among readers' and I suspect a book about a juvenile killer would do exactly that. Even so, there's a valuable warning to be had here, as you can see: don't stand between Em and a prize for one of our authors. You could get hurt.
posted on March 6, 2008 09:15 AM | link | Comments (7) | Leave a comment
05 Mar 2008: Mothernight Star
Top TV star Sarah Stovell, aka author of brand new Mothernight, is on't Internet telly here!
posted on March 5, 2008 09:42 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
05 Mar 2008: Oh My Godin
Eee! Hello Mr Godin, sir. Thank you for leaving a comment on here today. Erm, thanks for the amazing blog and for being so clever about stuff. (Never meet your heroes - you always say stupid things.) Seriously - talk about walking the talk. In his piece that I linked to earlier today, he spoke about how great it would be if people he was a die-hard fan of would get in touch, say thanks, ask his advice on what product to bring out next. And then he got in touch with me, a die-hard fan, and said hi. If I was a big fan before, I'm a proselytizer now.
On to other matters. To make up for all that starstruck squeeing, here's a handy dandy video about a natty function in Excel, called the VLookup. It'll save you hours if you do naughty things like manually complete Excel forms.
posted on March 5, 2008 09:24 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
05 Mar 2008: Too risky?
Risk. There's a lot of it about in publishing. And generally startups have more to fear from the unknown than bigger, older companies. Big + old = stability + reserves. New + little = precarious + financially stretched. So on the one hand, a lot of innovation comes from startups, on the other so does a lot of risk.
We often talk about how the big companies need to work with independents both for mutual benefit and for the future of the industry, but what about independents working together? In the past, I've always liked the idea of us little people helping each other out. But that's before I reminded myself about the sources of risk. If your next cheque is coming from a precarious independent there's a bigger chance that something will go wrong and it will never arrive. Likewise if you're a new author signed to a startup: there's a bigger likelihood they won't be around when it's time to launch your book.
Worse still, if an independent runs into trouble, it might find its smaller creditors much easier to ignore than the larger ones with legal teams. The result might be that the knock-on effect hits the little people disproportionately harder.
This is not just hypothetical. Lately we've spoken to a few people - freelancers and authors - who are probably going to be left in the lurch by an independent currently struggling to pay its bills and fulfil its obligations. I still think it's right to support our fellow independents, but it will be a tragedy if the collapse of one fledgling venture causes havoc across a network of freelancers, first-time authors and independent suppliers.
posted on March 5, 2008 11:57 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
05 Mar 2008: Seth Godin = God
Seth Godin recently gave a talk to record industry executives, and he's put a full transcript of his speech on his blog. I've extracted just a few teaser lines, but for it to make sense, do spend ten minutes reading the full thing. It's a crystal ball for the book industry.
"People don’t listen to companies, they listen to people."
"Interact with your best customers"
"People care very much about the tribal identification"
"For everybody under eighteen years old, it’s either free or it’s something I really want and I’m willing to pay for it. There's nothing in the centre. "
"Magazines are dead...but you can make a fortune with Playstation magazines, PC gaming [magazines], Game Informer, because there are silos of people who care a great deal.Magazines make 10x return on equity of books, you know why? Because magazines have subscribers and books don’t. So every time a book comes out they gotta run around looking for someone to buy it. Whereas the magazine people just look for the next author to write the next article. "
"There is a lot of music I like. There is not so much music I love. We gotta stop making music people like. There is an infinite amount of music people like. No one will ever go out of the way to hear, to pay for, music they like."
"I want to argue that the next model is tribal management."
You absolutely just have to go and read the full transcript.
posted on March 5, 2008 09:12 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
05 Mar 2008: Get it down on paper
Bleuchh!
In a recent survey by UK media lawyers Wiggin, a few questions related to electronic versus paper books. People are more attached to their books than they are to their satellite television, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, social networks, video games, blogs, DVDs, and P2P file-swapping. 53 percent of respondents said that they would "never" or would "hate" to stop using paper books, and another 24 percent said they would be "uncomfortable." 39 percent of the respondents said that electronic reading devices were appealing or very appealing, but 61 percent had the opposite reaction. Hmm. Personally, I'd have liked the follow-up question to have been 'and have you actually used one?'. But people aren't likely to use one if they think they know they won't like it. And until the technology moves on one or maybe two steps, they're probably right.
posted on March 5, 2008 08:28 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
04 Mar 2008: A recommendation
It's only once you've lived with a crappy laser printer for a year or so that you can truly appreciate the wonder that is a good printer. And so I would like to share with you the name of our current printer. It is an HP Laserjet 4250. It is fast, economical, totally robust and reliable, did I mention fast, does duplex, and is all round a joy to print on. Having almost got to the weeping stage at several times with previous printers - and I'm sure you know what I mean - I think it's worth the £475 plus £100 toner. Yes, it's a lot, but *it's worth it.*
posted on March 4, 2008 11:08 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
03 Mar 2008: A public display of ignorance
List the textbook, clichéd uses of the Internet and 'looking up movie times' is probably in the top ten. But here's a thing: I've almost never managed to look up movie times on the Internet. Whichever site I use tends to shut down or start charging. I was delighted to find Google/movies a few months ago, but I just tried it and it doesn't contain any listings. In theory, as someone who thinks they know about web stuff, I should have been planning my cinema trips online for at least ten years now. With that in mind, if anyone can help me finally get started, a decade late, I'd be much obliged. (Bear in mind, I'm not in London or America.)
posted on March 3, 2008 05:46 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
03 Mar 2008: The real world is a scary place
You'all know that Rob and I are big fans of technology, and that Snowbooks exists because computers are our friends - extra kind friends who do all our work for us. And amongst all the warring, and poverty, and corruption in the world at least we can point to the Internet and say 'hey! The Internet! Finally humankind collaborated to produce something wonderful.'
Continue reading "The real world is a scary place" »
posted on March 3, 2008 12:35 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
03 Mar 2008: Pretending to dip your toe in the water
If you let people read an electronic copy of your book for free, will that increase or decrease demand for the printed copies you want to sell? The first thought is that, well, giving anything away for free means someone isn't paying for it who might otherwise have done so. But then radio gives songs away for free and that's seen as one of the best ways of boosting sales of paid-for versions of the same thing. But that's music not books. Cory Doctorow gives electronic copies of his books away and he reckons it generates word-of-mouth and so gives an important boost to his printed sales. Neil Gaiman's publisher, Harper Collins, is just trying it out with American Gods. Except that Cory's books are available formatted for your phone, your iPod, your PDA and your whizzy e-book reader. American Gods is available for your computer screen and nothing else. So it's not really any sort of test. We already know most people don't want to sit at their computers to read a book. Why are Harper Collins doing it like that? Presumably it's to stop illegal copying. But why give a book away 'for free' then? Plus, as Cory pointed out, the book is already available illegally if you want it. He downloaded the whole text of the book illegally (as a test) while waiting for Harper Collins's hamstrung reader to load page one of the legal version. When only eight people read American Gods on their computers, will that prove something?
posted on March 3, 2008 08:00 AM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
01 Mar 2008: Harnessing the awesome power of crows
Could there ever be anything better than this: a crow-operated vending machine? It rewards crows who put coins in it: they get snacks. At first coins will be left around for them to pick up. But eventually the crows will have to search out the coins. And if I may add my own 'eventually', eventually they will learn to steal coins.
posted on March 1, 2008 09:57 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
01 Mar 2008: Dyfed's cat
Lovely new image up at Dyfed Edwards/Thomas Emson's page of his workspace - plus helpful cat! Remember, you can also see his handwritten manuscripts there, too.
posted on March 1, 2008 08:17 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment