Fantasy

Will the coming hard economic times mean the end of the rise and rise of fantasy?

Schoolyard dialogue

I've been reading books and manuscript with schoolyard settings and I'm interested to note that so much of these books are driven by dialogue, more so than other YA books. I'm wondering whether historical fiction has more explanatory background - and less dialogue?

new clause in Random UK's author contract for children's books

Can an author then terminate a contract if a publisher chooses to publish a book or an author which damages by association the author's reputation as a person suitable to work with or be associated with children?

The UK publishers seem to be determinedly on a course of irritating and aggravating children's authors.

entertainment law

The Age was entertaining in terms of publishing law this morning.

Harry Nicolaides is being held in remand in Bangkok for insulting the crown (the technical charge is the nicely old -fashioned, if not a little medieval, "Lese Majeste". In 2005 he wrote and published a novel Versimilitude in which he criticised the Thai crown prince. A warrant was issued in March this year but Nicolaides was unaware of it. Nicolaides said only 50 copies were printed and on seven were sold. There's a good amount of self-promotion on the web about the book, couched in breathlessly enthusiastic terms. If the Thai government wanted to promote the little known book and air its claims to a wide audience, arresting Nicolaides has achieved that.

RDR Books in Michigan lost its case to publisher the Harry Potter lexicon.
"The Lexicon contains a troubling amount of direct quotation or close paraphrasing of Rowling's original language. More often the original language is copied without quotation marks. Because the Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling's creative work for it's purposes as a reference guide, a permanent injunction must be issued to prevent the possible proliferation of works that do the same." Judge Robert Patterson.

PS the Booker shortlist:
Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole (Australia)
Aravind Adig,a The White Tiger (India)
Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies (india)
Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture (Ireland)
Linda Grant, The Clothes on Their Backs (Britain)
Phillip Hensher, The Northern Clemency (Britain)

Didgeridoo offence

Interesting and challenging.

And for a little more detail.

How accurate does historical fiction need to be?

new conservatism

If I'm hearing correctly, there is a rising new conservatism among librarians in schools (including government schools) with Islamic students about exposed flesh on book covers - and about sexual language between the covers.

More so than in the recent past, librarians seem not to be buying material that could offend for fear of parental complaint. And it's true of many schools, that explicitly declare themselves to be Christian.

The Jewel of Medina

Now that's interesting …

worth …

a read

police English

I found this excellent example of the oddly imprecise precision of police English in today's Age:

"When he saw the police he turned the gun on himself and he is now deceased."

Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bronson

The age-ranging debate is certainly an interesting one

I just can't see that age-banding on the backs of books will actually persuade people who don't buy books (for children) to go out and buy them.

From another English commenter:

From my years of sales experience at Walker Books I found all level of age banding on shelves, displays, removable stickers simply did not achieve a great result. The majority of booksellers in the large stores would run a mile to avoid 'that messy kids section'!

Which left me feeling that my sense that booksellers often undercook the kids section was absolutely right.

age ranging

I liked this age-ranging quote from Alan Garner:

Books are not shoes. They are not shirts. They have no sell-by, nor read-by dates. Their content is a unique creative interaction between text and reader. The evidence of my correspondence files going back nearly half a century show an age span of more than sixty years of people willing to engage and re-engage with the same titles. Whoever devised age banding knows how to sell detergents.

Statistics from a somewhat comparable country

Here's some snapshot Canadian publishing statistics from Statistics Canada.

From 2005 to 2006 operating revenues dropped 1.2% after a 3.2% in 2005. Expenses were up almost 1% and added all together the profit was down to 10.3% from 12.1%.

So up a little, down a little - just statistical noise for me.

The more interesting bit was that the export of books was up - and the Canadians seem to have been working hard on this, harder than the Australians and it seems to be paying off.

And even more interesting: while household were spending less on books, magazines and periodicals the trend has been for quite a bit more on books (average household spending on books rose from $86 in 1998 to $111 in 2005).

top publishers

The top 7 publishers in the world by 2007 revenue are:

1 Thomson

2 Pearson

3 Bertelsman

4 Reed Elsevier

5 Wolters Kluwer

6 Hachette Livre

7 Planeta + Editis

which to me shows the strength of educational (i.e. non-trade) publishing

Greenwash

There's a lot of greenwash slopping around (including a bit among publishers - the best contribution would in some cases just not to publish that unnecessary bit of consumer flummery that no-one really benefits from). The best example of greenwashing I've come across recently is the Marbig Enviro Box - just the same old cardboard box - it's just as recyclable as the Strong Archive Box and the Super Strong Archive Box, which are also in the Marbig lines,, and made from just as much recycled board (100%) -  but excitingly it's been given a new environmental friendly name.

back to paper

I had a drink with my an illustrator friend the other night, down at the Builder's Arms. He announced that having been down the electronic route but he'd returned to paper. He'd found that the micromovements of electronic rendering on a tablet could place an strain on very specific muscles in the arm. I've always associated muscle damage to Herculean physical efforts involving big weights - the thought of tiny little repetitious movements doing damage was a surprise.

He added that he was enjoying painting on paper, especially enjoying the textural feel of bristles crossing paper, the resistance the paper gave to a brush full of paint - and also, even more importantly, the little accidents that happen on paper that change the path of an illustration, which don't happen when working electronically.

I would like to quote from our forthcoming Monsieur Rat (August): "Even when you are sure of where you are going , you can still stumble and change direction."

I'm wonder how much of a back-to-paper trend there is. We doing more scan now than we were doing say a year ago.

PS

"Storyliners are the true heroes of any soap" quote from a Facebook group, quoted in the Green Guide.

state of Australian TV writng

When cleaning up my office I came across an old "Green Guide" article about television writers - along the unsung-heroes line. I was interested in it enough to tear it out and save it for later, and later is now. First some interesting facts and figures: of the 600 full members of the Australian Writers Guild 190 are in Melbourne but only 25-30 would consider themselves in full-time employment as writers. [conclusion: the full-time writer in any industry is a lucky bird] "If you've written 6 hours of television in a year you've had a good year," according to Jacqueline Woodman, the Guild's director. She goes on to say:
"You have to be prepared to be what's called a jobbing writer. If you want to be an artiste then you won't get work all the tim. If you only want to work on your own ideas then there's no way you can make a full-time living as a writer. You have to be prepared to write other people's ideas as well to pay the bills. That's also how you learn and hone your craft.
That's one of the big mistakes amateurs make, only wanting to work on their script or their life story or their one big idea. The ones who make a living have done all sorts."

And apparently the local industry here is healthier than it has been for sometime and Peter Gawler, Underbelly writer, is seeing a shift towards scripts with an Australian voice.  He says, "We do have our own style of telling stories in this country.  I don't think we are terribly good at high concepts. We're much better at a form of social realism the refects the Australian no-bullshit no-fuss approach." I wonder whether that is reflected in our literature, especially our children's literature. 

Woodside

But Woodside is also the nation’s largest single-location polluter: it emits at least 12,000 tonnes of nitric oxides and 15 million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year, among many other pollutants.

Australian Rock Art Research Association

remit is the business buzz word of the moment?

… and with a definition somewhat more and somewhat less than its previous meaning. Here's but one example I came across recently: "comprises four divisions with different publishing remits" It's come to mean something like a brief or scope or terms of reference, though it is vague and self-important while sounding very technical and precise. Maybe its a word favoured by remittance "men"?

Age-ranging on the back of children's books

There's been much discussion about age-ranging on the backs of children's book, both here and in the UK, where the suggestion has originated.

Here's a link and here.
and the lovely Emma of Snowbooks has this to say.

I heard that one bookseller was circulating a petition against it at the ABA conference on the weekend. We (black dog) aren't thrilled about it - short-term gain for long-term loss is our feeling. It may (and there doesn't seem to be that much proof of even this) sell more books now; but at the cost of selling more books later. Also I can't see that research done in the UK has relevance to our quite different market here. Maybe colonialism isn't as dead as it should be.

But Variety had a view on film ratings that's interesting in this context:
"a new twist on the PG-13 rating -- one that strongly cautions not only those under 13 but anyone much above it, too.

more on Fishpond

I've been looking at the fishpond.com.au website, and I've been feeling a little put out.

My reading of what I am seeing is that while fishpond says it is an Australasian bookseller "to be proud of" it is not all that enthusiastic about supporting Australian publishers.

When I looked up Possum Magic today I was first offered on screen the US edition and the other editions mentioned are from the UK but I couldn't find a reference to any of the Scholastic Australia editions. Boo to a Goose has the US edition listed first at a discount and then if you click through you are offered the Australian edition under "Other Editions"at full price. You can buy the UK and US editions of Dragonkeeper and Garden of the Purple Dragon but not the Australasian edition. They're now listing our Red Haze but I think that is because I emailed them that it has been shortlisted in the NZ Post Awards - though I've yet to have a response to that email (and they don't list a phone number and the number I was given by Booksellers NZ gave a "no service" response). There may be some issue with data but as they seem pretty uncontactable, living behind an email "wall", I can't find that out.

Under the "AU Bestsellers" on the fishpond.com.au site today (which I'm assuming is meant to be equivalent to "NZ Bestsellers" on the fishpond.co.nz site) none of the authors are Australian and all of the editions are from the US or UK. On the fishpond.co.nz the top pick of "Fishpond Picks 2008" is the US edition of New Zealand author Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip. The Penguin NZ title is listed elsewhere on the site though.

I'm heading over to New Zealand on Monday and I'm hoping to meet someone from fishpond but I've yet to hear back. I like their passionate claim to be an Australasian bookseller but I'd like to discuss how they are seeing they are fulfilling that, and plans for the future.

This is a cute promotion

better world books

Booktopia and Fishpond

I searched our best-selling Dragonkeeper on both sites and this is what I got.





Booktopia is offering the local edition while Fishpond offers the UK and US editions only (which have to be shipped or flown in). A further search on Booktopia showed that the editions that Fishpond are offering of the Garden of the Purple Dragon and Dragon Moon are more expensive than the editions being offered by Booktopia.

for niche players

"There are a lot of people who like trends that run counter" Demographer, Bernard Salt.

He was actually talking about the rise in V8s (counter to the general shift to smaller, more environmentally friendly cars) as a backlash against everything smaller cars represent. But it struck a chord with me - markets often seem to be going in opposite directions at once. And especially for smaller and niche players in large markets, it's a thought worth bearing in mind I think.

lp

I went to a panel session at the Sydney Writer's Festival yesterday and four out of the five writers on the panel had written for Lonely Planet at some stage. In our small pool, Lonely Planet has had a huge impact on our literary (especially non-fiction) culture by giving opportunities for writers to write and be professionally published.

PS I liked the free events that you could just drop in on - and the speakers outside for those who missed out on a seat inside. It gives a real festival flavour (rather than a sequence of ticketed events).

rent-seeking and coupon-clipping

Henry's latest post is very interesting read.

slang & CJ

'slang is the illegitimate sister of poetry, and if an illegitimate relationship is the nearest
I can get I am content'

C J Dennis

end of the current crop of film independents?

It's interesting reading in Variety about the "independents" having been purchased now being folded into the studio structures. Is this a sign of a cold economic winds? Here's a link

but here's a quote that caught my eye:

"Horn cited the fact that 600 pics get released annually as having made the specialty biz less attractive financially in recent year. He also said that such pics have becomce more likely to screen at multiplexes rather than art-house venues and expressed confidence in Warner's distribution side to ensure that smaller films receive the proper handling.

Horn admitted that the announcement's likely to be interpreted as Warner Bros. getting out of the indie film biz but stressed that it will still acquire and produce specialty pics. He cited the success of such fare as "March of the Penguins," "Before Sunset," "We Don't Live Here Anymore," "La Vie en Rose" and "Snow Angels" as examples of the kinds of projects that Warner will still look to buy and produce."

Do Travel Writers Go to Hell

A fascinating and funny read, even if (or maybe because) Thomas proves himself to be the self-involved and self-indulgent twat that he describes other people saying he is in the first chapters of the book.

And it raised all sorts of interesting issues for a publisher. What's fair return? Emma at our local bookshop made the point that eveybody wants the job of travel writer so you get paid peanuts - and that's just the deal. LP says they pay better than most. But if that is less than needed to get the job properly (as Thomas says) is that smart?

Thomas is perceptive an interesting about the evolutionary cycle of a company, especially a publishing company. He sees it an inevitability the growth from the "raw growing" " "clumsy teenager" of a company "not yet in full command of its newfound size and bulk" that still held it alternative and gutsy persona of its early years"when he wrote a Costa Rican guidebook to them in 2000 to what it has become today.

Maybe LP is now the perfect example of the industrialization of publishing described by Alberto Manguel in the City of Words, this year's CBC (that's Canadian) lectures.

His point about LP's influence on developing parts of the world maybe too much of a good thing echoes what Manguel is saying - the machine is more powerful than the intention of any of the parts.

Anyhow a recommended read from me (adults only).

Treasure fever

At the book shop, Miles (my 8 year old) brought Andy Griffiths latest "Treasure Fever" up to the counter and asked if there was an edition without the pencil case shrinked wrapped on the back, which surprised me. I don't want to be a snob and I have no objection to finding ways to encourage kids to buy books (and here's hoping they then read them) but I was surprised he didn't want the "treasure". There was no option though and we left with the pencil case as well as the book. I questioned him about it and he said he thought the pencil case didn't look cool and it would just be junk. When we got home he stripped off the shrink wrapping and folded the pencil case out and found it to be bigger than he'd first expected and decide it was cool after all. (Now I'm wondering whether the satisfaction with the pencil case will stop him reading the book. I'll see what happens and let you know.)

Writers v authors

I'm wondering whether the distinction between an author and a writer in the book publishing context is the difference between a royalty and a fee. Are Lonely Planet authors really just writers now they no longer pay royalties?

romance of the book

Websites, blogs, interactive CD-roms, audio books, electronic books - none (as yet) excite the love and passion that the book does.

children's non-fiction and the internet

narrative children's nonfiction

missing children's non-fiction

It surprises me how little Australian children's nonfiction is published. Nonfiction seems to me to be something culturally important. On those grounds adult nonfiction is supported, but I don't sense anything like the same level of support for children's nonfiction.

Is it that we can't sell our non-fiction overseas? We're not doing much children's nonfiction on Australian topics. Much less it seems to me than New Zealand or Canadians do about themselves. We do even less non-fiction on topics of interest to other parts of the world. Do we lack the confidence in our factual knowledge? Is it a part of our cultural cringe?

I know that publishers argue that nonfiction is more expensive to design and print, so you're having to invest more and, even successful, children's nonfiction peaks in sales and then drops away while successful fiction has the support for a longer life span.

double negative, well a form of it

John Atanaskovic of Atanaskovic Hartnell recently raided by the Project Wickenby tax investigation task force said: "All law firms not irregularly receive subpoenas and search warrants". Is he saying that Atanaskovic Hartnell regularly receives search warrants? I reckon this use of the double negative by Atanaskovic shows why it should be made illegal, well at least its use by the legal profession.

Scribe

Ploughing down through the sedimentary piles of paper on my desk in my regular Thursday clean up I came across an article I'd ripped out of the paper about Scribe that I'd put aside for later reading. I love Henry's passion for books and publishing and found him very quotable so here goes

About the start of Scribe in 1976: "I really wanted to publish books about important developments in politics and society and culture, that weren't flippant or trivial or sensational. At that stage, the idea of a genre called serious non-fiction didn't exist [in Australia. It's an old story about the nature of Australian publishing being essentially a distribution market for foreign based publishers. The overseas-based publishers actively inhibited the local subsidiaries from a publishing program, and there wasn't a lot of interest anyway."

And:
"You will get a bestseller every now and again. Most of the time you publish books that are middling successes or middling failures. They might be books that live for decades, but commercially they don't go a huge way to paying the overheads."

Our list is very different from Scribes but I always find what Henry says fascinating, and much of it resonates with me.

What Les Murray thinks of a blurb:

"… are nonsense — they're all hypebole and hype"

This was in the context of the dustup he had with the poetry publisher Puncher and Wattman (poets seem to do infighting particularly well). If you happened not to have caught up with this.

It's great publicity for Puncher and Wattman and here's a little bit more.

Congrats to Blue Boat

The Dragon Companion has been shortlisted in the APA Design Awards - even more accurately in the 56th Book Design Awards in the section The Best Designed Children’s Fiction Book sponsored by Bloomin' Books. It's a lovely book and it was a challenging brief and the book is now a small gorgeous volume that sits perfectly in the hand,

And here's the complete list:

The Best Designed Cover of the Year sponsored by McPherson's Printing
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Gravity Sucks Daniel New Daniel New Penguin Group
Maggie's Harvest Daniel New Daniel New Lantern, a division of Penguin
Stop Bitching Start Pitching Reuben Crossman Reuben Crossman Murdoch Books
The Complete Stories Christina Moffit Christina Moffit Random House Australia

The Best Designed Children's Cover of the Year sponsored by Hardie Grant Egmont
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Bronco, Fi, Maddie & Me Stella Danalis Stella Danalis University of Queensland Press
Daredevils John & Stella Danalis John & Stella Danalis University of Queensland Press
Ock Von Fiend Luke Edwards Luke Edwards Omnibus Books
Sixth Grade Style Queen (Not!) Elissa Christian Elissa Christian Puffin, a division of Penguin Group
The Shadow Thief Jenny Grigg Jenny Grigg HarperCollins Publishers
To the Boy in Berlin Ruth Gruner Ruth Gruner Allen & Unwin

The Best Designed Children’s Fiction Book sponsored by Bloomin' Books
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Bronco, Fi, Maddie & Me Stella Danalis Stella Danalis University of Queensland Press
Fairy School Drop-out: Undercover Sonia Dixon Sonia Dixon Hardie Grant Egmont
Sixth Grade Style Queen (Not!) Elissa Christian Elissa Christian Puffin, a division of Penguin Group
The Dragon Companion Blue Boat Blue Boat Black Dog Books
The Shadow Thief Jenny Grigg Jenny Grigg HarperCollins Publishers
World of Monsters Tammy Shafer Tammy Shafer Scholastic Australia

The Best Designed Children’s Non-fiction Book sponsored by Tien Wah Press
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Girl Secrets Astrid Hicks, Wide Open Media Astrid Hicks, Wide Open Media Random House Australia
Girl Stuff Adam Laszczuk Adam Laszczuk Viking, a division of Penguin Group
Philosophy for Beginners Stella Danalis Stella Danalis University of Queensland Press

The Scholastic Australia Best Designed Children’s Picture Book sponsored by Scholastic Australia
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Maisie Moo and Invisible Lucy Chris McKimmie Chris McKimmie Allen & Unwin
No Room for a Mouse Stewart Yule Stewart Yule Scholastic Press
Ock Von Fiend Luke Edwards Luke Edwards Omnibus Books
Ruby Roars Lisa White Lisa White Allen & Unwin
The Story of Growl Deb Brash Deb Brash Viking, a division of Penguin Group
Whacko the Chook MAPG MAPG Hachette Livre Australia

The Best Designed Children’s Series sponsored by Random House Australia
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

A Mystery of Wolves: The Legend of Little Fur Marina Messiha Marina Messiha Viking, a division of Penguin Group
Master of the Books Jenny Grigg Jenny Grigg & Louise McGeachie HarperCollins Publishers
Moo: Talk to the Farm Animals Sandra Nobes Sandra Nobes Random House Australia
The Undy': Let the Games Begin Adam Laszczuk Adam Laszczuk Puffin, a division of Penguin Group

The Best Designed Young Adult Book sponsored by Griffin Press
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Daredevils John & Stella Danalis John & Stella Danalis University of Queensland Press
Getting Air Louise Davis (Mathematics) Midland Typesetters Random House Australia
Teeth Marks Mathematics (Louise Davis) Mathematics (Louise Davis) Allen & Unwin
The Ghost's Child Marina Messiha Marina Messiha Viking, a division of Penguin Group
To the Boy in Berlin Ruth Gruner Ruth Gruner Allen & Unwin

The Best Designed General Fiction Book sponsored by Penguin Books Australia
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Alice in La La land Christa Moffit Christa Moffit Random House Australia
Rohypnol Louise Davis Louise Davis Random House Australia
The Raw Shark Texts Chong Weng Ho Chong Weng Ho The Text Publishing Company

The Best Designed Cookbook sponsored by Kinokuniya
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Maggie's Harvest Daniel New Daniel New Lantern, a division of Penguin Group
Margaret Fulton's Kitchen Katie Mitchell Katie Mitchell Hardie Grant Books
MoVida: Spanish Culinary Adventures Reuben Crossman Reuben Crossman Murdoch Books
Secrets of the Red Lantern Sarah Odgers Sarah Odgers Murdoch Books
Turquoise Trisha Garner Trisha Garner Hardie Grant Books

The Best Designed Specialist Illustrated Book sponsored by Lamb Print
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

BKH Fabio Ongarato Design Fabio Ongarato Design Thames & Hudson
Nick Cave Stories Mary Callahan/Tom Hingston Mary Callahan The Arts Centre Melbourne
Shoot Marylouise Brammer Reuben Crossman Murdoch Books

The Best Designed General Illustrated Book sponsored by Murdoch Books
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

A Good Nose and Great Legs: The art of wine from the vine to the table Heather Menzies Heather Menzies Murdoch Books
Maggie's Harvest Daniel New Daniel New Lantern, a division of Penguin Group
Rosehips & Crabapples John Canty John Canty Lantern, a division of Penguin Group
Soffritto: A delicious Ligurian Memoir Klarissa Pfisterer & Hamish Freeman Klarissa Pfisterer & Hamish Freeman Allen & Unwin
Uncommissioned Art Chong Weng-Ho Chong Weng-Ho Melbourne University Publishing

The Best Designed Literary Fiction Book sponsored by Xou
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Old/New World Sandy Cull Sandy Cull University of Queensland Press
The Complete Stories Christina Moffit Christina Moffit Random House Australia
Typewriter Music Sandy Cull Sandy Cull University of Queensland Press

The Best Designed Non-fiction Book sponsored by Better Read Than Dead Bookshop
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Anoraks to Zitting Cisticola Matt Clare, Mono Design Pauline Haas Allen & Unwin
Gravity Sucks Daniel New Daniel New Penguin Group
Sex Lives of Australian Teenagers Nanette Backhouse Nanette Backhouse Random House Australia
Stop Bitching Start Pitching Reuben Crossman Reuben Crossman Murdoch Books
Sugar Babe Christina Moffit Christina Moffit Random House Australia

The Best Designed Reference & Scholarly Book sponsored by HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Australian Protocol and Procedures 3rd edition Josephine Pajor-Markus Di Quick UNSW Press
General Practice Jen Pace Walter Jan Smoeger, Design Point McGraw-Hill Education
Gunyah, Goondie & Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia Robert Klinkhamer Robert Klinkhamer University of Queensland Press
Koala Lisa White Lisa White Allen & Unwin
Printed Images by Australian Artists 1885 - 1955 Kirsty Morrison Kirsty Morrison National Gallery of Australia

The Best Designed Primary Education Book sponsored by Cengage Learning
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Finding a Place: Italian Migration Stella Vassiliou, James Lowe, Vonda Pestana Stella Vassiliou, James Lowe, Vonda Pestana Cengage Learning
Gold Rushes - Riots, Robberies and Rebellions Christina Neri Christina Neri Macmillan Education Australia
Jacaranda Primary Atlas Nicole Arnett Nicole Arnett John Wiley & Sons Australia
Macmillan Dictionary for Children Gaye Allen Gaye Allen Weldon Owen Publishing

The Best Designed Secondary Education Book sponsored by Pearson Education Australia
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Esplora! 1 Student Book, Esplora! 1 Work Book /DVD, Audio CD, Teacher Resource CD Sue Dani Sue Dani Cengage Learning
Heinemann Poetry 1 Ruth Comey Ruth Comey Michael Pryor
New Q Science Essentials 8 Sue Dani Sue Dani Cengage Learning
Shakespeare Unplugged: Romeo & Juliet Vonda Pestana, Sharon Hall, Our Design Company Rose Keevins, Sardine Design, Sharon Hall Cengage Learning

The Best Designed Tertiary and Further Education Book sponsored by BPA Print Group
Title Cover Designer Internal Designer Publisher

Chemistry Tim Sedgwick Tim Sedgwick John Wiley & Sons
Communicating as Professionals Olga Lavecchia Olga Lavecchia Cengage Learning
Marketing Research Olga Lavecchia Olga Lavecchia Cengage Learning
Media & Politics An Introduction Mary Mason, Mason Design Mary Mason, Mason Design Oxford University Press

The Young Designer of the Year
Designer Titles submitted Publisher

Christa Moffit Dress Like a Star Random House Australia
The Complete Stories
Searching for Schindler
The Shoe Queen
Alice in La La Land
Reuben Crossman Beppi: A Life in Three Courses Murdoch Books
Shoot
MoVida: Spanish Culinary Adventures
Jum's War: Finding My Father
Stop Bitching Start Pitching
Sarah Odgers Secrets of the Red Lantern Murdoch Books
Pier
Fish
Incomplete History of… World War 1
Kitchen Classics: Picnic Hamper & Italian Kitchen (series)

animating Penguins

The Annie awards are scheduled for 8pm Friday 8 February (3pm Saturday EST Australia): "Animations Highest Honor".

I'm interested because of penguins. Mark Norman's The Penguin Book is an excellent guide to all the 17 sorts of penguins, and they are wacky and wonderful and ideal for animation.

Both Happy Feet and Surf's Up use the different looks of the different species was used as a basis for the animated penguin' characters.

Surf's Up is up for an Annie and Variety has an interesting article on the challenges of animating penguins. The movie, Mark's award winning book and the animator's comments make a nice combo-teaching tool.

And here are the Annie nominations by category.

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature

Bee Movie – DreamWorks Animation
Persepolis – Sony Pictures Classics
Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
The Simpsons Movie – Twentieth Century Fox
Best Home Entertainment Production

Doctor Strange – MLG Productions
Futurama “Bender’s Big Score” – The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Television
Best Animated Short Subject

Everything Will Be OK – Bitter Films
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater – Walt Disney Feature Animation
Shorty McShorts’ Shorts “Mascot Prep” – Walt Disney Television Animation
The Chestnut Tree – Picnic Pictures
Your Friend the Rat – Pixar Animation Studios
Best Animated Television Commercial

CVS Watering Can – Acme Filmworks
Esurance “Homeowners” – Wild Brain
Idaho Lottery: Twister – Acme Filmworks
Oregon Lottery “Alaska” – Laika/house
Power Shares Escape Average – Acme Filmworks
Best Animated Television Production

Jane and the Dragon – Weta Productions Limited & Nelvana Limited
Creature Comforts America – Aardman Animations

Moral Orel – ShadowMachine
Robot Chicken Star Wars- ShadowMachine
Kim Possible – Walt Disney Television Animation
Best Animated Television Production for Children

Chowder – Cartoon Network Studios

El Tigre – Nickelodeon

Little Einsteins – Disney Channel

Peep and the Big Wide World – Discovery Kids

The Backyardigans – Nickelodeon

Best Animated Video Game

Avatar: The Last Airbender “The Burning Earth” – THQ, Inc.

Bee Movie Game – Activision

Ratatouille – THQ, Inc.

Transformers: The Game – Blur Studios

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects

Gary Bruins – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Deborah Carlson – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Ryan Laney – “Spider-Man 3” – Sony Pictures Imageworks

James Mansfield – “How to Hook Up Your Home Theater” – Walt Disney Feature Animation

Jon Reisch – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Animation Production Artist

John Clark – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Michael Isaak – “Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation

Hyun-Min Lee – “The Chestnut Tree” – Picnic Pictures

Natasha Liberman – “Growing Up Creepie “Creepie & The Candy Factory” – Taffy Entertainment LLC, Telegrael Teoranta, Discovery Communications Inc., SunWoo Entertainment, Peach Blossom Media

Jim Worthy – My Gym Partner’s A Monkey “Meet the Spidermonkeys” – Cartoon Network Studios

Character Animation in a Feature Production

Dave Hardin – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Alan Hawkins – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Michal Makarewicz – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Television Production

Elizabeth Harvatine - Moral Orel “Nature 2” – ShadowMachine

Monica Kennedy – El Tigre – Nickelodeon

Eric Towner – Robot Chicken – ShadowMachine

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

Sylvain Deboissy – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Carter Goodrich – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Character Design in an Animated Television Production

Jorge R. Gutierrez – El Tigre “Fistful of Collars” - Nickelodeon

Directing in an Animated Feature Production

Brad Bird “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Ash Brannon & Chris Buck “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Chris Miller & Raman Hui – “Shrek The Third” – DreamWorks Animation

Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi – “Persepolis” – Sony Pictures Classics

David Silverman – “The Simpsons Movie” – Twentieth Century Fox

Directing in an Animated Television Production

Seth Green “Robot Chicken Star Wars” – ShadowMachine

David Hartman - Tigger & Pooh “Turtles Need for Speed” – Walt Disney Television Animation

Raymie Muzquiz - Squirrel Boy “Gumfight at the S’Okay Corral” – Cartoon Network Studios

Howy Parkins – The Emperor’s New School “Emperor’s New Musical” - Walt Disney Television Animation

Gary Trousdale “Shrek The Halls” – DreamWorks Animation

Music in an Animated Feature Production

Olivier Bernet – “Persepolis” – Sony Pictures Classics

Danny Elfman, Rufus Wainwright & Rob Thomas – “Meet The Robinsons” – Walt Disney Feature Animation

Michael Giacchino – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Rupert Gregson-Williams – “Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation

Amy Powers, Russ DeSalvo & Jeff Danna – “Disney Princess Enchanted Tales” – DisneyToon Studios/Walt Disney Video/Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Music in an Animated Television Production

Alf Clausen & Michael Price – The Simpsons “Yokel Chords” – Gracie Films in association with 20th Century Fox

Evan Lurie, Robert Scull & Steven Bernstein – The Backyardigans “International Super Spy” – Nickelodeon

Drew Neumann & Gregory Hinde – Billy & Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure – Cartoon Network Studios

Shawn Patterson – El Tigre “Yellow Pantera” – Nickelodeon

James L. Venable & Jennifer Kes Remington – Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends “The Bloo Superdude and the Magic Potato Power” – Cartoon Network Studios

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

Doug Chiang – “Beowulf” – Paramount Pictures

Harley Jessup – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Marcelo Vignali – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Don Hall – ‘Meet The Robinsons’ – Walt Disney Feature Animation

Denise Koyama – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Ted Mathot – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Sean Song – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” – IMAGI Animation Studios

Nassos Vakalis – “Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production

Ben Balistreri – Danny Phantom “Torrent of Terror” – Nickelodeon

Aldin Baroza – The Replacements “London Calling” – Walt Disney Television Animation

Dave Bennett – Tom and Jerry Tales – Warner Bros. Animation

Steve Fonti – Family Guy “No Chris Left Behind” – Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions

Roy Meurin – My Friends Tigger and Pooh “Good Night to Pooh” – Walt Disney Television Animation

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Janeane Garofalo – Voice of Collette – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Ian Holm – Voice of Skinner – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Julie Kavner – Voice of Marge Simpson – “The Simpsons Movie” – Twentieth Century Fox

Patton Oswalt – Voice of Remy – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Patrick Warburton – Voice of Ken – “Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production

Scott Adsit – Voice of Clay Puppington – “Moral Orel” – ShadowMachine

Madison Davenport – Voice of Sophianna – “Christmas is Here Again!” – Easy To Dream Entertainment

Tom Kenny – Voice of SpongeBob – SpongeBob SquarePants “Spy Buddies” – Nickelodeon

Eartha Kitt – Voice of Yzma – The Emperor’s New School “Emperor’s New Musical” – Walt Disney Television Animation

Eddie Murphy – Voice of Donkey – “Shrek The Halls” - DreamWorks Animation

Writing in an Animated Feature Production

Brad Bird – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David, Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder & Jon Vitti – “The Simpsons Movie” – Twentieth Century Fox

Don Rhymer and Ash Brannon & Chris Buck & Christopher Jenkins – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud – “Persepolis” – Sony Pictures Classics

Writing in an Animated Television Production

C.H. Greenblatt & William Reiss – Chowder “Burple Nurples” – Cartoon Network Studios

Gene Grillo – Back at the Barnyard “Cowman and Ratboy” – Nickelodeon

Ian Maxtone-Graham & Billy Kimball – The Simpsons “24 Minutes” – Gracie Films

Christopher Painter – Squirrel Boy “I Only Have Eye For You” – Cartoon Network Studios

Tom Sheppard – My Gym Partner’s A Monkey “The Butt of the Jake” – Cartoon Network Studios


WINSOR McCAY AWARD WINNERS (career contributions to the art of animation)

John Canemaker

Glen Keane

John Kricfalusi

Leonie Tyle

That's a nice photo of Random House's new start recruit in the Bookseller and Publisher.

interesting

Variety - what it takes to be creative

Adelaide Festival awards shortlist

"Adelaide Festival Awards shortlist
The shortlist of nominees for the 2008 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature has been announced.

The biennial awards, with total prize money of $130,000, have attracted 667 entries across nine categories. Ten awards are made including six national awards: children's literature ($15,000), fiction ($15,000), innovation ($10,000), nonfiction ($15,000), the John Bray poetry award ($15,000) and the Premier's award ($10,000).

The awards are judged by 25 leading representatives of the South Australian literary community including academics, writers, publishers, booksellers and reviewers.

The 2008 Festival Awards for Literature will be announced at Adelaide Writers' Week in the East Tent on Sunday 2 March 2006 at 4.30pm.

Among the shortlisted titles are:

$15,000 award for children's literature (212 entries)

Home (Narelle Oliver, Omnibus)
Foundling: Monster Blood Tattoo Book 1 (D M Cornish, Omnibus)
Don't Call Me Ishmael (Michael Gerard Bauer, Omnibus)
Macbeth and Son (Jackie French, Angus & Robertson)
Danny Allen Was Here (Phil Cummings, Pan Macmillan)
The Worry Tree (Marianne Musgrove, Random House)

$15,000 award for fiction (147 entries)
Sorry (Gail Jones, Vintage)
Diary of a Bad Year (J M Coetzee, Text)
El Dorado (Dorothy Porter, Picador)
Carpentaria (Alexis Wright, Giramondo)
The Ballad of Desmond Kale (Roger McDonald, Vintage)
Orpheus Lost (Janette Turner Hospital, Fourth Estate)

$10,000 award for innovation (38 entries)
Diary of a Bad Year (J M Coetzee, Text)
Montale, a Biographical Anthology (John Watson, Puncher and Wattmann)
Cube Root of Book (Paul Magee, John Leonard Press)
Someone Else: Fictional Essays (John Hughes, Giramondo)

$15,000 award for nonfiction (125 entries)
The Lamb Enters the Dreaming (Robert Kenny, Scribe)
Sunrise West (Jacob G Rosenberg, Brandl & Schlesinger)
Packer's Lunch (Neil Chenoweth, Allen & Unwin)
The Content Makers (Margaret Simons, Penguin)
The Vietnam Years: From the Jungle to the Australian Suburbs (Michael Caulfield, Hachette)
Not Part of the Public: Non-Indigenous Policies and Practices and the Health of Indigenous South Australians, 1836-1973 (Judith Raftery, Wakefield Press)

$15,000 John Bray poetry award (90 entries)
At the Flash and at the Baci (Ken Bolton, Wakefield Press)
Esperance: New and Selected Poems (Caroline Caddy, Fremantle Press)
Urban Myths: 210 Poems (News and Selected) (John Tranter, UQP)
A Bud (Claire Gaskin, John Leonard Press)
Not Finding Wittgenstein (J S Harry, Giramondo)
Seriatim (Geoff Page, Salt)"

Oscar nominations

BEST PICTURE
Atonement, There Will Be Blood, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men
DIRECTOR
Julian Schnabel, Jason Reitman, Joel and Ethan Coen, Tony Gilroy, Paul Thomas Anderson
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, Brad Bird, Nancy Oliver, Tamara Jenkins, Tony Gilroy
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson, Joel and Ethan Coen, Sarah Polley, Ronald Harwood, Christopher Hampton
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Katyn, Mongol, 12, Beaufort, The Counterfeiters
DOCUMENTARY
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, No End in Sight, Sicko, War/Dance, Taxi to the Dark Side
ANIMATION
Persepolis, Ratatouille, Surf's Up

coded words

I was reading a newspaper article by an author who praised her editor for saying, when asked about whether the author should make a change to keep her American publisher happy, "This is your decision, what you change or don't change. I always say, it's your name on the book not mine." And the author went on to say that's why she loved her editor.

Now my understanding is that the editor has just used an old editorial saw meaning: don't be an idiot make the change, but if you want to be an idiot, it's your name on the book not mine, and that's the name that people will remember." Its a comment often used as a an editorial rejection of further responsibility and therefore a warning.

differences between libel laws

‘In the US, a plaintiff like Tom Cruise (a public figure) would need to prove that the defamatory statement was published with actual malice, which is defined as "knowledge that the statement was false or reckless". Thus the onus is on the plaintiff. This is often a difficult hurdle for a plaintiff.

‘In contrast, in Australia the onus is on the publisher to prove that the material published is true or that another defence is available to it. This is a far greater hurdle to jump than that faced by the plaintiff in the US.'

from the WBN

The "Uncanny Valley"

A topic of some enduring interest. An appealing anomaly, an delightful irony, a conundrum. The closer animation gets to reality the less realistic it seems. The valley showcases the ability of the human mind to fill in the gaps as long as the gabs are big enough to be worth filling. So for example in Animalia the animals are done with greater realism than the humans.

Summer is the season of the short story

… whether its a collection for Christmas or in the daily paper.

food for thought - will e-books go the same way?

"The digital growth in downloaded songs and albums hit record levels in 2007, but it wasn't enough to make up for the loss in physical CD sales. Sales in the U.S. of all albums, digital and physical, dropped 15% to 500.5 million from the 588.2 million sold in 2006. Last year was the seventh consecutive in which music sales have dipped; the last rise was in 2000, when album sales hit 800 million." Variety

novels v movies

"A novel can include a sort of panorama of characters, a little like the Breughel painting with Icarus going down in the lower right-hand corner of the canvas. That's one of the reasons there are novels. That's one of the reasons we need novels and we need movies. A novel can account for randomness and can include a wide range of people whose fates just barely impinge on one another. I can't think of a way to tell a story like that in a movie that I would want to see."
David Cunningham, for more of the article see

Oscars

I wasn't aware but it's apparently true to-line actors choose their films on the basis of a release in time for a peak of Oscar voting.

Maybe it's just that I haven't noticed it in the past, but the advertising for Oscar votes is quite in your face this year. It seems a distortion.

Oz style - 2 be open to a lot of things?

"In Australia to make a living out of conducting, you need to be open to doing a really wide variety of concerts, whereas in Europe you could probably be a bit more focused on the traditional classical orchestral repertoire."
Benjamin Northey, conductor, who collaborated with the Hilltop Hoods and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra on the album "The Hard Road: Restrung".

Christmas shopping season correlations

Greatest hit compilations from the music industry
Hardback picture books from the childrens publishing industry

What other special things we do - sell and buy (as special gifts) - for Xmas that we don't do so much at other times of the year?

The Shark Book is coming in March

Dr Mark Norman is following on from cute penguins in the best-selling "The Penguin Book: Birds in Suits" to another hot topic for kids in "The Shark Book: Fish with Attitude". This is not your usual big-fish-with-scary-teeth book. Mark is passionate about the diversity in the world around us. There are 370 species of shark in the world and Australia is home to a massive 166 of them. Only three species regularly attack humans; the great white, the tiger and the family of whalers, which includes the nicely named bull shark.

People eat over 70 million sharks, or so I've been told, and in Australia there have been an average of 1.2 shark attack fatalities each year over the last 200 years. A swimmer is at a much greater risk of drowning than of being attacked by a shark and less than half of the attacks lead to a fatality.

Sharks are an extraordinary bunch. Some sharks are so small they can fit on your hand.My favourites are the cookie cutter sharks who attach themselves to passing beasts with lips like suction cups, and then spin around to cut out a cookie-shaped plug of flesh. One submersible came back from the depths with a nice cookie-shaped hole in its thick plastic window.

Watch out for it! It's an amazing book.

Mother's Day is upon us (just before Xmas)

Everything is so stretched out these days for those of us servicing the retail industry.(Fashion shops are now buying 18 months ahead and planning for product buying for Xmas starts in the preceding January.) We've just finished our sales kits for April-May — 4-5 months away, so Mother's Day is upon us. In the good old days (before my time), when the books were printed, they were then released, which I'm sure was much more civilized. Now we lock in months ahead and we have the printer deliver to the warehouse at least a month ahead of the publication date — to ensure smooth (we hope) and simultaneous (we hope) delivery to every bookseller. We set our the print quantities for our Xmas books back in May, which meant plucking a figure from the air and living hopefully there after. The proof of that Xmas pudding guess will be in January.

Dragon Moon short-listed in the Aurealis Awards

Congratulations to Carole Wilkinson. The Aurealis Awards short-list has been announced and Dragon Moon is in the running for the Best Children's Book.

Here's the complete list

the demands of reading

I came across this quote on the web on the weekend: "Many books require no thought from those that read them, and for the very simple reason; they made no such demands on those who wrote them." Charles Caleb Colton (1782-1832)

This echoed for me the pleasure that my friend Brian had in his 11 year old, Gabriel, finishing The Lord of the Flies and saying ,"I didn't enjoy it but I couldn't put it down". Brian felt that Gabriel was discovering that reading was more than just an immediate pleasure.

Flying Dragons from The Companion

One of the Dean's beautiful dragons from Carole Wilkinson's Dragon Companion has taken flight courtesy of studio Mancini:

www.bdb.com.au/dragoncompanion/

and it is beautiful! Do have a look.

The mind's antechamber

"The ideas that lie at any moment within my full consciousness seem to attract of the own accord the most appropriate out of a number of other ideas that are lying close at hand, but imperfectly with the range of my consciousness. There seems to be a presences-chamber in my mind where full consciousness holds court, and where two or three ideas are at the same time in audience and an antechamber full of more or less allied ideas, which is situated just beyond the full ken of consciousness. Out of this antechamber the ideas most nearly allied to those in the presence chamber appear to be summoned in a mechanically logical way and to have their turn of audience."

From the program notes to "A Large Attendance in the Antechamber' by Brian Lipson: an amazingly energetic one-man show performed at the Malthouse this year.

I'm reading Olver Sacks's Musicophilia and his many references to Galton reminded me of how quote Lipson had chosen had reverberated for me and in one of those serendipitous moments I happened across the program as I was cleaning my office.

Galton was a extraordinary and scary mind.

In quick summary: "a half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath, anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician." And the discover of uniqueness of fingerprints. I'm not sure that I'd want to always be first thought of as the half-cousin of Charles Darwin.

Black Dog is publishing a history of number by David Demant, designed by Regio Abios, which is coming out next year and will be beautiful -  a union of content and design. I'm sure Galton will get guernsey.

Australian content seems to be doing better

Shamelessly lifting from David Dale:

The Top selling DVDs of the past three months: 1 Transformers; 2 Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix; 3 Summer Heights High; 4 Family Guy season 6; 5 Wild Hogs; 6 Spiderman 3; 7 Stargate SG-1 complete season 10; 8 Happy Feet; 9 Supernatural season 2; 10 300; 11 The OC complete season 4; 12 Heroes season 1; 13 Entourage season 3 part B; 14 Scrubs season 5; 15 Little Britain Abroad.

and this caught my attention:

Every one of our most watched, top ten series in 2007 was locally made: a mix of drama, comedy, documentary and talent quests. Three years ago US drama dominated and the only successful local shows were reality and lifestyle shows.

TVs in Australian households

Approximately 99% of all Australian households have at least one working television set according to Neilsen. I wonder how many of the other 1% have a not-working television. And how many Australian households don't have a book, other than a phone book.

Canadian publishing foreign dominated!

"A unique aspect of the Canadian book publishing market is that 19 foreign-controlled publishers, which represented less than 6% of all companies surveyed, accounted for 59% of domestic book sales in 2004 (the figure would be similar in 2005). One might say that the Canadian book publishing industry is foreign-dominated."

quote from an industry report

I came across this quote that tickled my fancy

"France has two the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older - intelligence and manners." F Scott Fitzgerald

Harry Potter and Star Wars

I found this lurking in my old emails, and it amused me yet again, so I thought I'd share it. I'm not sure where it came from originally.

independent publishing is a nutty business

Driving to work on this fine and sunny morning one of those uncalled for thoughts popped into my mind as I was gritting my jaw about the frustrations of the coming day: independent publishing in this country, in any country, is an insane and nutty business that pretty much defines any business logic and is only made possible by the immense amount of goodwill that exists all the way along the chain from author and idea to reader and that goodwill conversely makes it a particularly satisfying business to be in.

reviewers whinge

A bad review hurts. Not a critical review but a bad review - the smug smart-arsed review that lets the reader know that reviewer is a very clever person, far cleverer than any published author, or any publisher, editor or anybody else involved in the publishing process.

Reviewers generally do a really excellent job and are an important, valued part of the publishing community and fair criticism that includes that good and the bad is good for us and for our authors. We get better no feedback from authors than by sending them a good review.

There are some reviewing habits that get right up my nose though, and they often appear as a cluster. The worst of these sorts of reviewers will writer reviews with all the following sorts of characteristics. (I'll call this hypothetical reviewer by the usefully androgynous name of "Sam" so I can avoid that "he or she" thing.)

1 Sam retells the plot of the book,
2 Sam applies an adult sensibility to the assessment of a children's book, without considering how the reader of an appropriate age would respond to the text.
3 Sam judges all books by the criteria of literary fiction.
4 Sam presumes to know what happened in the publishing process. Something like: "The publisher just printed the author's first draft and didn't bother with any editing."
5 Sam then blames the publisher for a lack of editing rather than honestly critiquing the book.
6 Sam criticizes the book for failing to meet the criteria of some old saw like "show don't tell". I often think that this is what Sam has been taught in a creative writing class and as a clever student Sam has been too quick to ingest it. (Don't write books according to such advice - do what the work itself needs, is my advice)
7 Sam criticizes the punctuation and grammar. This carping demonstrates Sam's superiority to the author and editor. (I'm thinking that Sam is the disciple of an ancient edition of some school textbook.)
8 After reading the review I'm left with the impression that Sam believes that anything done "over there" is far superior to anything done here - with the exception of Sam's own work.

Like Powerpoint Bingo, it would be worth seeing how many of each of these sins appears in each review you read. All eight is a major achievement by the reviewer.

Wittenoom - 1984

Due to an extreme to medium risk to tourists visiting the area from exposure to airborne asbestos, the WA government is closing Wittenoom. Townsite status and placename status have been removed which permits the Shire to close roads and the name to be removed from maps. Quite 1984.

Ezra Pound:

“To use the language of common speech, but to employ always the exact word, not the nearly exact, nor the merely decorative word.”

I think we have too much of the "merely decorative word" in the scripts that come to us. Some of the editorial work we do is paring out the merely decorative which seems almost to be a modern addiction. The thought seems to be If I put enough icing on this cake it will taste good. Nobody wants to expose the story on which the book has been built.

Wild French Mushrooms

It popped up in my email this morning. It was an exciting subject line for an emai. And the body listed such excellently named mushroom as Wood Hedgehogs, Black Trumpets and Fairy Fings

post-colonial pun

I enjoyed this excruciatingly delicious pun found in Elizabeth Street Melbourne. It's in about the same location as the Southern Cross College, so I wonder if one has become the other.

Doris Lessing wins the Nobel

It wa sfascinating listening to her on the radio this morning. She was so matter-of-fact about the win. I guess that's what you feel like at 88. She said, well you can't give it to a dead person.

I do remember reading The Grass is Singing one hot summer's day in my late teens and finding it bizarre (I led a sheltered life) and intrigueing.

rate of change …

It just keeps on increasing a pace in the book trade. Collins have announced they're taking over the franchises of Book City. Well, there you go.

teen genre missing here?

It was interesting (and a pleasure) talking to the charming David Levithan, publisher of the Push imprint, in New York. There is a whole teen genre in the US which doesn't exist here, which David said started when they pulled the teen books out of the children's section and put it next to the adults section.

Helen Mirren

I'm just back from a trip to the US. The whole family went. A blend of pleasure and business. On the first night in San Francisco I watched the Emmy awards. It was quite a different feeling watching them over there than here. I felt I was in the culture the awards were about. One comment struck me in particular. When Helen Mirren collected one more of the awards won by "Prime Suspect", the British TV show she said, "You Americans are wonderfully generous people." [Pause and then, not wanting to sound too much lips on bum, she added.] You're a lot of other things as well. Some good, some bad." The generosity and the surprisingly warm open enthusiasm was what I experienced on the business side of the trip. It was a shot in the arm. [Footnote: Time saw fit to quote Helen Mirren's comment in their quotes column.]

reading the Blue News

Interesting to come back and discover that so much happened in three short weeks;:

75% of Lonely Planet is sold to the BBC
PEP makes and offer for the Australian Borders stores
Allen & Unwin sells its share ADS to Hachette and heralds a move to UBD

RG Madden on design and Australian culture

I wanted to quote:

"[The Ford motor car is] Pound for pound, the best cars in the world - our culture threw that up. You don't have to put a kangraroo on it. It is what it is." And he cites that there are seven Australian designers working for Alessi.

Commodisation is a word I'm hearing a lot

It seems to be a business buzz word at the moment - something businesses should fear. So here is a definition.

A commodity is a product that is completely undifferentiated. If a product becomes less differentiated, so that buyers care less about who they buy from, this change is called commoditisation.
The key effect of commoditisation is that it reduces the pricing power of the producer: if products become more alike from a buyer's point of view they will tend to buy the cheapest.
Commoditisation is a key reason why many growth markets disappoint investors. Sales volumes grow as expected but, as the market matures, prices come under pressure and margins shrink. This is a key issue to consider when picking growth stocks.
In order to avoid commoditisation companies need to be able to differentiate their products with something unique, that is not easily copied by competitors, and which is valued by customers. This may take the form of a strong brand, a technology lead, good design, good retail locations, or anything else that will convince customers not buy the cheapest product. The alternative to avoiding commoditisation is, of course, to compete on price.

I'm not sure how that applies to the book trade.

My understanding of comoditization in the publishing context is the the quality of book stops mattering and the marketing, including the choice of author/subject/celebrity, becomes everything, and the success of the book is then thought to depend on the size of theadvance and the concomitant size of the marketing spend. It's what's happened to a good chunk of UK publishing. It appeals to publishers because it removes uncontrollable variables, like the quailty of the writing, from the equation.

The gorgeously sounding word "fungible" is an allied definition; A commodity is fungible if it is perfectly interchangeable with any other of the same type and class. So a fungible celebrity biography is one that is perfectly interchangeable with any other celebrity biography.

Heyward article in Saturday's Age

I read with interest Michael Heyward's article "Word wise, book poor" in Saturday's Age. It was a spacious and fascinatng review of the state publishing in this country. I found much I agreed with and quite a bit I disagreed with - a sharp and enjoyable stimulus to thought.

First it pips me off that independent children's publishing get so little recognition both in the broader community (including festivals), within government, and even within our own independent publishing community. Michael doesn't include children's publishing in the para "Independent publishing shows signs of life…" (I'd like to see a Books Alive for children's books - start kids reading, keep them reading in the teen years and you build a community of "cuirious habitual readers".)

I agree its a good time for independent publishing, that it was a tragedy that the stylish McPhee Gribble folded into Penguin (they did blaze an amazing path), and that branch-plant publishing slowed the development of publishing infrastructure (but has enable the independents to access excellent distribution).

The economy is chuffing along and the independent publishers seem to be doing quite nicely in its wake. Times are golden for books. $2.5billion at the till, bigger than film ($867 million at the till of which only $40 million was for Australian films) and recorded music combined. The comparison Michael makes between Nobel-prize winning Patrick White selling 30,000 copies in 1973 and Kate Grenville selling more than 100,000 copies of The Secret River is a sign of how far we have come. And we need more astute, quick-witted publishers like Michael, Henry Rosenbloom and Rod Hare both within and without the corporate walls.

I'm not convinced of the necessarily beneficial effects of government spending though. I think the failure of our film industry is in part a result of its dependence on government funding. The need for government spending sent it on a downward sprial,;the dependence on a beauracratic decision-making process has worked against the quick-witted and the astute and favored the earnest. Govenment money is a two edged sword. I think PLR and ELR have been a huge success because they reflect people's choices.

I like Michael's suggestion of a national non-fiction prize; and what about government support for the CBCA awards?

If you missed the article, it is well working fishing the paper out of the recycling bin and having a read.

e book

We have to read Anna Karenina for my book group, and I started by printing pages from a download from Project Gutenberg - worked but a little clumsy, so now I've downloaded the e-book software for my Palm Pilot, and I'm going to give it a shot, reading my first e-book.

I'll let you know how I go.

NSW's Premiers shortlist

A huge congratulations to black dog authors Lili Wilkinson (Joan of Arc) and Peter Mcinnis (The Kokoda Track) for their shortlisting in the NSW Premier's History Awards.

The Kokoda Track is the clearest and most readable description of the experience of the Militia and the AIF on the Kokoda Track. It's not just for kids. And congratulations to Karen, the editor, and Guy, the map-maker.

And I was particularly pleased to see a non-Australian topic be recognized by the judges with Lili's Joan. It's a terrific book - the fictionalized voices extraordinary - and then when you've finished Joan please start reading Lili's latest - Scatterheart

the two p's

I was reading that Hollywood likes Australian CGI houses like Animal logic for the particularly Australian combination of passion and pragmatism. And that struck a note with me, and with why I think our publishing indusry is so successful internationally.

Melbourne Writers' Festival supports independents?

"MELBOURNE is, without a doubt, Australia's literary capital," says former state premier Steve Bracks in the program for the 2007 Age Melbourne Writers' Festival.

&

Melbourne is "the home of independent small publishers in Australia", Cameron says, and to that end she has broadened the festival's focus on publishing. The attendance of American husband-and-wife writers Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida is a coup, not just for their writing but their publishing company, McSweeney, which produces quarterly and monthly journals. "If you're a young writer, you want to get published by McSweeney's," she says.

SOURCE; THE AGE

But not to be published by one of Melbourne's independent publishers? Who, presumably, don't need the support of the local writing community?

Interestingly none of our authors were on the program (not the schools not the kids part). And I wasn't seeing much of Scribe or Hardie Grant or Hardie Grant Egmont or Black Inc on the program. I thought it was these sort of publishers who might be making Melbourne a literary capital. The industry thought so in its awards.

A new sort of cultural cringe?

Queensland

I was in Queensland a week ago, attending the CBCA awards dinner, and I took the opportunity to get out and about, and I was really impressed by the strength of school booksellers in Queensland, and the enthusiasm for Australian books on Australian topics by Australian authors, which reflects the enthusiasm schools, kids and especially the strong network of teachers librarians have for Australian literature (fiction and non-fiction). In Victoria and New South Wales, the teacher-librarians are being stripped out of schools - and we're much the worse for it.

territorial

40% of British publishers turnover comes from export but only 5% of American publishers. An interesting fact to toy with. The British market is a harder market to sell in to than the American.

Dave Eggers opened the Melbourne Writers Festival

Fascinating. Amazing guy. And for a commercial, privately owned, limited-liability-company-publishing-house -challenging. Then to challenge authors - who else donates their royalties to subject/inspiration for their book.

The foot thing was interesting too.

Just in case a few quick links:

Wikipedia entry

McSweeney's Internet Tendency

changing times

There's a halal pizzeria around the corner (perhaps explained in part by the mosque a couple of streets back).

Digger J Jones

I finished Digger J Jones (by Richard Frankland, Scholastic) on the weekend - and I reckon everybody should read this,, adult or child, and it should be in every school and public library. For the originality of the voice among other things. The book's set in 1967 and it's about the referendum. Here's the Wikpedia entry, which is worth quoting in full:

The referendum of 27 May 1967 approved two amendments to the Australian constitution relating to Indigenous Australians. Technically it was a vote on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) 1967, which after being approved in the referendum became law on the 10th August of the same year.
The amendment was overwhelmingly endorsed, winning 90.77 per cent of voters and carrying all six states. It was put to the electorate on the same day as a referendum on the composition of parliament, which was rejected.
The referendum removed two sections from the Constitution.
The first was a phrase in Section 51 (xxvi) which stated that the Federal Government had the power to make laws with respect to "the people of any race, other than the Aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws." (This is known as the "race power.") The referendum removed the phrase "other than the Aboriginal race in any State," giving the Commonwealth the power to make laws specifically to benefit Aboriginal people.
The second was Section 127, which said: "In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, Aboriginal natives shall not be counted." The referendum deleted this section from the Constitution. This section should be read in conjunction with Section 24 and Section 51(xi). The section related to calculating the population of the states and territories for the purpose of allocating seats in Parliament and per capita Commonwealth grants. The context of its introduction was prevent Queensland and Western Australia using their large Aboriginal populations to gain extra seats or extra funds. The 'statistics' power in Section 51(xi) allowed the Commonwealth to collect information on Aboriginal people.
It is frequently stated that the 1967 referendum gave Aboriginal people Australian citizenship and that it gave them the right to vote in federal elections. Neither of these statements is correct. Aboriginal people became Australian citizens in 1948, when a separate Australian citizenship was created for the first time (before that time all Australians were "British subjects"). Aboriginal people from Queensland and Western Australia gained the vote in Commonwealth territories in 1962. However, the Commonwealth voting right of Aborigines from other states was confirmed by a Commonwealth Act in 1949 (the constitution already gave them that right but it was often interpreted differently prior to 1949). They got the vote in WA state election in 1962 and Queensland state election in 1965.

And here's the link to Richard's website: http://www.goldenseahorse.com.au/ http://www.goldenseahorse.com.au/

droll! - this is worth a look

chark blog

microphone

We just purchased a posh new microphone. So look forward to a lot more audio on our website: readings, audio from our pd nights, interviews with authors and others.

Bryson's Shakespeare

I've started reading Bill Bryson's Shakespeare. The sumptuous dump bin display in Readings Hawthorn caught my eye - and I thought, I must have that.

I was at Readings for the Danny Katz and Mitch Vane's "The Little Election". A black dog August release. (A sumptuous jacketed hardback with a NY flavor). Danny and Mitch put on a great show. They ran their own election, with booths and ballot boxes, courtesy of the Electoral Commission, (& boy do they fold up into a neat box.) Millie stood up from the audience for the "No School" party and Tom was all for the "Creativity Party" and brave Rachel stood up and started the "Free Lunch" party. Millie is now PM, by the way.


Little Lunch(es) have always been favorites - and The Little Election takes it to new highs (and lows - but not too much booger humor, thought the crowd loved the sprinkling of it).

If any bookshop wants a fabulous weekend bookshop event: this is it. The crowd was in stitches.

Anyhow, back to Bill. It cames as a bit of shock to be reading the light Bryson tone about such a meaty topic. I'm only a few pages in and I'll blog again to say whether I think the weight of writer, tone and topic worked for me.

Any other readers out there care to comment?

The villages of Melbourne

Melbourne is said to be a series of villages. (The same is said by pundits in most big cities I imagine.) And I'm trying to work out what those villages are. The question arose coming back from Oakliegh. Which is so definitely one village of Melbourne (centred on a Greek influence?). Then I'd nominate mud-brick Eltham; with its satellites - The Patch/Warrandyte/Kangaroo Ground etc. Then Springvale, maybe also Box Hill. Public-servant Northcote. The white-bread Hills - KT says some people grow up, work, marry and die and never come down to the lowlands. The eastern private school village. (Toorak is a village of its own - one which would like to a walled enclave.) Then northern Melbourne: McLeod etc. Is Lilydale a village?

It would make a fascinating map.

Any other suggestions? And I'm hopeful people will want to disagree with my divisions.

And I'm wondering what the villages of Sydney are?

paying your own heating bills

A line in a restaurant review struck a resonance:

"When a chef opens their first restaurant, it can go badly very quickly … Some chefs see it as an opportunity to strut the staff their bosses always kept in check."

Though it's not an exact parallel, it made me think of how few successful independent publishers have come out of the biggies, from corporate refugees running up the flag of independence. Most of the new publishers that spring up from people leaving the multinationals seem to disappear. Of course most new publishers fail, regardless of origin; but I think there is a contributing element of corporatized overconfidence.

It's cold and chilly out here, and it takes quite a different mindset to survive when you have to pay your own heating bills.

disambiguation

I just came across this fabulous new word from Wikpedia
"Disambiguation in Wikipedia is the process of resolving the conflicts that occur when articles about two or more different topics have the same "natural" title. Most of the pages in this category are disambiguation pages containing no other content, only links to other Wikipedia pages."

bdb non-fiction

I realised in a small moment of epiphany on the week end is that what we don't want to do in our non-fiction for children is to condescend, And it is why I think our non-fiction reads well for adults as well as children.

ownership of story ideas - excavating the past

Steely Dan are peeved with Owen Wilson for playing Dupree in in You, Me and Dupree saying the plot of the film was ripped off from the song. It's ancient history now but I came across it and thought it raised fascinating issues - can you base a movie on a song?

Steely Dan to me are drawing a long bow. The Dupree in the song and film is an archeytpe. The Dupree mention in the title? Homage/pop culture reference.

In the interest of fair dealing here's the plot from IMDb
For newlyweds Carl and Molly Peterson, life can't get any sweeter as they begin anew to settle down into married life. With a nice house and established careers in tow, nothing seems to get in their way. However, Carl is about find out just how much friendship means when Dupree, his best friend has been displaced from his home and fired from his job because of attending their wedding. Taking his friend in, what Carl and Molly are about to experience is that the fine line between a few days and whatever else is after, can be a lot more than they bargained for. Especially when their friend overstays his welcome in far too many ways than he should. Written by mystic80

Carl Peterson, an architect, has just get married with Molly, and it seems that they're about to begin their happy life together. Everything is going fine, until Dupree, the best man and Carl's best friend, shows up to invade the couple's intimacy. Carl's disposed to help his old friend, giving him a shelter in the couch, thinking that the whole thing will be for 2 or 3 days. Despite Dupree has promised Carl that he'll look for a job the very next day, the immature and lazy bloke spend the time playing with the children from the neighborhood, or dating with a mysterious librarian girl. Molly begins to get tired of Dupree, but Carl must deal with another problem, his malevolent and overprotecting father-in-law, who has warned him that he wants his daughter keeps her maiden name and that he doesn't even think about having children with her. Apparently, Dupree has came to stay with Molly and the stressed Carl, who doesn't know how to get rid of him, becoming paranoiac because the charismatic Dupree is starting to take his place in the household.

And here's the lyrics from http://www.steelydan.com/lyr2vn.html#track7

COUSIN DUPREE

Well I've kicked around a lot since high school
I've worked a lot of nowhere gigs
From keyboard man in a rock'n ska band
To haulin' boss crude in the big rigs
Now I've come back home to plan my next move
From the comfort of my Aunt Faye's couch
When I see my little cousin Janine walk in
All I could say was ow-ow-ouch

CHORUS:
Honey how you've grown
Like a rose
Well we used to play
When we were three
How about a kiss for your cousin Dupree

She turned my life into a living hell
In those little tops and tight capris
I pretended to be readin' the National Probe
As I was watchin' her wax her skis
On Saturday night she walked in with her date
And backs him up against the wall
I tumbled off the couch and heard myself sing
In a voice I never knew I had before

CHORUS

I'll teach you everything I know
If you teach me how to do that dance
Life is short and quid pro quo
And what's so strange about a down-home family romance?

One night we're playin' gin by a cracklin' fire
And I decided to make my play
I said babe with my boyish charm and good looks
How can you stand it for one more day
She said maybe its the skeevy look in your eyes
Or that your mind has turned to applesauce
The dreary architecture of your soul
I said - but what is it exactly turns you off?

CHORUS

[End of song]

Now you can judge for yourself (and let me know what you think). Nice lyrics though.

FSC

FSC is a standard for environmental paper accreditation and FSC Australia was launched last night - conveniently just down Gertrude Street at Dante's - to a packed room. (There were two Peruvians among the official presenters - and I wasn't even aware that Peru had extensive forests - so it was quite interanational.) Harry Potter was printed on FSC paper in the UK but there wasn't enough certified paper here to print the Deathly Hallows on it. It was an exciting development that will help us to do something about the paper we use.

The language of certification is heavily beauracratic and laden with anacronyms - which I think we will all become very familiar with over the next few years. And I'm hoping Matthia's coming article in the B&P will help sort our way through the maze. An alternative certification scheme is PEFC and here is a link to a comparison of different schemes.

And we could end "sale or return" - that would help too. Waterstones is looking at doing so, when it's new distribution centre is up and running in the UK.

smoking banned at Frankfurt!

silos

I'm reading the Bloom Report and I came across the comment that people didn't participate in the survey because the different publishing sectors have so little in common, which is something I disagree with - strongly. And its a view that has always irritated me. And it was a topic that Maree raised at the APA roadshow - that industry was bunkered down in its silos. (aside - I'm guessing that 'silos' might be the new business word of the next few months, replacing road/mud map). In children's publishing we're very close to the educational sector and any good children's publisher knows that half the sales of many of our titles comes from schools. I've bounced around between the two sectors in my career and found enlightenment and ignorance on both sides. And I don't see tertiary, academic or professional as fundamentally different to what I'm doing as a children's publisher.

The industry has in common that it iis about gathering and packaging and selling information both in the forms of fiction and non-fiction and for now and into the forseeable future it will be done mainly in the beautiful and efficient form of the book.

… now I can hop down off my electronic soapbox.

promoting books and reading

Juliet Rogers and Maree McCaskill have been running a roadshow around Australia promoting the APA and its doings to stakeholders. It's a terrific undertaking and thanks to Julilet and everybody for being prepared to put so much time and effort into it. My comments that follow are in parts of the fruits of that progressive and democratic initiative.

Last Wednesday was the Melbourne meeting and, as the press was there, I'm sure its discussions are not confidential. In fact it was the press in the form of Andrew Wilkins who raised the point I want to blog about. Why in the list of objectives in the strategic plan is there nothing about promoting the book and reading? And that's a point that resonated with me in my children's publishing silo - I can here it echo.

Promoting books and reading is one of the core tasks for me of the APA and the Children's Committee of the APA, and a major reason I joined. It's what we're all about as publishers - more books, more readers, another generation. Its like the Age promoting newspapers to schools - it's guaranteeing a future, that we will be around for another generation. And I thought the promotion of the book and reading would resonate with the education publishing (especially primary education publishing) silo next to me.

Maybe it is something that comes first to the minds of children's publishers, since we're not relying on an existing generation of readers.

Books Alive is a great beginning to build on.

Promoting reading and books was always a hot topic for Agnes Niewenhuizen. Let me quote: "There isn't a reading culture. We don't have any kind of concerted national program. Our promotion of books is very poor. [Im interpreting book in a generic sense.] Reading is not valued in schools. We are losing librarians, And with very notable exceptions, I think things are slipping."