All is very exciting for Eye Books - we have been selected by T.H.E. (who are one of the 3 main wholesalers in the book trade) as their publisher of the month for June this year.
Wholesalers sell to (predominantly) smaller independent bookshops who prefer having 1 main supplier account to reconcile rather than with 1000's of individual publishers each month.
As a small independent publisher, we have a massive mutual respect for independent bookshops - we all know what happens to the underdogs. However, whilst this respect is real, the reality is that we are not in a position to service them as we do not have a rep force who travel around the country and present and tell these special little shops what we do. As a result, many have never heard of us and rarely support or get behind any of our books.
By T.H.E. choosing us as publisher of the month, I have had the chance to go and present to their rep force who will in turn, visit all their customers and, assuming I managed to enthuse sufficiently, tell them about our books.
So here is the challenge - please go and visit your local bookshop in mid June and ask for one of our books.
If we can show these people that our books are enjoyed and supported, then they will continue to stock them. I am convinced (and suspect that many of you already buy from Independents) that our books work best in shops where they can be given a little love and attention and people get what we are about.
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
Monday, 30 April 2007
Still Monday and feeling better already post rant
Just to prove that it is not all doom and gloom at the land of Eye, I wanted to quickly explain why things had been quite on Blog front from me.
As many may know a couple of weeks ago was the London Book Fair. This is an annual event where all the publishers get together under one big roof and show off what they are doing or about to do and try and get other publishers interested in buying the rights for their territories.
Invariably it turns out to being quite a BIG session.
Anyway last year it was an Excel in docklands and the industry kicked up a real fuss. It was traditionally at Olympia and most people knew the score and how it all worked. Which restaurants to go to and which lunch places there were (all key important things in this horrid world of publishing). However Reed really ****ed it up at Excel to the point that a competitor (the people who organise the Frankfurt Book Fair) tried to start a rival to Reed's at Olympia. Anyway, to cut a long sotry short, Reed kept hold of it and agreed to move it back to West London and to Earls Court. Am glad to say that it was a real success and the space was awesome as was the effort that most publishers went to to show off what they do. Anyone would think that there was lots of money around!
Anyway, with preperation for that, my time and focus on this fell away. I have had lots of things that I have wanted to write about, but it was always the next thing on my list. Quite like a diet or excercise or giving up drinking.
As many may know a couple of weeks ago was the London Book Fair. This is an annual event where all the publishers get together under one big roof and show off what they are doing or about to do and try and get other publishers interested in buying the rights for their territories.
Invariably it turns out to being quite a BIG session.
Anyway last year it was an Excel in docklands and the industry kicked up a real fuss. It was traditionally at Olympia and most people knew the score and how it all worked. Which restaurants to go to and which lunch places there were (all key important things in this horrid world of publishing). However Reed really ****ed it up at Excel to the point that a competitor (the people who organise the Frankfurt Book Fair) tried to start a rival to Reed's at Olympia. Anyway, to cut a long sotry short, Reed kept hold of it and agreed to move it back to West London and to Earls Court. Am glad to say that it was a real success and the space was awesome as was the effort that most publishers went to to show off what they do. Anyone would think that there was lots of money around!
Anyway, with preperation for that, my time and focus on this fell away. I have had lots of things that I have wanted to write about, but it was always the next thing on my list. Quite like a diet or excercise or giving up drinking.
Kate Moss - the designer
For my sins, I am a fan of Kate Moss. I think that she is still really sexy and dare I say it, iconic. However, it did make me think the other day when reading about her new range being unveiled in the near future as to where this celebrity culture is taking us.
The music industry was the leader of the change, with magazines following shortly after. It was a sad day when books followed suit (excuse the pun) and now the fashion industry is going down the same route.
It used to be that the people who worked hard at their art and creativity within a specific industry, and had a slice of luck (but alot of perspiration) were the ones that made successes of themselves. I know a friend who has been designing clothes for years. He spent time cutting cloth, he spent time machining, he spent time drawing and this was having spent years studying to get his first job as assistant cutter! Suddenly Kate who has spent years doing none of the above, has the necessary skills to know how things should be designed.
Just because I have spent 10 years publishing books does not qualify (as this blog testifies) me to think I can write! It hardly qualifies me to think that I can publish, but ...
What surprises me most about this is I come from the train of thought that we are not mechanised and that ordinary people can and do achieve extraordinary things! This is (in some peoples eyes) exactly that. Frankly, it is sooo not that. I know that the only reason she has been asked to do this is because there will be a whole load of people (as they were for Victoria Beckham range and the next Amy Vinehouse range) who will rush out and queue all night to make sure that this latest person to break into this industry as a leader and worked up through the ranks is ....
I find it all slightly depressing that we do this. Why? Do we think that it will make us look as sexy as Kate Moss?
It is that Monday feeling again and it has been too long since my last blog. I have been told off for not writing anything for the last few weeks. However, I am not mad - does anyone else see this is totally belittling the real creatives of the world and that soon we will all have a diet of Mash Potatoe (and ready made at that!).
The music industry was the leader of the change, with magazines following shortly after. It was a sad day when books followed suit (excuse the pun) and now the fashion industry is going down the same route.
It used to be that the people who worked hard at their art and creativity within a specific industry, and had a slice of luck (but alot of perspiration) were the ones that made successes of themselves. I know a friend who has been designing clothes for years. He spent time cutting cloth, he spent time machining, he spent time drawing and this was having spent years studying to get his first job as assistant cutter! Suddenly Kate who has spent years doing none of the above, has the necessary skills to know how things should be designed.
Just because I have spent 10 years publishing books does not qualify (as this blog testifies) me to think I can write! It hardly qualifies me to think that I can publish, but ...
What surprises me most about this is I come from the train of thought that we are not mechanised and that ordinary people can and do achieve extraordinary things! This is (in some peoples eyes) exactly that. Frankly, it is sooo not that. I know that the only reason she has been asked to do this is because there will be a whole load of people (as they were for Victoria Beckham range and the next Amy Vinehouse range) who will rush out and queue all night to make sure that this latest person to break into this industry as a leader and worked up through the ranks is ....
I find it all slightly depressing that we do this. Why? Do we think that it will make us look as sexy as Kate Moss?
It is that Monday feeling again and it has been too long since my last blog. I have been told off for not writing anything for the last few weeks. However, I am not mad - does anyone else see this is totally belittling the real creatives of the world and that soon we will all have a diet of Mash Potatoe (and ready made at that!).
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
Sausages and Pigs
This is the BIG question to my mind currently running through many publishers mind. I think that there is no doubt that content needs to be multi platform compliant, but it falls into a similar area as advertising as to justifying the cost of delivering it.
There is no doubt in my mind that if you can give information in as many platforms as possible, then more people will hear about it and potentially be interested in what the content is saying. There is also no doubt that people having bought into something want to own it and therefore if ownership is a book, they will buy it. When we are looking to publish new books, we are keen to explore whether there are different ways of delivering the content via video, audio or words in anything from website / you-tube / myspace / second life etc. Reading yesterdays Financial Times articles on publishing, it is clear that it is not just us small independents that this is seen as an opportunity to reach new audiences.
However the issue is the cost of making it available.
We know that when you aggregate content, if you know what you hope to do with that content prior to the aggregation, it is cheaper and cost effective to make it available. We have an analogy of sausages and pigs - namely when publishers have made their sausages, it is hard to make it back into pig to make a different sausage. If however you have a pig and a need to make a variety of sausages, then making them all at once is the way forward.
Publisher with BIG backlists, have a problem of paying for the process of making their sausages back to pigs and then making new sausages.
Smaller publishers have the issue of having the budget to allocate to creating content deliverable on multi platofrm. This is where we fall. I am happy and keen to do author interviews for the web. I am happy to make the books available on line free for all. The issue is that we have already made our sausages!
However, watch this space though as we had a meeting recently with a possible author who has ways of reaching audiences which do not require PIGS! (sounds like a beer)
There is no doubt in my mind that if you can give information in as many platforms as possible, then more people will hear about it and potentially be interested in what the content is saying. There is also no doubt that people having bought into something want to own it and therefore if ownership is a book, they will buy it. When we are looking to publish new books, we are keen to explore whether there are different ways of delivering the content via video, audio or words in anything from website / you-tube / myspace / second life etc. Reading yesterdays Financial Times articles on publishing, it is clear that it is not just us small independents that this is seen as an opportunity to reach new audiences.
However the issue is the cost of making it available.
We know that when you aggregate content, if you know what you hope to do with that content prior to the aggregation, it is cheaper and cost effective to make it available. We have an analogy of sausages and pigs - namely when publishers have made their sausages, it is hard to make it back into pig to make a different sausage. If however you have a pig and a need to make a variety of sausages, then making them all at once is the way forward.
Publisher with BIG backlists, have a problem of paying for the process of making their sausages back to pigs and then making new sausages.
Smaller publishers have the issue of having the budget to allocate to creating content deliverable on multi platofrm. This is where we fall. I am happy and keen to do author interviews for the web. I am happy to make the books available on line free for all. The issue is that we have already made our sausages!
However, watch this space though as we had a meeting recently with a possible author who has ways of reaching audiences which do not require PIGS! (sounds like a beer)
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
Double Standards
Well I have even surprised myself. I would see myself as being quite focused. Other people even think I am stubborn. If I set my mind to things then I tend to be almost obsessive until I have done them. Setting up Eye Books is a classic example of this.
Some months ago I read about, and people asked me what I thought of Second Life. I was horrified by it and felt that it was a really dangerous place to go. It was going to be full off people who wanted to create a virtual persona as they can't cope with their real life. Escapism that could only go wrong and have a number of crimes committed as a result of people not being able to relate to the way to behave in the real world because of their chosen way to behave in this new virtual world. I had no interest in it and did not even want to look at it.
Today I created an avatar!!!
I have been equally dismissive about 'me to' publishing and the general 'bandwagon' idea that people follow trends. I am proud to think that I do not want to join the crowd and am happy to stand in my space and not be worried about the noise coming from the popular corner. Guess what has driven me to join this virtual world! The fact that 2 friends in publishing have not only set up a virtual bookshop (and apparently they sell books!) but one has now launched a virtual Book Fair and invited me to exhibit. Whilst I give myself a little break as bookfairs that you do not actually have to go to appeal, I am afraid to admit that there has been a slight feeling of wanting to see what people are talking about.
Well I wont tell you what my name is, but will let you know how life in this virtual world is!
Some months ago I read about, and people asked me what I thought of Second Life. I was horrified by it and felt that it was a really dangerous place to go. It was going to be full off people who wanted to create a virtual persona as they can't cope with their real life. Escapism that could only go wrong and have a number of crimes committed as a result of people not being able to relate to the way to behave in the real world because of their chosen way to behave in this new virtual world. I had no interest in it and did not even want to look at it.
Today I created an avatar!!!
I have been equally dismissive about 'me to' publishing and the general 'bandwagon' idea that people follow trends. I am proud to think that I do not want to join the crowd and am happy to stand in my space and not be worried about the noise coming from the popular corner. Guess what has driven me to join this virtual world! The fact that 2 friends in publishing have not only set up a virtual bookshop (and apparently they sell books!) but one has now launched a virtual Book Fair and invited me to exhibit. Whilst I give myself a little break as bookfairs that you do not actually have to go to appeal, I am afraid to admit that there has been a slight feeling of wanting to see what people are talking about.
Well I wont tell you what my name is, but will let you know how life in this virtual world is!
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
How to get the message across - help welcome
Someone came into the office today to chat about publishing. They had an idea and wanted to see how best to progress it and what their options were. They know one of the people who works here (hence them coming in) but had not seen him for ages and were not aware of the focus of our books.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am amazed that our Goldmine Giveaway has not attracted more media attention and more public support. I have started thinking that perhaps the author and I had just misjudged what people were interested in and that they did not get it. Either that or they have not heard about or seen it.
If you ever come to our office, you will see that the meeting area is at the back and the main area has a table in the centre which displays our books and our desks skirt this central island.
Whilst waiting to go to the meeting area, they starting browsing at our books (which is what we thought everyone would do but a surprising amount do not!). On seeing the one giving a free sq ft of a gold mine, she became very excited. My desk is right by this area and seeing her reaction gave great pleasure and realisation that Dorian and I were not off the mark with the idea. Here was someone who got it and loved it. She bought 6 copies and left almost evangelical about what a great idea and present this was and that she would make all her friends buy one. Since then I have had a smile on my face and the desire to find out a way of getting to see people's reactions when looking at our books.
It is very easy when sitting in an office and not having contact with the people who buy our books to loose sight of what type of reaction they can conjure. I would love to get more feedback from all of you as to what you like and don't like about what we are trying to do. So do not be afraid - throw your likes and dislikes about Eye to me and they will be welcomed and appreciated with open arms.
People can sometimes try and hide from things and not face reality. The world is full of unknowns and once they become knowns we can deal with them and move on. When we hide away from things in case they are not what we want to hear, see or face, it does nothing but add to our woes.
I am always excited about finding out stuff - good or bad, coz then I can grow. Change is scary but only the thought of it.
On reading that back I see it is all quite quick - going from a person coming in and buying a few copies of our books to the philosophy of life! Ohhps - perhaps I had better stop here.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am amazed that our Goldmine Giveaway has not attracted more media attention and more public support. I have started thinking that perhaps the author and I had just misjudged what people were interested in and that they did not get it. Either that or they have not heard about or seen it.
If you ever come to our office, you will see that the meeting area is at the back and the main area has a table in the centre which displays our books and our desks skirt this central island.
Whilst waiting to go to the meeting area, they starting browsing at our books (which is what we thought everyone would do but a surprising amount do not!). On seeing the one giving a free sq ft of a gold mine, she became very excited. My desk is right by this area and seeing her reaction gave great pleasure and realisation that Dorian and I were not off the mark with the idea. Here was someone who got it and loved it. She bought 6 copies and left almost evangelical about what a great idea and present this was and that she would make all her friends buy one. Since then I have had a smile on my face and the desire to find out a way of getting to see people's reactions when looking at our books.
It is very easy when sitting in an office and not having contact with the people who buy our books to loose sight of what type of reaction they can conjure. I would love to get more feedback from all of you as to what you like and don't like about what we are trying to do. So do not be afraid - throw your likes and dislikes about Eye to me and they will be welcomed and appreciated with open arms.
People can sometimes try and hide from things and not face reality. The world is full of unknowns and once they become knowns we can deal with them and move on. When we hide away from things in case they are not what we want to hear, see or face, it does nothing but add to our woes.
I am always excited about finding out stuff - good or bad, coz then I can grow. Change is scary but only the thought of it.
On reading that back I see it is all quite quick - going from a person coming in and buying a few copies of our books to the philosophy of life! Ohhps - perhaps I had better stop here.
Friday, 2 March 2007
Challenging the way we do things
I can't believe it is that time of year again where we need to describe in 250 keystrokes the company for The Frankfurt Book fair catalogue. For each of the last few years, we have always ended up not really changing it for catalogues or website and it needs a change. How do I know this? Yesterday we had a communications expert in the office to help with a few details of communication and it really can make a difference and attract people (or, as importantly put people off) if you get it wrong. This has got me thinking:
I am really proud to be independent.
I am really proud of the fact our books champion people who live as opposed to simply exist.
I am really proud that we are not simply publishing 'fillers' to introduce economies of scale.
I am really proud that we accept unsolicited manuscripts and are accessible to authors and 'would be' authors.
However, as I look at that, am not sure that if I read that about another publisher I would want to explore working with them. So what does matter?
The fact that we got so much publicity (more than £1million worth if we had paid for the equivalent in advertising).
The fact that we had 40% of our books last year selected as Xmas Campaign titles.
Again not sure that it really matters. Probably need to start to be nominated and win awards and accolades. There are two challenges with this.
First - you have to enter yourself and say why you should win. This is something I am not comfortable with. My feeling is that awards are things which people should be nominated for rather than nominate themselves. 'Naive' I hear you say and it is, because even if that were the case, then people would still manipulate the entries by agreeing to work together.
Second - having overcome the above (which I am just about to) you have to be good enough to win or influence the judges.
I would be grateful for any comments on what we should put for our profile description from your point of view and also grateful as to any suggestions for awards and accolades that we could enter to boost our chance of addressing this challenge in time for next year!
What we are currently working with is:
I am really proud to be independent.
I am really proud of the fact our books champion people who live as opposed to simply exist.
I am really proud that we are not simply publishing 'fillers' to introduce economies of scale.
I am really proud that we accept unsolicited manuscripts and are accessible to authors and 'would be' authors.
However, as I look at that, am not sure that if I read that about another publisher I would want to explore working with them. So what does matter?
The fact that we got so much publicity (more than £1million worth if we had paid for the equivalent in advertising).
The fact that we had 40% of our books last year selected as Xmas Campaign titles.
Again not sure that it really matters. Probably need to start to be nominated and win awards and accolades. There are two challenges with this.
First - you have to enter yourself and say why you should win. This is something I am not comfortable with. My feeling is that awards are things which people should be nominated for rather than nominate themselves. 'Naive' I hear you say and it is, because even if that were the case, then people would still manipulate the entries by agreeing to work together.
Second - having overcome the above (which I am just about to) you have to be good enough to win or influence the judges.
I would be grateful for any comments on what we should put for our profile description from your point of view and also grateful as to any suggestions for awards and accolades that we could enter to boost our chance of addressing this challenge in time for next year!
What we are currently working with is:
At Eye Books, we celebrate individuals who have taken their dreams and lived them, creating out of their ‘ordinary’ lives ‘extraordinary’ accomplishments.
Our books inspire and motivate us to celebrate our imagination, passion and dreams.
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