We have had a slight spring clean in preparation for an 'Arts Unwrapped' event we are hosting at our offices (8th-10th June for anyone who wants to come along free and fun and lots of great art and books on offer).
The last time we did this was pre Xmas which again was for our annual Xmas Fair (again free for all and mince pies and mulled wine for free!).
It is amazing what an effect this can have on the mood and feel of the office generally. It somehow gives people a slight spring in their step - rather like the weather can. The fact that this 'spring in the step' is evident despite the recent bank holiday weather just proves that my Gran was always right.
She used to always say that whenever you got yourself into a 'tiss', you should go to your room and throw out all of your clothes from the draws onto the bed. Then simply put them back in again. By the time you have done this, you will no longer be in a 'tiss'.
It creates a sense or order or balance. It makes one feel in control and able to tackle other more important things knowing that the basics (clothes being accessible) are in place.
So - for all those out there who find themselves in a 'tiss' go empty and refill your draws. It feels great.
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
The Power of size
Is it just me, or is everything becoming driven by size - celebrity power and corporate power.
The irony is that we as individuals are driving it. By us always opting for the easy option, we are making it harder for freedom and choice. We all know that the things that are the hardest to get and are the most rewarding, yet we now have a massive middle class that expects and needs to keep up with 'The Jones' and wants things on demand. This creates a massive Tesco and celebrities running the world. It will be hard, but try and stay with me on this .....
It was my brothers birthday recently, and I gave him a pasta making machine that my sister had given me. I already had one. I was totally open about it. I told him that I had been given it from her and that she had said she wanted one and therefore if he did not want it, then to give it back to her for her birthday in a couple of months. He did not want it, and was telling me not to worry about getting a replacement.
We then started to talk about how hard it was to buy presents. It used to be the case that if you wanted something, you would have to wait until a present opportunity to get it. This built a sense of excitment and also cemeted the fact that you actually wanted it. Nowadays, when you want something you get it. You do not wait, we are living in a world which is all about immediacy and therefore when birthdays and Xmas comes along, you do not need/want anything. This makes the days less special and the people's jobs who want to buy presents hard.
Everything has become disposable or not valued. This increases demand as people buy without really knowing if they want. Producers try to encourage this (maximise sales) and therefore make things cheaper which in turn sqeezes margins, which in turn decreases quality of product and means greater economies of scale are needed which in turn means that Tesco will take over the world.
Same with celebrity - we no longer really read or take time to consider. We are satisfied with receiving news and information in an immediate fashion. We have short attantion spans pictures and images become replacements for words. Rather than taking time to appreciate, we want speed. Entertainment is immediate and this means the deliverers of this become powerful. We empower the celebrity and in turn with this power loose any freedom of speech. The individuals voice becomes less valid and can be quashed by money which is in the hands of the celebrities or Tesco.
What ever has happened to the Schumacher 'small is beautiful' vision. Arrhh!!
The irony is that we as individuals are driving it. By us always opting for the easy option, we are making it harder for freedom and choice. We all know that the things that are the hardest to get and are the most rewarding, yet we now have a massive middle class that expects and needs to keep up with 'The Jones' and wants things on demand. This creates a massive Tesco and celebrities running the world. It will be hard, but try and stay with me on this .....
It was my brothers birthday recently, and I gave him a pasta making machine that my sister had given me. I already had one. I was totally open about it. I told him that I had been given it from her and that she had said she wanted one and therefore if he did not want it, then to give it back to her for her birthday in a couple of months. He did not want it, and was telling me not to worry about getting a replacement.
We then started to talk about how hard it was to buy presents. It used to be the case that if you wanted something, you would have to wait until a present opportunity to get it. This built a sense of excitment and also cemeted the fact that you actually wanted it. Nowadays, when you want something you get it. You do not wait, we are living in a world which is all about immediacy and therefore when birthdays and Xmas comes along, you do not need/want anything. This makes the days less special and the people's jobs who want to buy presents hard.
Everything has become disposable or not valued. This increases demand as people buy without really knowing if they want. Producers try to encourage this (maximise sales) and therefore make things cheaper which in turn sqeezes margins, which in turn decreases quality of product and means greater economies of scale are needed which in turn means that Tesco will take over the world.
Same with celebrity - we no longer really read or take time to consider. We are satisfied with receiving news and information in an immediate fashion. We have short attantion spans pictures and images become replacements for words. Rather than taking time to appreciate, we want speed. Entertainment is immediate and this means the deliverers of this become powerful. We empower the celebrity and in turn with this power loose any freedom of speech. The individuals voice becomes less valid and can be quashed by money which is in the hands of the celebrities or Tesco.
What ever has happened to the Schumacher 'small is beautiful' vision. Arrhh!!
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
The Joy of Summer
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.
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.
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!
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