Like the dotcom bubble, the commercial real estate bubble, the subprime mortgage bubble, the credit bubble and the derivative trading bubble before it, the DIY epublishing bubble is inflating around us. Each of those other bubbles also saw, in their earliest stages, a great deal of fuss made over a “new” phenomenon, which was then over-hyped and over-leveraged. But speculation, as we’ve learned at our peril, is a very dangerous foundation for any business. And when the epub bubble bursts, as all previous bubbles have done, the fall-out for publishing and writing may be even harder to repair than it is proving to be in the fields of mortgages, derivatives and personal debt. Because this bubble is based on cultural, not purely economic, grounds.

Nathan Ihara, a publicist at publishers Melville House, responded saying:

Already many self-published authors (most notably Hocking) have happily joined the traditional publishing world. Morrison reminds us that once blogs were considered a DIY way to make money, but a decade later nearly no one has turned a profit on a blog. Who did find success via blogging? Those who turned their blogs into books or TV shows and took their self-published products mainstream.

Ihara goes on to point out that “these hordes of would-be writers existed long before eBooks had been invented.” True. Perhaps the issues of how to discover decent self-published authors have simply been amplified in the digital space. Joanne Fradley, creator of bookstackreviews.com, explains how their project is trying to help readers find good self-published works.

Choosing a book has always been one of those personal, ritualistic things we do. Everyone’s got their preferred system. We have had to re-learn how to select our fiction from clinical websites deprived of all the extra physical attributes of a book that used to sway the decision just a little. For me it was a shock to realise how much I had been drawn to selecting a book because of that pleasing flash of colour on the spine or the way it felt in my hands. I had this unbelievable choice of writing at my fingertips, in the comfort of my home and often priced for less and I didn’t know how to make a choice. The realisation of this lead to the formation of our website bookstackreviews.com. A single website to showcase independently authored e-fiction to the fast growing market of e-readers. We post short reviews with a star rating in order to make it quick and easy for readers to make a selection. The project began with two of us; one building the site and dealing with administration while I read the submissions we received. The trickle of submissions fast became a deluge and we now have a team of twelve reviewers and an aim to get three new choices up on the site every Tuesday.

The development of e-publishing has lead to a flood of writers self-publishing their work on sites like Amazon which provide authors with all the ready-made retail infrastructure in return for a cut of the profits. This has been fantastic for both readers and writers. Writers now have autonomy over the whole book selling process and readers have a much wider pool of fiction to choose from. But it hasn’t come without problems and challenges.

The biggest challenges for writers now are the huge numbers of self-published works of fiction currently available in e-book format. We get as many as forty submissions a week and are almost always looking for new critical readers to write reviews for our site. Marketing and actually making money from writing fiction has always been hard and in some ways the democratisation that has come with self-publishing has only made it harder.

As the market first opened up a reader would sometimes encounter formatting issues within books that had been self-published. This was due to the nature of the technology that had to be used in order to get the book from a computer file to something that could be bought and sold. Often those doing so didn’t have in-depth technical knowledge so of course mistakes happened. There is a forum community supporting publishing on Amazon and guidelines are available from helpful people but in the last few weeks or so Amazon have created an official answer to this problem. There is now an enhanced previewer available for free download which allows writers to see exactly what their readers are going to see when they buy the book. This is encouraging for those wanting to self-publish and will also improve the quality for the reader.

The challenges for readers in the ebook market are numerous and come in various guises. Some people just don’t know about self-published or independent fiction. They use their e-reader to download copies of the same books they would walk into a mainstream bookshop and buy. They aren’t aware of the huge world of knowledge and talent that the e-reader can unlock. Those that are aware are often put off by the sheer volume. There is a huge quality issue around self-publishing. I’m happy to say that the majority of the books submitted to us are well written and meticulously checked for mistakes. But there have been a few that were rendered almost unreadable because of continuous spelling or grammatical errors. If a reader trying out the self-published market for the first time came across something like that I’m sure they’d run back to the established market pretty quick. At bookstackreview.com we do alert potential readers to excessive errors in the text and also to any formatting issues within the reviews. But the vast majority of books are produced to a professional standard.

In terms of garnering an audience the self-published book world still feels fairly underground. We rely a lot on social media to promote the site which I am aware is limiting in that it engages those already aware of greater changes in how we read and interact. There is a sense of community growing around the site as writers rush to promote a good review and reviewers want people to see what they are involved with. One of our writers has become a reviewer and the actual design of the website was very much helped by advice and suggestions from the writing community. However, I’m not convinced at the moment that many of our submitters are using the site to read one another’s work. I think in the world of writing there is a lot of competition and it can be easy to forget that writers can learn from each other rather than simply compete to get somewhere.

The inevitable question that comes with all of this change is how will it fit into the old way of doing things? There is definitely still a huge status issue with regard to books published by a publishing house and those self-published. We’re still at the start of self-publishing and at the moment the two institutions are incomparable. There are a few independent author success stories appearing in the media which indicates that it is possible for people to make good money from self-publishing fiction but these are very few and far between. Many independent authors price their books very low or even give them away for free in an attempt to generate a readership. This has led to a tiered pricing structure marking the difference between self-published and professionally published work. There is a big debate to be had here and I’m sure that the publishing industry feels that it is being under-cut. Most writers would love to charge more for their work but they clearly feel that the only way to compete is to price lower.

We’re still at the beginning of the independent book experiment? Revolution? I’m not sure what to call it yet. But I have had the privilege of discovering some fantastic books and writers publishing quietly by themselves on the web.

Time will tell if the self-publishing bubble is set to burst – in the meantime publishers and self-published writers alike have to grapple with the complex issues of discoverability in the digital space.

Meet the Numberlys – small martian-like creatures who speak gobbledygook because the alphabet, words and language have yet to be invented.  Theirs is a world ordered by numbers and that’s what the Numberlys produce – day in, day out. The production line provides the backdrop for the story: highly-industrialised, monochrome, repetitive.

The animation is interspersed with quirky alliterative text that fills the page in a big, blocky type and is read aloud by a germanic-sounding narrator.

The story gathers momentum when we meet our breakaway group of Numberlys – numbers 1-5 – who begin to ask questions and express a desire for something ‘different’. Together, these 5 small beings start to manually create letters. And this is where the interactive games begin. Users are encouraged to spin pedestals, fire canons, bounce a trampoline, hammer metal to help craft each individual letter. In this stark black and white landscape, single red lights are prompts inviting us to take part.

As the alphabet takes shape so this inspirational tale progresses. This app isn’t a quick hit, it’s a slow-burner, one in which you invest some time. It’s aimed at children but the market is really wide open. Not least because so many of the cultural references will be lost on the younger ones whereas adults will be both intrigued and amused.

Visually the app harks back to the 1930s – an era of great innovation and experimentation as defined by Charles Ebbets’ iconic photograph ‘Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper’ (the one of the construction workers sitting on a girder above a developing New York city), and films such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis or the original 1933 version of King Kong. And the stark black and white landscape broken towards the end by brightly coloured letters reminded me of the more recent William H.Macy film Pleasantville.

Is it no coincidence that the app’s visual identity is cradled in this bygone era of filmmaking? Can we draw parrallels between those industry creatives and today’s publishers and developers embracing another new medium for telling and sharing stories? Are we, like early 20th century filmmakers, entering a ‘golden era’ of storytelling? As Moonbot’s founding partner William Joyce says: ‘We’re getting to explore a whole new avenue of storytelling, but at the same time, it’s the same pragmatic ideas about plot, just mixed with all the new toys that keep showing up.’

Moonbot is a small, agile and highly-creative studio prepared to take on the big players. The fact that Mr. Morris Lessmore is now an Oscar nominated project is a telltale sign of their capabilities. Having these creative minds let loose on something that can easily be described as a children’s book app is something that the publishing industry should be excited about. These are the people who can really show us what happens when storytellers, animators, film-makers, and new technologies collide.

TLC’s Director Rebecca Swift: ‘When The Literary Consultancy was founded in 1996, the publishing landscape looked totally different from how it does today. We need to keep up with the times to help writers in the best possible way, and this conference will address the questions we are all asking ourselves about the future of writing.’

Highlights include:

A keynote address by Hari Kunzru: does new publishing mean new writing? Says Hari: “Writers know only too well that new technologies are shifting the ground beneath our feet. The changes in distribution, promotion, and reading platforms are only part of the story.

Authors Kate Mosse, Nicola Morgan, Linda Grant and the Guardian’s literary editor Claire Armitstead explore how established writers are making the ‘digital age’ work for them. How active a role are their publishers playing?

Sophie Rochester, Founder of The Literary Platform, will host a session demonstrating that innovative digital projects are not just the play-field of bestselling authors and established publishers. There are many routes to experimentation and publishing digitally. We’ll hear from writers who are working in interesting and imaginative ways with narrative and technology.

A masterclass on successful self-publishing strategies (including how to make and sell ebooks) with American writer Robert Kroese, author of Self-Publish Your Novel: Lessons from an Indie Publishing Success Story

An examination of international market opportunities in the age of the internet, in association with Commonwealth Writers.

The return of Canon Tales, a fast-paced look at what is driving ten of the country’s top publishers and agents, including Simon Trewin, Maria Rejt, Cathryn Summerhayes and David Godwin. They’ll reveal the stories behind some of their favourite discoveries, using a series of rapid-fire visual images: 7 minutes each, with 20 images each lasting 21 seconds. A unique and hugely entertaining experience that will bring writers closer to the key people beyond the slush pile.“PEN FACTOR”: two panels made up of agents and publishers from Canon Tales will critique five fiction projects, submitted by delegates in advance of the conference and chosen by TLC. Each panel will in turn be voted on by the author/delegate audience– whose feedback will they agree with the most?

“It’s great to see TLC pioneering a long overdue digital Conference for writers, as it’s so important to know our options in changing times. I can’t wait to see what comes out of it.”  Kate Mosse

“Too often the writer’s perspective is under-represented at digital publishing events. At Writing in the Digital Age, writers will share their experiences with other writers, putting them at the centre of the debate. We’re delighted to be working with TLC on this as it supports our own 2012 commitment to create a suite of resources aimed specifically at writers interested in digital publishing.”  Sophie Rochester, Founder, The Literary Platform

“An exciting opportunity for writers to take part in the most urgent conversation of our times. Be there.” Ruth Borthwick, Chief Executive, Arvon

“Commonwealth Writers is excited to be part of TLC’s digital conference at a time when we’re helping emerging writers to identify and secure their place in a fast changing international publishing market.” Lucy Hannah, Programme Manager, Commonwealth Writers

“There are already conferences for publishers about the impact of new technology on their industry, but Free Word is delighted to host The Literary Conference that is primarily focused on what new technology means for published and unpublished writers, both practically and imaginatively.” Rose Fenton, Director, Free Word Centre

Role: Publicity and Marketing Assistant

Reporting to: Development and Publicity Manager

Hours: 3 days per week, 10am – 6pm

Salary: £21,000 – £23,000 pro rata

Purpose

To increase media coverage of RSL programme and activities, traffic to the website and membership take-up through the development and implementation of a comprehensive publicity and marketing strategy.

Background

Founded by George IV in 1820, the RSL nurtures, celebrates and defends all that is best in British literature, past and present. We organize talks, discussions and readings; make awards to established and emerging writers; run a series of creative writing masterclasses in collaboration with the Booker Prize Foundation; and campaign in the interest of writers.
At the heart of the Society is its Fellowship, which has always encompassed the most distinguished writers in the English language.

Although Fellows are elected to the Society, anyone can become a Member. Our events are open to all, and recordings of them are available as audio files on this website.

Main Activities & Responsibilities

Publicity and Marketing:

• · Maintain and develop media contact list.
• · Collate press clippings
• · Manage press seats for events
• · Assist with producing press packs for RSL Fellows
• · Respond to all media enquiries and log in media logs
• · Write and circulate press materials
• · Develop media relationships
• · Input into overarching PR strategy
• · Develop social media strategy and update networks
• · Increase online presence of RSL and traffic to site
• · Liaise with ad agency to place print ads
• · Develop reciprocal cross-marketing links with other cultural organizations and partners
• · Design and distribute event and membership promotion material
• · Oversee distribution of event programmes and membership brochures
• · Develop new member recruitment strategy
• · Monitoring and evaluation of publicity strategy via google analytics and other online tools
• · Manage the RSL website (new site to be launched in March 2012) with content strategist
• · Manage RSL comments to the press on relevant issues such as libraries closures
• · Carry out any other reasonable duties in line with the post which may be required

Event Management:

• · Liaise with Awards Administrator to manage guest list for awards ceremonies
• · Assist with event programme administration (booking restaurants, sound and booksellers where necessary, liaising with speakers)

Person Specification

Essential

• · An arts degree or equivalent
• · At least one year’s publicity or marketing experience in an arts related environment
• · Ability to work independently and as a member of a team
• · Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• · Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• · Ability to prioritize tasks
• · A keen interest in literature

Desirable

• · Experience of working with Indesign
• · Experience of managing databases
• · Basic web editing skills/knowledge of content management systems

Application process

Closing date for applications:                                          Friday 10^th February, 12pm

Date of 1^st interview:                                                          Thursday 16^th February

To apply, please send a CV and covering letter to Rachel Page, rachel@rslit.org.

In this short recording, kindly donated to The Literary Platform by Bob Stein, Douglas Adams charts the evolution of the book from the ‘hardware problems’ of writing on rocks, to scrolls, to the bound book and finally the silicon chip.

Some of our non English-speaking entrants have asked for the transcript so we’re posting it onto the site here:

Douglas Adams: “Getting the book invented properly has been a long, hard slog for mankind. Early attempts at it were dogged by hardware problems. The hardware was rock-based, which meant that it was heavy, cumbersome and, above all, very hard. Then, someone had a bright idea: let’s scrunch up a lot of trees, mash them into a nice pulp, flatten them out, dry them, write on them and then, I don’t know, roll them up or something. This was a terrific success, or at least a semi-terrific success. The scroll was much lighter, much softer and a little bit easier to handle. Clearly it was the ‘I don’t know, roll them up or something’ bit that needed some work.

New research brought a stunning new idea: why not cut up the rolls of paper, sew them up the middle and, I don’t know, stick ‘em between a couple of bits of board or something? This was the turning point. This new version of the book was fantastically easy to use; all you had to do, basically, was sit there. It really caught on. In fact, it caught on in such a big way that soon everybody was writing down virtually anything they could think of and putting it into books. Lots of them. Lots and lots of them. The whole business was getting out of control again.

So, back to rock-based technology. Someone had had a bright idea about what to do with silicon, which was ‘scrunch it up, flatten it out, do a horrendous amount of other stuff to it and then, I don’t know, stick it in a powerbook or something’. This was the crucial breakthrough. Now, however much people wrote, it could be turned into Voyager Expanded Books software and the powerbook could handle it. All the things anybody liked about previous types of books – pictures, text, scrolling, page turning – could be modelled in software and you could take as many books as you wanted, anywhere you liked.

Voyager Expanded Books: everything you liked about books, scrunched up into silicon or something. Voyager Expanded Books: getting the book invented properly.”

The Literary Platform Douglas Adams Competition

We became big fans of Dear Zoo and enjoyed reading it together, lifting flaps and making the animal noises. I did the same with my daughter a couple of years later.  Now I’m told this has been going on around the world for nearly 30 years?!

So assuming most of you are familiar with Dear Zoo, you’ll know that it is a PRIME CANDIDATE for app treatment. There is already an element of interactivity with the aforementioned flaps and it has, now we know, a proven track record amongst pre-schoolers.

For this project, Macmillan collaborated with interactive app developer ETV. The end result has few surprises – although the sudden turn of the Lion’s head nearly made us jump – and overall the digital version has remained true to the book. In doing so, this app will be enjoyed time and time again by toddlers. Even the author Rod Campbell – who provided some original artwork – thinks having the book in app form is ‘rather wonderful’.

The secret of the book’s success over the years has to be the winning ‘peek-a-boo’ formula – a game beloved by any gurgling toddler. And this is where a digital version works superbly. One chubby finger placed on the crate exudes a creaking noise as the side slowly lowers to reveal the animal inside. Another rusk-smeared finger on the animal and it grows bigger, make a noise and moves around. Brilliant.

The app version goes beyond the original book by allowing your child to play fetch with the puppy (you remember, the animal that isn’t sent back to the zoo). And there’s a good game of animal pairs at the end using illustrations from the book. So plenty here to encourage repeat visits.

Caroline Quentin is an excellent narrator, and of course, there’s the option to read to your child.

All in all, for £1.99 this is good value for money. The Dear Zoo app for the iPad will be – much like the book – perfect for car journeys, quiet time, and as an early foray into playful storytelling.

Designed to encourage excellence and innovation in children’s book apps, The BolognaRagazzi Digital Award is open to all publishers and developers of apps made for children between the ages of 2 and 15 years old.

Application forms to submit app nominations can be found at www.tocbologna.com.

The judging panel will be made up of international experts in digital media and illustration. The shortlisted award winners will be announced at the TOC Bologna event held on 18th March 2012.

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is the most important international event dedicated to children’s publishing and the multimedia industry. The 48th trade fair has over 1,200 exhibitors, coming from 67 countries. More than 200,000 people visit the fair each year.

In 1993 Douglas Adams, the world-renowned author of The Hitchhikers Guide of the Galaxy, recorded a short piece of audio for his US publisher of the time – Bob Stein of Voyager Expanded Books. Who would know how prophetic his words would sound nearly twenty years later, and how accurate his sense of the evolution of the book was.

In this short recording, kindly donated to The Literary Platform by Bob Stein, Douglas Adams charts the evolution of the book from the ‘hardware problems’ of writing on rocks, to scrolls, to the bound book and finally the silicon chip.

Entries will be judged by Stephen Fry, Bob Stein (SocialBook, Inc), Ranjit Dhaliwal (The Guardian) and Merlin Nation and Chris Angelkov (Atyp).

The competition invites creatives to produce an animation that best illustrates the words of Douglas Adams. Entrants are invited to use part, or all, of the Douglas Adams recording to create an animation to complement the words. You can hear and download the recording here.

Entrants are asked to upload entries to a new user-generated competition platform called Launchpad6. The public will be able to vote for their favourite animation in order to help the judges get down to a longlist of candidates. The judging panel will then choose their winner, and the winning entrant will be announced on Towel Day – the annual celebration on the 25 May, which is a tribute Douglas Adams. On that day, fans around the universe proudly carry a towel in his honour.

The winner of the competition will win an iPad2 loaded with Douglas Adams books and apps and a Don’t Panic towel to carry on Towel Day. Selected entrants will also see their work hosted on The Literary Platform and exhibited at a launch event to tie in with Towel Day.

The competition platform is now open for entries and the deadline for uploading entries is 15 April 2012. The longlist will be announced on 30 April with final judging leading up to the Towel Day announcement on 25 May 2012.

THE DOUGLAS ADAMS ANIMATION COMPETITION

‘Occupy the Moon‘, an original short story by Tony White, was commissioned by The Arts Catalyst to mark the opening of exhibition.

FACT Liverpool until 26 Feb 2012 AV Festival Newcastle upon Tyne, 1-31 March 2012 (The Moon Goose Analogue: Lunar Migration Bird Facility, Agnes Meyer Brandis only) London 2012, details tbc

A Bear Called Paddington was originally released in 1958 and, like all classic children’s literature, continues to charm new generations. There is something terribly British about Paddington, which I was reminded about when I looked at the app. He’s like a charming old gent – impeccable manners but easily flummoxed and prone to stubborness. This ‘little old man’ aspect of his character is, of course, what makes him so adorable and entertaining as he is thrown into all manner of situations. So how does he cope with ‘going digital’?

What strikes you most about this app is its beauty and simplicity. HarperCollins and Bold Creative have clearly worked hard to preserve the essence of the original book. The charming illlustrations by R.W. Alley remain untouched (to the untrained eye) except for the merest hint of animation – the occasional flicker of emotion from Mr and Mrs Brown – a raised eyebrow, the blink of an eye. While Paddington, rightly, is treated to more sophisticated enhancement as he raises his hat, moves his head, eats a bun or gives a wave. The end result is quite magical.

The enhancement prompts are brilliantly child-friendly – a Christmasey sprinkle of gold stars. But they don’t all trigger animation. Some are minor sound effects – background noise in the station or on the street, for example – or a single musical note. The latter may be met with mixed reactions, especially from people like me who were expecting more dialogue or movement.

As is the case with the original Paddington books, most pages contain quite a large amount of text (for this adaptation, word highlighting could have been a nice addition in the ‘Read to Me’ option, helping children to follow the narrator). And for those that find the text too intrusive and simply want to listen, a touch of the ‘paw’ icon makes the text box slide out of view. Navigation is via arrows at the edge of the screen or a single dotted line at the bottom which also shows your progress through the book – although the latter felt slightly redundant once it became clear that you couldn’t jump to the corresponding page.

Some the key features of the app are more to do with the capabilities of your iOS device than the digital adaptation of the story, and they really add value to the overall package. You (or a visiting grandparent, for example) can record a reading of the story so your child has a choice of bedtime narrator. Another nice touch is the option for readers to drop a photograph of themselves into the Paddington picture frame and email to family and friends.

Paddington for the iPad is a beautifully-crafted app produced by a team that clearly respects the author, illustrator and one of the best-loved characters in children’s literature. And we’re told that there is more to come in 2012. Meantime if you do happen to have a new iPad 2 for Christmas, please look after this Bear (app).