It's a momentous day here at Phoenicia Publishing: we just released our first e-books!
I've been reading books on my laptop and Android phone for quite a while now.
And here's the verdict: I've decided I like it, even though I'm not a 100% convert.
I like the ability to take my reading -- lots of reading, in fact -- with me wherever I go, on one nearly weightless device that fits in my pocket. And I like being able to buy, for less, books that I don't particularly want to keep as physical objects in a physical library. I like being able to search them, make bookmarks, look up words: all those interactive features.
If I can get a book I want to read at the local library, that's often the option I choose - it's free. But I live in a French-speaking province and can't always get what I want, which has been a problem ever since we moved here. And, like most people now, I like the instant gratification of being able to download a book and start reading right away. It's clear to me that the future of publishing lies, at the very least, with a mix of e-books and print books, and more likely with forms of electronic publishing that we can't even imagine yet, but which include a lot of multimedia content impossible with the printed page.
Most people don't have to think about all this, well, beyond their own pockets, but the problem is...I'm also running a publishing company. A small company, yes, but it's a furry little entity dedicated to being a fast and adaptable hare rather than a ponderous tortoise. At Phoenicia we publish mostly poetry -- one of the most challenging formats for e-books, which are still pretty hobbled when it comes to complex typography. The other thing we will be publishing are art and photography books: also a type of book that needs careful, beautiful design.
I've spent the past couple of weeks thinking and exploring and learning, and today we released our first two e-books at Phoenicia: Dave Bonta's Odes to Tools and Ken Pobo's Ice and Gaywings, winner of this year's qarrtsiluni chapbook contest. Both are available in the Kindle/.MOBI format, and as EPUBs for the iPad or other EPUB readers, like the Nook or Sony, for a cost of only $2.99. Full-length e-books will be priced similarly to most commercial ones: around $10.00.
It was fun learning the new technology and I'm proud of the finished products. And it feels like a pretty big deal - a big step into the future.
(Dave Bonta has another book, a collection of his wryly funny and sometimes poignant "Words on the Street" cartoons that's just come out in multiple formats, through Bauble Tree Books in London. Check it out!)
I've been pretty low-key about Phoenicia here on the blog, but will be talking a bit more about it in the coming months - we've got several exciting projects in the works that I think will be interesting to Cassandra's readers, and, as always, the authors and I really appreciate your support! Nobody's getting rich - or even making any money to speak of - but I'm trying to develop a model that at least gets excellent, deserving work into print -- and now, e-ink -- which is a whole lot better than having it languish forever in a virtual folder in a virtual desk drawer!
Very exciting developments, Beth. As an erstwhile diehard treeware stuck-in-the-mud, I might be about to turn!
Posted by: Dick | January 27, 2012 at 05:38 PM
Wow. Congratulations!
Posted by: Jean | January 28, 2012 at 09:41 AM
Congrats on this new step! I'll be curious to hear more about the process.
Posted by: Martine | January 28, 2012 at 11:12 AM
This is really good.
I'm feeling my way into the e-book thing, poetry I usually find unsatisfying on it, but it is very interesting.
Posted by: Lucy | January 28, 2012 at 12:32 PM
Congratulations! I'm so excited for you. At first I was infatuated with my ereader, but now I've settled into liking a mix, too. What I want in an ereader isn't there yet: light weight, long lasting battery, colour, ability to highlight and make notes effectively.
Posted by: Lilian Nattel | January 28, 2012 at 12:45 PM
Congratulations Beth and Phoenicia! Keeping up with the latest technology is necessary and useful, even if it goes against the grain for some of us. I still haven't been converted to buying an electronic gadget in order to read books; I like paper, pages that can be physically turned, the weight of a book etc. However I must recognise what's happening to publishing and I definitely want to try my hand at self-publishing an e-book or two. But so far, I haven't seen what an illustrated ebook looks like on Kindle. Looking forward to yours!
Posted by: Natalie | January 28, 2012 at 01:22 PM
Vilken fin dikt. Min son har ett hjärta som gör som det vill. Har i dag även läst i Brännpunkt, Svenska Dagbladet om att fler barnhjärtspecialister behövs. Mina tankar går i dag till alla hjärtebarn.Ett extra slag för dig Ann-Marie. Hälsningar Elisabeth
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