The Geek’s Blog: All About Ebooks

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Hi! My name is Simon Collinson and I’m Wakefield Press’s new ‘Geek in Residence’. Thanks to the generosity of the Australia Council, I’m here until the end of August to work on Wakefield’s ebook business.

So what exactly are ebooks? Essentially, they’re a website in a box: a kind of text file which can be displayed on computers, tablets, phones, and dedicated ereader devices.

Ereader with books

Ebooks come in a few formats. The most widely used of these is an open format called EPUB, followed closely by MOBI, a proprietary format owned by Amazon, the creator of the popular ‘Kindle’ line of ereaders.

Ebooks are great for people who prefer to read large print books, as the text size can be enlarged. This means that every ebook is a large print book! They’re also good for travellers, because an average tablet or ereader is capable of holding hundreds or even thousands of ebooks.

‘But where can I buy Wakefield’s ebooks?’, I hear you asking? Luckily, you have a few options: find our ebooks at your preferred retailer, or buy them directly from us. EPUB format ebooks work on just about every device around (except for Kindles). Click here to see which ebook formats are supported by your tablet or ereader.

Ebooks are taking the publishing world by storm: they now make up at least 10% of all books sold in Australia. While I’m at Wakefield, my job is to make sure we can compete in this growing market. To do this, I need to know what our readers want. That’s why I’m asking you, dear readers, to get in touch and let me know what you think of our ebooks.

I’m looking forward to hearing your comments, suggestions, and questions.

Cojones meme, nerd!

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Thursday links are in, kiddies!

We have a fantastic article from the Guardian about words invented by authors, which has been doing the rounds these last couple of days, and has provided the wonderful title to this blog post. The list of author-invented words is wonderful, but some seem particularly apt – that cojones (from the Spanish) entered regular English usage courtesy of Hemingway is glorious. Read more here.

From Esquire, we have a step-by-step guide to giving up the Amazon addiction and shopping in your local bookshop. Discontent with Bezos’ empire has been growing recently, but shopping local shouldn’t just be about a boycott. Bricks and mortar bookshops are wonderful places to find new authors, new titles, and to find out more about your local community of writers and readers. There’s nothing quite like being able to drop into Imprints on your break and spend some time familiarising yourself with the current crop of great reads. I would live in Matilda’s if they’d let me. And you’re always ALWAYS in good hands at Dymocks or Dillons. Just to name a few!

Next up, I think I’m feeling Velvet Underground after all that!

Hope the week’s treating y’all well!

Oh me oh my

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Nature's LineLet the awards for Nature’s Line begin.

The shortlist for the very highly respected Ernest Scott Prize was announced today, and Janis Sheldrick’s amazing George Goyder biography is top of the list! With some spot on judges’ comments, too.

We’re incredibly proud of this book, and the mammoth amount of work, love and dedication put into by Janis.

We’re definitely expecting more from where this came from. Congratulations Janis!

New Wakefieldians and Thursday links

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Thanks to an awesome Oz Co grant, we now have an ebook expert in residence for the next three months. Or, as we like to say: Simon is in the house!

We like this one. As well as being a general ebook Grand Master, he’s also an avid reader and reviewer, and an on-the-side Brow Lifter (online editor).

He also finds the best articles on interesting book-related things.

Which brings me to today’s links!

We have an awesome, awesome article on the struggle to read from the New York Review of Books. It’s a great piece on the way that we read today, and how it affects the way we write. Cheers for this Simon!

Second up is associated: an article from the New Yorker, on the proposed trigger warnings for students of literature, and the kind of impact that could have on readers. Another fascinating piece on the act of reading – something we’re pretty keen on exploring over here.

Third up is not a link, but an apology from me. Two New York-centric articles in one blog post? Not good enough!

Fourth, to localise things a bit, we have the interactive timeline for Golden North Ice Cream’s history. Just to continue with the Laura theme from yesterday. Also because it’s damn cool. Also also because I think we need more ice cream in this office. Whatever the weather.

Also also ALSO — this one‘s back in stock guys!

Nature's Line

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better be quick!

Tracking Wakefield’s authors

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Rise and shine kiddies, let this new (and short!) week begin …

To be perfectly honest, we’re struggling to keep up with our authors over here —

There’s Dino Hodge, on Late Night Live with Phillip Adams last night discussing Don Dunstan. Wonderful interview.

Then there’s Kate Strohm, who’s again heading to Italy to present on sibling issues discussed in her book, Siblings: Brothers and Sisters of Children with Disability. She presented at workshops in Italy in 2006 and 2013, and this year she’s preparing to present in Assisi and Glasgow. Kate says the experiences have been especially memorable – though working with a translator all day can be exhausting! – and reinforce the idea that families are the same the world over.

Siblings Revised Ed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then Philip Butterss, who has been running all over town presenting for the brilliant C.J. Dennis biography, An Unsentimental Bloke, has a launch coming up at Laura on the 22 June. Laura‘s a pretty rad place – C.J. Dennis wrote the poem ‘Laura Days’ about his time there:

When the evening sun slants through the gums,
By my forest-rimmed abode
Once more the old clear picture comes,
And my mind drifts down the road;
Back to the town by Beetaloo,
Where the rocky river strays;
Back to the old kind friends I knew
In the dear dead Laura days.

Couldn’t have put it better myself, Clarry. Except I would have added a line about how it’s the homeplace of Golden North ice cream, obvs.

And that’s only three accounted for! To keep up with everyone else, keep an eye on our events calendar.

Monday links

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The simple act of going into a bookshop and buying an Australian novel is now radical. The slightly more demanding act of reading that novel is political. This is a good in itself. This makes the work good. It stimulates the economy, not to mention your intellect and capacity for empathy. It also provides writers, editors and publishers with the means to continue doing what they do. Most importantly, it stimulates a conversation, creates a context in which other Australian novels can live. That is, it creates a culture.

– Adam Ouston, Daily Review

This stuff is golden, if you don’t mind me saying.

There’s been a lot of discussion around the place recently of civic duty, in the wake of the Budget announcement a couple of weeks ago. How to actively engage and participate with this ol’ society of ours? How to be a part of the bigger conversation? The ‘F**k Tony Abbott’ t-shirts going around at the moment, as satisfying as they may be, do not an engaged discourse make. David Ouston from the Daily Review has a good solution, though, and one that we here at WP can heartily endorse: buy more Aussie books! Read the piece here. Buy the books here (of course).

Next, a short and topical video for your Monday kicks:

Now, if you’re looking for a good old fashioned bricks and mortar bookstore to find your Aussie books in, those lords of lists at Buzzfeed have put together 17 Spectacular Bookshops in Australia to See Before You Die (okay, a bit of a mouthful, and if you ask us there about five hundred more bookshops to be added to this list, but you get the point).

And, last but not least, an extract from Dino Hodge’s astounding Don Dunstan, Intimacy and Liberty, over on InDaily. Read the extract, check out the rad pics, then buy the book here.

Yes yes, the launch was last Thursday, and there will be photos of us all in our Don-inspired get up soon. Too soon.

Happy Monday, kids!