Library treasure from an island paradise

Tengaepu o te Rangi Tararo with his Cook Islands version of The Pilgrim’s Progress , published in 1892 and restored by Akatarawa bookbinder Bill Tito.

From the DomPost

Talk about a serendipitous discovery.

Fossicking through an online used book sale can turn up amazing treasures.

It cost just $10 on Trade Me, but to Tengaepu o te Rangi Tararo it's a book worth much more than that.

It's a version of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress written in Cook Islands Maori and published in England in 1892 for use in Sunday schools and religious classes.

"It's priceless. It's part of our history. I'm delighted by it," he said, after daughter Dorothy Hosking presented it to him.

She had found it on the auction website.

Hosking had it restored by Akatarawa bookbinder Bill Tito, who also said the book was remarkable.

"It's the first time I've seen anything like this in the Cook Islands language. It's nice to be able to restore a book like this. There's a real good feel factor about it."

Te Tere o te Tuitarere was published by the Religious Tract Society, in conjunction with the London Missionary Society, for distribution throughout the Cook Islands.

The Pilgrim's Progress was first published in 1678, and was begun while Bunyan was in jail for breaches of religious law. It has been translated into more than 200 languages.

Tararo, of Ascot Park, Porirua, was born on the island of Mauke in the Cook Islands in 1931. He said that as a Presbyterian, he did not get to spend too much time at Sunday school in his youth.

"I only had three years at school. I was not well in my younger days. We had no doctors on Mauke and a lot of my generation died young because of it."

When he arrived in New Zealand in 1961, he left about 1000 people living on Mauke. "There's only about 300 there now," he said.

Reading the unusual book in his own language had forced him to think about the island life he reluctantly chose to leave behind all those years ago.

He wants Hosking to make the decision about what eventually happens to the book. "She gave it to me, so I'll leave it to her to see whether it stays in the family."

Never underestimate a pigeon

Some time ago, I was very amused during a train ride from Wellington.  While the train was waiting at the station, someone opened the door ... and a pigeon hopped in.  It didn't seem at all alarmed when the door shut, or even when the train got going with the usual jerk.  Instead, it wandered up and down the car as if it was filling in time.  We passed a couple of stops with no reaction from our feathery passenger, but when the train got to Tawa, it was different. It stepped up to the door, waited for someone to push the open door button, then hopped out, and waddled briskly up the platform, nodding happily to itself.  Obviously, it knew exactly where it was going.

Now, the news of another use of modern contrivances by pigeons has surfaced.  According to the newspaper, pigeons are riding the escalator up to McDonalds, which is on the second floor of a building on Lambton Quay, the "Golden Mile" of Wellington.

And someone has complained about it.  What Maccas is going to do about it remains a mystery, but meanwhile the pigeons ride and fatten.  That lack of exercise surely can't be doing them any good.

Kangaroo drawing could change Australian history

Does this look like a kangaroo to you?

It certainly does to me.

Trouble is, it is in a 16th century Portuguese manuscript, confounding all conventional understanding of the European discovery of Australia.

Sophie Tedmanson reports.

The Dutch ship Duyfken, which landed in Australia in 1606, was thought to been the first European ship to dock on the mainland. However the discovery of the long-lost manuscript has led historians to believe that images of kangaroos had been circulating for decades before then.

The 16th century drawing was proof that the artist had either been in Australia or heard reports about the country and its native animals from other western European travellers, according to Les Enluminures researcher Laura Light.

‘A kangaroo or a wallaby in a manuscript dated this early is proof that the artist of this manuscript had either been in Australia, or even more interestingly, that travellers' reports and drawings of the interesting animals found in this new world were already available in Portugal,’ Ms Light told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Portugal was extremely secretive about her trade routes during this period, explaining why their presence there wasn't widely known.’

The manuscript also features of male figures adorned in tribal dress, baring naked torsos and crowns of leaves in the text, which Ms Light said could depict Aborigines.

The pocket-sized manuscript contains text and music for a liturgical procession. It is inscribed with the name Caterina de Carvalho, who is believed to be a nun from Caldas da Rainha in western Portugal.

Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon has long been credited with being the first European to discover Australia when he docked the Duyfken at the mouth of the Pennefather River on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland in 1606.

Some historians, including author Peter Trickett, have long debated that the coast of Australia was actually first mapped by a Portuguese maritime expedition nearly a century before the Dutch landing.

‘It is not surprising at all that an image of a kangaroo would have turned up in Portugal at some point in the latter part of the 16th century. It could be that someone in the Portuguese exhibition had this manuscript in their possession,’ Mr Trickett told the paper.

Other historians theorised that the drawing could be the result of expeditions made by Portuguese explorer Jorge de Menezes to New Guinea – which has similar flora and fauna to northern Queensland where the Duyfken landed – in 1526.

National Library of Australia curator of maps Martin Woods said the kangaroo-like image was not proof enough to rewrite history as it could actually depict a number of other animals from south-east Asia.

‘People will continue to look, but for now, unfortunately the appearance of a long-eared big-footed animal in a manuscript doesn't really add much,’ he told the paper.

The Les Enluminures gallery will exhibit the manuscript - valued at $US15,000 ($16,600) - as part of a new exhibition Sacred Song: Chanting the Bible in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Since this news was posted, the manuscript, called "Processional (Monastic Use, perhaps Cistercian," was sold.

Polynesian navigators to get a Disney cartoon movie

From Michael Field for the Dominion Post

Polynesians including Maori are to get Disney cartoon treatment earlier than expected in a kind of haka meets "Frozen" in the South Seas.

Walt Disney Animation Studios said in a statement the movie "Moana", would be a sweeping, computer-generated animated comedy-adventure about a spirited teenager on an impossible mission to fulfil her ancestors' quest.

The original screen play was written by Wellington's "What We Do in the Shadows" director Taika Waititi, Filmdivider reported today. 

It will hit the screens in late 2016, two years earlier than planned, in the wake of the multi-million success of "Frozen."

"Moana" will be directed by film-making team of Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog and Aladdin).

Just as Native Americans were defined in "Pocahontas" and felines in "The Lion King," Disney said Moana would be their "newest princess of colour . . . a Polynesian adventurer, and she sounds awesome".

Musker said Moana was "indomitable, passionate and a dreamer with a unique connection to the ocean itself."

"She's the kind of character we all root for, and we can't wait to introduce her to audiences."

Clements said creating Moana would be one of the thrills of the team's career.

"It's a big adventure set in this beautiful world of Oceania," he said.

Disney said that "in the ancient South Pacific world of Oceania, Moana, a born navigator, sets sail in search of a fabled island".

No details are given, although smart money would say that Hawaiki is certain to make an appearance.

"During her incredible journey, she teams up with her hero, the legendary demi-god Maui, to traverse the open ocean on an action-packed voyage, encountering enormous sea creatures, breathtaking underworlds and ancient folklore," it said.

The news of Disney's 56th animation is getting a lot of Hollywood and business press, and its share price jumped in the wake of Frozen which has so far grossed US$1.2 billion (NZ$1.5 billion)"

Business magazine Forbes  says that "along with the fact that they are not remotely trying to hide the female-centric nature of the story, it goes to show that come what may, Walt Disney is not backing down from providing female-centric entertainment to go alongside their Star Wars and Avengers entries".

"That wasn't a sure-thing just a few years ago, but the successes of the likes of Frozen and Maleficent seems to have changed all of that," Forbes said.

Frozen was not just female-centric animated fable (two lead female characters), but it was actually named for the female title character.

Wow.  I can't wait!

Why read Moby-Dick?

Guest post from Bud Warren

Why Read Moby Dick? 

It's a question many of us have been asked.  

It’s now the title of a book by Nathaniel Philbrook who wrote about the whaleship ESSEX.

Like many of you, MD is part of my life.  It has been for some time.  My wife just shakes her head when she catches me at it again..

I first read MD sitting high in the crotch of an old pine tree, swaying back and forth in the coastal winds of Maine, watching the tides come and go, quickly scan-reading many of the non-narrative parts, but smelling the whales and feeling the spray of their exhalations in my mind’s eye once Melville got back to the story.  I’d run across the Modern Library version with Rockwell Kent’s images, which also became part of my life. 

My next reading was in a junior high school English class, a condensed version with a nearly-orange cover; I felt I had a leg up on my buddies, having already voyaged on PEQUOD, but felt a bit queasy at how easy it was this second time at sea with Ishmael.  Maybe I was missing something, I thought, and vowed to try it again some day.    Next time was on my own time during a college summer vacation – not as an assignment -  and was moved but still overwhelmed.  Back at it several times more in my middle years with better results.  Two years ago, before a rather long trip, I took MD with me as a book on tape, and (as with O’Brian) found the prose aurally magical, catching deeper currents and nuances missed in half a dozen readings.  Several times even heard myself laughing out loud as I listened in my empty truck.  Now in my 80th year, I’m half-way through it again, and I guess Philbrook is going to tell me why.   

Can’t wait.

Are you providing the right setting for your main character?

Reasons your Indie book is hanging

Five reasons your self-published book isn't selling, according to Crystal Ponti

From Huffington Post

The first is a great tip -- part of assessing your market all the time you are writing and designing your book.  It is no good trying to sell a raunchy romance under the banner of contemporary thriller -- the thrill the reader might or might not get is not the kind of thrill he or she is expecting.

1. Obscure or Broad Subject

The most popular books fall within specific niches or categories -- large publishers know this, most self-publishers do not. That's one of the nice things about working with a large publishing house: they are able to fine tune a book to appeal to a certain audience. If your book is so obscure or if it's too broad, it might have a difficult time being properly categorized or resonating with a target readership.

For example, a book about growing up in Maine might be more difficult to sell than a book about living off the wilderness while growing up in Maine. See the difference? Fine tune your angle or focus and you'll sell a lot more books.

And number two is the obvious.  How many Amazon reviews have you read complaining about the number of typos? 

2. Low Quality (Writing, Editing, Layout...)

When a book is published by a major label, it takes months (sometimes years) of planning, editing, and formatting to get things right. This allows for an impeccable, high quality end-product. Independent authors often take shortcuts to quickly get their books to market.

This can result in a book that looks every bit self-published. You need to take your time and really make sure that the writing is tight and that you hire someone (or multiple experts) to do the proofreading, editing, and layout. These are not areas you want to tackle on your own or hand off to a friend or relative (unless they are experts).

Three is also a given. And always remember that thumbnail -- complicated images and designs don't work on postal stamp-sized images.  Keep the text on the front of your jacket to a minimum.

3. Cover 

I cannot tell you how many times I've gone online to check out a book only to be greeted by what looked like a snipped Word doc used as a makeshift cover. No. Don't. Please. This is the other aspect of self-publishing where you'll want to hire a pro. The cover makes the first impression. If someone goes to look at your book and the cover appears to be done by a two-year-old, chances are they are going to keep looking.

Four addresses a real problem -- but is it answered adequately?  Price your book too low, and you will regret it.  Perhaps the rule of thumb should be the same as pricing goods in yard sales -- you can always come down in price, but you can't go up.

4. Priced Inappropriately

Here's a little secret: In order for your book to sell, you need to be realistic and price within the range of similar titles. If you price your book at $20.99 for a print copy and competing titles are selling for $7.99, eyebrows are going to go up. It's true, if someone really wants your book , they will indeed pay a higher price. But if someone is looking to read something in a genre they enjoy, they're going to look for a competitive price. This is especially true if you are a new author.

Number five also poses questions.  An author can do only so much at a time, and while constant marketing would be nice, it could be much more important to get going on that next book.

5. Flagging enthusiasm

At the onset of any project, we have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. We throw ourselves into every aspect, excited to see the end result. The same is true with publishing a book. Many self-published authors give everything they've got to see their book listed on Amazon and spend a few months aggressively promoting the title. Then suddenly they lose steam, stalling or stopping their marketing efforts. This is a BIG no, no.

Marketing a book is an ongoing, long-term commitment. In order for you to sell copies, you need to create and continue to generate awareness and interest. Don't get frustrated if you're not meeting your expectations as quickly as you had hoped. If you expect the masses to come knocking down your door just because you hit the "publish" button, you'll be sorely disappointed. Success doesn't happen overnight. Just stick with it and keep pushing forward.

Any more ideas? 

Let me know

The Fear Index

A new genre?

Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad

I am a huge admirer of Robert Harris's historical thrillers. The series based on the political career of Cicero is absolutely firstclass, in my opinion, and the truly volcanic Pompei held me enthralled.  Then, when Harris ventured into new territory with the political thriller The Ghost, I was just as impressed, so I had no trouble at all in picking up The Fear Index.

The book is gripping from the very start.  Geneva-based Dr Alex Hoffman is a brilliant scientist whose computer program, VIXAL-4, is making mega-millions for his company with its uncanny accuracy in predicting stock market trends. 

In the first moments of an explosive twenty-four hours, Hoffman finds that some mysterious benefactor has sent him a pricey first edition of a book by Darwin that explores human emotions -- terror in particular. Which is uncanny, because VIXAL-4 predicts stock movements by tracking human fear. 

Then, in the throes of an uneasy doze, Hoffman wakes up to find that someone has broken through his state of the art security system. And, when he creeps downstairs and outside in the garden, to peer through his own firstfloor windows, he finds a cannibal sharpening knives in his kitchen.

Someone is trying to destroy Hoffman -- not just physically, but with cyber attack, too. Have the algorithms that track fear turned on their creator? Is VIXAL-4 another HAL gone mad?  While the stock markets of the world go crazy, and the novel takes on a breakneck pace, Hoffman reacts with increasing desperation.

This is a new genre.  Call it an economic thriller, if you like.  It definitely borders on the best of science fiction -- the man vs. robot story might be old hat, but this is very, very different.  It is also very convincing, in the mode of Michael Crichton and Fred Hoyle.

I will never regard algorithms in the same way again -- even those on Amazon.

Win the latest Dawlish Chronicle

Exciting competition combined with exciting news

Old Salt Press, that exciting development in fine maritime independent publishing, is on the verge of proudly overseeing the publication of the third in the Dawlish Chronicles series, the as yet unnamed latest adventure of a most unusual naval hero.

Nicholas Dawlish arrived on the historical naval fiction scene with a virtual crash of cannon.  Have a look at my post about the first in the series, Britannia's Wolf, to see what I mean.

This was followed by a second, Britannia's Reach, that could not have been more different in tone and setting, but was a thriller grounded in the same thorough research, with the same sense of being there that only very good writers can convey.

Now the third is on the stocks, and set for the launch.  All it needs is a title.  And the three prospective readers who make the closest guess will be lucky winners.

As author Antoine Vanner explains on his blog, "The title, for now, is “Britannia’s X” – with “X” being undisclosed for now. I’m therefore offering signed copies of the novel to the first three successful guesses as to what “X” stands for."

Clues?  Well, having read a recent draft of the book, I can drop a couple of hints.  The action happens April to November 1881. It begins in the northern Adriatic and then rapidly shifts continents. And American readers are going to like this book, a lot. And, like the first two books, it relies on technical innovation and technical brilliance.

As I said some time ago, Vanner is the Tom Clancy of historical naval fiction.

Send it your entries to dawlishchronicles@outlook.com before 10 November 2014.

GOOD LUCK!

Book signings

Author James L. Nelson shared a quote from Dave Barry, today.  It runs like this:

The way a book signing is supposed to work is: You sit at a table, people come up with books they've purchased, and you sign them. Except that sometimes nobody buys your book. This is Author Hell. You sit there, at your little table, and people stare at you as they walk past, or ask you where the astrology books are. Or sometimes they pick up your book, examine it, and and then put it down as if its a piece of goat dung. After a while, the bookstore employees, feeling sorry for you, start lying. "Don't feel bad!" the say. "We had Madonna in here last week, and nobody came to see her, either!"

Well, we authors have all been there and done that.  In fact, there have been a couple of book signings where I have been the person who sought out the astrology books, in the hope that next year promises better.

But, is it the author's fault?

How many authors have actually gone up to a bookseller and said, "How about setting out a table, with a few books on it, so that I can sit there are sign the books people buy?"

It doesn't happen like that. Book signings are organized by the publisher, or by the book store, or whatever.  Never by the author, who (usually reluctantly) agrees to be the guy in this particular side show.  And sometimes they are organized very well indeed.  I remember turning up to one where the crowd about the table was so dense that I thought I was early, and sat quietly on a bench waiting for the crowd to disperse.  Then I heard the bookstore assistants saying to each other, "Where is the author?"

And the author was me!  But I take none of the credit.  The bookstore had earned it all, with lots of advance publicity, an interview and maybe an advertisement in the local paper, and lots of invitations sent out.

So, dear fellow writers, if the Dave Barry situation happens to you, don't take the blame on your own shoulders.  It isn't likely to belong there.

Bestselling author tells publishers not to be greedy

From Publishers Weekly

At a standing room only session at the Frankfurt Book Fair, bestselling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho had a message for publishers: Embrace change. And, lower your e-book prices.

At the packed event, Coelho and fair director Jeurgen Boos talked about the future of the book business, with Coelho telling the audience that change could not be stopped. 

"It is a lost case," Coelho said. 

"Paulo, you're saying the war is lost?" Boos asked. 

"I'm not saying the war is lost," Coelho replied "I'm saying we humans are still here because of our capacity of adapting ourselves. The war is not lost. It is the opposite. The war is won. Culture is now available all over the world. People can read."

Paulo Coelho talks with fans at the 2014 Frankfurt Book Fair

Chief among Coelho's advice to the industry: embrace the lower prices digital enables. "The system believes that all pirates are not honest. They are not dishonest. They have a problem of accessing culture. I'm not here to defend piracy. But if you change the system of pricing books, that is one of the solutions." 

He spoke of his own experience--lowering his e-book prices for a promotion--saying he ended up making the price differential in volume, ultimately netting more profit.

Over the course of the 45-minute talk, Coelho acknowledged the tension points in the book business, including the need to defend and to help independent bookstores adapt, saying he considered bookstores to be "temples." 

He also acknowledged that the growing number of voices enabled by the Internet can make it harder to discover great works. "From the moment everybody has voice, there is a lot of noise, and from the moment there is a lot of noise, nobody is listening to anybody." 

But he also expressed a deep belief in the ability of people to express themselves, and talked about his own work never being driven by money, but by the desire to tell a story. "Either you adapt yourself, or you die," he said. "We can't try to stop time."

At the end of his talk, when asked about the future of the book industry, Coelho returned to the issue of price, again suggesting that offering more reasonable prices would entice people to buy books. "There is a golden rule," Coelho said, closing the program. "Don't be greedy."

TITANIC deck plan and menu for sale

A deck plan and the only surviving menu from the Titanic's first-class
restaurant are expected to be sold for up to £100,000 at auction next week.

The deck plan was used by Elise Lurette to find her way to the lifeboats
after the passenger liner hit an iceberg in April 1912.

More than 1,500 passengers and crew drowned but Ms Lurette, a 59-year-old
French-born maid, survived.

The plan was given only to first-class passengers. Ms Lurette, who worked
for the wealthy Spencer family, wrote on it "Depart le 10 Avril" and marked
the paper plan with a cross to indicate the location of her cabin.

Also in Ms Lurette's coat pocket when she was rescued was a lunch menu,
dated April 12.

The choice in the first-class restaurant included mutton chops, roast beef,
Melton Mowbray pie, lamb and mint sauce, ox tongue, tapioca pudding and
greengage tart.

After managing to find a lifeboat, Ms Lurette sat alongside her employer,
Marie Spencer, in lifeboat number six.

She kept the documents and left them to her family before her death the
following year.

The documents, which have remained in the Lurette family, will be sold by
Titanic memorabilia specialists Henry Aldridge & Son, in Devizes, Wiltshire
on October 18.

The deck plan is expected to sell for £16,000 and the menu, which is
believed to be the first from lunch on April 12 to go under the hammer, is
tipped to sell for £70,000.

A third document that makes up the archive is a fine postcard the maid sent
to her nephew from the Titanic when it stopped off at Queenstown in Ireland,
which is expected to fetch £6,000.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "The archive is an exceptional one.
"To have a menu, especially one from lunch on April 12 that survived the
sinking in Ms Lurette's coat pocket, alongside a first-class deck plan, was
used on the Titanic and has remained in the family for over a century is
unheard of.

"Elise was rescued in lifeboat number six and was severely traumatized by
her experiences, recalling the screams of those in the water and their
attempts to climb into the lifeboat."

Also being sold next week is a letter written by the Titanic's chief
engineer, Joseph Bell, to his son, which describes a near-miss the ship had
as it left Southampton on its ill-fated maiden voyage.

Mr Bell's letter is estimated to fetch between £10,000 and £15,000.

ORGANIZING A BOOK TOUR

The last question in my interview with Lincoln Paine touched on an area that is close to the heart of many a modern author, particularly the daring soul who has embarked on independent publishing.

It is becoming quite common for authors to organize their own book tours.  Any suggestions for this?

The parts of my tour that were not organized by Knopf (who did a fantastic job editorially and in promotion) were of three distinct kinds:

•         events organized by people who looked me up directly
•         those organized by people to whom I was suggested by friends and colleagues
•         a few to which I invited myself through people I knew personally.

For the first two categories especially, the obvious details to work out are how long they want you to talk and if they have anything in particular they want you to focus on.

It also behooves you to tailor your remarks to your audience, whether it's their group interest, or where they live. In my case, the Naval War College doesn't want to hear the same talk as the Sons of Norway or the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, and even the latter audience wants to be distinguished in some way from that of the Southern Yacht Clubman New Orleans.

Any other suggested preparation?

It’s simple to explain the difference between writing and promoting a book. In the one, you spend most of your time sitting at a desk talking to yourself; in the other, you spend all your time standing on a stage and talking to a room full of people. Public speaking is not my forte, but I practiced a lot and an actor friend gave me tips on speaking and stage presence. If this doesn’t come naturally to you, you have to work at it, but it is worth it, not only because people do judge a book by the author, but because you’ll be more comfortable.

Just as your hosts should do their homework about you, you should do some about them. It doesn't have to be much, but it can make all the difference between a good reception and an indifferent one.

Any questions you should ask them?

• Who will introduce you?
• Will you be in a conversation, part of a panel, or giving a solo lecture?
• Do they want you to talk about your book, about your process as a writer, or something else altogether? 
• How much time do they want you to speak?
• Does your host want you to talk, or read, or both?
• Do they want a visual component like PowerPoint? (Some do, some don't, some don't care.)
• If yes, can you just bring a thumbdrive to plug in, or do they need you to bring your own laptop? 
• Do they pay for travel or accommodations?
• Do they pay an honorarium (either in addition to or in lieu of travel)?
• Will they arrange for books to be sold at the event?
• Do they expect/allow you to sell books at the event?
• Will there be a reception or meal of some kind?

Whether you need any or all of these conditions to be met is up to you, and there are times when you should be happy to speak with nothing in return, such as a local school group. I admit I didn't have such a list this go-round, but I wish that I had, if only to impress on some of my hosts the fact that writing is actually a business and not an act of charity.

And finally, for the hundreds of voyagers who read this blog, what are your tips for living out of a suitcase?

Keep your expectations modest and be prepared to be both disappointed and pleasantly surprised. And have realistic expectation about what you'll need to wear, and about how much work you'll actually get done. I've basically decided that traveling is a great opportunity to catch up on back issues if the New Yorker and TLS.

And when United Airlines decides that you really want to spend the night at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, you can find a cot in Terminal 3, Concourse L. They won’t tell you, it’s a twenty-minute walk from Terminal 1, and the powers that be wake you up at 4:00 am. But it beats sleeping on the floor or between armrests.

Thank you, Lincoln. I enjoyed this interview, and have learned a great deal. You have given me and my readers a lot to think about.

WHAT AN AUTHOR SHOULD EXPECT ... BUT SOMETIMES DOESN’T GET

More from Lincoln Paine, recently returned from his book tour for The Sea & Civilization

There must have been glitches!  Are you willing to tell us about them?

I think this is the part of the interview where I get to gripe, and I have a few complaints that most authors will share and of which all prospective hosts should be mindful.

You mean the people who invited you to talk?  What did you expect, and how did they let you down? 

Foremost, if you are going to invite someone to speak at your institution or organization, you should have something to say about them before they show up. This is almost always provided by the publisher or author, and if you’ve misplaced the email it came in, you can always go to their website or read the flap copy of their book. Not doing so is incredibly insulting to the author or whomever it is you’re hosting. This happens more often than I can believe.

 Most venues have no institutional or logistical impediments to having books available for signing. Authors go on book tours to promote their books, and not making them available for sale defeats the purpose of the tour.

 Also, while no author is in it for the swag, which can sometimes be difficult to deal with—one club gave me two enormous monogrammed wineglasses, which they offered to send to me—the gesture of an offering is appreciated, even if it’s just a certificate or letter or acknowledgement, and especially when it’s in lieu of having books available, honoraria, or paying for travel or accommodations. Yes, authors benefit from publicizing their own work, but it’s not as though all the work was done before the book came out. Preparing for a talk and getting to the event are time-consuming and costly.

 And we also know we’re there to educate your students or entertain your membership and guests and that if we didn’t show up you would have to work to find someone else. So hosts should try to be as accommodating as possible.

Hear, hear to that!  I remember the venue where accommodation was at the home of one of the members of the board ... who somehow forgot to inform his wife!

Thank you, Lincoln.  More revelations to come. Meantime, enjoy this lovely illustration from his book.

“A Chinese postage stamp commemorating the six hundredth anniversary of the first of seven Ming Dynasty expeditions to the Indian Ocean under Zheng He. The design, size, and rig of the largest “treasure ships” in the fleets are disputed, but the number and variety of ships that sailed is not. Courtesy of China Post.”

Online selling drives cover design

Inspired by Random Notes

Look at these two covers.  See the difference?  The design of the one on the left pre-dates online book marketing, while the one on the right is deliberately created to catch the eye of the browsing online buyer.

In the old days, an artist was hired to paint a cover image.  He (usually he) was not sent the whole manuscript to read.  Instead, the editor chose a few paragraphs, and sent that page along.

The result could be bizarre, rampant sex scenes decorating the cover of many a staid and seemly book, but the idea was to propel sales. Which it undoubtedly did, even if the buyer ended up very surprised at what he or she finished up reading.

Now, artists are out, and stark, iconic images are in. Clarity is now the rule, and the thumbnail reigns.  As Emily Condlin points out, the jacket that looks tremendous on a coffee-table book when it is on display in a bookstore can be diminished to near-invisibility on the Amazon page, and so the designers have had to adapt.

As she says, "A great book cover should be striking, memorable, profound, and, most of all, eye-catching. It should pull a reader across a bookstore with a flash of color or a slick effect. But today, designers must think beyond the physical bookstore and consider the digital one as well." 

And that means thinking about thumbnails.  Somehow, the thumbnail the buyer sees on the Amazon page (or whatever online store) must be as compelling as the cover on the full-sized physical book.

When I was composing the "Publishing your novel on Kindle" blog -- which is a formatting manual for Indie authors -- I found out the true magic of the powerpoint program.  This was because of a really nifty website that described a revolutionary and miraculous method for creating a jacket with powerpoint, created by William King and called "Creating your own eBook cover, step by step, with pictures."  

The method, apart from being incredibly easy, also has the huge advantage that throughout the process of creating your cover you can see a thumbnail to the left.

Interested?  Here are my easily followed step-by-step instructions. 

Something else you have to watch out for is the lines of promotional text that were (and still are) commonly found on the covers of printed volumes -- quotes from famous authors, reminders that the author is a best-selling name, and so forth.  These look great in the bookstore, and certainly help sell the book.  On the thumbnail, however, the words are illegible.  They are much better set in text accompanying the book description -- and so it is becoming more and more common to see these blurbs on the back of the jacket, instead of the front.

But why not have one cover for the print edition, and another for the eBook?  Not a good idea, according to the wise Emily. As she says, "The cover is the most obvious consumer-facing branding of a book, and designers want to ensure that a reader can recognize that brand across all formats and platforms. Whether a reader sees the cover in a promotional email recommending the book, in the window as she passes her local bookstore, or online when she goes to buy it, she should see the same image every time. The consistency bolsters her relationship with the book and increases the likelihood of purchase."

WHAT MAKES A BOOK TOUR A SUCCESS?

More hints and reflections from Lincoln Paine.

What helped make your book tour a success?

It was helpful that I had had 26 reviews—12 in the U.S., the rest from England, India, Australia, and China); and 3 honors. I’ve also caught a few odd shout-outs here and there, the most unlikely being in Gregg Easterbrook’s “season-ending book recommendations” on ESPN.com, the sports network, back in February, and the English rapper and journalist Akala’s “book list” last month.

What about the venues?  Were any of the events particularly delightful?  

The variety of venues makes it difficult to single out any one of them. I got to stay at a number of stately institutions, including the Metropolitan Club in Washington, the Union Club, and a number of yacht clubs, including the American (Rye, New York), the New York, and St. Francis (San Francisco).

The engagement that had the greatest impact on me was a talk I gave at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. The impact was not just that I couldn’t believe how dead Bar Harbor is in wintertime—the signs outside the shuttered hotels are under wraps to protect them from the elements. Preparing for my talk I discovered that all students at the College of the Atlantic major in human ecology, which is the study of how people interact with the social, technological, and natural environments.

Why does this stand out in your memory?

It seems to me that that you can define maritime history in exactly the same way, and I have in fact used that formulation in every talk I’ve given since. COA describes itself as “for idealists with elbow grease,” and its student body is about as unlike that of a service academy as one can imagine. Yet when I told students at King’s Point and SUNY Maritime that their curriculum and chosen careers were essentially about human ecology—interacting with the social, technological, and natural environments—they didn’t bat an eye.

Route masters in the Indian Ocean c.1410 Bridgeman Art Library
One of the illustrations from The Sea & Civilization

Any other pluses?

Another venue that was an unexpected delight was the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, and not just because they flew me cross-country—which opened up the possibility of my speaking elsewhere in California—but because most of their guests are oceanographers and conservationists, subjects that I address only fleetingly.

Being asked to speak there was a treat because I feel, perhaps wrongly, that the oceanographic community doesn’t normally engage their discipline historically, and this invitation seemed like something of a breakthrough.

Were there any serendipitous encounters?

 At the Hotchkiss Library signing I sat a few seats away from Francine Prose, and having just read Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932, introduced myself. She seemed as bemused by the ending of her book as I am. I also got to meet the novelist and memoirist Kate Christensen at an event hosted by The Telling Room where we were featured authors. I had seen her at a reading and we live in the same small city and would certainly have met at some point through mutual friends, but it was still pretty exciting.

Bertelsman to buy more of Penguin Random?

From Bloomberg

Bertelsmann, owner of 53 percent of the New York-based business, plans to buy part or all of the 47 percent held by Pearson Plc (PSON), insiders say, though asking not to be named discussing private deliberations. While Bertelsmann and Pearson aren’t in talks, Pearson is willing to sell and can do so starting October 2015 under a shareholder agreement, the people said.

Penguin Random House, the world’s largest book publisher, could be valued at 2.3 billion euros ($2.9 billion), based on a median multiple of 6.3 times paid for book publishers in the past three years and the target’s 2013 earnings. A buyout would give Bertelsmann -- which has a war chest of several billion dollars according to Chief Executive Officer Thomas Rabe -- more flexibility in running the business as the media house tightens its television, online, and print operations.

Bertelsmann and Pearson created Penguin Random House by pooling their assets in 2012 to gain more clout in negotiating with retail outlets such as Amazon.com Inc. Under that deal, the owners may sell their holdings only after three years, with the partner given the right of first refusal. Should Bertelsmann choose not to buy Pearson’s shares, Pearson has the right to initiate a recapitalization of the venture.

Publishers’ earnings are being squeezed by retailers, such as Amazon. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant is seeking a bigger cut of the retail price of titles so it can continue discounting e-books and boost margins, three people familiar with the matter said in June.

The same month, a German association of booksellers accused Amazon of delaying deliveries of Bonnier AB books to force it to accept lower prices. Earlier this year, a dispute between Hachette Book Group and Amazon prompted the online retailer to block pre-orders for some of the publisher’s forthcoming releases.