IP eNews 45

There’s been a cloud of bull-dust stirred lately about digital publishing. Most recently, a senior manager at the Australia Council in an article “Writing for the digital age” in the latest Artery magazine found ‘an air of wait and see in Australian publishing’ that reflects a marketplace where she sees ‘more people on public transport reading books than...game-playing on their phones or laptops’.

Through various seminars OzCo is doing their best to raise awareness about the impact that digital technology is having on the publishing industry and the access of readers to texts, but is it leading the way to ensure that Australia is not left in the shadows of countries that are already seizing the opportunities the new age provides? No, it is not.

The Romance endures: OzCo still believes in the sanctity of the physical book. Innovative publishers like IP still can’t submit proposals for works that are to be first published in digital form. Or perhaps we can, but we know what the answer will be. OzCo has yet to come to grips with print on demand (POD) as a viable and even necessary publishing option. Publishers applying for OzCo grants must commit to minimum initial print runs of copies for prose works even though most literary novels sell on average only 500-600 copies. Publishers like IP who are seeking greener options of printing stock on demand have no chance with OzCo under this outmoded – and often wasteful – system.

OzCo must do more to ensure that Australia has a viable digital publishing industry, or we will be left to choke on the bull-dust. Three years ago, I gave a presentation on what IP was doing in the digital arena at an OzCo/CAL seminar entitled Publishing the Story of the Future. The audience was a Who’s Who of Australian publishing. There was talk afterwards of setting up a steering committee on digital publishing, and I was asked to serve on it. To my knowledge, the committee was never formed. There’s been more talk since then, and the odd guru flown in to let us know what’s happening elsewhere, but no concerted effort to focus the publishing industry’s energy into new publishing approaches.

The Artery article expresses concern for independent publishers who are “struggling” to keep up with digital innovations: “they do not have the necessary in-house expertise or the IT equipment capable of taking on this new level of sophistication”. Wrong again.

IP is at the forefront of digital publishing in Australia, while larger companies, confined by infrastructure, corporate culture and aversion to technological change, continue to sit on their hands. IP has state-of-the-art hardware and software, and the expertise to make an important contribution to what I term New Century Publishing. We are well-connected with major digital companies overseas and are actually making some money from it. IP may have been the first Australian publisher to create Kindle editions of its books, now available in standard size and large print via its partnership with ReadHowYouWant.com. All without a cent of support from OzCo.

The reality is that the driving force in digital publishing and distribution will come from the independent publishing sector in this country, not the multinationals. Those pioneers could do much, much more, if OzCo provided money at the coalface where it’s needed rather than flying in gurus to tell us what’s freely available to browse on the Internet.

Talkfest time is over. IP is not waiting for OzCo to change. We’ve just established the Digital Publishing Centre (DPC) to spur innovation and context creation in Oz.

In a nutshell, the DPC will be a hub for authors, companies and agencies wishing to engage the rapidly expanding digital markets. Authors will be encouraged to work with our assessors and editors to lift their work to publishable standard. Then the DPC will master the work for print via POD as well as eBooks in the emerging standards (pdf, ePub, mobi, etc) and then ensure the author or organisation has access to global markets via digital promotion campaigns.

The DPC will be at the centre of New Century Publishing. We will simplify the supply chain by going directly to retailers and consumers online. We will work as a green enterprise by editing, refining and mastering work digitally, with almost no paper involved (except for the occasional contract!) By relying more heavily on a digital workflow and POD, we will reduce the considerable waste from pulping so common in our industry. And we’ll increase our content creators’ access to global markets by making their work available in territories previously inaccessible to most authors.

We won’t be surprised if some of our first customers are the big publishers themselves!

Maybe it was the worry about the Recession or just an off year for grapes but the judges were a bit disappointed by the overall quality of submissions to the competition this year. We hasten to add that this was NOT true for entries in the Poetry category, which are always strong, perhaps owing to IP's profile as a leading if not the leading, publisher of poetry in Australia, but we did feel that the submissions in the prose categories were not of as high a standard as in previous years.

The overall number of submissions were down from the high of 2009 for a total of 72. Entrants came from all States and Territories except for the Northern Territory, with the percentage breakdown being: New South Wales 35%, Queensland 25%, Victoria 21%, Western Australia 7%, Tasmania 5% and the ACT 3%. New Zealand entries comprised 3% of the total.

Victorian authors won in the Creative Non-fiction and First Book categories, with a Tasmanian taking out Best Poetry, and a New South Wales author winning Best Junior Prose. For High Commended and Commended entries, we had one from Western Australia, two from Queensland and Victoria, and one from New South Wales and New Zealand.

The judges remarked that a number of entries showed promise but would have benefitted from a professional assessment prior to entering the competition. There still seems to be a perception in the writing community that assessment is not a necessary part of the development of a manuscript. The judges noted that in other writing disciplines such as script, assessment is recognised as an essential step in the development of an effective manuscript.

This year's Best Fiction entries smacked the judging panel with a historic first: No First Prize. Through the long and short-listing meetings, no winning manuscript emerged and repeatedly, judges were sent away to comb through the Picks pile with IP’s strict criteria in mind.

Judges seek a few key qualities in fiction: a tight narrative of polished prose, authentic characters and a clear, literary structure. Further, fiction needs an apparent audience, even when experimental or edgy in style.

Overall, the judging panel found many manuscripts with a solid premise but that fell over in form with a cross-hatch of grammatical errors, clichéd characters or tangents. Some manuscripts bore well crafted prose but lacked a strong, central premise. Often, dialogue served as the key plot propellant when it’s best used as just one of the tools in the literary toolshed.

So we have no first place fiction winner this year. After much deliberation, we’re making it part of the IP Picks announcement and offering hints for aspiring fiction writers for Picks 2011:

• Polish the prose, oust grammatical errors and learn dialogue punctuation

• Indent the paragraphs; gaps between paragraphs indicate change of scene in fiction or are reserved for business/web formats

• Sharpen a unique premise which acts as a thread through the story

• Show more than tell

• Conjure organic characters who differentiate themselves through their actions as well as with speech and thought

• Make every moment of dialogue enhance tension and support the premise

• Carve out a cohesive plot that forms a literary arch to the climax and resolution

Best Fiction | Highly Commended
Daniel King: Memento Mori

A strong entrant, Daniel King’s short story collection cycles through the shadowy landscapes of death, gnarled relationships, the slippery side of human nature, even the contemporary lure of cosmetic surgery pushed to a surprising extreme. Philosophically pointed with a surreal bite, the characters of these stories wrestle with existence and each other as profound questions scatter them.

‘I just wish I knew what Hell really meant,’ one character ponders while another answers: ‘It would be a state of almost absolute lack, with just enough of a trace of presence for you to be aware of that lack.’

Despite serious undercurrents, the prose is still playful in its reflective glint:

My footsteps follow the curve of the shore, diminishing, at the limit of my vision to a row of dots… an ellipsis.
Potentially also a writer’s collection for writers, the prose plays on multiple levels at once:

Above him the ceiling was like the page he had left in the typewriter. Compared with the white of the moonlight it was absolutely black; but compared with the darkness of the shadows it was quite pale, almost white.

Author bio: Daniel King, who also writes as "David King", was born in DanielK

Western Australia and has lived there all his life. He holds degrees in Engineering and English, and a Doctorate in Philosophy. Daniel's first literary publication was in 1986, and since then he has had over fifty stories (and also, in recent years, poetry) published in various Australian and overseas journals.

Shifting Colours is a powerful story of family ties, secrets and love, This intriguing novel is foremost about the relationship between Celia and her daughter Miriam and all the struggles and turmoil that come between them. Separated by land and sea, Celia and Miriam’s story begins in South Africa’s violent landscape and then continues in calm, quiet England. As you turn the pages, you are magnetised by the surprises, great details and the captivating writing that takes you into the heart and mind of the characters.

Author bio: Fiona Sussman (nee Stewart) was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and immigrated to New Zealand in 1989. A GP by profession, she started writing in earnest in 2005, and in 2009 completed a Masters in Creative Writing through AUT.

FionaS

Several of her short stories have been broadcast by Radio New Zealand. Her stories have also received a number of awards in local writing competitions. Shifting Colours, her first novel, was borne out of a childhood growing up in apartheid South Africa. She is currently writing a second novel set in contemporary New Zealand.

She divides her time between writing, spending time with family, and in partnership with her husband, establishing Auckland’s first charity hospital.

Best Creative Non-Fiction | Winner
Olwyn Conrau: The Importance of Being Cool

In the Best Creative Non-Fiction category, Olwyn Conrau’s confronting, intelligent memoir, The Importance of Being Cool slid into the spotlight.

The honesty of Conrau’s memoir glows with a rare humility that is almost devoid of self-consciousness – a powerful attribute in this genre. As this approachable speaker lures readers along the labyrinth of her journey, which in various shades may be familiar to many, it is a tale marked by descent. At the start, the storyline is peaked by highs and substance-fuelled friendships but over time, the narrative is gradually underscored by trenches, hangovers and betrayals.

While the content may be familiar, the angle is presented in an original way. This Melbourne woman propels us through a galaxy of substances, a collage of self-indulgent, sometimes drug-addled men, and the ever-present need for cash, which in itself, reads like a knotted metaphor for survival. All while, this metaphor slowly tightens around the speaker herself.

Elements of the speaker’s world spark with contemporary, global issues, such as the posing of illegal drugs against prescription pills; and staging bomb threats alongside mistrust for the very forces which claim to protect us. Lucid, crisp and sometimes funny, the memoir covers slippery ground while maintaining a searing focus.

Quite often, the writing glistens. There are lyrical drug scenes constructed with a real joyeux d vivre but even these moments are soaked in the treacherous nature of an unleashed pursuit of the next high:

‘The heaviness trapped me. I wanted to move to my bed but my body felt frozen. What had this bastard given me? Then I flew. Felt myself soaring down steps, over acres of twisted bitumen. Stars shimmered then threw themselves at me, one by one until the sky became a thick black canvas.’

Author bio: Olwyn Conrau has worked as a journalist, public OlwynC

relations consultant, copywriter, go-go dancer, typist and fruit-picker. She holds a degree in literary studies and has been published in literary anthologies and mainstream print media. The Importance of Being Cool is her first book and she’s currently on the way to finishing her second.

Best Creative Non-Fiction | Commended
Anthony Bianco: ‘I Hope My God Makes Your Bus Crash and You’re the Only One Who Dies’

Anthony Bianco’s I Hope My God Makes Your Bus Crash and You’re the Only One Who Dies! is a globe-trotting and often irreverent travel memoir that instantly snagged the judges’ attention with its title.

Kicking off in Morocco, the memoir explores coveted destinations like Botswana, Argentina and Egypt, while simultaneously gathering data for ‘The Beer Index’, charting the volume and affordability of national brews.

Bianco, aka ‘The Travel Tart’, and his manuscript stirred up controversy among this judging panel with its abandonment of political correctness, dry humour and an Aussie bloke approach to the international experience.

Author bio: The Travel Tart (a.k.a. Anthony Bianco) is a self-proclaimed travel addict who will find any feeble excuse to travel. Anthony discovered he really enjoyed travelling the world when he was sent to a former war zone for work - Kosovo - as his first venture outside of Australiasia. AnthonyB

On the road, Anthony likes risking his life on barely road-worthy forms of transport such as African mini-buses, suicidal Cairo cabs and flatulent camels.

Anthony writes about the funny, offbeat and downright strange aspects of contemporary world travel which can be seen on The Travel Tart website: Offbeat Tales From A Travel Addict -- http://www.thetraveltart.com -- and in 'I Hope That My God Makes Your Bus Crash and You're the Only One Who Dies'.

As always the Poetry category was crowded with excellent entries, making the final decisions difficult for the judges.

Lyn Reeves' collection stood out as succinct, imagistic and suggestive as well as multi-layered. One of the judges commented: 'Sometimes the rich sensuality merging with spirit reminds me of Rumi but contemporary. Strong meeting of layered, resonating meaning and sensual imagery.'

So cool to touch
this living canvas stitched
with needle fire.
Lie beneath me while I trace
my desires upon you.

Reeves is adept at getting into the mind of her charcters, even those from a distant culture, as she does in "Love Letters from a Zulu Girl": "

My eyes are red from weeping,
say the beads – a gift
to the one I yearn for. Oh, to be
a dove pecking food in the yard
of your kraal…

Author bio: Lyn Reeves is a Hobart-based poet, whose work has earned grants from Arts Tasmania and the Australia Council. She has LynR

read at several writers' festivals around the country and been awarded residencies in Darwin, Varuna and St. Helens.

Lyn has collaborated with artists, musicians, photographers and scientists for various poetry events. She is an associate editor of the literary journal, Famous Reporter and managing director of Pardalote Press.

A mix of historic and contemporary social commentary, this collection dares the reader to think about issues that matter. One of the judges commented: "I like the risks this author takes with language and the depth of social commentary. This is poetry with something to say. Unlike many poetry collections that live on the surface of things, here we can penetrate to the sub-text. Also good sense of the dramatic and use of closure."

Consider a Holocaust survivor's view of history, as depicted in the title piece:

we sacrifice everything for our children
father said as he sewed coats in Melbourne
looking from the window down onto Flinders Lane
as men loaded mannequins into trucks

while Europe blazed and swallowed up
his youth, his love, his life
he basted coat sleeves
and pad-stitched lapels

Author bio: Leah's father was a tailor who learned his craft as a 14 year old boy in Vilna before the outbreak of World War II. He escaped Europe and arrived in Melbourne in 1938. He sewed garments, while his family back in Poland disappeared. Leah was born fifteen years LeahK

after the end of the war and only learned to sew when she reached medical school - stitching people's injuries back together.

Her poetry grows from the healing of these wounds, the sewing together of the patchwork of both her parents’ and her patients' stories and her own awakening to the inheritance of their traumatised lives.

This is a strong collection, notable for its interest in language and experimentation with form, as well as a wry sense of humour as we see in "Journey to the Centre of an Artist":

From a vantage point in your cerebrum
I am blinded by intellectual bling
escape through a labyrinth of lobes
bull-dancing
somersaulting
your mind panting in pursuit

Author bio: Sheryl Persson’s poems have been published in Australia and abroad in journals, e-zines, anthologies and educational SherylP

publications. As a member of DiVerse, a group of poets who write ‘ekphrasis’ Sheryl reads regularly at galleries and museums. Scarcely Random, a collection of her poems was published in 2007. Sheryl is also the author of four commissioned non-fiction books. Smallpox, Syphilis and Salvation: Medical Breakthroughs that Changed the World was published by Exisle in 2009.

Well-crafted and accessible, this is poetry under compression where each word and line counts, as in "On a nose-bleed morning":

Author bio: Nicholas Eldridge was born in Melbourne where he NicholasE

currently lives. A graduate of Holmesglen’s Professional Writing & Editing Program, in 2003 he self published the poetry collection Strawberry Pig.

We were very excited at the addition of a Junior Prose category this year, and while it didn’t receive a large number of entries we were pleased with the results overall. The judges saw some intriguing premises and good storytelling elements, despite some entries falling well short of publication standard.

Arlo and the Spindrift Connection is a well-crafted, dynamic adventure story. When Arlo’s friend Kate notices a strange glow coming from the cliffs above the beach the two of them set out on a midnight expedition to discover more.

‘I couldn’t see anything at first,’ Arlo recounts. ‘Then I noticed the tiny gleams of light in the rock, winking on and off, at random, it seemed, like grains of mica catching the light, but brighter, livelier.’

But when they accidentally touch the rock Arlo and Kate are whisked through to another world, which they find inhabited by residents of their own home town who disappeared mysteriously during an earthquake 14 years before. What follows is their attempts to find a way back to their own world, while struggling with strange new laws and customs, trying to blend in in an insular society and battling a corrupt and controlling government.

In Arlo, Blair creates a complex and credible main character with a remarkably strong voice. He is a steady, likeable narrator and injects humour into the telling of the story.

‘I’m called after some folk singer from the sixties,’ he says. ‘Get used to it. I had to.’

Action scenes are tense and compelling, and the story comes to a satisfying conclusion. With polished, good quality writing, Arlo and the Spindrift Connection is an absorbing adventure boasting both depth and humour.

Author bio: Juliet Blair has seen many changes in her native Sydney. JulietB

(Her school transport was a steam train.) A teacher by vocation, she has taught languages and ESL from Kindergarten to Year 12, while bringing up three boys. She continued to write for many years before seeking publication. Her credits to date include short stories in Woman’s Day and other mass market magazines. Now, in retirement, a new career beckons. It’s never too late!

The Ruby Bottle is a gentle tale of a young girl who learns to deal with her problems through the help of a djinn she finds when cleaning a dusty old bottle. Amber is immediately established as a likeable main character and the djinn jumps from the page with his strong personality, in this unique take on the age-old genie myth.

‘I’m a djinn, not a genie,’ the djinn tells Amber. ‘That’s why I’m red and not green ... And just so you know, I’m a thinker. I help solve problems. And I don’t grant wishes.’

Through her relationship with the djinn Amber grows and matures, learning new skills and discovering new strengths. The reader feels for Amber as she struggles against adversity, and rejoices with her in her eventual triumphs.

With its engaging main character, evocative descriptions and elements of fantasy, this warm, celebratory tale is an enjoyable read that will appeal to young people.

Author bio: Janet Reid grew up on a dairy farm with hay sheds and pigsties, old abandoned farm machinery and lots of space. It was a haven for hours of story weaving with her sister between milking the cows and feeding the calves and pigs. JanetR

She went into teaching and taught in places from the cane fields in Central Queensland to Brisbane before retiring to concentrate on her writing. She lives on the northern outskirts of Brisbane with her husband, two teenage sons and one very 'human' cat called Kelsey.

The judges had no problem awarding Best First Book to this accomplished verse novel. The text is a memoir/history with strong political commentary. The author is a musician who is crossing over into text. The text is accompanied by a music CD with tracks to be played as the reader moves through the novel, and the music itself is varied in scope and of production standard – just the kind of cross-over project that IP is looking for. Mature in vision and evocative emotionally, this is page-turning verse that should find a wide audience.

I think of Dad
living somewhere on a farm
near Colac
and pour my thoughts
into the big saucepan’s starlit frame
to simmer and steam.

Then to the east,
from behind a wispy cloud,
five stars appear
in perfect formation.

Or it can be socially aware of the atrocities in East Timor, as in "Another Place":

Up in front of us,
guitar in hand,
Johnny stands.
His eyes are on the audience,
but I can tell he’s staring right through us.

Maybe he’s still standing
amongst the sounds of gunfire
and the screams
that reached him
from under the hall’s front door.

Or perhaps,
in his mind,
he’s back in East Timor,
crouched beside his mother’s grave.

Wherever he is
I’II never know,
but by the way Johnny sings
I know it’s a place of infinite sadness;

Author bio: James Laidler is an emerging writer, poet and spoken word performer from country Victoria. His first verse novel, The taste of apple, comes with a studio-produced CD of spoken word tracks and songs that trace the novel’s main narrative thread. The first chapter of James’ verse novel was accepted for the Australian Poetry Centre’s JamesL

Monologues Series for 2010 and will be adapted for and performed on stage this year. James’ work has been featured on Writer’s Radio Adelaide, Radio National’s 360 program, Melbourne’s RRR, Cordite Poetry Review and Indie feed, as well as in the literary journals Going Down Swinging and Peril. In 2009, James' short story, The memory of Christmas, placed second in the FAW Shoalhaven literary awards, while his poem, "A Doctor's work", was highly commended in the 2009 CJ Dennis literary Awards. As a performance poet, James also made the Victorian State Final of the Australian Poetry Slam for 2009.

Best First Book | Commended
Ben Conquest: From Father to Son: A Choreographed Manuscript from the Archives of the Theatre of Trust

A hybrid of script and memoir, this concerns a relationship between a father and son that is shaded with resentment and anger. Bold and organic in content, this book won Commended due to its freshness and sincerity. The author has an experimental but always moving writing style with the power to turn the strange into familiar. Yet, the darkness that lives between the lines ignites a sepia-toned melancholy that is apprehended but, surprisingly, welcomed.

Author bio: Ben Conquest was born in Sydney, Australia in 1980. He is a writer, teacher and father to his son, Tyler. Ben graduated with BenC

Honours in Creative Writing at the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2009. Previous to his studies, Ben trained as a dancer with the Australian Ballet School before joining the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2000. Ben danced as a principal with the company to critical acclaim. He left his dancing career in 2005 to pursue his passion for writing. Ben believes he was born to create innovative contemporary fiction that fuses his theatrical experience with current real life issues.

[Anna Bartlett interviews Hazel Edwards on the verge of the release of her first IP Kidz title, Plato the PlatypusPlumber (part-time)]

AB: Plato the Platypus Plumber (part-time) is the story of a young boy called Zanzibar and his imaginary friend, Plato the Platypus, who helps solve problems around Zanzibar’s house, teaching him useful skills along the way. Where did the idea for a platypus plumber first come from, and how long ago did you think of it?

HE: Platypus have always fascinated me because they seem to be made from left-over shapes. They’re amphibious, and yet have a duck bill. Their proper name is ornithorhynchus, and that sounds mysterious too. My grandmother, who taught me to read, always used the proper name for the ornithorhynchus. I always had trouble remembering how to spell it, but could say the word. HazelBook

A plumber has to fix watery problems. I noticed one plumber with a van called Tap Doctor and put that label in my ideas notebook. And since platypus were starting to come back into the urban waterways of Melbourne, I imagined a creek, with ferals on the bike path and old houses needing lots of plumbing help. Something like the real trails beside Melbourne’s Yarra River with the old, rambling houses.

But what if the toolkit contained tools for fixing grumpy people as well as water problems? ‘What if?’ is a great way to create a story with two things which don’t usually go together.

I’m not good on dates, but the first draft of this story was about 13 years ago. Originally it was an idea for a TV series, so Zanzibar’s family had to be worked out in more detail, as a cast. Each of the family had dreams: Mum wanted to travel, Dad was a muso-renovator and Gran had bonsai plants and TV soapies. Zanzibar had his imaginary friend Plato, the Platypus Plumber who could fix all problems.

AB: Plato and Zanzibar have lots of adventures together, but one important aspect of the story is the way it talks about issues like drought and water conservation. What made you think of including these issues, and why did you think it was important to do so?

HE: As an author I’m often invited to rural areas, and drought is a reality in country towns. Water tanks are also being put up in city school yards. I don’t want to ‘teach’ in my stories. I just want readers to see things from someone else’s point of view.

AB: The story also touches on some of the threats to native animals like Plato: feral animals, litter and pollution, for example. Is this a topic that interests you personally?

HE: As a family we have always orienteered in the bush. So we’ve been aware of native animals like wombats, kangaroos and platypus. But orienteers also respect the bush, and leave nothing behind except footprints. Polluting the water causes problems for those who come after you.

Also having been an Antarctic expeditioner, I’m aware of the impact of pollution on the icy environment. PlatoCov

AB: Throughout the story, and with Plato’s help, Zanzibar develops problem-solving skills and resourcefulness. Why do you think it’s important to show children that they can learn to solve problems and work things out for themselves?

HE: Being willing to try new ways of solving problems, even if you get it wrong occasionally, is the only way we learn. It’s ok to do things differently.

AB: Your most well-known book, There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake, is also about a child with an imaginary friend. What do you think particularly appeals to kids about stories with imaginary friends in them?

HE: Imaginary friends provide reassurance because they have all the answers. Or you imagine they may have.

AB: Plato is socially relevant, but also fun, and has great potential for use in a classroom, as a starting point for discussing and exploring different environmental issues. What are some ways you imagine it being used in a classroom setting?

HE: The tool kit is an excellent starting place. Invite children to design or make their own tool kits, including the tools. Often their reasons for including the tools show how problems might be tackled.

Some people are tactile, and learn better when they can feel or make things. Others enjoy designing on paper. Children could map the local creek, and indicate the water levels at different times. They could find out about Platypus Watch and micro-tags, or make platypus prints which lead into the library and up to the shelf with the ‘Plato the Platypus Plumber’ book.

Children could research the real Plato, make platypus and feral puppets, map and create a model of the book’s setting or create a wall chart with Platypus words (like monotreme) and their meanings. They could write part of Plato’s diary or Work Log, or else imagine they are a film-maker creating a TV series based on Plato, and think of some of the water emergencies to which he might be called.

Check out my website www.hazeledwards.com for news of what others are doing with this book.

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