Toolemera Blog

Simplicity Is The Mother Of Invention

Because I can't leave well enough alone, because I fuss over nothings, because I'm somewhat color blind, because I have a strong tendency to want to do things myself, because I like the Aldren Watson school of thought, the pared down, this is what it is and nothing more look of Arts & Craft design and most of all because I can't afford to pay a book cover designer to do up each book cover which would result in a drastic increase in retail price not to mention a tremendous lessening in sheer numbers of books produced each year, not to mention my love of the comma, I have reworked the cover of Ira Griffith's Furniture Making: Advanced Projects In Woodwork to meet the demanding requirements of Mr. Tanner, that being to add branding, to avoid muddy cover reproductions, to increase visual appeal, to indicate contents and to improve online and shelf visibility. There, you see, I can use a period.

Take that, Amazon! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

I would have used a quote from the Firesign Theater, but for the life of me, I can't remember the middle of most of those performances. Strange. Perhaps it was something I ate.

The Big A continues to play havoc with stocking Lightning Source titles. Some are in stock, some are out of stock, some are deliverable in 2-3 weeks. Sales are down.

Piffle! Piffle, I say! Fiddle Sticks and Poppy Cock!

I have resolved to fight fire with combustion. Even the fly by night scam artists who populate the undergrowth of Amazon's marketplace briar patches will feel the wrath of the idependent publisher!

Shortly, I will institute a new policy, based upon the work boot, blue jean, denim work shirt ideals I grew up with, namely, the establishment is always wrong even when I'm part of the establishment. Using the power of Paypal, I will offer all titles at signifcant discount through the Toolemera Shop website. Amazon can do as it wishes. Any other website that registers through Bowker Books In Print using ISBN data can do as it wishes. WE will not be ground under the boot heels of the capitalist bosses who seeks to destory our individualism! No more bowing to the warlords whose swords threaten our starvation thinned necks! No more watching Hong Kong Shaw Bros. Movies late at night!

Those online shops who are nice to us will, of course, be offered the opportunity to sell at the same discount. It's a hard choice to make, but times they are a changin, the bell tolls for everyman and the old man and the sea catches no fish with an unbaited hook.

I am also reviewing what someone once called "the Toolemera Empire". It has me a bit spread out and as such, needs some de-spreading. How, I am not sure, but some consolidation of some sort is called for.

Till next, Gary

Matte No More

The proof copy of Furniture Making by Griffith arrived yesterday. Then our internet connection went down. Then it poured outside. The weather people say this has been the rainest year in decades and I truly believe them. Most of us have given up on trimming the weeds. Seems that as I pull up one weed, the one pulled right next to it puts down roots in mid-air and starts growing in my hand.

Back to Matte. I ordered this proof in the new Matte finish, case wrap binding. Nope. Not gonna work. The Matte finish feels almost soapy to my fingers. It's an unpleasant experience at best. On the bright side, the case wrap (more on that here) binding looks very nice. Add the glossy laminate and I do believe we're in business.

Almost. Mr. Tanner, that erudite book cover designer, has rightly noted that some of the reproduction covers look, shall we say, like ground rock mixed with moisture. I agree. It's tough porting some cloth covered books to a digital printed cover.

Some, such as the Evans Bros. books, do very well. Don't fret over the off center look of the image. That's to allow for the paper wrap around the boards.

I won't even go into the less than desirable covers at this time as I tend to faint when I see them. Suffice it to say, a suitable solution for those covers that don't lend themselves to accurate reproduction is in the works.

Nor will you see an ungapatchket book cover from this Press. Nor one in purple, solely because I can't see purple. Or faint pink. Sometimes green and brown get confusing. Gray is a nice non-color. Blame it on my grandfather.

And not a political word amongst them.

Till next, Gary

New Old New Book Covers

Matte finish. Gloss finish. Trade Paper. Casewrap. Cloth with Dust Jacket. Photos. Engravings. Imaging. Fonts. Colors.

The woeful world of the independent (read: shoestring budget) publisher is full of decisions, decisions, decisions. There is always the choice of:

1. Figure out what a book cover should look like.
2. Go Fishing.

Alas and alack, the fishing around Boston is the pits. I admit I'm spoiled. Growing up on the western tip of Long Island, I had access to great beaches, great water and great surf casting. Flounder, Snappers (baby blue fish to the unitiated), the occassional monkfish, blowfish (surprisingly good in garlic) and the occasional shark or striped bass, the fishing was great. Here in Boston, the beaches are gravely, the water murky and the fish are mutants.

So I play around with books a lot. And books need covers. While I've done the past books as reproductions, I have to admit that some look good and some look, well, like really old books. Some old book covers lend themselves to a nice new cover and some are so murky they look like mutant Boston fish.

Two books in the works worked out well (I couldn't resist that double whatever you call it) are Cabinet Construction by Brough and Furniture Making by Griffith:

Both covers are for casewrap books, Griffith with matte and Brough, who knows? I'm waiting on proof copies.

As Mr. Tanner has pointed out, some old book covers just look like old book covers when they're reproduced. In fact, many of the books I'm currently working on have boring covers that don't lend themselves to reproduction. It's the Boston Mutant Fish syndrome at work.

So what's a frustrated surf caster to do? Woe. Alack. Alas.

In the end, there is always a solution to any problem. Mine is to feed the cats and make supper for us. Maybe rice penni pasta with bolognese sauce and chicken-apple sausage. That's for us. The cats get Science Diet.

Ain't blogging a wonderful place to shoot the breeze?

Till next, Gary

POD Wars: The Battle For Supremacy

LucasFilm has released yet another edition of POD Wars: The Battle For Supremacy. This always bugs me when these big time companies issue edition after edition of the same title, adding little bits and pieces of specials, tweaking the plot and all just to get some more cash out of our pockets. I'm waiting for the Tea Party to get on top of LucasFilm and demand reparation.

The recent set-to between Amazon and Lightning Source/Ingram regarding the change of titles from "in-stock" to "we'll get them someday but don't hold your breath" created an online ruckus, as seen at The Book Designer as well as other discussion spots. I joined the fray partly because I had not yet figured out what was happening, no one had yet told me what was happening and I always love a good debate however tangential it may become.

In the midst of this melee, Robin, an author and blogger, sent along this email regarding the slings and arrows tossed around on the Create Space Community forums, the Yahoo Publishers Group and others:

"Hello Gary - I've been reading your posts on the CreateSpace forum
and read you blog post regarding Aaron Shepard's Plan B (with which
I'm familiar). I, too, am a Lightning Source user with books selling
on Amazon. I notice you mentioned Amazon's new stocking policy in
your recent posts. I assume you're referring to the "Usually ships
in 2-3 weeks" notice on Lightning Source books at Amazon? (They
haven't been keeping inventory on hand for quite awhile.)  I spoke
with Lightning Source recently and was told that the issues with
Amazon would be resolved shortly. In fact, it does appear that they
have been resolved. My books are now shipping as before. Not sure if
you're seeing something different regarding your catalogue.