As a PublishMe member there’s a chance that you will have spoken with PublishMe’s client manager, Ocean Reeve . . . and received knowledgeable and very helpful assistance. Ocean’s value to author Ann Kidd was so outstanding that she nominated Ocean for a national award.

The MYOB Awesome Service Awards publicly salute people in business who are nominated by customers for giving them great service. All nominations are judged by Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive, Michael Barnett.

While PublishMe members and the team knew all along of the great service skills Ocean has in helping clients to achieve their goals, this unexpected recognition is a real thrill. Read  below  how Ann was helped by Ocean . . . and be assured that you will receive that same awesome, personal service when you call Ocean about your next self-publishing project!

  Taranaki Publisher Applauded for Customer Service

 A New Plymouth printer/publisher, Ocean Reeve, has won a national business award for helping an aspiring author tell her personal story about her son’s brain damage.

 Mr Reeve is the client manager for PublishMe Print & Publish, a division of New Plymouth company, Zenith Publishing Group. PublishMe supports authors through the writing, self-publishing and distribution process.

 A Motueka author, Ann Kidd, nominated Mr Reeve for his support of her as she wrote a sensitive and personal account of her journey as mother of son, Jamie, who was seriously brain damaged in a car accident in 1998 when he was 21. The book, ‘You’re a Dick Mummy’ was released last month.

 Mrs Kidd says as a first-time author dealing with the most tragic event of her life Mr Reeve helped her work through the process of writing a frank and honest account.

 “When I was ready to can it he gently guided me forward. He propped me up when I needed it and let me believe in myself, and gave me the confidence to see the job completed. Hell, he was better and cheaper than a psychologist.”

 Mr Reeve, 34, has worked for PublishMe for six years and says he is passionate about his work. He is the first in Taranaki to win one of the awards.

 He says he is “over the moon” about the accolade. “I get great pleasure from helping people like Ann find their voices as authors. Writing about a personal tragedy like this can benefit both the story teller and others going through similar tragedies.”

 Zenith Publishing Group managing director, Jane Beals, says, “Ocean’s award epitomises what the PublishMe team strives to achieve through its specialist print and self-publishing services. It’s what sets us apart – that dedicated personal assistance which enables writers to realise their goals.”

 MYOB Awesome Service Award winners are nominated by people impressed by the service of individuals in business. Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive, Michael Barnett, judges the nominations on behalf of all Chambers in New Zealand.

 Mr Reeve receives a number of rewards, while Zenith Publishing Group is also gifted Taranaki Chamber of Commerce membership.

 Chamber general manager, Judith Gilmer, has also congratulated Mr Reeve. “Ocean obviously provides inspirational business service which also produces valuable social benefits.”

 Meanwhile Mrs Kidd says Jamie – a carpenter and keen cyclist who was in the New Zealand under 23 cycling team and to represent New Zealand at the Olympics – was told after his accident that he would never pick up a hammer or ride again.

 “Thankfully he has proven them wrong on both counts. He is now working two days a week for a Blenheim builder, Robinson Construction, and is in an elite squad training for the 2012 Paralympics being held in London.”

 The MYOB Awesome Services Awards are supported by MYOB, Newstalk ZB, Fairfax Media, Michael Hill International, Hewlett Packard and the ASB.

 Award nominations can be made online to www.awesomeservice.co.nz.

The Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) are now calling for entries for the 2010 PANZ Book Design Awards.

Click here for details and entry form. (450KB PDF file)

Key dates are:

·        Books published between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2009 are eligible.

·        Closing date for entries Friday 26 February 2010.

·        Judging panel to be announced early March

·        Sponsors of awards announced early March

·        Shortlist announced 5 April

·        The awards event will be in  July and will once again be held at the Auckland Art Lounge.

The December launch of Julie’s third poetry collection was a huge buzz . . .

The success was clearly the result of carefully planned promotion coordination and networking by Julie who gathered great support from the local Kapiti Coast community, gaining local newspaper publicity and also backing from the local libraries and the ‘Friends of the Library’ group. Janet Secker, Chair of Friends of the Library interviewed Julie for her Focus on Arts programme on Coast Access Radio, and also arranged all the catering for the launch! Leslie Clague, Kapiti Head Librarian opened the library for the launch and conducted the launch event.

Over 140 people attended the launch; a really happy affair which featured wine and Christmas food. Julie gave a well-received slide show of her art work from her Beach Diary Exhibition (2007) and read some poems from Shadow Friend and displayed the illustrations from the book.  

An impressive 110 copies of Shadow Friend sold at the launch, and in the next week, a further 43 were sold – helped by signings at the local libraries. Julie is thrilled that those sales have already covered printing costs and comments that,  ‘There are about 100 copies out at local outlets now, and in the new year I will be making a schedule of  poetry readings, talks etc, and stepping into cyber space.’

Although Julie has had eight books published through traditional publishing houses, she has been so pleased with her first success in self-publishing through PublishMe that she has sent this very kind feedback of her experience  –  writers about to embark on the exciting publishing process will enjoy reading her thoughts!

Technological changes in publishing were again a focus at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair. Fair-wide there was a great deal of discussion regarding e-books and new technologies. A blog comment on the Frankfurt Book Fair site gives some indication of the complexities and new challenges that publishers, and indeed everyone in the publishing sphere, are facing . . .

‘. . . each action by hardware companies, software companies, media companies, artists, writers, publishers, and retailers affects the landscape  . . . the number of these actors operating on the landscape, and their degree of interdependence has grown. So not only will things continue to change, the rate of change itself is likely to increase . . . we’re in a state of permanent accelerated transition where the model is continuous rapid reinvention. Publishing will never be stable again.’

It’s an exciting time to be in the world of book publishing!

This article from the website of the New Zealand Society of Authors reflects on The Future of the Book conference held in Auckland in June. It gives four authors’ perspectives on some of those rapid leaps forward in digital publishing. 

http://www.authors.org.nz/webfiles/NZSocietyofAuthors/files/Future_of_the_Book.pdf

Jenny Harrison will be launching her latest humorous novel

Accidental Hero

On Thursday, 19 November 2009

At 6.00 pm (for 6.30 pm) for wine and snacks

At the Takapuna Library, The Strand, Takapuna, North Shore

Please let the Head Librarian, Helen Woodhouse know if you can make it.

Email: helenw@shorelibraries.govt.nz or phone 09-486-8469.

Or contact Jenny:

Email: jharrison@orcon.net.nz or phone 09-442-1277.

Jenny Harrison is the author of Debbie’s Story, A New Life in New Zealand, The Falling of Shadows, To the Child Unborn, The Indigo Kid and Accidental Hero.

www.jennyharrison.co.nz

We do appreciate and welcome your feedback – it is an important way in which to learn how to improve our services to our PublishMe members.

It’s especially lovely on a wet, grey day to receive comments such as this response to this week’s newsletter! Our thanks to Judith for her note.

Hello Ocean et al.  I really had to write to congratulate you on the fabulous October Newsletter.  Our inboxes are so full that sometimes we miss a gem.  This was a gem and so full of interesting and useful material.  I so glad I didn’t miss it.

Thank you all for the good work you do on behalf of your authors.

Judith Baxter

Story teller, author, speaker, life coach

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.

www.daretodream.co.nz

Cliffhanger Books, in Texas, are looking for previously unpublished – and unique –short stories (approx. 6500 to 8000 words) for “Paramourtal,” a collection of paranormal romance tales.

Submissions are open to all writers age 18 and over. Also, while most paranormal romance authors are female, they welcome stories by talented male writers as well.

Interested writers are invited to visit www.cliffhangerbooks.com and review the submission guidelines. Browse their website, if you like their suggestions and conditions and you have a short story for them then get writing!

Deadline for submissions is midnight, Nov. 8, 2009.

Many district councils promote local products through a visitors info centre and gift store. Books published by local authors are an important part of the character of a community, especially those books with an historical or specific regional focus. Your book may have geographical, artistic, biographical or cultural significance to your community and worthy of being featured for sale.

Consider the angle you will use when approaching the purchasing person at the council . . . your timing could be very good for adding a fresh local touch to their shelves at Christmas gift-buying time; your sales pitch could encourage the setting up of a ‘locally published’ display; keep your eye on events, celebrations, jubilees etc that are coming up in your area, your book could complement them well. If the info centre has stocked your book in the past, are they happy with their stock levels, is it timely to offer a special price or a free ‘added value’ piece of your writing/artwork with every purchase . . .  once you start thinking about how good your book will look in the shop you’ll think of other places it could be and how to breathe new life into promoting it for this summer reading season!

If you sell through a website give the address a push – send out your season’s greetings early and mention your book as a gift suggestion along with the web address!

Offer to supply signed copies of your book –it’s a special personal touch much appreciated in a gift and helps to create a link between writer and reader.

Let us know your suggestions and successes. Email Ocean so that we can share your ideas with other PublishMe members.

We have already begun to receive orders from the dispatch of over 500 catalogues to libraries and bookstores nationwide. The catalogue is a tool to promote the great work of our authors, and to encourage librarians and bookstore acquisition staff to recognise the strength of New Zealand writing.  We look forward to sending out four catalogues per year featuring books from our PublishMe Shop that are appropriate to those outlets. Click here to see the first catalogue. For those of you on dial-up we have reduced the file to 1.8MB . . . but you still may need to go and make a cup of tea while it downloads! For best results open with Acrobat Reader 6 or more recent versions.