I write occasionally about how I began life as a book maker: how I loved to cut little pages and staple them together, color the covers, invent trademarks, and even, if I didn’t lose interest, writing an actual story to fill the pages.
It would appear that I am ending the same way, as a full service book maker. Yes, I have a book coming out from a university press in a couple of months, published in the conventional way, and yes, my book on writing novels is about to be published by a smaller press, and yes, I intend to continue to get attention (and cash) from large commercial presses.
But this digital age is allowing me to have a wonderful time making books again. I am formatting some of our Hamilton Stone Editions books for e-readers; I keep web sites with information and reviews for Hamilton Stone and for myself. I am learning how to do a (hard copy) book cover using templates provided by printers, and how to make a book block that is readable and attractive.
One of the most wonderful things about childhood has always been that healthy human young are generalists: they dance and sing and throw balls and cook and run and pick flowers and pretend and make art and act and tell stories. Growing up is, from one angle, all about specializing. By the teen years, some of us are athletes, some are Brains, some are artsy, some are musical, some already making money.
So I feel that this digital world is enlarging my scope again.
Tags: children, ebooks, publishing, technology