Signing off

Who knew that when I signed up for an Online Marketing class and Magazine Editing I would spend all my time writing. It has been my most challenging term in graduate school and a kick in the pants.

The Online Marketing class is a great addition to the publishing program. Who can doubt that the market is going online in droves, and online is where we must talk to our audience. Learning about all the new and emerging technologies is mind boggling, but once you get your toes wet, it seems slightly less intimidating.

I now believe that the online strategy must be central in any marketing effort. Marty's class has introduced new ways to think about selling books to the public, and we, as students, need to figure out how to apply those ideas to Ooligan Press.

Despite the bad news about GACP and our shaky distribution, I feel optimistic about Ooligan's future. We have two books coming out that could gain a good deal of attention for the press—Oregon at Work and A Heart For Any Fate. The New York Times has requested a review copy of OAW, and Booklist has asked for HAF—both huge accomplishments.

Also, Ooligan Press recently won a grant to produce a guide to sustainable printing from Portland State University. With a new direction towards sustainability in publishing, the press could become a leader in finding greener solutions in printing and distribution. I believe that smaller, less centralized publishers and sustainable production are key to the future of the industry, and Ooligan is moving in the right direction.

I have a lot of faith in the enthusiasm and determination of the students in the program, and I appreciate the wisdom and leadership of the faculty. Whatever twists and turns await the industry and Ooligan Press, the new talent coming out of the publishing program will be able to handle it.

Peering through the shroud

After this week's bad news about the GACP layoffs and Ooligan's uncertain book distribution channels, it is difficult to see past the next few months and the critical launches that are in jeopardy. I think Oregon at Work and A Heart For Any Fate should be the turning point for Ooligan's future as a viable press, but this turn of events is another huge roadblock to our success.

Maybe the layers of middle men and markups is part of the reason the industry is falling apart. It has gotten too bloated and slow and unresponsive to survive. Maybe the industry is going through a necessary shedding of excess that will bottom out, leaving a core ready to be rebuilt by a new generation of publishers.

As Jeffrey Selin of the Writers' Dojo said, there will always be a market for stories—people are consuming more content than ever before. We just don't know what the format will be.

I love Brent's imagined 100mile Law, where a future Congress has limited the production and transport of books to a 100-mile radius. You don't have to look much further than the trend toward buying local, sustainable food to see that the idea could spread to other industries as the world's resources become more expensive and scarce.

I'm rooting for small, independent publishers to take over the industry. Behemoth corporations cannot respond to rapid changes in today's marketplace—there are too many layers. Instead, smaller publishers can focus on regional titles and roll out nationally as word of mouth (online interest) spreads. Books will be printed in smaller quantities, producing less waste.

There's every reason to expect improvements in book production—it's already happening with POD and digital short-run. I don't believe the physical book will ever be replaced by a digital format—humans are collectors and like to be surrounded by their treasure. But I can imagine books being printed with nonpolluting, sustainable materials that eliminate much of the toxins from production. And as the printing industry also becomes more nimble and compact, printing will be done locally instead of being shipped around the world.

In ten years, writers will still be slaving over stories, and people will clamor for them whether they are presented in book form or on the screen. I would like to see a huge network of small publishers delivering those books to the public in a responsible, efficient way. And I hope that great writing will always find its audience. I believe that it will.

Branding Ooligan Press

In my Magazine Editing class on Thursday, we were fortunate to have an excellent guest speaker, Randy Gragg.

Gragg was the architecture and urban design critic for the Oregonian from 1989 to 2007. He left the paper to become the editor of Portland Spaces. He described his role as editor of the magazine and how he plans to survive in the increasingly difficult world of publishing.

As he spoke about the ways he is trying to broaden the readership and advertising base of his magazine, he called himself a born brander. He is always considering how he can strengthen the public's relationship to Portland Spaces' brand.

Some of his ideas include an informal speakers series and design tours. The idea is to create enough confidence in Portland Spaces that people will show up when the magazine hosts an event. This idea—wrapping an identity around more than just the publication—is important for Ooligan Press.

The program is in the early stages of putting together a spring Open House. The details are still being ironed out, but I think it is a great idea to have an annual event to showcase the press.

It may take a few years to get established, but the Open House could become an important event in Portland , maybe even regional, publishing. Current students and graduates of the program could offer a pitch table—a big success at Wordstock last year, sample edits, and marketing help for new authors to name a few. And the event would provide the opportunity to showcase graduate portfolios.

I think we'd all agree that Ooligan Press needs to be better known in the community and that our fundraising efforts depend on it. We need to produce great books, but we also need to invest in our brand.

A little perspective on book production

Oregon at Work, a forthcoming release from Ooligan Press, is due to the printer tomorrow. As the designer, I've been scrambling to tie up the loose ends and get the interior and cover ready to meet the launch date.

I got the index back from the indexer, but it was too long for the pages I'd allotted. I had trouble finding the final, final back cover copy. I can't get the spine size from the printer. We still don't have the Library of Congress catalog information for the copyright page. 

I'm not sure if you're feeling my pain yet, but I'm trying.  There are many details to iron out even for the most straight-forward (not to be confused with foreword!) print production.

I took a break to write a blog and happened upon this video. I'm going to stop complaining now. All it takes is a little perspective.

This is a great video series on the Barnes and Noble website called Cover Story. It features interviews with various artists in the book trade. While I watched this video, my worries over Oregon at Work felt very small indeed. Can you imagine the mind-boggling production issues these fellas face?

I couldn't help but laugh when Robert Sabuda says, "When I was a boy, I had lots of pop-up books . . . So I taught myself how to make pop-ups." Oh really? It sounds so simple.

I hope you all enjoy the video.

Ooligan Press released new title

Do Angels Cry? Tales of the War

by Matko Marušić

This collection of short stories offers an intimate view of the 1991 war in Croatia. Each story presents a different perspective of struggle and devotion to country during a time of war. A father talks his son out of building a bomb. An older man struggles to contribute in some way to the war effort. A doctor and his hospital are liberated at the end of the war. A couple and their young daughter are finally allowed to return to their hometown of Split.

Marušić captures the essence war—not the war fought on the battlefield, but the struggles at home, in the small-town streets, and in the daily lives of citizens. His spare language and vivid images illuminate the war not found in history books.

Do Angles Cry? is a new release by Ooligan Press, the student-run trade press at Portland State University. For more information about all the titles available from Ooligan, visit www.ooliganpress.pdx.edu

ISBN: 978-932010-23-7

5½˝ x 8½˝, softcover
160 pages
$14.95

For more information: ooliganmarketing@pdx.edu

About the Author

Matko Marušić was born in Split, Croatia, in 1946. Matko Marušić’s other writings include a novel, a collection of short stories for children, and two additional collections of short stories for adults. Do Angels Cry? Tales of the War was originally published in Croatia and Great Britain in 1996. A preface, written by Dr. Stanimir Vuk-Pavlovic, has been added for the American edition.

This book is about the facet of the human price of the war…Yet, this book tells the simple truth of the ordinary people caught in extraordinarily desperate situations when choices are few and all are bad. They are the response to the statement, “What is not worth dying for, is not worth living for.”
— Dr. Stanimir Vuk-Pavlovic, Hematology/Oncology and Preventative Medicine, Mayo Clinic

A First Impression of Book Trailers

I read an article on Publishers Weekly's site that asked publicists their opinion of book trailers. Reviews were mixed at best. Since I am very new to this promotional device, I decided to check it out. I chose a publisher (Penguin) and watched the current trailers they have posted. From this tiny survey of seven, here are my observations:

• When Hollywood is criticized year after year for destroying great literature with crappy adaptations, do you think it's wise to cast the characters of your book, making an indelible mental picture for your readers, and to try to capture 300 pages in three minutes? It seems like a good way to doom the book sales right from the start.

• Even a seasoned performer like Lewis Black looked embarrassed to be shilling his book in a trailer.

• I watched two trailers that were staged like a 60 Minutes segment—an interview with the author combined with an atmospheric montage. One (for In The Woods by Tana French) came across like a Match.com advertisement with glamour shots of the author in various stages of quiet contemplation. The other (Ann B. Ross, author of the Miss Julia series) was more successful, with the author describing her writing process and inspiration for her stories. I was charmed by her southern drawl and dignified demeanor—until the trailer staged a reenactment of her in a restaurant getting a story idea from a nearby table.

• Two of the trailers took a silent picture approach. Still photos interspersed with subtitles and ambient background music—it works so well in the film industry, it's sure to be a big hit.

• Of the seven, the trailer for Foreskin's Lament by Shalom Auslander was worth the four minutes. The video mixes still images of biblical artwork with archival clips as the author's voice-over introduces his memoir about growing up an Orthodox Jew. The script is funny and engaging, and the imagery fits perfectly. It doesn't hurt that the author's voice and delivery sound exactly like David Sedaris.

My conclusion, based on a survey of seven, is that there are many ways to go wrong with a book trailer. Is it worth the risk of alienating potential readers by casting a book's characters with bad actors or producing a piece that comes across like an infomercial? This brief bit of research has made me all the more impressed with Chris Huff's smart trailer for Ooligan's title 42.

So, are there any other praise-worthy trailers out there?