This is seriously cool for the interactive ebook market

A wonderful client Cheryl Doig from Think Beyond has just passed this link onto me. We are so going to be watching to see what happens next for this concept.

Nation-building with books - seriously worth watching

This is a two-part video of John Allen's keynote speech at the 2010 Booksellers Conference. I've always found John to be an inspirational and spirited speaker who is amazing to listen too. But in this presentation he also challenges your thinking. I've mentioned this to so many people that I just had to post it on our blog to share.

John Allen - Chief Executive and Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade

John Allen leads the Ministry as the Government’s chief adviser on foreign and trade policy, official development assistance, international law, and diplomatic and consular issues. Before taking up this role at the Ministry, John served as the Chief Executive of New Zealand Post, during which time New Zealand Post became a major supporter of literacy development in New Zealand.

John has a passion for books that will be clearly evident as he explores the value of books in today’s society.

Part One



Part Two

Janet Frame Memorial Lecture

Word has slowly been filtering back to us about the wonderful recognition Joy Cowley gave us in her Janet Frame Memorial Lecture.

My biggest regret was not being there to hear Joy give this amazing lecture in person. I never realised how young children's publishing is in New Zealand. I always thought we had entered the game a long way down the track, when in reality we've been involved with a really good proportion of it all.
I was also fortunate enough to have lunch with Wendy Harrex in Dunedin last week, and listening to how children's publishing first came about in New Zealand was fascinating. There really is a story within all of this, maybe not a book, but I'd really like to hear more.
Joy has been such a fabulous advocate for our work and the ride we had with Joy, Gavin Bishop and Gecko Press is something I will cherish for the rest of my career.
I really just can't thank you enough Joy, for so fully understanding and recognising the role that book design plays in producing a great book.

Quaky Cat Raises $100,000 for Christchurch

You just never know the potential of books you have designed ...

From Scholastic NZ, 3 May 2011

Scholastic announces that Quaky Cat, the children’s picture book created in the aftermath of the September 4 Christchurch earthquake, has now raised $100,000 for Christchurch.

Written by Diana Noonan and illustrated by Gavin Bishop, Quaky Cat has brought comfort to Christchurch children and their families since its publication in December 2010. No one involved with the book's production could ever have envisaged that, less than six months later, Christchurch would be struck again, this time by an even more devastating earthquake.

Proceeds from sales of Quaky Cat, including all of Noonan and Bishop’s royalties, are being donated to the Christchurch Women’s Refuge ($25,000) and Te Tai Tamariki Children’s Literature Trust ($25,000) with Scholastic’s contribution ($50,000) going to the Christchurch Earthquake Mayoral Appeal. 15,000 copies of the book were gifted by Scholastic to year 1 and 2 children in the Christchurch region.

Quaky Cat has consistently appeared in the NZ Top 10 bestseller list, alongside books by authors such as Jodi Picoult and Nigel Latta, and is also being sold by Scholastic worldwide, with funds continuing to be donated to Christchurch.

In the words of Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker, Quaky Cat  ‘is a book our very brave children (and adults) will treasure.’

Scholastic is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology, creating quality products and services that educate, entertain and motivate children that are distributed through a variety of channels including retail stores, school book clubs, book fairs and libraries. www.scholastic.co.nz

For further information contact: Diana Murray, Publishing Manager, Scholastic NZ dmurray@scholastic.co.nz


Here's some images and more from Quaky Cat's book launch.

You know you're from Chch when ...

I've always wondered when things get bad if human nature would take over and people would want to find ways of picking themselves up.
That's exactly what happened after the February earthquake in Christchurch.
Facebook ruled my life and word quickly spread about a great page of one liners all starting with the phrase 'You know you're from Chch when ...'. Well that was it for us. My husband and I went to sleep smiling after reading the one liners on my iphone every night.
They were hilarious and all thought up by people who were in the same bad situation as us. All scared, tired and living on their nerves looking for some light relief.
Talking with a friend about how fantastic this page was sparked the idea of what a good book it would make. Now there was a thought that was worth following through.
I found an email address and cheekily sent a messsage asking if the page owner Bruce Raines if he had ever thought of turning the page into a book. He was keen and the rest is history.
The book You know you're from Christchurch when ... is available in everywhere, published by Harper Collins, with a big thank you to Bill Honeybone, who is still enjoying the giggle.
It's so good to know that human nature will always come out on top!

Travelling the country

Kim’s out and about a lot over the next couple of months. If you have project you’d like to talk to her about she’ll be in:

• Dunedin 3 May
• Auckland and Hamilton (travelling down to Taupo) 17- 22 May
• Wellington 25 May
• Auckland 24-30 June
• Brisbane 3-13 July (fun part)
• Auckland 20-22 July

Any excuse for a cuppa and cake, just drop her a line kim@bookdesign.co.nz

Opening a branch in Auckland

On the 22 Feb we were supposed to be looking at offices in central Christchurch as we have outgrown our lovely space here. But, that is no longer an option, and well, it got us thinking ‘why do we have to be based just in Chch?'

Auckland makes good sense for a place to be when for a lot of our clients it’s home . For us it means we can guarantee our service away from the shaking and power cuts and help to spread the load with room to grow.

Please no volcanic eruptions now though or anymore tornadoes. Actually that is a point. We are planning to set up in Birkenhead with a design team and Kim traveling between the two branches.

We’d really like to hear your thoughts. Will us having an office in Auckland make a difference to you?

Digital Studio Management

As Christchurch was rattling and rolling in February, we were implementing a new digital production system. The perfect thing to try and do when stress levels are high and the patience low.
But luckily we have survived both situations and love our new Streamtime digital studio management system. (The quakes can just bugger off, we'll never like them).
For our clients and suppliers you'll notice a huge difference in our turn around times for quotes. The system is now automated and all our forms are produced and emailed in one easy action and then transferred to the job/task sheet. It's just fantastic.
The next bit is opening up the backend so clients are able to log on at anytime and see how their budgets are progressing in real time. Hopefully this feature will go live in the next week.
The big advantage is we are now able to standardise all the different parts of production. Kim doesn't have to continually explain how and why she costed a project a certain way to Trisha who used to just stand there and shake her head. It's much less stressful this way and hopefully, more 'streamlined' for everyone.
We really look forward to hearing your feedback on how your find the system. Good or bad.

Budgets/Pricing

We are hearing more and more that publishers are looking for a cheaper, cost effective service that compliments their inhouse team.
Our team here at Book Design is structured so we can offer top-end design and production, as well as efficient basic layout. With two senior designers, a junior designer and a mac op we can offer a pricing structure that suits your project. We have a sliding price scale dependent on the amount of design that is required.
Just ask, or even better, tell us your budget and we can come up with a team solution.

What has winning a Book Design Award meant ?

Last year we were lucky enough to have our design for Year 9 Graphics chosen as the Best Book Design for an Educational Book at the PANZ Book Design Awards and the design for Wonky Donkey gained a High Commended Certificate in the Picture Book category.

Apart from being totally gobsmacked (I really thought Geography on the Edge was taking away the big Educational Book prize), we were totally unprepared for the impact this award would have on our business. We’d received a Highly Commended in 2009 and this had certainly raised our profile, but it was nothing compared with 2010.

I’ve heard publishers say that winning awards doesn’t necessarily increase sales. Being shortlisted might, but not the big event. We found that our business became more reputable over night. It gave us credit, which helped open doors, that we had trouble previously opening.

All these have positively affected our bottom line and have given us the opportunity to grow. With more staff, better servers and more opportunities, almost 12 months later we are prepared to take an even bigger step and open another branch in Auckland.

The best bit though, is being held aloft by your peers. The fantastic comments from designers and illustrators whom we have admired for years, just makes all the hard work seem worthwhile. Design is like most service industries, you are only as good as your last book. But gee, the next great book is what makes us get out of bed each morning. Bring it on!

Thanks so much for PANZ and all the sponsors who make these awards possible for our industry. Here at Book Design, we really appreciate the opportunities you are giving us.