DAVID BARRIE
Tuesday, 4th May 2010. On tangible proof.
I received a box of copies of Night-Scented today from the publisher. Although I had previously seen the cover art and gone through the tedious (and somewhat dispiriting) process of proof-reading the typeset manuscript, it is always a bit of a revelation to finally get to play with the physical copy of a book. Only when you can weigh it in your hands and flick through the pages do you finally truly believe in the thing’s existence. (If this is true, in a hypothetical 100% digital future, authors will find themselves in a state of permanent doubt as to whether they've actually produced anything at all).
Once more John Law Media have played the slightly upmarket card (although I suspect this will have a negative impact on the profitability of the print run). The pages are printed on white paper of a decent weight (rather than beige woodpulp, which often feels like it’s disintegrating under your fingers as you read). The cover has been done with stiff card and – unlike the deliberately monochrome cover of Wasp-Waisted – toys with colour. The main cover image looks like a darkly-shaded colour drawing of the Alexandre III bridge, while the back cover has a dash of red to wake any tired eyes.
Given that the John Law Media team are fairly new to the publishing game, I think Night-Scented, as a physical object, is pretty well done. It’s clear that they’ve learned some lessons from the production of Wasp-Waisted (so let’s hope they quickly sell out the initial print run of the latter so that it can be redone à la Night-Scented).
I received a box of copies of Night-Scented today from the publisher. Although I had previously seen the cover art and gone through the tedious (and somewhat dispiriting) process of proof-reading the typeset manuscript, it is always a bit of a revelation to finally get to play with the physical copy of a book. Only when you can weigh it in your hands and flick through the pages do you finally truly believe in the thing’s existence. (If this is true, in a hypothetical 100% digital future, authors will find themselves in a state of permanent doubt as to whether they've actually produced anything at all).
Once more John Law Media have played the slightly upmarket card (although I suspect this will have a negative impact on the profitability of the print run). The pages are printed on white paper of a decent weight (rather than beige woodpulp, which often feels like it’s disintegrating under your fingers as you read). The cover has been done with stiff card and – unlike the deliberately monochrome cover of Wasp-Waisted – toys with colour. The main cover image looks like a darkly-shaded colour drawing of the Alexandre III bridge, while the back cover has a dash of red to wake any tired eyes.
Given that the John Law Media team are fairly new to the publishing game, I think Night-Scented, as a physical object, is pretty well done. It’s clear that they’ve learned some lessons from the production of Wasp-Waisted (so let’s hope they quickly sell out the initial print run of the latter so that it can be redone à la Night-Scented).