Publishing House

Bonavista lacks a print-shop.

More to the point, local writers cannot publish books.

Or so they think.

When you think of book publishers you think of Penguin, HarperCollins, and the big-name firms who make use of the top four floors of skyscrapers in Manhattan. We’ve seen the movies.

That, or we think of eBooks, or Audio books.

But wait: Poets still stand on street corners with their twenty sheets of poetry, offering the sheets at a dollar a time. That has been going on for centuries.

What is a budding author or poet or playwright to do in Bonavista? Rake together $100 and buy a four-in-one black ink printer. Order two reams of A4 paper and have that delivered with the printer, and you are a print-shop.

Now you can receive documents by email and print them out in the evening for next-day collections. Or delivery (extra charge). That should soon pay for the printer and paper.

Meanwhile you write and edit your story, hand out the draft for editing by a friend or colleague, correct it and sell it as a stapled document. A staple in the top-left corner will do the trick, or staple it in three positions down the spine, brush wood glue onto the spine edges, and when that is dry, use a strip of bright-coloured plastic insulating tape to cover the spine.

Use scraps of wallpaper or similar stock for the cover. We did all this in Primary School.

At this stage you can write your work and then sell it, at first only to Nana, Pop. Uncle Jim and your parents. But you have to start somewhere.

Signed editions (numbered) are extra cash.

You can form a Writers group that meets at your home. Members pay an annual members fee and receive a discount on publishing costs.

Publishing Costs includes your skill in stapling, gluing, end covers and the like.

I am making this up as I go along, but once you start thinking about it, the ideas begin to flow.

You do not need to rent the top four floors in Manhattan.

But you do need to start today!

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