Here’s an interesting press release. Once again, small, innovative companies are challenging the dominance of the big publishers:
Pear Jam Books celebrates its worldwide launch on 14th December 2011 at Auckland’s planetarium, with authors and illustrators mingling with stars including Oscar nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes.
A new publishing company aims to take on traditional publishers to put the power firmly back in the hands of the writers by working with publishing partners across the globe.
Pear Jam Books, the creation of Jill Marshall, grew from her own frustrations despite being a well-published author with international success. “Publishing has had too many gatekeepers along the way, creating obstacles for new and established authors alike,” says Marshall. “Partnering with companies like ebooks2go.com means a little New Zealand -based company can have global reach and immediate connections with the reader, directly from storymaker to storytaker.”
Each Pear Jam Books title will be published in four PEAR formats: P for play as an app, game or production, E for e-book, A for audio book, and R for Read in the traditional print form. Products will largely be sold online through e-tailers and the Pear Jam Books and eBooks2go e-commerce sites, enabling readers to get hold of their story in whatever way they choose.
Finding ebooks2 go through Publishers’ Weekly e-newsletter opened up the world for Pear Jam Books, with the digital conversion and distribution specialists now extending their services into localised print-on-demand for PJB titles.
‘We’re very pleased to be able to have NZ readers with the new Kobo Vox, Barnes & Noble or Kindle afficionados in the US, and a Sony book-lover in the UK, all reading the same great PJB ebooks,’ says David Aubrey, director of ebooks2go. ‘And very soon we’ll handle POD for Pear Jam titles too.’
Those titles range from baby app Kiss to gritty adult crime thriller Furt Bent from Aldaheit, and have all been published in just eight months since Pear Jam Books was formed to publish a fundraiser for earthquake-devastated Christchurch – Curly from Shirley, the Christchurch Dog. As with the author and illustrator of Curly, Marshall handpicked her first stable of authors from clients of her writing consultancy, Write Good Stuff, ensuring that every story is a fabulous experience from start to finish.
“Readers have traditionally been told what to read by what’s in the bookstore. Pear Jam Books offers a quality brand that broadens the scope and ways in which people engage with their story. It’s about offering the consumer choices, and giving the power back to authors and readers.”
