Publishing and editorial
services
We'd love to help you with your publishing needs. This may be for:
For more details — read on.....
Book sales help keep Alan and his mates at 'Enabler' in a few
beers or ciders, but it is through offering publishing, editorial
and writing services that the bills get paid!
And, it is great to feel that we are helping authors and publishers
to create interesting and better produced publications, whether
in print format or online.
Customers include: individual authors, and largely, not-for-profit
organisations, including: the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the
Chartered Institute of Housing, the Council for Environmental
Education, universities and charities such as Save the Children.
Alan is also a director of both the Authors'
Licensing and Collecting Society and the Copyright
Licensing Agency, and heavily involved with supporting creators
in the battlefield that is intellectual property rights and copyright.
The publishing process in the digital age
Getting a book from the ideas stage through to a printed, all-singing
and dancing publication in the warehouse (or shed), or online,
requires some, or all, of the following stages.
Enabler Publishing Services could help you with all or any of
them! Have a think about your own needs.
Increasingly, what we are being asked for by
individual authors,
is a bespoke, personal service to help them get their material
from a typescript; set of computer files; a box of photos; a taped
interview, or reminiscences, through to final production in a
range of formats.
In particular, authors often lack the knowledge of what to edit
and how to edit. Consistency of spellings, use of upper and lower
case, accuracy of references and acronyms are among the areas
that need special attention. Then there is the scanning of photos,
preparation of illustrations and maps, and possibly the creation
of an index. These are the 'devils' in the detail, which are all
too easy to miss. We can help.
Authors in this way can become their own small, independent publishers.
There is a range of what can be created:
- A bound book that is printed conventionally
using a full offset-litho press. This
is the best quality process and photos and images look clean,
and good quality, when printed on a decent paper such as Chromomat
130 gsm. Usually this sort of book will include a gloss laminate
card cover. The content can also be made available online as
an ebook. It is up to the client if they want it freely available,
or, to charge for access. See, for example, Duncan Torrance's
book Desert to Danube
online for free. This started life as one of the life-stories
from the Second World War, written for the BBC archive. The
version here is a much improved, updated edition. See also,
samples from Alan Dearling and Oliver Carfrae's 'Round
Eyemouth, which is a guide to the history of, and places
to visit, in the English and Scottish borderlands from Alnwick
north to Dunbar. You can also buy either
of these books direct from Enabler Publications.
- A bound book
that is produced in a smaller run using the lower quality
digital press process.
Not so good for books including good quality photos.
Not usually used for books of greater than about a 400 print run.
Publications can also be prepared ready
for print on demand.
This is a service offered by an increasing
number of printers, whereby customers pay an upfront fee based
on the size of the book (page size, print run) and whether it
is monochrome or uses colour. Then, copies can be run off for
a per book charge.
- An ebook
that can be read online (on an ordinary PC or laptop) or increasingly,
produced in a variety of formats such as pdf, epub, mobi, for
reading on the diverse range of ebook readers (Kindle; Sony;
I-Pad).
- Out of print books can be given a
new lease of life online in a range of formats for
viewing on computer screens or ebook readers
(again, such as Kindle; Sony and I-Pad).
This is a new opportunity for existing authors who have gained their 'rights
reversion' from publishers, and who want to see their publication
back in the public arena. We have done this with Fiona Earle
and friends', A Time to
Travel? which is available for purchase as a graphical ebook
on a CD, which is facsimile version of the original book, complete
with photos and illustrations, in pdf format.
- A blog-style, online book,
which is produced for viewing
online, such as Alan Dearling's tales from the world of music
festivals 1969-2001, Not only but
also. And his memories from growing up in Bognor Regis in
the 1960s, Fragments
from early years in Sussex (mostly in Bognor). There are
lots more examples linked from the Music,
Traveller, Turkey
and Odds and Sods pages of this
site.
The opportunities for creative publishing are much greater with
the advent of desktop and online publishing. But, it is still
very much the case that good publications do not just happen.
They require skilled editing, use of desktop publishing layout
know-how, plus a fair dose of TLC!
Do contact us, if you think we can help you turn your dream publication
into a reality, or bring back an out of print book from its current
graveyard.
Remember too, and at your peril, the old adage:
Garbage in, garbage out...
Too many would-be author-publishers live to regret not getting
experienced publishing support in:
- Discussing ideas and subjects for potential publications and
whether there is indeed a market for their publication(s).
- Where necessary, setting up contracts with authors and fixing
timescales and staged payments.
- Commissioning artists, illustrators, designers and photographers.
- Undertaking, or commissioning, any necessary research, interviews
and writing.
- Copy editing, which is the first, detailed edit. It is the
stage that establishes the 'house rules' for a publication,
dealing with issues of consistency of spellings; use of upper
and lower case; punctuation; referencing style and is used to
spot major and minor discrepancies in the actual text. These
can include the organisation of chapters; use of copyright materials
without permissions; poor quality photos/illustrations etc.
- Typesetting and graphic design.
- Proof reading is done by staff in tandem with the author,
and then the two versions of the proofs are combined to produce
the final version for printing.
- Indexing by the author with support as required.
- Choosing a printer, getting quotes, managing the printing
process and delivery.
Alan has, in past lives, been a publisher with the Scottish Office,
Longman, Pitman, the Chartered Institute of Housing and Russell
House Publishing. His areas of publishing and writing have included:
- Social Work
- Youth and Community Work
- Education
- Crime
- Drugs
- Housing
- Health and medical titles
- The counterculture/direct action/protest world
- Local and national guides
- Personal memoirs
Research and writing
For over 30 years, Alan has worked with over a thousand authors
and partner organisations to produce books, reports and other
publications. This network of writers and researchers has enabled
(hence the name of the company!), Alan, and his colleague, Oliver
Carfrae, to work on a very considerable range of projects, often
concurrently.
At the time of updating this page, for instance, work is being
undertaken on three books for different authors, plus preparatory
work on potential new Enabler titles.
If you're interested in finding out more, give
Enabler Publishing a ring on 018907 51222,
or email us at adearling@aol.com
We try to help. |