A number of fly fishing bloggers from around the country have banded together to produce a compelling collection of short stories titled “Pulp Fly.” It will be available as an “E-book” (through Amazon) starting April 1. You can learn more about the project and its contributors by visiting www.pulpfly.com.
AT editor Kirk Deeter was proud to contribute the foreword for the book, which includes pieces from the likes of Matthew Dunn (“Frank’s Inevitable Michigan”), Bob White (“Back to the Beginning” and White also produced cover art), Bruce Smithhammer (“The Hunt”), and Pete McDonald (“The Players of Jai Alai Salute You”).
“I think this is a breakthrough effort, not only in terms of the E-format, but also because the stories are diverse and interesting reads,” said Deeter. “In many ways, bloggers have become the day-to-day written conscience of fly fishing. I think people will value the raw emotions and eloquent words in this collection. And as fly fishing films have done much to promote the sport, I think the format of this book broadens the media horizon.”
4 Comments
We all stare at computers or our i-Pads for work, business, and play the E-format will allow readers to engage in the book when every they feel the need to take a break and expand the fly fishing mind set. Don’t get me wrong I still love and collect print books, but today’s E-format makes reading anywhere any time without carrying around extra package. Looking forward to Pulp Fly.
Congrats. But seriously, this is vaporware publishing. No risk, no distribution, no readership.
Interesting comment, Harry. I certainly agree with you on the first one – one of the great things about e-book publishing is that much of the hefty financial “risk” is eliminated. I actually see this as a very positive thing, which helps greatly to overcome the extreme conservativism which plagues the process and determines what gets published and what doesn’t. It also greatly accelerates the time frame needed to bring things to “print” – another significant drawback of the “dead tree process,” which can oftentimes take years from idea to a finished copy reaching readership. So I see little downside to minimizing risks in this process.
However, I’m curious how you have reached the second two conclusions (or more accurately – assumptions). “No distribution?” Pulp Fly will be available on Amazon for Kindle, as well as Nook and iBooks – by far the three most popular formats for e-readers (and keep in mind that Amazon e-book sales surpassed it’s paper book sales last year). So I’m really not sure how one could say that there is “no distribution” since the truth is, we are tapping into the largest distribution networks for books in existence on the planet. This is yet another area in which e-books represent a major advancement – distribution has become effectively direct to the consumer (no more having to physically drive to various stores and search, or pay shipping costs, or special order the obscure book you desire when your local bookstore doesn’t stock it), and it has become immediately global, anywhere there is internet. Frankly, if you want to point fingers at archaic, and far less effective (though nostalgic) distribution models – I would look at book stores.
So no, I don’t see distribution as an issue in the least. I think that maybe what you are actually getting at is marketing, or the desire that drives distribution. And in a sense, I’ll concede your point – we do not have a huge marketing budget. But what this group of writers does have, and which was very much a deliberate and thought-out part of our model from the outset – is they have an extensive and quite varied network of connections throughout the industry. Collectively, the various blogs and websites that the contributors of Pulp Fly are a part of reach many thousands of people every day, and that’s no exaggeration. In addition, we are in the process of being reviewed on a number of angling-related websites and in print mags as well in the near future. This represents a great deal of additional exposure for us.
As to your last assumption – “no readership,” I can only say that it is both baseless and incredibly cynical. Will we sell a million copies of Volume One? Of course we’d love to, but I highly doubt it. We are a niche book that primarily appeals to a niche industry, and we have no illusions about that. But on the other hand, is this project destined to be failed venture, as you so optimistically predict? I’m totally confident – more so than I have been about anything in a long time – in saying ‘absolutely not.’ So I recommend holding off on the latter two assumptions until you’ve given this a chance, Harry.
In fact, prior to foregone conclusions – can I suggest that next week (for 1/3 – 1/4 the price of a typical paperback) you check out Volume One when it becomes available? Whether you enjoy the variety found therein or not, at least it will be based on having actually seen what we have to offer. Thanks.
I’m not sure whether to laugh at Harry’s brilliant use of the term “vaporware”, or cry for the outdoor industry clients that hire a guy who assesses a books’s readership stats before it’s even published, and thinks Amazon is a small distribution channel.