Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
No 30 - The (Not So) Glamourous Life of a Publisher
For some reason, many people think publishing is a glamorous industry. Perhaps because after hearing success story of Bloomsbury, the then small publishing house and now turned key player (in the publishing industry) after making an acquisition in 1997 of an author whose books have outsold everything but the Bible.
Even getting published isn’t glamorous either. If you are a self-publisher, besides printing costs, you need to think about other important aspects like promotion and marketing and even the mundane like mailing the promotional leaflets yourself. We need to do just that.
The envelopes ready to be posted to potential buyers.
The labels all ready to be pasted onto the envelopes.
The production sequence: One cover letter, one leaflet, two bookmarks and one self-addressed envelope.
The envelopes ready to be posted to potential buyers.
The labels all ready to be pasted onto the envelopes.
The production sequence: One cover letter, one leaflet, two bookmarks and one self-addressed envelope.Book publishing is challenging because there are hundreds of thousands of books published a year from various sources, big houses, independents, foreign publishers. What chance does a small, unknown self publisher like us have? We have done our homework by getting the right reviews, planned its marketing strategy way ahead. Will all these effort result in dividends? Time will tell. In the meantime, it's back to do the mailing chore.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
No 29 - Personal DNA - Assess your personality
A new kind of personality test which is free, fun, fast and accurate. Test has been designed by a team of professional psychologists. It employs innovative answering techniques, allowing for increased accuracy and an enjoyable process.
Try the test now and see how you score!
(You do not need to sign up or sign in to take the test.)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
No 28 - Percintaan Tan Hong Ming
tan hong ming
Her name is Umi ...
UMI QAZRINA
I like her ...
yasmin ahmad
Why do you like her?
tan hong ming
She's wear earing ...
She ties to her pony tail ...
erm ...
She's pretty ...
yasmin ahmad
What do you wish you could say to her?
tan hong ming
Do you want to come on a date?
urmm ... to a romantic dinner
yasmin ahmad
Does she know you like her?
tan hong ming
No, ... I keep it a secret
yasmin ahmad
Why?
tan hong ming
I don’t want the whole world to know!
yasmin ahmad
Why not?
tan hong ming
Coz everybody would laugh at me
yasmin ahmad
Why would they laugh at you?
tan hong ming
Huh?
yasmin ahmad
Why would they laugh at you?
tan hong ming
She doesn’t like me ...
yasmin ahmad
She doesn’t like you?
tan hong ming
(shakes head ...)
umi qazrina
My name is Umi Qazrina
yasmin ahmad
Who is your best friend?
umi qazrina
Tan Hong Ming
yasmin ahmad
Tan Hong Ming?
Do you like him?
Do you have a boyfriend?
umi qazrina
Tan Hong Ming ...
“Kanak Kanak Memahaminya”
"Tan Hong Ming" won a Gold Andy for Film Direction and another Gold for Public Service Advertising. This commercial was made for Petronas and was directed by Yasmin Ahmad.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
No 27 - Graphic Novel Workshop
Introduction
r media conducted its first graphic novel workshop - basic level on 31 May 2008. Participants age ranged widely and they included children, teenagers, working adults and parents. It was a whole day event.
Details
Workshop Title:
Organiser: Darul Andalus and r media
Date: 31 May 2008
Time: 0900-1730
Venue: Wisma Indah
About the workshop
The workshop was a multi-media event, using live drawing and sketching, PowerPoint presentations and slides. Included were discussions and demonstrations of basic creative techniques and basic drawing skills, as well as writing and comic conceptualisation.
Overview
r media felt glad to see the participants engaging actively in all the activities and exercises. The enthusiasm were apparent especially the younger participants. Some of them did not even want to go for the scheduled breaks as they were intent on completing their exercises.
We discovered some raw talents - with the right guidance they can become great graphic novel creators to fill the void in Malay graphic novels.
Photos
Here are some photos from the workshop.
An opening introduction by Mr Abdullah Othman, Director, Darul Andalus.
Participants Profile
Working adults
Children
Demos and Discussions
Explaining
Guiding
Live drawing
Digital colouring demo.
Mango Group
Character name: Chomel
Apple Group
Character Name: Tuffaha
Orange Group
Character Name: Yellow
Pear Group
Character Name: Mr Smarty Pear
Sunday, March 30, 2008
No 26 - Teachers in the US are using Graphic Novels to Captivate Reluctant Readers
Not long ago, about the only way a kid could get away with reading a comic book in school was to hide it inside the covers of a textbook. Now Roberta Kaiser, the media specialist at Nautilus Middle School on Miami Beach, not only stocks her shelves with them, but demand outstrips supply by a wide margin.
Picture - top: Nautilus Middle School's Roberta Kaiser says graphic novels are so popular that she has to limit circulation to one book per student.
"I have to limit them to one at a time, but there are students who come in two to three times a day to return one and get another,'' Kaiser said.
Before anybody explodes about kids reading comic books when they're supposed to be doing quadratic equations or studying Shakespeare, know that comic books have changed, and so has reading.
Picture - top: Nautilus Middle School's Roberta Kaiser says graphic novels are so popular that she has to limit circulation to one book per student.
"I have to limit them to one at a time, but there are students who come in two to three times a day to return one and get another,'' Kaiser said.
Before anybody explodes about kids reading comic books when they're supposed to be doing quadratic equations or studying Shakespeare, know that comic books have changed, and so has reading.
Under the spiffier label of "graphic novels,'' these bound books feature every stripe of hero and story. "The themes and genres can range from science to biography, and from memoirs to yes, superheroes,'' said John Shableski of Diamond Book Distributors, which specializes in comics. "Every subject is available in the format.''
These are not your father's comic books. Superman and Wonder Woman, yes; but also graphic novel editions of the works of Shakespeare, and many classics -- The Red Badge of Courage, Beowulf, Greek Myths, The Adventures of Robin Hood, even Canterbury Tales.
Last year, the Printz Award, an American Library Association honor for the most distinguished book for teens, went to American Born Chinese, a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney was an original online comic about a beleaguered middle-schooler before the hard-cover edition propelled it and its sequel to The New York Times bestseller list. Bone, about a marshmallowy type creature's adventures, was self-published by Jeff Smith before Scholastic bought it, colorized it and split it into nine volumes. A million copies of the first installment, Out From Boneville, have been sold. Scholastic brought the series to the classroom by producing a teacher-friendly guide.
Last year, the Printz Award, an American Library Association honor for the most distinguished book for teens, went to American Born Chinese, a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney was an original online comic about a beleaguered middle-schooler before the hard-cover edition propelled it and its sequel to The New York Times bestseller list. Bone, about a marshmallowy type creature's adventures, was self-published by Jeff Smith before Scholastic bought it, colorized it and split it into nine volumes. A million copies of the first installment, Out From Boneville, have been sold. Scholastic brought the series to the classroom by producing a teacher-friendly guide.
Comics are infiltrating the schoolhouse like never before because they are reaching that most elusive of creatures -- the reluctant reader. Faced with a generation raised in a visual environment dominated by television, the Internet and electronic games, teachers and librarians have found comics will lure readers -- especially boys -- who have a limited interest in books.
It was the how-to-get-a-boy-to-read conundrum that propelled Francoise Mouly, co-editor of Raw magazine and the New Yorker art editor, into producing comic books for young readers herself. Mouly has two children with husband Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus, a Holocaust memoir that is considered one of the granddaddies of the graphic novel format, and which won a 1992 Pulitzer Prize. Her daughter, Nadje, learned to read after a few weeks of concentrated effort. Despite being raised in the same environment -- "surrounded by books, with parents who read to them,'' her son, Dash, now 16, struggled.
It was the how-to-get-a-boy-to-read conundrum that propelled Francoise Mouly, co-editor of Raw magazine and the New Yorker art editor, into producing comic books for young readers herself. Mouly has two children with husband Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus, a Holocaust memoir that is considered one of the granddaddies of the graphic novel format, and which won a 1992 Pulitzer Prize. Her daughter, Nadje, learned to read after a few weeks of concentrated effort. Despite being raised in the same environment -- "surrounded by books, with parents who read to them,'' her son, Dash, now 16, struggled.
"I was running out of books I could use with him,'' Mouly said, so she turned to Spiegelman's vast collection of comics -- Krazy Kat, Little Nemo, Batman. That worked. "My husband sacrificed his comics to fatherhood, but it was a good cause, and it allowed Dash to find a path to success,'' Mouly said. "It made us both realize how much of a magic bullet comics could be. Children will learn if there's something in it for them and if it's pleasurable.'' The personal experiment made Mouly realize how divorced comics had become from childhood. "Dash had friends who came to the house and had never seen comics before.''
In response, she and Spiegelman produced three comics anthologies -- the Little Lit series -- aimed specifically at readers age 8 to 12. Next month, she's launching Toon Books, which takes the comic book offensive to its youngest audience ever: beginning readers. The new line debuts in April with three titles -- Benny and Penny by Geoffrey Hayes, Silly Lilly by Agnes Rosenstiehl, and Otto's Orange Day by Frank Cammuso and Jay Lynch. The books have already been adopted by Renaissance Learning's "Accelerated Reader'' program, used in 60 percent of American classrooms.
Comics in book format are not new. In the 1940s, illustrated classics and Bible stories in bound form were produced specifically as educational material. But the entire comics genre took a massive hit when excessive violent imagery led the U.S. Senate to hold hearings in 1954 to investigate the link between comic books and juvenile delinquency. The hearings didn't find one, but they did lead to the creation of a sort of decency code, supported by much of the industry, that effectively set innovation back several decades.
As far as pendulum swings go, comic books are back and then some. Shableski, the book distributor, says sales climbed from $43 million in 2001 to $330 million in 2006.
Much of that is fueled by the embrace of schools and libraries, which in response to a perceived reading crisis among kids, have shifted their focus on getting children to read the "right'' material, to getting children to read, period. It's not just that children are more likely to read something they enjoy, it's that a comic book's combination of pictures and text holds a child's attention longer than blocks of print. Speech balloons develop an understanding of the role of dialogue in a story. Many comics readers wind up wanting to create their own, ("that never happens with a video game,'' Mouly points out), promoting not only literacy, but creativity and self-expression.
Much of that is fueled by the embrace of schools and libraries, which in response to a perceived reading crisis among kids, have shifted their focus on getting children to read the "right'' material, to getting children to read, period. It's not just that children are more likely to read something they enjoy, it's that a comic book's combination of pictures and text holds a child's attention longer than blocks of print. Speech balloons develop an understanding of the role of dialogue in a story. Many comics readers wind up wanting to create their own, ("that never happens with a video game,'' Mouly points out), promoting not only literacy, but creativity and self-expression.
Kaiser, the middle school librarian, says her kids overwhelmingly choose the superhero and manga (Japanese) comics over the ones that cover curriculum topics. She hopes the biography and history selections will be added to teachers' lesson plans, but for the moment she's satisfied that she has figured out a way to get certain kids to make regular stops at the circulation desk.
"Some of my comics readers are reading other stuff, but some of them would not be reading at all if they were not reading comics.''
The above article first appeared in The Miami Herald. Copyright 2008 Miami Herald Media Co.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
No 25 - Colour Picker
Two wonderful sites to pick/match colour. The first is a website. All you have to do is to key in the rgb values directly.
http://www.colorblender.com/
My pick will definitely be this software simply named Pixie by Nattyware. You need to download the programme.
"Pixie is an easy-to-use, fast and tiny utility designed especially to fit the needs of Webmasters and Designers. Its a colour picker that includes a mouse tracker. Run it, simply point to a colour and it will tell you the hex, RGB, HTML, CMYK and HSV values of that colour. You can then use these values to reproduce the selected colour in your favorite programs. Pixie will also show the current x y position of your mouse pointer. Its the only tool you'll need for working with colours."
Quoted from www.nattyware.com
http://www.colorblender.com/
My pick will definitely be this software simply named Pixie by Nattyware. You need to download the programme.
"Pixie is an easy-to-use, fast and tiny utility designed especially to fit the needs of Webmasters and Designers. Its a colour picker that includes a mouse tracker. Run it, simply point to a colour and it will tell you the hex, RGB, HTML, CMYK and HSV values of that colour. You can then use these values to reproduce the selected colour in your favorite programs. Pixie will also show the current x y position of your mouse pointer. Its the only tool you'll need for working with colours."
Quoted from www.nattyware.com
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