Earlier this month, we travelled to Bristol in order to try out a new kind of reading experience – a project that intends to fully integrate the physical with the digital. Pioneering the frontiers of storytelling and gathering media attention, These Pages Fall Like Ash is an AHRC- and REACT-funded project worth investigating… 

As with every new digital development, there is a tendency to wax lyrical on its boundary-pushing, experience-enhancing, multi-layering and super-innovating qualities. And this project was no different. However, as I mentioned previously, this time it seems as if they have hit upon something with real significance – a diamond (albeit one slightly in the rough) amongst the lacklustre onslaught of uncreative ebooks. It is a part-treasure-hunt, part-interactive, location-based, cross-platform serialised story. I make no apologies for the use of hyphens: it seems entirely appropriate for this kind of mash-up media (there I go again).

This is a guest post from Laura Palmer, the extremely talented Editorial Director and co-founder of Head of Zeus.

When I tell people I work in fiction publishing, the first thing they want to know is whether I spend my working day reading novels. I wish I could say yes. But the truth is that if you work for a small Independent start-up, like I do, you spend a lot of time doing important-but-boring things (proofreading ISBNS, maximising discoverability by optimising territory metadata encoded in ISBNs) and not much time doing important-but-fun things (reading great scripts, schmoozing agents to persuade them to send you great scripts). The result: your isbns are perfect. Your chances of finding the next bestseller are not. When you are squeezing your search into snatched evenings, weekends, and morning commutes, it makes it all the more exciting when one falls into your lap.

This is a very basic introduction to XML (extensible markup language). If you think that XML is exclusively for techie people or you don’t really know what it is at all, this post is for you.

These Pages Fall Like Ash is a first-of-its kind narrative experience, leading its readers around the city of Bristol – armed with a wooden book and a smartphone device. Intrigued? We were.

Emma Smith spoke to creator, Dr Tom Abba, to find out more (before venturing West and trying it out for real).

A strange story is unfolding in Bristol this Spring…

Two cities, each overlapping the other. Streets bordering two worlds.

Two people who can no longer remember the other’s existence.

I love books. I love the musk of a secondhand bookshop. The friends standing eager in my shelves. The osteopathic crack as I break a hardback’s spine. So you might imagine I hate the way ebooks are beeping out the death-knell of the printed page.

Actually, I believe digital publishing may save what’s most important about books: the words, the stories – the art. And, with your help, this might herald a golden age of literature. But more of that in a moment…

This is a guest post from author Judith Summers, who is currently storming the Kindle charts with her book Dear Sister.

I’ve been a No.5  bestseller in the past, I’ve  been a No.4 bestseller – but it’s taken thirty years of being an author, ten published books and the advent of Kindle  for me to hit  the No.1  spot . Now I’ve finally scored – and with my  first published novel.

Tom Chalmers is Managing Director at IPR License.

If I’m honest the London Book Fair almost broke me (in a good way). 60 meetings in three days whilst battling the potentially deadly man-flu virus has left me a shadow of my former self but pull myself together I will. In fact have to in order to close a number of the deals as a result of these meetings.

A typical day at the Fair would see me arriving around 8.30, grabbing a coffee, popping a couple of paracetamol then quickly reading the latest fair news before dashing off for a mountain of meetings that had been lined up beforehand. If there was time to grab a sandwich at some point during the day then that would be a bonus, with copious amounts of coffee offering a helping hand along the way.

After the success of the first BookMachine Brighton event in February, we’re back – this time with sun, sea and prizes. Whilst we can’t guarantee the sun, you will have the opportunity to network with Brightonians, and Londoners who fancy a holiday, in the beach-side bar, Oh So Social.

Everyone who comes to the event will be entered into a prize draw to win one of a series of great prizes…

• 1^St Prize: A Kindle Fire
• 2^nd Prize: A selection of books from Brighton’s own Myriad Editions
• 3^rd Prize: A selection of ‘What Is?’ books from Brighton’s own Rotovision Books
• 4^th Prize: A selection of books from our Brighton-based sponsors, Indepenpress Publishing

February’s event ran in conjunction with Brighton’s Write-Club and was hosted by the wonderful Alice Reeves. Alice is back for more and after the success of the last event, I couldn’t not get involved.

We’re kicking off the evening with free drinks for the early-birds, so join us at 7pm on May 2^nd for what promises to be another great evening, rain or shine. Sign up now to avoid disappointment!

With thanks to our sponsors, Indepenpress Publishing Ltd: Quality traditional & self publishing in the heart of Brighton.

If BookMachine is “the most fun you can have with your clothes on”, the latest gathering had no problem in filling up the top-floor of Oxford’s House Bar on Wednesday night.

With a new, and untested, approach for BookMachine Oxford, organised by wunder-kind, Charly Ford of Osprey and sponsored by recruitment specialists, Atwood-Tate, the evening started with a short talk from Richard Sullivan, Managing Director of Osprey Publishing.