Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/29/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 06/04/08.
JAMES POTTER
Long Dash Press
Long Dash's website is: http://www.longdash.com/news.html
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: August 11, 2006.
Meeting Site: Bennett Books. Wyckoff, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 14.
Meeting Program: Talk by Self Publisher.
Notes:
The July and August 2006 Meetings were held early on a Friday evening. The meetings had been originally scheduled for the normal day, the second Saturday of the month, but we abruptly lost our meeting space. The Bennett's were good enough to allow the use of their store if the group could adjust its hours to those of the store.
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2006 Philip J De Parto:
On Friday, August 11, 2006, James Potter of Long Dash Publishing spoke at the meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County held at Bennett Books in Wyckoff, New Jersey.
Barry Weinberger moderated the first session of Ice Nine, our new pre-meeting discussion group. The group discusses new and interesting genre stuff, regardless of the medium.
Barry led off by mentioning that ROLLING STONE magazine had just printed an article about Kurt Vonnegut, whose mention of Ice Nine in CAT'S CRADLE is most fans' point of reference for the term. Rich Herr mentioned that he had just read a novel by Neil Gaiman which led to a whole raft of comments about the author including the Gaiman tribute CD, "Where's Neil?," as well as his work as screenwriter on the upcoming BEOWULF movie.
Other Cool Stuff mentioned were Taras Wolansky's citing of author Naomi Novak's "Her Majesty's Dragon" trilogy, and Barry's plug for the upcoming graphic novel hardcover THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: THE BLACK DOSSIER by Alan Moore. Barry also talked about the 2007 edition of LEONARD MALTIN'S MOVIE AND VIDEO GUIDE and the 2006 version which he has on his Palm. All in all, it was a promising start for the group.
James Potter of Long Dash Publications was the evening's speaker. Long Dash is a print on demand publisher. The company had originally been affiliated with Bookends bookstore in Ridgewood, New Jersey, but has since been spun off into an entirely seperate venture.
The heart of Long Dash is the InstaBook printer, a machine which is much smaller and much cheaper than the machines used by most print on demand publishers. Long Dash prints trade paperbacks in multiples of ten. A run of ten books of 250 pages or less costs $ 175.00. Prices fall with larger runs and rise with larger page counts or special requirements. The books are printed on 20 lb acid free paper purchased at Staples.
At its best, the company can be viewed as a specialist in ultra small niche publishing. Some examples of this aspect of their business follow. A group of college professors designed a textbook about mediation and wanted it printed on a special paper for their students. An elderly gentleman wrote a book of reminisces and had it printed in large print format for his friends and acquaintances. A woman collected her recipes, assembled them into a book, and then gave them out to the family as a Christmas present. An author wrote a children's book and wanted it published in a 2" X 2" format. A traditional publisher is not interested in low volume special formats and cannot produce books of this sort economically.
Another hat worn by the company is as a bookseller of public domain books. A number of such books can be downloaded from the internet, and at certain break points, Long Dash can provide a trade paperback copy of say, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, at the price of a mass market paperback.
However, most books are produced for aspiring authors who have not been able to interest a traditional publisher in their work. The literary quality of these novels can vary considerably. More importantly, just because a book is published, doesn't mean that anyone is going to buy it. Unless a writer has a well thought out business plan, the books are just going to collect dust on the author's bookcase. Independent bookstores are seldom willing to carry these books and the chains (Barnes & Noble and Borders), almost never.
Typically the author provides the text of the book-to-be in Word or PDF, either on a disk or via email. Long Dash will print and bind the book with a basic cover as part of the base rate. Additional services available at extra charges include fancier covers, book editing, copyright registration, and converting hard copies of pages into electronic form.