I’ve long enjoyed pushing the boundaries of publishing.
When the original edition of ONE HAND SCREAMING came out in 2004 it was self-published, but set up in a way that the book was available to bookstores with a full “trade” discount and also returnable.
It was self-publishing almost 10 years before that aspect of digital publishing fully took hold. Amazon’s Kindle and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) didn’t arrive until three years later in 2007.
Other pioneering efforts (as an author, editor, publisher, and bookseller):
- In 2009, after acquiring Canada’s 2nd (and the world’s 9th) Espresso Book Machine for Titles Bookstore at McMaster University (I was the Book Operations Manager at the time). This is a machine that can produce a perfect bound trade paperback book right on the spot in about fifteen minutes. I collaborated with the bookstores at McMaster, Waterloo, and University of Alberta to produce CAMPUS CHILLS a horror anthology that was originally available exclusively on the Espresso Book Machines. (The book has since been released broadly in print and eBook editions)
- In 2012 I launched Kobo Writing Life, Rakuten Kobo Inc’s world-class self-publishing platform in my role as Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations. Kobo continues to report that 1 in every 4 books sold on Kobo worldwide comes from books published via this portal.
One Hand Screaming 