Books Nearby proposal

Books Nearby Books about special places— to delight, inspire, and entertain

William Ferrall • wmferrall@gmail.com • 508-228-8535 (Cover images are subject to revision)

About Books Nearby delight • inspire • entertain You might be surprised to learn the American Booksellers Association reports sales for the first half of 2017 rose 3% in the publishing category of adult trade books, up $196 million over the same period in 2016. Electronic book sales declined in the same period by 4.6%.

Clearly, many of us still love the printed word, arranged on paper, alone or with illustrations, to hold and display on a tabletop or bookshelf. Although many of us increasingly turn to electronic devices to learn and be inspired by words and pictures, our desire for traditionally printed books remains steady and continues to grow.

Publishers Weekly found sales of all printed books rose 3% in 2016, with adult nonfiction books up 6.9%. Books with subjects of interest to regional and niche-market readers continued to grow, with history and travel up 5% and a similar increase in design-related books. Books Nearby, with its focus on local history, attractions, and arts and crafts, should find a growing potential audience with readers eager to buy our books.

Mission • Satisfy the passion and interest of readers who care deeply about or are drawn to a particular town, region, or other place of distinction.

Vision • Explore largely unknown, “insider” aspects of each locale, within the context of what’s already well known, to give readers new insights and spark new interests for them.

• Bring together talented and experienced writers, designers, and photographers who are deeply connected to the subjects of our books, which will give readers one-of-a-kind reading experiences along with top-quality, keepsake publications to acquire.

• Give readers and customers online resources, through social media and websites, for ongoing and quick interaction with us as publishers and with a community of other Books Nearby readers.

Team A collegial group of writers, designers, and photographers, each with decades of experience in creating well-designed, sought after, and financially successful publications, including periodicals, books, and websites. The group plans to work cooperatively on a per-project basis rather than as a formal staff. (resumes and links to work available) William Ferrall (writer, editor) Barbara Gookin BGAdvertising (graphic designer, photographer, writer) Louise Martling Eleventh Hour Design (graphic designer) Terry Pommett (photographer)

First Year Projects

(Note: images below are concepts, subject to revision before publishing)

Nantucket in 100 Objects Inspired by the magazine article by William Ferrall in Nantucket Home, Early Summer 2014, titled “The History of Nantucket in 10 Objects.”

Similar books, including the top-selling “History of America in 101 Objects” highlight features of a place or organization. Our book will include images and brief articles about objects associated with and illustrating the culture and history of Nantucket. (Culture, History, Travel & Tourism)

Modern Arts & Crafts of Nantucket Our own new and retitled book in the style of the 1987 book “The Decorative Arts & Crafts of Nantucket,” which has not been reissued or revised since its publication 30 years ago. Highlighting Nantucket’s recent arts and crafts artists including modern basket makers, jewelry makers, weavers, furniture makers, home decor designers, and fine artists. (Culture, Art, Crafts, Décor)

Unreal Estate: Final Sale of Multiple Properties, Historic Artifacts, Memorabilia, and Personal Belongings from Six Generations of a Nantucket Founding Family A Books Nearby tongue-in-cheek parody inspired by auction house publications, real estate sales brochures, and the Workman Publishing book titled “Important Objects and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry.” Done in the style of an auction catalog, our book will include humorous Nantucket related photos of clothing, event tickets, household items, and more, all from a fictional, prominent Nantucket family. (Culture, Business, Real Estate)

All working titles only, subject to change. Hard-cover or soft-cover print format to be determined.

Projected Costs & Notes Start-up funds Start-up funding will cover three to five months to develop a more detailed business plan, launch an initial online presence including a website and social media accounts (all branded as Books Nearby), create draft designs including logo and other branding materials, work out early production plans and schedules including printing estimates, and begin developing marketing and distribution.

Planning and start-up (3-5 months) •

Editor-Publisher (Ferrall) planning support including long-range business plan

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Bookkeeping, accounting, and legal consultation

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Business filing fees

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Design of identity materials including logo branded materials

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Website launch

Printing & distribution (schedule & budget TBD w/ long-range plan) Marketing & PR (schedule & budget TBD w/ long-range plan) Associated website BooksNearby.com, with other urls also available and already owned by me including Movie Modern, Nantucket Institue, and others. BooksNearby.com can be launched soon as an income source from advertising and sales.

Future market & publishing topic opportunities Expansion could be made into other regions, starting with topics from Cape & Islands to Massachusetts, New York, other resort and historic destinations, etc.

Marketing & sales possibilities (see Marketing & Sales Details) Bookstores local and beyond

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Online through Amazon, eBay, Etsy, direct sales via BooksNearby.com

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Bulk sales to businesses & organizations (real estate offices, e.g.)

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Direct sales tied to one-time promotional efforts and events

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Revenue and advance promotion for editorial content (Mahon About Town, e.g.)

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Marketing & Sales Details Creative marketing and sales will generate early revenue • Advertising within the book • Advance bulk sales

• Internet site to support per copy sales & generate its own income

Advertising within books Many readers that feel books for sale to the public, unlike subscription publications, newspapers and magazines, are not a place for advertisements or printed promotions. Historically, book publishers haven’t felt that constraint. Books published in the 19th century, for example, often included pages of advertisements, usually at the end of the book. For a time in the 1970s, some mass-market paperback publishers included full-page ads, even in new literary works, for items including cigarettes and clothing.

Aesthetics and personal tastes aside, the question of whether to include ads or paid promotions boils down to this: would it depress sales? I can find no studies or other evidence of that. Ads in a publication aren’t considered a hindrance to selling magazines, directories, catalogs, or guidebooks.

If the book has material readers want, then an ad placed discreetly in the end pages, maybe on inside covers, shouldn’t deter buyers.

That’s not to say ads would be placed in every copy of a book published by Books Nearby. But for the appropriate fee, one that’s profitable for Books Nearby and agreeable with the advertiser, a portion of a print run, from hundreds to thousands of copies, could include ads. Those might be custom-printed, promotional copies that a retail business, hospitality company, or a real estate firm could then distribution to their customers, guests, renters, and buyers.

This will require more thought and research to determine how an ad might be included, where it would be located in the book, and what would be the appropriate rate. Most of us in the Books Nearby project have extensive experience with advertising sales and production in magazines, so we know the general way forward on this.

Advance bulk sales We would also market and take orders on books well in advance of publication, as is practiced commonly today in publishing.

Larger Nantucket real estate companies, for example, welcome hundreds of renters throughout the extended season. They prepare “hospitality” bags to distribute when renters arrive. Those bags typically include maps, local magazines, passes to local tourist attractions, and events. I foresee procuring orders for dozens of copies of our books to be distributed in those bags. The same concept would apply to attendees at conferences, wedding parties, and business customers (a local company continued

could send a copy of Nantucket in 100 Objects, for example, to each of its clients or customers as a welcome back to the island or as an end-of-year thank you). The possibilities are great for marketing and selling a book with its contents tied to a special location. We’ve already talked to two large local hospitality companies about this concept, and both reacted favorably.

BooksNearby.com for early revenue and to drive sales After waiting nearly three years, I acquired BooksNearby.com in an online auction for what was a reasonable price, after the previous owner let it lapse. As I did, the previous owner and auction competitors saw the potential of the name. (I already owned most of the other related urls: net, biz, org, etc.)

Think about the name Books Nearby: is it a book on the table in front of you or at your bedside? Is it a book on a nearby shelf in your home office or at the local library? Is it a new book in the upscale commercial bookstore in your nearby mall, something in a funky used bookstore off the beaten track, or a book as close as your next Amazon click? It’s all of those.

BooksNearby.com will invite browsers and contributors to realize their passion for books in all places books are found. It will be a community of book lovers who write passionately about their favorite book or beloved bookstore, who find inspiration for their next read, or who come in search of likeminded lovers of books and the printed word.

The website can be a promotional billboard for new books and bookstores, an engaging point for learning about books, and a social community of passionate readers. Advertisers pay for that.

Productive links will produce income. Donations can help support the site. Eventually, there might be special content reached through paid subscriptions. Similar, well-developed sites that started out small are earning tens of thousands of dollars annually for their creators (Brainpickings.org comes to mind).

Marketplace competition As noted early in this proposal, these are not new or out-of-the-blue concepts for each of our first three books. These formats are already tested by major cultural institutions and publishing companies, with successful sales. I would adapt them to interests of local and regional readers where the concept has not yet been used.

Here on Nantucket, Nantucket Historical Association is publishing a book called Collecting Nantucket, connected with their 2017 exhibit featuring items from their collection. In one blurb, they mention it features 100 objects, though that’s not part of the title and doesn’t appear on what is an otherwise subdued cover.

Rather than a negative competitor, this and Nantucket in 100 Objects would be great companions on a bookshelf or table top. Whereas the NHA book features Nantucket related objects only from their collections, our book ranges far beyond the NHA collections. Of the 100+ objects we’ve already compiled for possible inclusion, only about 10% or so would require access to NHA collections, where use of images is available for a fee. In fact, we would promote the NHA publication along with our book as a gesture to them and because the two books would make a well-matched set. BN