Two great offers courtesy of two of our favourite literary blogs today. First up, Michael Allen at Grumpy Old Bookman is having a clear-out and is rather generously offering free copies of some of his books in the hope that they will be read and enjoyed, and then passed on to others to do likewise. Grab a great free read here.

Meanwhile, Emma at the Snowbooks Snowblog has posted a voucher for 20% off any full-priced item at Borders, valid from 2nd to 5th November – just print it out and take it in to your nearest store. Once there you’ll find many a nice Snowbooks publication, and also, of course, our very own Jonny Kennedy and The Rocketbelt Caper, both of which are stocked by Borders nationally. Get the voucher here.

Paul

We Tonto folk do like our music. Only last week I bumped into Short Stories scribe Roz Wyllie at a Kate Walsh gig, and last night I saw Mark Jones, AKA The Burglar’s Dog, at a show by Arcade Fire – the 10-strong Canadian ‘baroque indie’ outfit (no, I have no idea what ‘baroque indie’ means either).

The general consensus as we left, after an astonishing encore performance of Wake Up, was that it was something approaching the gig of the year. Mark’s verdict? ‘Mediocre. 6 out of 10.’ To be fair, he blamed this on the rubbish venue – the soulless Metro Radio Arena Newcastle – rather than the band, stating he would never go there again, even if they ‘dug up Hendrix’. The Burglar’s Dog Gig Guide will be on a bookshelf near you somewhere around the year 2099.

Paul

A good piece on The Burglar’s Dog by Tony Henderson in this morning’s Journal. It doesn’t seem to be on the paper’s website, so here’s a scan – click on the image to see a bigger readable version.

Paul

The terrible wildfires that are currently sweeping through California have brought back some vivid memories for Johnny Lonely author Pete Tanton. In October 1992, Pete lived in Mission Viejo, Orange County, as a series of wildfires erupted around the area.

‘It was terrifying,’ says Pete. ‘What started as plumes of smoke in the distance grew to become massive columns on every horizon. We’d stand at the top of our street and see lines of flame along the ridges. We were trapped, and to my eyes there was no way out. I spent three or four days watching the helicopters and firefighting planes dropping water on this wall of fire in what appeared to be a futile effort.’

‘The television news did a fine job of sensationalising the emergency with alarmist headlines, while at the same time urging viewers not to panic.’

After several days Pete managed to escape to Laguna Canyon, which had remained relatively unaffected by the fires.

‘I expected to see the city of Laguna Beach in charred ruins, and was surprised to see all the shops still open. It was the houses up in the hills that had burned. Locals told me that the area was prone to brush fires. Why, I wondered, did people build expensive houses in such a volatile place, and why did everyone seem so surprised that they burned so easily?’

‘Many of the things in Johnny Lonely come from this experience: people desperately watering down their roofs with garden hoses, news reporters standing a few feet from trailer homes as they went up in flames, their kerosene tanks exploding for the cameras. I hope I went some way towards capturing the experience.’

Johnny Lonely follows wannabe musician Hughie Youngkin on an ill-fated quest to become a rock star, during which he finds himself trapped in wildfires.

Paul

Recently Paul blogged about the curse of being a ‘local’ publisher and the associated problems. There are, of course, many more…

We’ve had an ongoing battle with high street chain WHSmith since last year. Today we heard from them that they will not be stocking Jonny Kennedy, Rocketbelt or Burglar’s Dog books. It’s a shame as in our hometown of Newcastle, WHSmith is one of the only bookstores not to stock us. Obviously, we realise that the decision largely comes down to not being a major publishing organisation and not being able to afford tens of thousands of pounds to ‘buy’ shelf space. No doubt we’ll carry on with the battle. At Tonto we refuse to give up on such matters. The last buyer at the store couldn’t stock us because she didn’t know how the computer system worked! Really.
For those of you interested, you can actually go into any WHSmith store and order our titles from them. If you are from the Newcastle area, you can always pop into WHS in the MetroCentre where they buy direct from us. Yep – there’s the other problem: Decisions also come down to personal taste. Some buyers are able to buy direct from us (to support us locals) and some won’t or can’t. You really don’t know until you ask.

Which brings me to another point. We are approached quite often by people asking us how much we charge to publish new authors. We’ve advised those authors whenever possible, and it is nice to see that instead of paying a vanity publisher, people are now self-publishing. The entire process of publishing is difficult enough, so for an author to take all this on board is a huge risk. However, it is pleasing to see people taking the initiative. For those of you who are interested in the pitfalls of DIY publishing, there is a very informative blog by June Austin. It tells of the highs and lows she’s encountered in her struggle to see her book stocked. Read it here.

Stu

As publishers we would have to be crazy not to keep a very close eye on the progress of electronic books – e-books – or books published on the internet. We’ve become used to finding our music online, and now movies and TV shows are becoming increasingly available for download. Magazines are going ‘web-only’ – big US mags Premiere and FHM are just two that now exist exclusively online. But how will this electronic shift affect books?

The main argument for resisting the switch from paper to electronic is the loss of physicality – books are desirable, people like to hold them, and they’re a lot easier to read than LCD screens. But witness the Sony Reader (above), which uses a ‘paper-like’ display to make reading e-books easy and pleasurable. ‘Suppose Apple released an electronic-paper iTome,’ suggests Jon Evans in his Walrus magazine article Apocalypse Soon. Based on Apple’s previous successes you’d have to assume that such a device would be desirable, tactile, and easy to read. Then the world of electronic books would become very interesting indeed.

It’s a debate that will continue, but one that will need to be settled very quickly if the book industry is to continue to compete with other entertainments. You can read the full Jon Evans article here. He also discusses giving electronic books away for free in a Guardian blog here. Credit to Grumpy Old Bookman for the links.

From our own point of view, we published a free-of-charge Christmas Short Stories e-book last year that was downloaded more than 1,200 times within the space of a week or so. But how many of those 1,200 actually read the thing, and how many of them went on to actually buy a Tonto book? (It was, after all, a promotional exercise.) Crucial questions, but certainly we will continue to experiment with electronic books. If nothing else, it will save a few trees.

Paul

PS. On a tenuously-linked subject, I went across the road to the Cluny last night to see singer-songwriter Kate Walsh. Kate, once of this parish and now living in Brighton, has made good use of the web. She was the first unsigned artist to have a number one hit on iTunes, and subsequently her album Tim’s House (so-named because it was recorded at friend Tim’s house) has become a hit CD, prime-time Tesco ads and all. Of course, much of her success is just down to the plain fact that she is bloody brilliant. You really must visit her MySpace page for a listen and a look.

There’s an interview with Tonto author Jolene Hui on a website called Blushing Ladies in which she is asked, ‘What do you feel has been your most important writing accomplishment to date?’ This is Jolene’s reply:

The most important writing accomplishment was the first story I had published with Tonto Press. It was called “Bookshelves” and was the first fictional piece I’d had published (outside of my college literary journal). It meant all the difference in my self esteem and pushed me in the right direction writing-wise. Since then I have had so many successes I can’t even count them. Even though I had already been writing for years, I look at it as my true starting point.

Jolene has gone on to write for publications as varied as Inside Hockey and A Is For Amour, and we’re pleased she regards being published by Tonto as her starting point.

Jolene’s story ‘Bookshelves’ is published in ‘Tonto Short Stories’, which is available from Amazon in the UK and the US, and ‘The Remaining Half’ is published in ‘More Tonto Short Stories’, available from Amazon in the UK and the US, and also with £2.00 off the cover price direct from Tonto. Jolene has a website here.

Paul

Interesting article in the Observer this week about Frankfurt and the state of the book industry (‘It’s carnage …’ Inside the genteel world of books). To summarise: the publishing industry should be boarded up like an old abandoned mine.

The feature’s author, Carole Cadwalladr, does a nice job of wading through the bizarre world of solicited/unsolicited submissions, slush piles, and agents, and gets some interesting quotes from industry faces.

Selected highlights include Bloomsbury editor-in-chief Alexandra Pringle on the joys of being a writer (‘It’s a horrible job. It doesn’t pay well. It’s lonely. It’s depression-inducing. It’s frustrating. There’s no fun to be had… When my writers say I could earn more money at the till at Sainsbury’s, I say, well go and do it.’), Curtis Brown agent Jonny Geller on why writers should never attend Frankfurt (‘It’s soul destroying. You see writers being traded like pork bellies.’) and publisher-turned-agent Patrick Janson-Smith on the state of the industry in general (‘You look around and you think the world needs another book like it needs a hole in the head… If you’re not in a three-for-two or Richard & Judy, forget it. There’s no point. If you ask me, publishing is in a mess.’).

This comes in the same week that Anne Enright’s The Gathering (described by judges as as ‘bleak, depressing and uncomfortable’) won the Booker Prize. Chairman of the judges Sir Howard Davies launched an attack on the ‘kid gloves’ approach to reviewing literary novels. ‘There appear to be some novels where people leave their critical faculties at home,’ he said. His comments are printed in the Times (Rank outsider Anne Enright takes Man Booker Prize).

Meanwhile, Ed Handyside, founder of this fair city’s own Myrmidon Books (Tan Twan Eng’s Gift of Rain was long-listed for the Booker), discusses the peculiarities of the publishing industry in Publishing News (Boxing Clever).

‘We’ve found the UK supply chain to be especially challenging,’ says Ed. ‘We actually find it easier, and often less costly, to sell our books overseas. There, buyers are content to judge us by our products. In British trade publishing the formula is reversed: the assumption made by press reviewers and some influential booksellers seems to be that a small press can’t possibly produce books worth taking a look at. We’ve sold thousands of books in the Far East, South Africa and Australasia but, despite the enthusiasm of Borders, some independent booksellers and a few brave Waterstone’s branches, you couldn’t find any of our titles in our own city of Newcastle until a couple of months ago.’

All very interesting, and a good insight into why the book industry is currently circling the drain.

Paul

The brand new edition of The Burglar’s Dog was officially released yesterday. It’s available from all good bookshops, including Amazon, Asda, The Back Page, Blackwell’s, Borders, Fenwick and Waterstones. If you enjoyed the original 2006 version, this is a must-have – completely revised and updated and containing up to 33.3% brand new material.

There was an interview with author Mark Jones in the Sunday Sun at the weekend (‘A caustic pub critic has blasted fun pubs and designer venues, claiming they are destroying a North city’s individuality’).

And don’t forget, you can claim a FREE exclusive set of four Burglar’s Dog badges here.

Paul

Alan Shearer was back on the pitch at Newcastle’s St James’ Park yesterday for the first time since his retirement to take part in a charity match (he scored a hat-trick in a 5-3 win for his side). Meanwhile, video footage has surfaced of Wor Al performing a cabaret version of Lionel Ritchie’s All Night Long. Particularly impressive is his decision to sing his own backing vocals (“Let the music play on, play on, play on“!), and also his attempt to sing the Swahili bit in the middle!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hgGd7SwZnY]

Our Shearer tribute, Wor Al, is currently available direct from Tonto for just £4.99 – get it here. If you prefer you can get it for £5.99 from Amazon. Mick Lowes from BBC Radio Newcastle called it ‘A tribute book that no self-respecting Newcastle United fan should be without’. Fifty pence from each copy sold goes to the NSPCC.

You can hear BBC Radio Newcastle’s ‘Local Hero’ montage of extracts from Wor Al here. It’s an mp3, so you can right-click to ‘save as’.

Paul