Getting to know us: what makes Hague Publishing tick.

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Andrew

I’ve just renewed our membership with the Independent Book Publishers’ Association, and was filling in the questionnaire provided, originally posed by Jan Nathan, when I thought it would be worth re-posting. So here it is …

Why did you become a book publisher?

Three years ago I was looking at creating a second career for myself when I retire from the public sector in five years. At the time there weren’t many small publishers focussing on the ebook SF&F market (and to the present in Australia that remains the case). I was NOT aware of how all consuming the whole process was going to be, and if I had been I might not have done it.

What do you enjoy most about publishing?

Working with the author to create a finished eBook that we can both be proud of. Secondly being a patron of the arts. Unlike our authors who aren’t paid an advance, our illustrators are paid upfront for the work they do in designing our covers and the work they produce is simply stunning. I’m actually in the process of getting some of our covers printed onto canvas for framing. Continue reading →

Marketing 101 for authors: Designing a landing page for a book

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Andrew

Over the last two years I’ve been constantly working to improve the landing pages we use to try and convert interest in one of our books into a purchase. The latest iteration of the design is now fully responsive, allowing people to read a sample of the first four chapters of ‘Lights Over Emerald Creek on their smartphone. That said, I’m not actually sure why someone would want to read a book on their smartphone, but they can. More importantly, with the addition of the QR code to our book-business cards I thought it important that when someone did scan the code they were provided with a page they could actually read (see [p2p type=”slug” value=”marketing-101-for-authors-business-cards-for-books”][/p2p]).

But first, back to basics, what is a ‘landing page’?

Continue reading →

Swancon 2014: Panels

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Andrew

Despite having been a long term attendee of Swancon (I was actually at the first one way back in 1976) I’ve never been on a panel. With Hague Publishing now turning three in June I thought it was about time I was, so this year I am. And not just one, but two (nothing like plunging in without a safety net):

Maintaining a useful and meaningful web presence 101 for authors (with Anne Bishop, Jim Butcher, and Isobelle Carmedy) Thursday 20:00
How To Piss Off A Publisher (with Cat Sparks from Agog! Press) Sunday 15:30

A full listing of the draft program is available here.

So – if you’re in Perth over the Easter long-weekend why not drop and join us at Australia’s longest-running science fiction convention, and probably the longest-running in the southern hemisphere (Wikipedia).

Shelley’s book tour for ‘Lights Over Emerald Creek’ kicks off tomorrow

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Andrew

We’re quite excited at our first book tour, which features Shelley Davidow’s Lights Over Emerald Creek. and kicks off on the 11 of March. The tour will run for 20 weeks and features a combination of guest posts, reviews, author interviews, as well as excerpts and book features.

The tour’s first author interview will occur on the 18th, at Mommy Adventures.

As this is our first tour we’re eager to see how successful it is, although I can certainly say that Shelley has done as much as she can to ensure it’s as successful as possible. (Answering 50 questions, and preparing three guest posts for the tour’s organiser OrangeBerry Book Tours while preparing for the start of the new school year is never going to be easy).

The full Schedule follows: Continue reading →