About Andrew

Writer, editor and publisher including: former principal for the Davies Literary Agency; editor and publisher of The Western Australian Year Book for a number of years; and editor and writer for Afterlife - the Magazine for Atmosphere users.

Statistics, damn statistics, and wishful thinking – the not-death of the ebook

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Andrew

I have to admit to finding it a bit difficult to understand how an increase in eBook sales of 12.3% (from 2013 to 2014) is being peddled as signally the end of the ebook, particularly when sales of the physical book fell by 1.7% over the same period.

Well, actually I can understand it – it’s called wishful thinking. What’s happening is that the rate of e-book growth has started to slow, and coupled with a slowing in decline of physical book sale the traditionalists are hoping it signals a return to the printed book. Just remember though, according to Nielsen Bookscan, we bought 237 million books back in 2008. In 2013, this had fallen to 184 million, a pretty drastic fall of 22 per cent!

So yes, it appears the book market might be starting to reach some sort of equilibrium, with about one in three books being a digital one, and the rest being physical books. And yes, there is good news for booksellers with Waterstones reporting that sales of physical books has increased by 5 per cent during December, compared with the same month in 2013. A picture echoed by Sam Husain, the chief executive of Foyles, who said sales at his chain of bookshops had jumped by 8.1 per cent, compared with December the year before.

Bottom line, however, the eBook market continues to expand, and even if its growth slowed further to 9% it will only take five years before eBook sales constitute 50% of the total market.

You can read the full article from the Telegraph here.

Ditmar nominations open for 2015 – we need your support

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Andrew

We published three eBooks last year which are eligible to be considered for the 2015 Australian SF (“Ditmar”) awards. We need your support to ensure they are on the ballot paper. The three eligible are:

Lights Over Emerald Creek by Shelley Davidow
eBook, published 28 Feb 2014 by Hague Publishing
Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My! by Janis Hill
eBook, published 30 Aug 2014 by Hague Publishing
Frontier Resistance by Leonie Rogers
eBook, published 3 Oct 2014 by Hague Publishing

Please consider nominating any, or all of the above books.

Details on the awards, and on the nomination process follow.

Continue reading →

Our latest trailer for ‘Across the Bridge of Ice’ has now been released

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Andrew

Our latest trailer for ‘Across the Bridge of Ice’, presently available for pre-order from all major ebook stores ( to be released 31 Jan).

The balance between the worlds is tipping …

Sample or purchase links are available here!

‘Frontier Resistance’ has appeared in the December edition of the San Francisco Book Review – 4 Stars

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Andrew

The following review has just appeared in December’s edition of the San Francisco Book Review. If you want to see the original it can be found here.

Title: Frontier Resistance
Author: Leonie Rogers
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Hague Publishing,
Format: eBook
Details: $4.66 US, 183 pages

Reviewer: James Rasmussen

The world of Frontier is under siege from the invading, insectoid Garsal. Shanna, her fellow Scouts, and their Starcat companions find themselves in the care of the mysterious Starlyne, beginning to understand the Spark, the set of unusual talents that have been programmed into their genes over humanity’s generations on the planet. Without the technological mastery, lost over time, that brought their ancestors here, the Spark is the one weapon the settlers have that might be able to defeat the Garsal. As Shanna and her companions struggle to master the Spark, the rest of the colonists struggle to trust their alien allies, the Starlyne, even while the Garsal scheme to enslave the planet’s population.

The sequel to Frontier Incursion, Frontier Resistance draws readers further into the world of Frontier. This book can be read without reading the previous one; enough backstory is woven into the opening chapters that even if you haven’t read it yourself, you can smoothly gain an understanding of what is going on. The writing is clear and straightforward, making for an easy read that focuses on the characters and the action. It does a good job of following the development of the characters and their abilities, and carries overall positive themes throughout; it’s a bit lighter than some of the more angst-ridden YA fare on the market. At times it is a little light on detail, and occasional typos and misplaced punctuation might distract the grammatically sensitive, but otherwise the story pushes forward at a good pace through a science-fiction world that calls to mind both David Weber’s Honor Harrington universe, and David Brin’s Uplift books, making for a solid Young Adult read.

‘Across the Bridge of Ice’ by Ruth Fox will be available 31 January and is now available for pre-order

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Andrew

Across the Bridge of Ice by Ruth Fox will be released 31 January 2015, and can already be pre-ordered from the following stores:

Amazon
iTunes
KoboBooks
NookBooks

and from our own store at: HaguePublishing

Across the Bridge of Ice is the sequel to The City of Silver Light of which has earned 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com and universal praise from those who have read it:

” … beautifully written with intriguing world building … ” Christina – Ensconced in YA

” I love … its delicious mix of genres; allegory, family story, fantasy, science fiction. … ” Readalot

“I heartily recommend this book at any reader who enjoys something a bit out of the general line.” Sally Odgers, Children’s and Teen Fiction Author

About the story

In ‘The City of Silver Light’, Keira Leichman spent the night lost in a wild snowstorm that struck Cassidy Heights. But what really happened that night? Not even Keira can be sure. What she does know is that she’s been having strange dreams since the accident, and now she’s stuck with a broken ankle and the possibility of never playing soccer again. Continue reading →

Kindle now allows ‘family’ lending between accounts

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Andrew

I hope this doesn’t read as too much of an endorsement for Amazon, as its not intended to be, and certainly other eBook sellers such as Kobo and B&N will probably roll this out shortly, but the bottom line is that this is a significant upgrade.

You have always been able to share books from your Amazon account with someone else by linking multiple eReaders to the same account. The latest software release, however, allows you to load multiple accounts to the same reader. So presumably the idea is to have two eRreaders (one for each account), but allow each to share each others accounts without having to physically swapping the readers. So it is bringing the flexibility of just lending an paper to eBooks, at least within the family.

And yes, you still need two eReaders if you’re reading the same book at the same time, but its better than having to have four eReaders (think about it).

The two paired accounts can also jointly supervise and control up to four child’s accounts, too.

Amazon

The end to the saga: Hachette blinks

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Andrew

The long running ‘negotiations’ between Hachette and Amazon has finally come to an end. And while it is unclear who ended up winning, Digital Reader believes that Hachette blinked given that its revenues fell 18% in the third quarter of 2014.

I’m also inclined to this view given that Hachette’s parent company reported on 13 November that Hachette’s US revenues were down considerably from last year. While the decline was attributed to difficult comparisons with last year when the company had an “unusually high” number of bestsellers they did admit that the “difficult situation” with Amazon also impacted sales.

For all of Lagardere Publishing, revenue in the quarter fell 2.9%, but the sharpest decline by far happened in the US, the unmistakeable conclusion being that at least a major part of this was due to the ongoing contract dispute with Amazon.

The possibility of a circuit breaker in the ongoing dispute was the agreement Amazon negotiated with Simon and Schuster in October – which is probably similiar to what was finally agreed with Hachette. And while it is unclear what was actually agreed here’s what both parties said about the new agreement:

“We are pleased with this new agreement as it includes specific financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices.” [Amazon’s David Naggar, press release] (This is the same thing that Amazon said about the deal it reached with Simon & Schuster in October,
“Importantly, the percent of revenue on which Hachette authors’ ebook royalties are based will not decrease under this agreement.” [Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch, press release] (Gigaom.com)

So, finally the saga comes to an end, and while no-one is a clear winner, it appears that both parties achieved a little of what they were seeking.

Read previous posts

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And if you want to catch up on the whole sorry saga in the Publishers Weekly

‘Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!’ has appeared in the October edition of the San Francisco Book Review – 4 stars

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Andrew

I’ve included the whole review, but if you want to see the original it can be found here.

Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!
By Janis Hill
Hague Publishing, $4.66 US, 183 pages
Format: eBook
Reviewer: Holly Scudero

Stephanie and her sister Estella have been estranged for years, and Stephanie is, admittedly, not particularly heartbroken to hear of Estella’s death. But upon arriving to the funeral, held in the questionably new-age-y Temple of Isis, Stephanie learns that Estella is not so much dead as undead. And is now the host of an ancient, evil vampire named Branwyre. And Stephanie is the only one who can banish Branwyre and save Estella’s soul. Stephanie quickly finds herself thrown into a world she can hardly believe is real, with ghosts and demons and more. With the aid of Roxanna, the High Priestess of Isis, and the crude ghost of a monk named Trishna, not to mention the undead Estella herself, Stephanie sets out to retrieve Branwyre’s crucible and banish the ghost before he takes permanent possession of Estella’s body.

Even readers who do not generally enjoy paranormal fiction will probably enjoy Janis Hill’s Isis, Vampires, and Ghosts – Oh My! This story is fun and fast-paced, and reluctant hero Stephanie provides an entertaining point of view. She spends much of the early part of the story in disbelief that any of this is even real, but her determination to finally end things with her sister drives her to do it anyway. Readers will likely identify with the sibling problems Stephanie and Estella display, and their eventual reconciliation is sweet; Stephanie’s final forgiveness of Estella’s irresponsible past just might inspire tears. Trishna was an entertaining fellow, although his profanity-laced insults of Stephanie and others got very tiresome very quickly; they were humorous at first, but before long I found myself skimming over them. That aside, Isis, Vampires, and Ghosts – Oh My! is all kinds of fun, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who is looking forward to more supernatural adventures with Stephanie in the future.

‘Behind the Words’ and C31 to air an interview with Leonie Rogers this week

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Andrew

Leonie Rogers’ interview from Continuum will be shown Monday 29 September at 8pm on Channel 31 on ‘Behind the Words’. The show is being repeated Tuesday at 7:30am, and again on Sunday at 12am.

For those of us without access to this show (which includes a lot of us in Australia, and everyone outside it Australia) it will be available on Catch-Up TV from around the 5th of October at (http://www.c31.org.au).