Print on Demand takes on a new meaning

It's been busy over here in the flatlands, and with the fine weather that's continued to bless us, we've been doing quite a bit of 'boaty' work. Getting the barges, both big and small, prepped for surviving the rigours of winter is quite a job as I've explained in earlier posts. This is one of the reasons I haven't been blogging so much lately. Another is that I've been busy finishing the sequel to Watery Ways while there's a lull in my studies. Waiting for results can be nerve-wracking so immersion in another kind of writing is nicely therapeutic.

In between all this, I've been in communication with a number of people about promoting my books. On 24 September, DutchBuzz radio in the Hague aired a short interview I did with them in July about Watery Ways. It was great to meet Lily-Anne Stroobach, the programme's producer. We had a wonderful time talking about all sorts of things that were not relevant to the interview, because she is a South African and so we had a lot in common. The link to the podcast of the interview is in my sidebar here if anyone interested.

My other upcoming event is still in the planning stages, and this is a book presentation at ABC Treehut in Den Haag. I went to see them to talk about what we could do together a couple of weeks ago, and I met the charming and kind Agnes, who will help me organise things. I also met a lovely gentleman by the name of Jo who was commissioned with demonstrating their fantastic express printing machine.

Jo, standing with justifiable pride before express printing machine

I'd heard about it via DutchBuzz, but I'd never seen anything like it before. This, ladies and gentlemen, is an instant print-on-demand process. If you have written a book, you can take the file to Jo at ABC and have it printed, bound and trimmed in a matter of a few minutes. The results are excellent: very professional and very good quality. The other almost magical feature of the machine is that you can watch it all happening. The casing is glass (or maybe perspex) so the processes are visible. I loved watching it and I could get very excited indeed about using this printer as well. Imagine how quick it would be to get proof copies of a book for sending out to publishers or Beta readers?

The marvellous thing is that you can see what is happening
as the book is being printed.

I am hoping to incorporate a demonstration of the machine into my presentation. I can either offer guests a signed copy of African Ways hot off the press, or use it to demonstrate the printing of first proof copies of Harbour Ways. In any event, I think it's a fabulous concept and a very welcome addition to the POD possibilities.