"I never met an art school cry-baby I didn't want to wrestle
to the ground and suffocate with a wooden banana"
—Hilton Freebourne, performance poet and actor

 

Independence Jones is at the coalface of Australian Guerilla publishing. Our philosophy is simple — we publish books that matter to us.

This is best summed up in the words of our quality control officer, Leon Fish:

As the quality control director of publishing, I choose the books. I'm responsible for what's available. I personally handle each manuscript to see if it meets up to the standards we've all come to expect. And I can do this, because I've lived. I've lived in environments so bizarre you'd think they were on another planet. Sometimes I risk my life. But I do it. And I do it hoping that one, maybe one book we publish will end up as the perfect gift. A gift that will get a smiley face. Help people get some good lovin'.

And we're all lookin' for love.

Good luck,

—Leon Fish.

 

Independence Jones Guerilla Press What we've done so far Lonesome Outlaw, by Dallas T. Steaghourn, serialised on QUEERNOISE, Radio 2SER, Sydney.  The movie based on the book; Cookin' with the Hillbillies (The Killbillies, Liquid Monkey Films, 2000), wins the Best Inbred Zombie award, Zombiedance 2002, Austin, Texas.     Independence Jones initiates the NSW Prison Library book donation scheme.     Copies of The Noise Maker by Timothy John Groth make their way to Antarctica and further on to the South Pole. ..copies are off to grace the shelves of the Australian Antarctic Division's various bases. Hopefully one may even find its way to the South Pole in the thaw...     An electronic copy of Collected Thoughts of Our Time is being placed inside a rocket to be launched mid 2005. Launch Liaison Officer, Leon Fish, explains. I love rockets. When recently Independence Jones was offered the opportunity to place one of its books on a rocket we jumped at the chance. What better way to truly combine art and science. Details of rocket launch soon.   Bookshops stocking our books Gleebooks 191 Glebe Point Road Glebe NSW Better Read Than Dead 265 King Street Newtown NSW The Bookshop Darlinghurst 207 Oxford Street Darlinghurst NSW The Second Life Bookshop 772 Hunter Street Newcastle West NSW Polyester Bookshop 330 Brunswick Street Fitzroy Victoria

 

DAMIAN KRINGAS TALKS GUERILLA PUBLISHING

Just over eighteen months ago I moved from writing to publishing. At the time I had a largish body of work published and had endured more than my fair share of grovelling, submitting, rewriting and rejection. It was not a pretty life. And for all the trauma it brings, unless you're churning out mainstream product there's not much money in it.

People start to ask you:
"But what's the point?"

Before I started publishing I had a meeting with the commissioning editor of a large American owned Australian publisher. It was about a manuscript I'd submitted. He explained to me his boss had told him that from now on every book they published had to be a best seller. He chucked a little laugh on the end of that but I could see it was nervous. Not long after he was out. And then his replacement was out – I thought to myself, maybe it should be about selling every book you make instead of a, hit and miss with remainders that never sell, approach.

It started getting me thinking.

I went for a job at a small independent publisher. I'd developed a marketing strategy based round the print-on-demand concept. That is, you only make the books you know you can sell. Flexible print runs and my plan also included economy of scale solutions. He offered me the job and we discussed remuneration, which was commission only on books sold. I quickly figured out that even if I increased his book sales ten-fold I'd be making nothing. In fact, I could be losing money on the deal. So I took my plan and decided to make it work for me.

I decided to be a publisher.

At a party I crossed paths with the director of a major Australian writer's festival. She's polite, tall, wearing a short black dress. I've written more books than her but she's got the look. She mentions something about writing so I whip out my card. She says;

"Wow, a card. I've got nowhere to put it."

Cool.

I realised successful publishing was going to be much harder than I'd anticipated, that I was an outsider. But then I reminded myself - I was supposed to be. That was part of my brilliant business plan.

So I called myself a Guerilla Publisher.

I started making books. And since starting have published on average two titles a month. There are production issues, distribution issues, cash-flow issues. There's a lot of hit and miss but generally I only make the number of books I can sell. There are no remainders. Along with the authors and people sympathetic to the cause we all pull together to promote and sell books. It's hard work, there are brick walls more often than not and we don't rellie on any Government money.

People start to ask you;

"But what's the point?"

It's important to constantly remind yourself not to take it all too seriously.

Once, one of my authors disappeared. I'm frantically trying to reach him. After a week I get this call.

"Hey I'm in the psychiatric ward. Sorry, I flipped out and self admitted. But I met this wild chick, she's bi-polar and they're the most interesting."

I contacted another author to see if he'd sold any copies of his book.

"One I gave to that twenty-two year old Polish girl when I was drunk, and a couple I sold, oh, perhaps I gave one to the radio station, not sure now, yeah…"

One author was going on about how he's giving away copies for sex. "How cool is that?"

Just think, without me that love wouldn't exist.

"When are we having the launch?" He yells down the phone – like he needs more fun.

And everybody loves a launch. But launches are not cost effective. In terms of return you end up using about eighteen litres of wine per kilogram of book sold. Sort of like taking the kids to and from school in a supersize-me-up 4wd twice a day.

But they can be fun.

"Apparently I ended up passed out in the Men's toilet,"  one author told me after his launch.

At the Guerilla end of publishing there isn't much money – in fact, the main aim is to break even. But the books can make a difference. Titles I publish go to NSW prison libraries, Australian Antarctic bases (it's hoped one will make its way to the South Pole) and a digital copy of one title was launched in a rocket. The chances of it reaching space may well be less than slim but the thought is there and that's what it's all about - the sprit of publishing. Making books – that feeling when you see the first copy of a new title. And hey, maybe just one will change someone's life. For the better.

As a guerilla publisher; I'm here to leave footprints, not fingerprints.

THE ROCKET

A digital copy of, Collected Thoughts of Our time, was successfully launched in a rocket from a location within Victoria, Australia.

• Statistics
  • Date:  30/07/05
  • Time:  13:53:29
  • G-Force:  18
  • Rocket:  VRock6

Launch report:
Initially delayed by bad weather the launch was a spectacular success. Launch Liaison Officer, Leon Fish, describes the experience:

"It's not often I cry. But this was one time I let my emotions run wild. As the rocket lifted from the ground I was hit by the realisation that Australian Geurilla publishing had just taken a great leap forward. My hope then, as it is now – that one day a book published in Australia will overtake Voyager and be read first by what ever intelligent life exists in our universe."

Pic: 'Rocket Flying'		Pic: 'Boost'		Video: 'Take-Off'

© Independence Jones, Sydney Australia, 2008

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