We are delighted that our hometown of Armidale now boasts another children’s books publisher besides Christmas Press!
Little Pink Dog Books, which opened for business on December 30 2015, will be specialising in picture books for young children, by new and unpublished authors and illustrators only, and will publish between one and three books a year initially. They are open to submissions at the moment.
Little Pink Dog Books is owned and operated Kathy and Peter Creamer, who are fairly new to Armidale but have previously run a children’s books publishing company overseas. Kathy is an author-illustrator with a long publishing career, and has worked on over sixty books, while her husband Peter looks after the business and production side of things.
We caught up with them this week, and asked them a couple of curly questions!
What’s the reaction been to Little Pink Dog Books so far from authors and illustrators?
The reaction has been remarkably good, with our first manuscript submission arriving just a day after the launch of our new website and Facebook page. Since then, we’ve had submissions arriving at the rate of two or three a week, but unfortunately, not a single submission from illustrators. I think we may need to adjust the information on our website to make illustration portfolio submission a little more prominent.
Other reactions have been that it’s good to see a new publisher that specializes in Children’s picture books.
It’s been viewed as a very enterprising initiative that could help a significant number of locally based talented authors and illustrators.
What are the advantages of running a publishing company from a regional town like Armidale? and the disadvantages?
Advantages
Armidale is full of creative people who know each other and are keen to work together.
Being a small community, everyone knows about you and what you do, so you don’t have to advertise too much.
Artists and illustrators in Armidale are keen to experiment and we have been impressed with the range of different techniques, skills and media people use as part of their creative expression.
Armidale is on the NBN, which is a fabulous advantage in terms of moving information around.
We are also very conscious that quality is vitally important and hence your reputation stands for a lot!
Disadvantages
The book services for printing, distribution and marketing do not appear to be readily available within the Armidale area.
The number of traditional retail outlets for the product is very small in number.
Access to events and shows where one can promote picture books is difficult, but not impossible, with most such events being held in the various state capital cities.
Costs for services, equipment and consumables are also inevitably a little higher than in the larger cities.
Getting your products and the authors and illustrators who created them a public profile will be more expensive here, as they would need to travel to key events usually held in major cities.
Congratulations on the launch of Little Pink Dog Books, Kathy and Peter!
We were thrilled to discover that our 2014 title, Kate Forsyth and Fiona McDonald’s beautiful Two Selkie Stories from Scotland, was mentioned in the brand new 2015 edition of the very prestigious Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales, edited by Jack Zipes. The book and its creators was mentioned within an entry on Kate. Another of our authors(and one of Christmas Press’ founding partners), Sophie Masson, also had an entry in the Oxford Companion, for her fairy tale novels.
Christmas Press 