The first Book Fair will be held in Second Life this weekend (April 20-22).
“The SL Book Fair brings together publishers, book sellers, authors, book developers, and readers to present and share their ideas around the use of books in Second Life.”
Over 30 companies and individuals will exhibit, including Bantam Dell, Vision, Snowbooks, Conte Verlag, SL Guides, Bruna, Thinc Inc., Jilly Kidd, D Harlan Wilson, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
Contact Poinky Malaprop or the SL Book Fair Group for more info or go to the SL Book Fair office at the Vision Publishing Village (Wallaby 134, 96, 54).
Should be interesting, though, through my conversations with Jilly Kidd it seems that she is working hard to address RL communities more than the SL community… The event will be a good start though, at least for the publishers and authors that are moving into SL for the first time.
I spent some time this morning at the fair. Wonderful idea! I’ve already recommended it to Douglas Pfeiffer at the Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company in Portland, Oregon.
When will the next one be? I hope to get in on setting up a booth.
Hi I’m Jilly Kidd on SL and Adele Ward in RL. I’m sorry if I sounded like I was addressing RL communities more than SL – it’s not like that. The two often merge for writers. I have a very full writing group in SL and I’m offering a L$1,000 prize for the best poem or flash fiction from a Second Lifer to be passed to me on a notecard. Many of the writers at the fair that I’m working with have been making virtual books together and we’ll have a novel writing circle purely in SL to encourage each other to finish our novels. I also go to poetry Open Mics at the wonderful Blue Angel poets’ dive in SL. I was just astonished by sudden interest from international journalists in the book fair and have dealt with that too. Second Life and Real Life merge for writers. We can publish virtual books in SL and have writing circles and if RL publishers offer a contract that’s good too. I’m already published in RL and I find working with writers in SL very similar.
Hello Adele,
I know very well that both RL and SL work well together :). I was referring to how I was treated by you and how the Fair looked basically the same as a RL one — wasn’t created according to the technology and culture of SL. But as i said, it also does alot of great things and I wish you well with it. I’m thrilled that you did it and as I requested too, I would of loved to have a video of it so I can show it to publishers in the Australian marketplace.
Christy, let me know what sort of film you need and I’ll see what I can do. I was the main non-profiteer helping to organise so I was kept really busy. The stands are still mainly up so I could do you a film. I didn’t realise anyone had asked. It’s not hard to make a film on SL and I’m sure a lot of people did, but I’m guessing you mean something a bit more complex.
We’ll be having a little writers’ exhibition near my new office as soon as the books arrive (Find it on my profile picks as SLiterary). We’ll also be having author appearances on the rooftop stage and can arrange audiovisuals in the studio on the ground floor. I’m launching a new mag there called Anodos – it’s for fiction and poetry and part of the SLiterary group.
The space is free for writers to exhibit in keeping with SL culture. Editors fund their own magazines so I’ll be doing that, but it’s not expensive on SL and it’s also pleasing to find so much talent.
If you need anything, films etc, in future then just ask and I’ll either do it or find somebody who can.
Hello Adele,
It would be so good if you could put together a film. As you say, it is easy to film in SL but I was hoping for something that is more from the organizers perspective. One that provides a voice-over perhaps that describes the idea, the publishers and writers involved, the number of stalls and media coverage etc. It would take me a while to dig all that up.
The film, which you could also put on YouTube etc, would be shown at a special event for Australian publishers. It would mean more publishers interested in what you’re doing and SL.
And when I asked before-hand, I was hoping that you were videoing it on the day — so we could see the traffic there. I wasn’t able to attend and so that is why I asked you. I also recommended a colleague of mine to film it for you. But you were too busy…which is how this whole thing came about. My SL name is Lythe Witte.
But if you can do some videoing that would be great. It would not only be shown to Australian publishers, but to the major Australian arts organisations — who I consult for. If you are not able to do the videoing, however, please send me an overview of the event — addressing if possible my queries above. Then I’ll see if I can jump in and video the location.
In the end, I just want to share the knowledge about the event to other people.
Christy, I’m really glad you asked.I’ll get the information together for you from an organiser’s perspective. I joined in as a newbie and got landed with all the work! But it helped me understand how SL works for writers, publishers and designers so I don’t mind. I can certainly do a film around the area as most of the stands are still there. As for crowds, we had constant people passing through but SL allows 40 in a sim at once so the idea was to have it over 3 days so everybody could have a look. When there were events it got full, but on SL we have to keep sending messages to whole groups to attract crowds. People get distracted and forget very easily so it’s a full time job for somebody to keep calling people in – even though they don’t want to miss an event.
I have moved on and I think you’ll be interested in my new venture too as it’s very similar. I am starting a new magazine called Anodos which has high standard fiction and poetry plus listings of books out now by SL authors and listings of writing venues.
I’m working with Ina Centaur, who is one of the best builders and designers on SL in my opinion. We offer free space to non profit making writers and there’s a free writers’ exhibition just being put together now. In the same building we will be hosting appearances by bestselling authors weekly and a sci fi event weekly too.
You’ll like it because Ina really is capable with all the latest technology. We can show movies in .mov format in our studio and we’re building a community of writers. Drop in and see us. If you look on my picks it’s the SLiterary one. Ina will certainly make you a film and audio – she wishes we’d given her a call during the fair to help out. I wasn’t the host but an organiser and didn’t know anyone had asked for a film. Hope to see you soon.
I’ve been caught up helping with reports about what writers and publishers are doing on SL again so sorry I’ve taken a while.
I can answer some of these questions briefly here and will send you something longer. There were about 40 exhibitors who were writers, publishers and people designing technology for making virtual books. There were also podcasters who bring recording and voice streaming to SL for author appearances.
A film wouldn’t give an idea of attendance as a sim can only take about 40 people at a time so we spread it over 3 days to let people flow through gradually. We also let people come in the week before the event and for weeks afterwards. The area was particularly full during events.
The media coverage took me by surprise and is why I was so busy when you arrived in my store. I was on IMs constantly and sending files by email to help journalists.
Although some of the articles haven’t come out yet as they’re in the monthlies there has already been a summarised article in the Australian Bookseller and Publisher (online version) with a longer version due out in June. Another article appeared in La Stampa in Italy and I’ve been supplying reports to an Italian searcher doing similar work to you. It also appeared in a top Dutch computer magazine. An article is due out in the Queensland Writer and another in Mslexia, which is the top writing magazine in the UK.
The writers included published authors like myself, Steve Miller and Kit Wright, and D Harlan Wilson plus the New Zealand comic book publisher Blue Scar Productions.
The publishers were also showing published books. Penguin was giving away a virtual book sample of Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, while Pan Macmillan launched The Tourist’s Guide to SL. Bantam Dell was displaying books by Dean Koontz who made a popular appearance on SL not long ago with a customized avatar to look like him.
The other real life publishers were Bantam Dell/Random House, Summersdale, Snowbooks,Conte Verlag (German), Bruna(Dutch), London Leben (German), and Castelvecchio (Italy). I’m a fiction editor for major UK independent Bluechrome Publishing and the hosts were the UK independent Vision Publishing.
Other writers showed their work using virtual books, links to websites and film/podcasts. Podcasters gave access to countless other writers by weblinks.
It is possible for fair organisers to use gadgets to count visitors and to know who has visited. It’s also possible for publishers and writers to find out how successful the fair has been for them by the number of hits on their websites – I had 400 fairly quickly. Success can also be judged by publishers and writers who sell using the L$ which some used to make international sales easily.
To keep informed about what is happening in publishing you could join the SL Book Fair group as we’ll be working towards the next fair. I’m independent, non profiteering and a writer so I can’t promote a particular publisher’s sim now that the fair is no longer there as I can’t be responsible for impressions given to customers. It will be best if you make the film with the stands still there and I’ll send you a report which should answer any more of your queries. If not, just ask, and drop into my new office by finding SLiterary on my picks.
Other rl writers launched books, including Betsy McLane’s New History of Documentary Film. One writer was spotted by a UK publisher at the fair and his novel is being considered now (no details available until the contract stage). He showed an extract from his novel as a virtual book and posters.
There are many other venues for publishing and events and activities have now dispersed. I suggest checking the Bantam Dell sim and Elysian Isle where there are author appearances. Penguin has a reading group which should also be good.
I was asked to write quite a long piece on the fair and my projects with writers and publishers for an Italian researcher. As my opinion and aims were individual and I can’t speak for the other organisers it’s probably best to read my article to see what I wanted from the fair. It’s on http://www.gotosecondlife.com and is in English although the site is Italian.
I also recommend looking at the Joysco Convention Centre which is run by Johnny Austin as it has a similar type of fair at the moment, spectacularly presented and using the latest SL technology. I’m sure he could arrange a film for you. Johnny provides all of this for free for exhibitors and I’ll be recommending the Joysco Convention Centre for the next book fair. Others will be pitching to host it as it was so successful, but the Joysco shows the standard we need to be aiming for and the level of service we should expect from a host.
This is great Adele! Thankyou.
I’m glad it helps. Sorry I can’t promote a place too much but I get complaints when people join SL and go and rent somewhere thinking it’s still a hive of activity!
If you’re showing this to publishers and writers we also have a new venture. SLiterary radio – so we can broadcast author readings by radion in SL. They can send their mp3s. It’s too fast moving to keep up with sometimes.
Come to our party to open the new SLiterary building on the 12th May at 4pm SLT (Pacific Time). I got a lovely dress for L$1 at Enkythings, my new freebie favourite store. There will be live piano music and all sorts of fun. We’ll be moving to an island soon with plenty of space for all people related to writing to come and join us – you don’t have to be renting and space is free for non profit making people. Come and help – bring your skills or just yourself.