Dec 31, 2006
Wonderful LULU
Do you know what LULU is?
I just bought this wonderful book:
Beeton's Book of Needlework with over 400 pages and all possible techniques -antique but actually new!- and it was a book download for only 1,79$!
I discovered LULU and it's amazing possibilities! I have this explanation about it from an article mentioned in Mary Bogdans site:
Lulu puts on a Canadian face
by JACK KAPICA www.TheGlobeandMail.com
Globe and Mail Update
Just as he helped revolutionize the high-tech world, Bob Young is doing the same for book publishing. And now he's putting a Canadian face on it.
Young, who helped tilt the computer world toward the Linux operating system when he founded Red Hat Linux, is expanding Lulu.com, the "hassle-free" publishing venture he set up a couple of years ago. The venture has been so successful in the United States and elsewhere that he ha decided to start tailoring its image to individual countries.
And he has no idea how it to do it either. "No one knows," he told Globetechnology.com Friday, "but we'll find out."
Lulu turns the traditional notion of publishing on its ear. Unlike commercial publishers, Lulu does not invest a cent in an author; it just rakes in 20 per cent of the sale of any copy it sells. Writing the book, editing it, designing it and creating a cover are all left to the author, as is setting the price. And so is the marketing.
Print Edition - Section Front
Section A Front Enlarge Image
The Globe and Mail
Moreover, the author retains all copyright over the work.
And he's doing this not only with books, but also video, periodicals, multimedia, photo books, customized calendars and other projects.
The magic sauce in this idea, at least for the printed-word part of the business, comes from a technology that allows a single book to be printed and bound by a single expensive machine. Young has a contract with Xerox, which makes giant printers that can do all this in a "no-touch" process, in plants all around the world, and print individual or batch copies on demand. And the printer doesn't start to operate until a buyer's credit card has been approved for the sale.
"It's all done by software," he says.
The economics of print-on-demand make this a profitable concept; because no book is printed until it is sold, no books end up unsold and turned back into paper pulp, as unsold books often are.
"We're very environmentally friendly," he says.
And, he's quick to add, it's not at all like vanity publishing, which makes its profit by charging the author a price for a minimum number of copies. The vanity publisher then delivers the lot to the author's home, leaving the author to warehouse, sell and ship the books.
Young worked out the formula while marketing his latest acquisition, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. A native of Hamilton, Ont., and now living in Raleigh, N.C., Young realized that if you see both as content producers, football and book publishing are not so different. The company he created to market football, MRX, is now spending more time with Lulu.
"MRX," he says, "is now a marketing plan for digital content."
It was through that marketing that Young discovered there were different "patterns" to the kinds of books sold in different countries. France, for instance, has a high number of fashion books, while evangelical Christians dominate Lulu's business in the United States.
Localizing Lulu for Canada is basically taking the sting out seeing a line of books clearly intended for another audience. In the United States, for example, conservative Christians, with about 33 per cent of the population, form a far greater market for evangelical books than conservative Christians in Canada, who number between 3 and 7 per cent.
Young has no idea what will happen in Canada. "Well, I imagine we'll have more hockey books than the Americans," he says.
Then he ruminates about a book being published by a Swedish writer on Lulu, about how to cook a reindeer: "Perhaps that will be popular here too."
The reason for optimism is the way Lulu has racked up the numbers. In the two years since he created it, 100,000 writers have created 120,000 titles on Lulu, he says. In the past two hears, he's racked up $16-million (U.S.) in sales; each week, he says, 2,500 new titles are added from writers in 61 countries.
He is also propelled by another set of numbers he came up with. He says that the number of readers around the world is increasing at a rate of 4 per cent a year, while the number of authors is increasing at 10 per cent per year.
He calls it "authorgeddon," the publishing version of Armageddon. But it also means that there is a tremendous demand for a service such as Lulu.
When considering the prospects for writers using Lulu, it helps if one forgets fiction and poetry, which require specialized marketing. Think instead of something like software manuals, or books whose content must be updated regularly.
Rather than pulping thousands of software manuals, Lulu's print-on-demand concept allows buyers to download the latest version, which could have been updated to cover the latest features as recently as yesterday. The kind of changes required in the sciences are so rapid these days that they have far outstripped traditional publishing's ability to keep up with them without losing incredible amounts of money.
Now, Young says, it's all in the hands of the writer.
"We just provide the marketplace."
I just bought this wonderful book:
Beeton's Book of Needlework with over 400 pages and all possible techniques -antique but actually new!- and it was a book download for only 1,79$!
I discovered LULU and it's amazing possibilities! I have this explanation about it from an article mentioned in Mary Bogdans site:
Lulu puts on a Canadian face
by JACK KAPICA www.TheGlobeandMail.com
Globe and Mail Update
Just as he helped revolutionize the high-tech world, Bob Young is doing the same for book publishing. And now he's putting a Canadian face on it.
Young, who helped tilt the computer world toward the Linux operating system when he founded Red Hat Linux, is expanding Lulu.com, the "hassle-free" publishing venture he set up a couple of years ago. The venture has been so successful in the United States and elsewhere that he ha decided to start tailoring its image to individual countries.
And he has no idea how it to do it either. "No one knows," he told Globetechnology.com Friday, "but we'll find out."
Lulu turns the traditional notion of publishing on its ear. Unlike commercial publishers, Lulu does not invest a cent in an author; it just rakes in 20 per cent of the sale of any copy it sells. Writing the book, editing it, designing it and creating a cover are all left to the author, as is setting the price. And so is the marketing.
Print Edition - Section Front
Section A Front Enlarge Image
The Globe and Mail
Moreover, the author retains all copyright over the work.
And he's doing this not only with books, but also video, periodicals, multimedia, photo books, customized calendars and other projects.
The magic sauce in this idea, at least for the printed-word part of the business, comes from a technology that allows a single book to be printed and bound by a single expensive machine. Young has a contract with Xerox, which makes giant printers that can do all this in a "no-touch" process, in plants all around the world, and print individual or batch copies on demand. And the printer doesn't start to operate until a buyer's credit card has been approved for the sale.
"It's all done by software," he says.
The economics of print-on-demand make this a profitable concept; because no book is printed until it is sold, no books end up unsold and turned back into paper pulp, as unsold books often are.
"We're very environmentally friendly," he says.
And, he's quick to add, it's not at all like vanity publishing, which makes its profit by charging the author a price for a minimum number of copies. The vanity publisher then delivers the lot to the author's home, leaving the author to warehouse, sell and ship the books.
Young worked out the formula while marketing his latest acquisition, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. A native of Hamilton, Ont., and now living in Raleigh, N.C., Young realized that if you see both as content producers, football and book publishing are not so different. The company he created to market football, MRX, is now spending more time with Lulu.
"MRX," he says, "is now a marketing plan for digital content."
It was through that marketing that Young discovered there were different "patterns" to the kinds of books sold in different countries. France, for instance, has a high number of fashion books, while evangelical Christians dominate Lulu's business in the United States.
Localizing Lulu for Canada is basically taking the sting out seeing a line of books clearly intended for another audience. In the United States, for example, conservative Christians, with about 33 per cent of the population, form a far greater market for evangelical books than conservative Christians in Canada, who number between 3 and 7 per cent.
Young has no idea what will happen in Canada. "Well, I imagine we'll have more hockey books than the Americans," he says.
Then he ruminates about a book being published by a Swedish writer on Lulu, about how to cook a reindeer: "Perhaps that will be popular here too."
The reason for optimism is the way Lulu has racked up the numbers. In the two years since he created it, 100,000 writers have created 120,000 titles on Lulu, he says. In the past two hears, he's racked up $16-million (U.S.) in sales; each week, he says, 2,500 new titles are added from writers in 61 countries.
He is also propelled by another set of numbers he came up with. He says that the number of readers around the world is increasing at a rate of 4 per cent a year, while the number of authors is increasing at 10 per cent per year.
He calls it "authorgeddon," the publishing version of Armageddon. But it also means that there is a tremendous demand for a service such as Lulu.
When considering the prospects for writers using Lulu, it helps if one forgets fiction and poetry, which require specialized marketing. Think instead of something like software manuals, or books whose content must be updated regularly.
Rather than pulping thousands of software manuals, Lulu's print-on-demand concept allows buyers to download the latest version, which could have been updated to cover the latest features as recently as yesterday. The kind of changes required in the sciences are so rapid these days that they have far outstripped traditional publishing's ability to keep up with them without losing incredible amounts of money.
Now, Young says, it's all in the hands of the writer.
"We just provide the marketplace."
One new UFO hit the road!
I'm really happy I finished this piece. I like it now. Sometimes you have to sleep enough over a piece till you have a good idea of how to continue the work... I slept 4 years on it! :-)
More Photos with details of the work in Flickr
Dec 25, 2006
My first non-traditional piece!
This was my first non-traditional piece.
I took a class with Erica Carter at Irsee (Germany) I think it was 1997...
She teached us how to use our imagination to create, using music, doing doodles, etc.
At the end i had this piece almost finished to take home with. I worked till late at night to finish it... I was so happy of finding all these small figures who never left me since.
The fabric were from Heide Stoll Weber because I din't have a clue about dyeing at that time!
After this workshop I travelled to the States and took classes at the QSDS, at Arrowmont, at Susan Shie and James Acord's Turtle Camp, at Haystack, I began twice a City and Guilds embroidery class
which i never finished because i was already teaching on my own... (i was always sorry about not finishing them!!!)
Now i told you some details about my development in textile art. I also had an art instruction before marrying but not in textiles. This developed after my children grew up!...
If you want to see more details of this quilt, please look into my flickr site!
Working with paper...
I found this piece, as i told before, in my UFOs stash. i want to finish all of them now before i begin with new pieces. this trains me after so many months of work on the studio... and it gives me the possibility of using new materials.
i wanted to add contrast between the figures and the background. paper was the final choice. i was working with paper in my collabs so that i used some on thie piece too.
i was happy with the result. i sewed some tulle over the paper to keep it in place and used this to protect my weaved embroidery too.
Former pieces uploaded
As everybody slept today morning i took photos and uploaded them. these are former works i found as i ordered the studio (i had to finish "ge to know me") and some other pieces i hadn't taken photos of. i want to document my work in my flickr album and i must take more pictures in the future...
Please look at all new photos in my flickr album (about 35!)
Dec 21, 2006
Second pillow finished
I finished the second pillow today. The little people are taking care of a part of my collection of vintage buttons. They look like snow flakes, perhaps because we are having the most hot fall in history and everybody wants to have some snow... for the holidays at least. no white christmas this year, i'm afraid!
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