Archive for the ‘Writers on Demand’ Category

Writers on Demand: Linda Radwan

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

By Linda Radwan

Almost one year ago I was in my favorite bookstore, as usual, in the Hague. Suddenly, at the counter I spotted a card revealing the following information: ‘Can you imagine a machine that prints, binds and trims titles from a large and ever-growing database of books while you wait? One that even prints your own book?’ I was interested in that last part. This Espresso Book Machine could help me publish my book and I certainly had a book to publish.

I had been searching for a publisher for my book The Beastslayer for a while but I had not found the perfect match… until that day. I quickly sent an e-mail and almost immediately received a reaction from EBM operator Joe Neesan. He told me I could stop by any time and see the Espresso Book Machine.

One year later, after countless covers (well… four, to be specific), several content changes and hundreds of email exchanges with Joe, it all brought me to what you see today.

Writing a book is work, but to truly create it, that’s a lot of blood and sweat. It’s the first step into actually showing the world what you’ve created, to let everyone in your own fantasy world. I changed the content so many times, I changed the lay-out, the cover, all of it because I wanted to be 100% happy with it. Luckily Joe’s perfectionism and patience were there to support my goal. This why I recommend the Espresso Book Machine and Joe’s services to everyone who is seriously considering publishing their work (oh no, Joe, you are going to be even more busy from now on!).

I started writing when I was 11 years old. I have been writing stories, books, you name it but it took years to actually make this first step. I love it! Remember, you must do it all by yourself, read your work a hundred times, make your cover from scratch and deliver the lay-out exactly the way you want it. But in the end you can truly say the book is yours! Believe in yourself, see it come to life before your eyes and well, for the book part, let Joe and the Magic Espresso Book Machine do the rest. Good luck!

Writers on Demand: Amsterdam Quarterly Yearbook Launch

Thursday, February 28th, 2013

By Bryan Monte, publisher/editor of Amsterdam Quarterly

On February 15th, 25 people celebrated Amsterdam Quarterly’s second annual yearbook launch at the American Book Center. The party featured readings by Kate Foley, Bryan Monte, Iclal Akcay, Antonije Nino Zalica, Susan de Sola and Juliet Cutler. The AQ 2012 Yearbook features poetry by Amsterdam residents Iclal Akcay, Madalina Florea and Kate Foley, fiction by Goran Baba Ali and Nino Zalica, and interviews with Kate Foley, Megan M. Garr, Boudewijn Richel and Nina Siegal as well as work by other writers in the Netherlands, the UK, France, the Czech Republic, and the US.

Amsterdam Quarterly was founded in April 2011 to publish, promote and comment on English-language writing in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the world. It is published tri-quarterly online at www.amsterdamquarterly.nl and annually as a print-on-demand anthology. Past issues have included poetry, fiction, memoirs, interviews and drama.

Amsterdam Quarterly’s sixth, online issue, AQ6, will be published in mid-April 2013. Its theme is ekphrasis or writing about visual art, music, architecture and dance. It will feature poetry, fiction, a symposium about the new Stedelijk Museum, an interview with Joan Z. Shore, former CBS News Paris correspondent and The Huffington Post contributor, and a new category: book reviews. AQ7’s themes will be health and wellness. Send submissions during April 2013 to: submissions@amsterdamquarterly.nl.

Do you want to launch YOUR book on our Espresso Book Machine? Wouldn’t it be cool to invite your family, friends and colleagues to come and see how your book slides out of the EBM? To have a drink and a snack, talk about your book, and personally sign copies of your masterpiece?

You can call our stores and ask to speak to one of our EBM operators, or mail them at ebm@abc.nl (Amsterdam) or ebmdh@abc.nl (The Hague). The Espresso Book Machine and the ABC Marketing teams are here to help you spread the word on our website and social media about the launch of YOUR book!

Writers on Demand: AKV|St. Joost Students with Joke Mestdagh

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

ILJT LUESPNELIIEG is an interactive activity and coloring book, with puzzles, stories, games and crazy tasks about legendary trickster Tijl Uilenspiegel (also known as Till Eulenspiegel). The book was created by 24 second-year graphic design students at AKV|St. Joost in ’s Hertogenbosch between August 31st and October 23rd, 2012.

The brief was to make “an art and activity book for small and large children”, using the many stories and images of Tijl Uilenspiegel available in Dutch folklore as a starting point. By investigating and playing with the sources, original images were created and combined into this book. Every student was responsible for designing 8 pages and an original cover. To make it even more fun, accompanying stickers were (screen-)printed.

ILJT LUESPNELIIEG is printed on demand on ABC’s Espresso Book Machines, with a choice of 24 different covers!

Thanks to ‘the scamps’ Stefan, Anna, Titus, Laura, Florian, Wesley, Koen, Anna, Loran-Paul, Amanda, Patrick, Sonja, Kasia, Patricia, Leroy, Evalie, Robin, Sascha, Koen, Inge, Yashar, Linsy, Lou & Pim for braving this adventure.  There were moments when this project was purely madness, but mostly it was unique and great fun!

- Joke Mestdagh

Writers on Demand: Katcon winners

Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

ABC attended Katcon at Katwijk aan Zee earlier this year and was one of the sponsors for the short story competition. The top five winners were awarded a € 25 ABC Gift Certificate which could be used to publish and print their short story on our Espresso Book Machines. Four of the five winners decided to combine their efforts into one book – Quatrofantasto.

The winners, Stephen Vroom, Corina Onderstijn, Richard Schothans and Marieke Frankema, designed and edited the book and the ABC printed a copy for each of them. They were also able to order copies for friends and family.

ABC was extremely happy with the result and will also be a proud sponsor of Fantastels 2012.

- Joe


Writers on Demand: G. W. Smith

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

Our Kinetic Sculpture Connection

G. W. Smith, a kinetic sculptor living in New Orleans, thinks the art world is way, way too fragmented.  His greatest fantasy would be to walk into Café Guerbois in Paris to hang out with the Impressionists.  He has been busy trying to create some connections of his own.

His first step was to write his own book, Aesthetic Wilderness: A Brief Personal History of the Meeting Between Art and the Machine, 1844-2005.  ABC is happy to announce we can print this title on our Espresso Book Machines!

He describes the book as “thoroughly opinionated — but I hope in a way that will encourage kinetic sculptors of every school to plug into the dialogue, or even write books themselves” -  which his own little press would be delighted to publish!  ABC would, of course, be happy to print and distribute it here in Europe.

G. W. Smith’s next stop in creating some of his own connections was Columbus, Indiana, USA, home of the Cummins Diesel Corporation. Its legendary chairman, J. Irwin Miller, commissioned some of the world’s greatest architects and artists to beautify the city; and so there — amidst thousands and thousands of square miles of cornfields — is to be found Chaos I, the major installation in the Americas of Swiss-French kinetic sculptor Jean Tinguely.  After being thoroughly impressed by a pilgrimage to Columbus early in his career, Mr. Smith included an account of the trip in his book (the excerpt was also picked up for publication in Columbus newspaper The Republic).

Aesthetic Wilderness is also on sale in the gift shop of the newly-opened Museum of Mechanical Art and Design in Stratford-Upon-Avon.  According to Mr. Smith, “these guys have figured out before anyone else that kinetic art is going to be the next big thing”.  And of course, by way of its impressive cadre of resident artists, here lie still more connections: Bernward Frank, founder of Kineticus, the world’s largest database of kinetic artists; and the Netherlands’ own Jennifer Townley, one of Europe’s up-and-coming young kinetic sculptors.