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THNOC E-Books Hit the Web
The publications department of The Historic New Orleans Collection is pleased to announce our grand leap into high-tech publishing with the launch of our first-ever e-books.
The two titles in the Louisiana Musicians Biography Series, Harold Battiste’s memoir Unfinished Blues:
Memories of a New Orleans Music Man and Ben Sandmel’s biography Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans, are now available for Amazons Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook.
“As our publications program continues to expand, were constantly striving to develop fair contracts for our talented authors,” said Jessica Dorman, publications director. “When I started working for The Collection nine years ago, electronic editions weren’t part of the conversation. Today, authors expect—and deserve—to see their work appear in multiple formats.”
Marketing Manager Teresa Devlin adds that “by adding our award-winning titles into the e-book marketplace, we are increasing the exposure of the institution, not only as a publisher, but also as an archive.”
In many corners of the publishing world, the market for e-books is outpacing that of traditional print books, but THNOC’s print catalog has been holding its own. Publications like ours—heavily illustrated “art” books—are exactly the type that people still like to buy in print form, so to enter the e-book arena we really had to look at our existing titles and decide which books would best transition into the new format. A book like Furnishing Louisiana, for example —a large-format reference book with more than 1,200 color images, 500-plus pages, and a detailed catalog of furniture forms—is going to lose its impact on a small-screen e-reader.
Our musicians biographies have been so hot—winning awards, enjoying ongoing press coverage—it seemed natural for us to jump on that bandwagon and ride it into the 21st century. These books combine the kind of serious historical credibility THNOC is known for with easy readability and entertainment value. One can imagine people at Jazz Fest hanging out in the gospel tent, sipping a cold drink, listening to music, and exploring the life and times of Harold Battiste or Ernie K-Doe on their slim e-readers.
“We know throngs of people from all over the world come to New Orleans for its musical heritage—just look at the attendance for French Quarter Festival and the Jazz Fest,” notes Devlin. “We also know that, logistically, we can’t have our books in every independent bookstore across the country. E-books allow us to make these titles available to anyone, anywhere. They allow us to move our books from a perceived investment purchase to an impulse purchase.”
Now that we’ve fully entered this new world of digital publishing, e-books will likely be a part of the conversation at the earliest stages of production. We look forward to releasing electronic versions of our new books and old titles as we continue into the digital century.
—Sarah R. Doerries
The Collection has long explored the many layers of our rich culture, but this issue of the Quarterly is all about our region’s evergrowing literary heritage. This month The Collection will host its first installment of the Fine Print Book Club, which we hope will foster a new way to enjoy THNOC’s books and authors. Later this summer, the Williams Research Center exhibition Alternative Imprints will explore the New Orleans—based Loujon Press’s role as a major player in the midcentury alternative literary scene, publishing some of the leading writers of the Beat movement and paving the way for countless other small, artisanal publishers.
A new summer book festival to be held June 22 at The Collection will showcase our latest releases and those of four regional publishing companies, bringing more attention to titles that celebrate Louisiana history and culture. In addition toThe Historic New Orleans Collection, LSU Press, Margaret Media, Pelican Publishing Company, and University Press of Mississippi will provide curated selections from their presses. Representatives will be on hand to discuss behind-the-scenes details about the books.
The Collection’s commitment to the printed word is unwavering, with a list of future titles that extends beyond the city’s tercentennial in 2018, but we have also entered the world of digital publishing with the recent release of our first e-books. Available for download, the titles selected for this landmark are our two popular musicians biographies, Unfinished Blues: Memories of a New Orleans Music Man (2010) and Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans (2012). Whether in print or digital, old or new, literary offerings from THNOC’s holdings, catalog, and events calendar will give you plenty of pages to peruse this summer.
—Priscilla Lawrence
The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly 7