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This week's Write Space by Jenny Argante.

A Time to Kill by John Grisham ...Ulysses by James Joyce... The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum, Tolstoy's magnificent War and Peace - and even Beatrix Potter's delightful tales of Peter Rabbit ...

What do these books have in common?

All of them were rejected by mainstream publishers, not once, but over and over again. All went on to become best sellers. All were self-published.

Today in the Bay of Plenty and beyond, a group of indie authors - as they now prefer to be called - are standing tall. That's because they own and write for Oceanbooks, an independent publishing co-operative presently drawing on this fine pool of talent.

From the date of the official launch on 30th March, marketing will be done through an online retail portal, www.oceanbooks.co.nz. This is the bookstore where readers can buy local and global. Yes, print copies, too!

Oceanbooks is presently managed by a steering group of ten. Says editor-in-chief Jenny Argante.

'It's been a steep learning curve for us all. Fortunately our Managing Director, Bryan Winters, the driving force behind Oceanbooks, has expertise in both IT and marketing.

'For us as indie authors the challenge is proving what we've always known: our writers are among the best in the world,” says Jenny.

The first batch of books for sale will include names such as Val Bird, Des Hunt, Lee Murray, Nikki Slade-Robinson and Jillian Sullivan. All writers who've done well in the conventional market, now keen to extend their horizons. Something that's increasingly difficult in today's turbulent publishing industry.

Des Hunt wrote Crown Park especially for Oceanbooks.

He says, 'The main advantage will be a quicker turnaround compared with conventional publishing and hence a better ability to cope with changing demands and expectations. Hopefully, this will allow me to experiment, expanding my writing into new fields and getting almost instant feedback.”

New Zealand's book market is unique in the world, statistically including a high level of readers per capita and an astonishingly high level of accomplished writers. Oceanbooks will build on that through modern print and publishing technology.

E-books, PoD, PDF downloads, dedicated blogs and websites — all this makes book production and promotion easier and more user-friendly than ever before.

What Oceanbooks offers the home-grown writer is the chance to ‘control outcomes' by becoming their own publisher, promoter and distributor. That puts them firmly in charge — permitted to be individual, innovative and independent.

Jillian Sullivan says, 'Oceanbooks can also bring out as e-books titles now out of print. For instance, What About Bo? was a Storylines Notable Book and did well here and in Australia. It's great that is will be available once more on Oceanbooks.

'This is going to be such an asset for both writers and readers. I've seen in my own extended family how popular and convenient e-reading can be. Writers can now reach other markets, and I love the fact that Oceanbooks was generated by writers for writers.

'Whatever encourages people to keep on writing and get good work out to an international market can only be a bonus for the creative life of our country.”

For further information on Oceanbooks please contact:

Bryan Winters
Managing Director
Tel. 07 575 2312
Txt. 021 377 937