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01/30/2006: "On the Art of Publishing"
Ed Baron is a publisher of art prints and books, thanks to me. Today Sable Publishing receives over 300 queries each week, even more and is listed in the Literary Market Place and the Writer's Market, on both online web sites and their published annual books. Sable Publishng books are available from every online bookseller world wide and orderable in every bookstore.
We started Sable Publishing after a terrible experience with the publication of my first book. The Publisher had complete control over the format and the cover art and used my art work but ignored my design suggestions. The initial print run for the trade paperback a $15.00 retailer, was of 15,000 to satisfy book store orders, and supply distributors. The Publisher promised a promotional campaign of $50,000 and author visits to book expos and ads, all at their expense. The publisher then went bust. The book remains available to this day, but only as remainders or used book leftovers of the first print edition and of course I received hundreds of books in lieu of royalties..
In order to keep this book alive we would have had to reprint at least 5000 books to make it affordable and then allot a large number to a distributor.
With such a large investment of dollars and with bookstores demanding at least 40 to 60% of the retail price there was very little left over for us to recoup our investment.
Here is where I came in. I made a discovery one day that after standing on my feet to paint for so many years to fulfill the demand for my paintings from art galleries and designers and patrons that I simply had to sit down. Standing and freedom of movement and brushstroke are my hallmark in the large paintings I love to create. I always found that sitting down tended to make me tighten up and become more introverted when what I strived for and believed my collectors loved is the dance like sense of movement in space and time that allowed me to create abstractions of the human figure.
As I sat and contemplated the situation I had a revelation. For more than forty years I had been telling a story with my visual renditions. Now it was time to sit down, at the computer and write the story. I had never written a book before but I need not have worried.
One thing is certain, that when the time is right, creativity takes over, if the situation and the time are available. I was in a perfect position. Now retired and living on our yacht, I bought an old teak boat with a beautiful built in varnished table and booth and set up to begin my new adventure.
To the gentle rocking of the boat the story emerged as if it were being dictated. Even the words and the tenses seemed a bit archaic. The story flowed through an entire book, led to a second and I am still working on the third book of the Trilogy, CASSANDRA'S TEAR, Book One, The Echo of a Scream and Book Two, The Echo of a Voice.
The basic story is of a woman who calls herself the Artist Eve who has painted her last painting, that of a beautiful woman she names Cassandra.
She is visited in her studio in New York by a former lover, a great scientist who has received a commission request from a student for an artist to paint a portrait of an Amerindian girl from an unknown tribe the Taiowa, who has been found wandering in the Desert of Ran near an Institute of Higher Learning run by a strange mystic. The Artist Eve decides to follow her destiny and goes forth to paint the portrait which in the end sheds a tear that is fraught with significance for the state of humanity.
The story was inspired by a Hopi Indian Chief, White Bear who told me he had a secret, confided it in me and then invited my husband and myself to visit the reservation to watch the space ships land. Naturally this sort of thing is more than the heart of an artist can bear and is the stuff artistic dreams and literary fiction novels are made of. The portrait of course is an original oil painting which appears on the book cover.
The Cassandra's Tear Trilogy Book Cover from Book One: The Echo of a Scream. Original painting by Hyacinthe Kuller Baron, oil on canvas with metallics, 3x4feet. 
The Cassandra's Tear Trilogy Book Cover from Book Two: The Echo of a Voice. Original painting by Hyacinthe Kuller Baron, oil on canvas with metallics, 3x4feet.
I have discovered in my life and career that the work must always come first and that what follows is always a stream like a train on a track toward an unknown destination leaving a trail of memories as a record of the journey.
This brings me to the modern technology that has revolutionized the art and book publishing worlds. Machines capable of printing one book at a time have been developed and are available and at the service of standard and small publishers today.
In my blogs and published books I have explained the many advantages of being published as a way of putting into a permanent record individual thoughts, ideas and creative concepts as well as images.
I can never stress the importance of being published and what it can mean to your family, colleagues, associates and those you have personally known in some way. But to be able to reach out and be known by, and to touch some person unknown and in the future by having your book accessible through internet booksellers and bookstores, libraries, and other venues, to me it is a miracle.
The first time a published book bearing my name under the title on the spine was placed on a Library shelf I stood with the Librarian and cried. I used to play library when I was a kid and even made tickets to mark whenever I took out a book. I even traded my best doll for a copy of Treasure Island with illustrations by N.C. Wyeth who became my artistic ideal.
The new technologies have made book publishing affordable. Since I am an artist who has always preferred to be in control of my career instead of leaving in the hands of others, I began to bug my artist representative cum gallery owner husband to start a publishing company. But we discovered that there are companies who charge an arm and a leg to accomplish this, however the bottom line is always how much the author is willing to spend to promote their book. Such companies do not distribute the books and will not accept returns for unsold books so the authors cannot get book signings because the book stores cannot and will not order them.
A Publisher like Sable Publishing is different in that it selects to publish books it believes in and to print the books to order and to distribute the books so they are available to order by bookstores. An author can have book signings in bookstores and many other commercial venues because the publisher absorbs the huge discounts, accepts returns and allows the authors to purchase their books as needed to promote the book however the author sees fit. But the important thing is that while all books go out of print a couple of months or a year after they are printed and can then only be found as used, the print on demand model allows the book to be registered on a yearly basis and an archive is maintained so that the books remain available. This is of course a huge advantage.
A Publisher such as Desert Rat POD is intended to bridge the gap between author and printer for a small fee and to take care of the editing, the cover designs and the placement and distribution and to make as many books available to the author as they wish to acquire for their own purposes while following a different model than vanity or self publishers in attending to the distribution and accepting discounts and returns to encourage booksellers.
Most artists and authors dream of being discovered and living out the Harry Potter story. The lesson is a reality check.
But it is possible to be represented in a book such as the Art & Human Nature Collection which Sable Publishing is releasing in March 2006 as a benefit for the many projects of the Baron Conservancy in Wonder Valley near Joshua Tree National Park. For a minimal review fee, 3 works by each participating artist appear in a Literary and Art Collection which is then available to order at any of the following: www.Amazon.com or www.BarnesandNoble.com
or www.sablepublishing.com and many other venues. The artist only buys the quantity of books required from one to whatever.
Cover:
In addition and perhaps even more important, the book functions as a catalog in which the original work of art is established with a value and is made known that the image is available for print-to-order lithographic and print editions and individual reproductions without a major investment on the part of the artist. This gives an artist a wonderful outlet for resale of popular original works. In addition because the images are already photographed and digitally prepared the possibility of a range of sizes and surfaces is possible. The artist gets to choose whether a print should be on canvas, archival paper or watermark, and now even wood, aluminum or concrete surfaces. Also whether to offer prints as posters or signed and numbered editions. The book presents an opportunity to gift previous collectors and to induce current sales.
I sell copies of books in which my art appears to my collectors as signed and unique editions. I do an original drawing in the front cover and sign the book and often, if requested with an inscription to the patron.
This makes the book a special gift to be given by a group of admirers.
As an artist I believe this is a wise solution for artists to get their work archived and made available. I compare it to having a permanent exhibition in a gallery that reaches a world wide audience.
Palm Springs, CA. Baron Gallery with Virtual Exhbition of In Search of Ancient 
Spirits. Baron Gallery Interior: On view: Original Oil on canvas by Hyacinthe used on the cover of Book One of The Cassandra's Tear Trilogy: Echo of a Voice.
As gallery owners we have always maintained that to build an art career what is required is exposure. The art must be seen. We had a collector come in to our Baron Gallery in Palm Springs, CA and fall in love with the painting Life and Death. He wanted to buy it but figured because of the high cost it would be around for a while. Several months later he returned with a check in hand and was amazed to discover the painting had been sold to a collector. It was of course the moment an artist dreams of, but we discovered over the years that art buyers often sell themselves, if the art work is made available to them, i.e. a gallery window, a web site and a book. Advantage book: It offers an ongoing opportunity. 
Life and Death: Original Oil painting on canvas, 3x4feet.
Inspired by the image of Cassandra being embraced by her mother Cassandra Nagual, for which the tribe of the Taiowa have no name. From the Cassandra's Tear Trilogy series of published books.
We have offered many inducements to potential contributors by way of introducing them to the Art and Human Nature Collection as this is to be the first volume in what we hope will become a series published on an annual basis to become a library of collected books kept on file and archived on various websites including those of the participants.
To our way of thinking it is always to the artists advantage to contribute to a sure thing and to make use of it in the best way possible. That is making your own luck.
We are committed to promoting the books to the benefit of artists and authors and poets as a way of sharing the success we have enjoyed for almost 50 years.
We are putting it out there and hope that artists will realize the advantages. So far the response has been overwhelming and we are very gratified.
Our website Baron Gallery is where hundreds of my collectors from the last close to 50 years find me and have an opportunity to see and purchase my new works and books and reproductions and prints. Each day I receive emails and letters and photos and make contact with collectors who have just acquired a work of mine and want to know more or how they are enjoying my works and to tell me how much my art means to them and how and when and where they found their "Hyacinthe". I could not feel more fulfilled.
To participate in the Art and Human Nature Collection Literary and Art Book find Submission forms and detailed information on http://www.barongallery.com
If you are thinking of publishing contact edbaron@sablepublishing.com or check out Desert Rat POD on www.barongallery.com or email barongallery@aol.com.
