Last night I attended an event called Unbound Live @ Oxford. I wasn't sure what I was letting myself in for but I was pleasantly surprised.
Unbound are a crowd-funded publisher. This means that authors put forward their ideas straight to the audience, either via the website or at live events like the one last night, in the hope that the audience will pledge some money to fund the book's publication. It's basically Kickstarter for books where higher pledges not only help the book but get the pledger a cheeky extra, like a first edition copy or
Unbound are a crowd-funded publisher. This means that authors put forward their ideas straight to the audience, either via the website or at live events like the one last night, in the hope that the audience will pledge some money to fund the book's publication. It's basically Kickstarter for books where higher pledges not only help the book but get the pledger a cheeky extra, like a first edition copy or
lunch with the author. Or, as one of the authors put it, Dragon's Den for books with each author being given only eight minutes to impress a whole crowd of dragons.
Last night we were treated to presentations from eight authors. First there was John Mitchinson presenting his book The Twitch about psychotic bird watchers. Then Lisa Gee invited us to Hayleyworld to tell us about her biography of old, bad poet William Hayley. Next Edward Higgins told us about the spiritualist preoccupations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his fictional friends in Conversations with Spirits. Then last up before the interval was comedienne Katy brand reading us extracts of her book Brenda Monk is Funny about the life of a female comic trying to break into the comedy scene.
Post-interval, and post-chips, we heard four more presentations for books. Keith Kahn-Harris told us of his travels to meet The Best Water Skier in Luxembourg and other big fish in small ponds. Then ex-policeman and QI elf Steve Colgan showed us the working of Constable Colgan's Connectoscope the fun fact machine. Robert Llewellyn (aka Kryten from Red Dwarf, I was super excited) read an extract from his second utopian sci-fi book News from Squares and finally edgy poet George Chopping read a few of his poems from his already-published collection Smoking with Crohns.
So there was a lot on offer last night and, although I am not currently in a financial position to pledge, I will definitely get on the website and have a look at what else authors have to offer and you should too.
www.unbound.co.uk
Last night we were treated to presentations from eight authors. First there was John Mitchinson presenting his book The Twitch about psychotic bird watchers. Then Lisa Gee invited us to Hayleyworld to tell us about her biography of old, bad poet William Hayley. Next Edward Higgins told us about the spiritualist preoccupations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his fictional friends in Conversations with Spirits. Then last up before the interval was comedienne Katy brand reading us extracts of her book Brenda Monk is Funny about the life of a female comic trying to break into the comedy scene.
Post-interval, and post-chips, we heard four more presentations for books. Keith Kahn-Harris told us of his travels to meet The Best Water Skier in Luxembourg and other big fish in small ponds. Then ex-policeman and QI elf Steve Colgan showed us the working of Constable Colgan's Connectoscope the fun fact machine. Robert Llewellyn (aka Kryten from Red Dwarf, I was super excited) read an extract from his second utopian sci-fi book News from Squares and finally edgy poet George Chopping read a few of his poems from his already-published collection Smoking with Crohns.
So there was a lot on offer last night and, although I am not currently in a financial position to pledge, I will definitely get on the website and have a look at what else authors have to offer and you should too.
www.unbound.co.uk
RSS Feed