I was at the Nehru Centre in London last night to listen to our website client Edna Fernandes talking about her new book, The Jews of Kerala.

Loads of people are writing and blogging about Edna’s books on the web by the way - and with her regular speaking appearances she’s in a great position to build up her online community. In fact I think most authors have this opportunity - but many of them don’t quite understand the online / blogging factor yet, and the power of networking with readers and reviewers. In fact, I think the book publishing world has been immensely fearful of online, and slow to cotton on to it, despite Amazon’s blazing trail.

However, chatting to the MD of Edna’s publisher afterwards, I received encouragement that all is not lost. Apparently the designer for the paperback edition of her book has found a cover photograph on Flickr, and has of course been in touch with the photographer to pay him for use. That’s a great sign of the publishing world starting to get social media. He also said that the Internet has spurned a cluster of small independent publishers, because it’s made it so much more easier and cheaper for them to put the word out to distributors and bookshops when they have a new book.

Of course Storynory is on the lookout for a Children’s publisher that really understands the online opportunity that we have created. There has to be one out there !