Crosby's Man For All Seasons

More pictures available. View the gallery

Electronic books are expected to be one of the big sellers this Christmas as all the electronic companies promote their own products. The main ones are Amazons Kindle, Sony’s PRS 500 and Bookeen with Cyber Book. You can also read books on your Apple iphone and other mobiles.

All the classics are free to download, with Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol proving popular at the moment. E-books are available from the websites of all the major booksellers such as Waterstones and W.H.Smith. Current bestsellers vary greatly in price with American e-book versions being much cheaper than their British counterparts.

Not all authors are happy about ebooks and Harry Potter author J.K.Rowling has said that her books will not be made in electronic form.

e-books have been introduced in an effort to reduce costs and to save waste in printing, which is fine for fiction books.

e-books are of no benefit when it comes to the publication of glossy coffee table books. By their very nature it needs to be a book. The printing and production of these books is extremely expensive or so it was thought. But one enterprising local photographer has discovered that you can publish an electronic book.

Crosby based photographer Ron Davies has been photographing Anthony Gormley’s “Another Place” on Crosby beach since the statues were first placed there in 2005 to great acclaim. His images have graced many magazines and have been used extensively to promote the area. Ron has had many exhibitions and sold his images world wide, former Blundellsands resident and now TV presenter Anne Robinson recently purchased several for her “Home Wall”

“For several years now I have been publishing a calendar of my Iron Men images and I have often been asked if I have a book of my images”

Ron explained “When I wanted to publish a book of my Iron Men images I approached several publishers and the costs varied widely, but were all expensive and the minimum number was also a problem. I decided to explore publishing on the web” Ron went on to say “I already sell my images via my websites so I thought that I may be able to sell my book via the web”

Now he has come up with an ingenious way of publishing his book of Anthony Gormley’s Iron Men without going to the great expense. In his search Ron came across blurb.com who do Electronic book publishing and it proved the answer to his problem. Ron was able to up load his images and captions in the way he wanted. Ron had total control of the books lay out, only when he was happy did he publish. The book can then be viewed on line at the publishers, you can purchase on line and the book is delivered wherever you want so it makes it an easy way to send as a gift.

“I am very happy with the results and it means that when anybody now asks me I just direct them to www.blurb.com then you type Ron Davies in the search box and it takes them to my book, which is available in soft or hardback versions” Ron said that his book “Crosby’s Man For All Seasons” is now available worldwide, not just locally.

He stills sells his images through Liverpool Pictures at the Albert Dock and Crosby Fine Arts in College Road as well as thought his websites www.anotherplacepictures.com and www.rdphoto.demon.co.uk/ but is now planning to publish more books via the web.

Clickliverpool has two signed copies of Rons “Crosby’s Man For All Seasons” 2010 Calendar to give away, to be in with a chance of winning just answer this simple question

“What is the name of the Anthony Gormley Structure in the Northeast of England at Gateshead?”

Send your answer to Clicktovote@clickliverpool.com with your name and address.
Winners will be chosen at random on 30th November 2009. Usual competition rules apply.

Comments about Crosby's Man For All Seasons