Aspect Design, Malvern

14/11/2024

New poetry booklet by local poet Stephen Chappell: a great Christmas gift for dog lovers!

https://www.aspect-design.net/product-page/portrait-of-the-artist-with-a-young-dog

06/11/2024

The second instalment in this series is a Christmas-themed story: Farmer Bennett and the Enormous Christmas Tree at https://wix.to/faKQ0gv

06/11/2024

Diana Raphael's Living Next to Paradise is now available at https://wix.to/bziKhrC

06/11/2024

The first instalment of this series is now ready to purchase! Buy Farmer Bennett and the Pyjama Chase at https://wix.to/FlJXVwe

06/11/2024

Available now: The British Isles: An Illustrated Adventure at https://wix.to/VTq9lAj

17/09/2024

The faces are all the same colour; I confirmed it in Photoshop! A great example of the importance of contrast in your designs

03/07/2024

Lovely article in the Staffordshire Newsletter about Secrets of the Shepherd's Monument, one of our recent publications.

https://www.aspect-design.net/product-page/secrets-of-the-shepherd-s-monument

18/06/2024

Self-publishing, sometimes called vanity publishing, often has a bad reputation. Even the term 𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 is made to be said with a sneer of derision. The implication is that authors who self-publish are those whose works no one wants to read and, consequently, no publisher is willing to invest in publishing. In popular imagination, the tragi-comic figure of Crabcalf in Mervyn Peake’s 𝘛𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 represents the archetype of the self-published author – condemned to spend his life carrying his remaindered books around with him:

𝐌𝐫 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐰, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬; 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤-𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬, 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨-𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐜, 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧, 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧, 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬.

However, this caricature is inaccurate; many famous authors and popular or critically acclaimed works were first released via the author self-financing the publication. Notable authors who have self-published or self-financed the printing of their own books include Marcel Proust, Mark Twain (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘯), James Joyce (whose friend Sylvia Beach published 𝘜𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴), Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf (whose Hogarth Press published many of her own works), Beatrix Potter, Thomas Paine, Edgar Allan Poe, T. S. Elliot and John Grisham.

Self-publishing has long been a means by which those authors, who were not considered to have mainstream appeal, or whose work was considered risqué or controversial, could put their work before the public. Such authors include Aleister Crowley and Sir Richard Burton, the latter having created his own publishing society, The K**a Shastra Society, to evade the strict Victorian laws against obscene publications. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴), and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘚𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘝𝘢𝘵𝘴𝘺𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘢 were both published by him.

D. H. Lawrence, who found publication of his works difficult after the banning of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘸, published some of his work in Italy. Perhaps most significantly, the great poet, artist, printer and mystic, William Blake, wrote, illustrated and printed all of his own works.

In the current economic climate, even established publishing houses are seeing the benefits of self-publishing. Penguin recently bought a self-publishing company and is said to be eager to join the sector. This change in the status quo is due to technological advances in digital and inkjet printing and the growth of e-books, both of these developments have brought self-publishing within the means of most people, not just a privileged elite as was previously the case. Authors are now 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 to bypass traditional publishers by releasing and marketing their own titles, thus enabling them to retain their rights, keep control of their work, and decide how and when their work is released.

Aspect Design is a small, independent book publisher. We provide services ranging from proof-reading, typesetting, design, illustration, printing, binding and finishing. Almost all of our books are produced in our own workshop and are printed on paper which is FSC certified.

When you consider the time and energy that has gone into producing our books, both by the author and ourselves, we believe that you will admit that our books represent exceptionally good value: for a modest price you are purchasing a unique product. Our books are hand-bound and finished, and are printed in small, limited runs. They are also by new and exciting authors and, in a market which is increasingly only interested in large runs of cheap, homogeneous fiction, or the celebrity biography ubiquitous to bargain bins everywhere, the small independent book publisher and seller, such as ourselves, represent an important and vital source of alternative titles.

To find out more, why not take a look at our website: www.aspect-design.net

11/05/2024

Three counties in black and white 📘

30/04/2024

Our latest certificate demonstrates how the paper we print on helps to support the work of The Woodland Trust with Premier Paper

28/02/2024

Answering a question I am frequently asked:

(Hint, for print, the answer is to indent 🧐)

What’s the best way to indicate a new paragraph has started? Should you add an extra line space as is most common on the web or is it better to indent the first line as is common in print? Are these our only options? Two things have me thinking about paragraphs. First is an observation […]

17/12/2023

As Nietzsche said, life/reality 'is ugly. We possess art lest we perish of the truth.'

Art is often seen as a luxury but, just like exercise and meditation, researchers are coming to believe it’s fundamental to our mental and physical wellbeing

15/12/2023

We've always said this :)

A study from the University of Valencia found that print reading could boost skills by six to eight times more than digital reading

13/12/2023

It's not too late to order your giclée art print for Christmas. We offer a unique range of original prints by PSYBRG -- only available from Aspect Design!

https://www.aspect-design.net/product-page/the-waiting-man-at-sunset

10/12/2023

Lovely Christmas present idea:

https://www.aspect-design.net/product-page/the-ledbury-countryside-in-pictures-and-poems

ScottART first book initially self published on blurb books now this is a popular book published by Aspect Design, Malvern for ScottART it’s totally unique 🎅🏻

07/12/2023

Shop: https://www.aspect-design.net/aspectshop/artprints

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/psybrg_art/

06/11/2023

05/11/2023

Great Christmas present idea