Ink

Ink! Let us spill some!

Posted Leave a commentPosted in The Book Blog

 

Much ink has been spilled over for centuries to bring stories to life. Many have inked something in. Some have ended up bleeding red ink in their pursuit of spreading their words across the world. Some ink slingers have inked their victories with bestsellers. And there will be many more who would do so in future.

 

What is it that makes words reach across generations, races, countries, and civilizations? What makes the words a reality? How do readers find out how writers think? What makes bestsellers a reality?

 

It is Ink.

 

Without ink, there would be no books. And we love books at We Love Quality Books. So, how can we not talk discuss ink – the crew of book publishing.

 

Over 20 billion US Dollars was earned as revenue through printing ink in 2011 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink). However, ink is not a new component. It’s an ancient ingredient that has been used continually over the years.

 

The use of ink goes as far back as 26 Century BC. China used graphite and animal fat to make ink. But if we look back further through the history of civilization, the use of ink probably existed much before the 26the Century BC. The Vedic age in India existed sometime around 30,000 BC. The four scriptures that basically define India and Indian mythology were written using some kind of substance although not much information has been gained about the kind of ink that was used to write the four scriptures.

 

Some kind of ink also existed during the Harappan Civilization as well that existed between 3500 and 1900 BC. They used symbols to write their text which is still undeciphered. The ink they used to write the text (when they were not on clay tablets) is still a mystery.

 

For centuries plant extracts and animal fat with soot was used to produce the writing material called ink.

 

Around 13,000 BC iron extracts were mixed with a plant extract called tannin to produce a thick liquid that was used as ink.

 

In Medieval Europe (800 AD – 1500 AD) processed plant extracts with wine were used to produce a thick liquid writing material or ink.

 

Johannes Gutenberg was a German printer and publisher who came up with the first printing press. He used a dye made of soot, varnish and egg white as ink in his printing press. Later a mixture of soot, turpentine oil and walnut oil was used to make an oily ink. Today, we generally use synthetic ink in publishing.

 

The global printing ink market in 2017 estimated to generate a revenue of an average of $18 million (https://bit.ly/2MUtC2c). Of that, Hewlett Packard made an annual revenue of $18.8 million in 2017 (https://bit.ly/2MPVvsl).

 

Ink is not only used to write books. Ink is also used to etch a new system of government. For example, India, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia among other developing countries use ‘unremovable’ ink to ensure a smooth electoral process.

 

Ink has been used through generations. It has left an indelible mark on the history of civilization. Without ink, there would be no written history, no books and probably no democracy (in the modern era).

 

What makes ink one of the most powerful elements in human advancement? How has ink engraved its influence through centuries and ages?

 

It is the boldness of its character that makes ink a powerful component. The power of ink was best described by the playwright, William Shakespeare in the comedy ‘Twelfth Night’- ‘Let there be gall enough in thy ink, though thou write with a goose-pen, no matter. -William Shakespeare.’

 

So, spill it, scribble, write and draw. Ink your thoughts to create the bestseller of your life.

 

Grivante Press- An Interview

Posted Leave a commentPosted in Interviews

Grivante Press is here to talk to us at  www.welovequalitybooks.biz .

 

Publishing house gives birth to books and vindication to writers. They conceptualize the book size, the book cover, the marketing of the book, the target audience and more! We get so carried away by the storyline and the writing style that we sometimes forget to credit the Publishing firm that deliver the book see the light of the day.

 

We at welovequalitybooks.biz are excited to share the tidings of the publishing world. Grivante Press will share how the world of publishing works. This is an interview that will let authors learn how to approach the right team to get published. Most importantly, it will give all the readers and writers a glimpse of the crew members who make a novel a shining star!

 

Kevin Penelerick is an author himself. He is the creator of Grivante Press as well. Let’s partake his vision as a publisher and what made him take up the challenge of providing a platform to writers across the world with the createion of Grivante Press.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Please tell us what the objective of Grivante Press is?

Kevin (Grivante Press): The objective of Grivante Press is to publish works of speculative fiction which is engaging and keeps the readers turning the pages.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: How did the idea of getting into publishing come about?

Kevin (Grivante Press): As I began my indie author career I knew that it would include doing more than just publishing my own books. I want to build a platform from which we can support and help other authors of similar work launch their careers.

 

Interviewed by welovequalitybooks.biz
Genee Jo, Kevin Penelerick with a model @ Grivante Press Book Release.

WeLoveQuality Books: Please introduce us to the core team of Grivante Press?

Kevin (Grivante Press): At present we are a very small team consisting of myself, Kevin Penelerick as the publisher and editor, my wife, Genee Jo who does beta-reading and back end support and our marketing assistant Christina Moses.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Your advertisements are striking and impressive. How is Grivante Press different from other publishing houses?

Kevin (Grivante Press): I don’t spend a lot of time looking to see what everyone else is doing, so I really can’t speak to how we are different. I do look to see what people are doing that is successful, to see if it is something that we might want to adopt, but for the most part, we are creating content we hope people will find interesting and putting it out into the world. Our focus is on building our authors up, marketing them and what makes them and their stories unique.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Speculative Writing! What do you think is the psyche behind the shift of readers from Jane Austen-ish content to speculative content?

Kevin (Grivante Press): I would have to say it has to do with modern times and just how much consciousness and awareness has expanded. We are now aware of so much more that exists and the possibilities this opens up has created an environment where we are eager to see new ideas and where they will take us.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: As a publisher what are the three things that set apart an ordinary manuscript from a bestselling manuscript.

Kevin (Grivante Press):  ♦ It grabs your attention immediately.
                                                 ♦ It makes you want to turn the pages.
                                                 ♦ You don’t want to put it down.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: How many novels have you published from the time of inception? Please share some details about them.

Kevin (Grivante Press): We are still in the early stages and taking out time to grow and figure things out. We have 2 books out by myself under my pen name, Grivante. These are in The ‘Zee Brothers: Zombie Exterminators Series’. It is about two brothers and their girlfriend whose job it is to keep the zombie apocalypse at bay, one job at a time. It is a comedic-horror series, filled with action, adventure and laughs while dealing with an awkward romance between the three main characters and a hidden evil nemesis in the background that is slowly being revealed.
We also have a couple of comic projects that we have done and one more in the works for this fall. ‘The Blind Apple‘ is a collection of comic strips by artist Joey Masciotra we helped publish when we were first getting started. Joey has a unique sense of humor, making observations about the world and creating smart illustrations to go with them.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Does Grivante Press specialize in Anthology?

Kevin (Grivante Press): No. At present, we only have the one (MASHED: The Culinary Delights of Twisted Erotic Horror), with plans for more possible down the road.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Who is the brain behind all the phenomenal topics for submissions your firm comes up with?

Kevin (Grivante Press): That would be myself and my wife for the most part. Asking the question, what hasn’t been done that we would enjoy reading.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Is Grivante Press particularly into adult stories or are you flexible about the target audience?

Kevin (Grivante Press): Under our mainline, the stories will predominantly be adult oriented. Not necessarily to the erotic level that the anthology ‘MASHED: The Culinary Delights of Twisted Erotic Horror’ goes to, but generally they won’t be for kids. We do also have a kids line in development under the ‘Star Kissed Studios Imprint’. Currently, there is one book published, titled ‘Guppy Butter’. It is an illustrated book about a little girl’s wish for a puppy, but what happens when her parents get her a guppy instead. It is an entertaining story that also teaches kids about loss and that life goes on.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: What are the yardsticks that your organization keeps in mind to measure audience reaction?

Kevin (Grivante Press): Sales & Reviews. Those are the most obvious and easiest to see. I’ve heard the advice to never look at reviews, but that’s the only way we know if the work is resonating with the audience. Is it being received how we thought it would be or are people taking it differently? There’s no better way to tell than to go read what people are saying.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: What is the procedure involved in selecting the best entries from submissions?

Kevin (Grivante Press): For ‘MASHED: The Culinary Delights of Twisted Erotic Horror’, Genee and I spent most winter evenings hanging out in our hot tub, reading the stories aloud. This process helped us to quickly weed out stories that weren’t a good fit. First, they had to catch our attention and make us want to keep turning the pages, next we would ask each other if they were hitting the themes we were looking for of Food, Sex, Horror & Humor. After that, we would generally make notes and send them back to their authors for revision and final consideration.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: MASHED: The Culinary Delights of Twisted Erotic Horror is an impressive anthology. How is the audience reaction?

Kevin (Grivante Press): So far it has been great. Sales have been steady even after the initial release spike and the reviews that are trickling in are mostly positive. We’ve had a few people that were offended by it, despite the warning labels and the fact that it was clearly called Twisted Erotic Horror, but we’ve done everything we can to make it clear so that the target market could find it and that readers would know what they were getting despite its uniqueness.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Are you planning a sequel to MASHED: The Culinary Delights of Twisted Erotic Horror?

Grivante Press: It’s been in the back of my mind since day one and there is a high likelihood of it, but at present, we don’t have specific plans in place. We might make it an annual anthology or we may try something new. As a small company our time and resources are limited, so we’ve got to make sure we can put the energy into a project that it is going to take to be successful.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Where can prospective authors reach you with their manuscripts? Please share the guidelines for submission too.

Kevin (Grivante Press): Currently, we are not open for submissions. We will post on our web page at http://www.grivantepress.com/submissions/ when that changes.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: What are the next few releases of Grivante Press?

Kevin (Grivante Press): We only have one project on the schedule at the moment as we have been busy working on marketing for ‘MASHED: The Culinary Delights of Twisted Erotic Horror’ and the release of ‘The Zee Brothers Vol.2′, ‘Zombie School Lockdown‘, both of which came out in April & May. Our next project is a mini-comic from The Zee Brothers universe tentatively titled Zombie Buffet that we hope to release this fall. We are also partnering with a number of authors in the zombie genre for an anthology to be released in November called ‘Undead Worlds’. This is part of the ‘Reanimated Writers Collective’, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1262527697156658/

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Please share your message of support with all aspiring writers.

Kevin (Grivante Press): More than anything, keep writing. Keep practicing your craft and start networking with other authors immediately. Learn from each other, support each other and know that readers read much faster than any of us can write, so work together to make sure your readers know where to go to find more great reads.

 

WeLoveQuality Books: Thank you so much for talking to us today. Please share your social media links where we- the book lovers can follow and support you.

Kevin (Grivante Press): Here is where you can find us:
https://twitter.com/grivante
https://www.facebook.com/grivantepress/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14223262.Grivante
http://www.amazon.com/Grivante/e/B013PDYUM2/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/grivante
https://www.instagram.com/thezeebrothers/