Highly respected club member Jolanda Keeble gained plenty of experience while writing theses for her three degrees but as we learnt, researching, writing and publishing a book provided many new and different challenges.
Jolanda admitted she was hooked on the flora of the northern Kwongan area from her first field trip. After making several trips, especially to Don and Joy William’s Hi Vallee Farm, she decided that as the job market had dried up, it was the ideal time to write about what “amazed, hooked and overwhelmed” her.
However before commencing she had to decide the format, her target audience and a budget, particularly now she had no income. While the first two were relatively easy—photograph flora and fauna on Hi Vallee Farm and make it suitable for people without technical backgrounds—selecting an editing and layout program for a novice required more investigation. Jolanda eventually settled on Adobe InDesign CS6. Although it cost $600 it was a programme which gave her complete control of the book layout.
Jolanda then set about collecting relevant information about each plant:
- scientific and common name
- DRF information
- flowering period
- plant characteristics
- size
- how to differentiate between similar species occurring on the site.
By using available plant lists from Florabase or Atlas of Living Australia and specific websites, plus her own photos and those available from other sources, she was able to determine what information was missing and then establish where to get it from.
For plant identification Jolanda consulted:
- WA Herbarium vouchers / specimens / reference herbarium
- plant taxonomists
- experts on certain plant families
- identification books, e.g. hakeas, grevilleas, verticordias, banksias, eucalypts,
- on-line resources:
Jolanda then used some of her wonderful photos to show us some of the on-ground problems she faced, such as clearing up misidentifications, name changes and locating plants that had been previously recorded.
To complete her book she had to generate the Index and write the Introduction, References and a Glossary. It also included birds, animals, reptiles, invertebrates, fungi and lichens.
When she thought all the hard work was over, it was decision time once again: “How do I get it published?” Jolanda decided to go down the self-publishing route. This led her into commercial and legal issues such as:
- deciding on the cover lay-out—hard or soft, wire-bound?
- e-book version? MAC and/or PC
- getting an ISBN
- printer quotes: number of books?
- distribution pathways
- legal deposit (lodging a copy with State and National Libraries).
Probably the biggest problem for any self-publishing author, once their book is published, is distribution and marketing. Unfortunately, bookshops in Perth showed little interest (calling it “too specific”) but Jolanda has had better luck in Kwongan country and whilst not yet a millionaire (“I never went into it to make money”) the outlets that stock her book are reporting steady sales. Well done, Jolanda.
Don Poynton