Introduction
Welcome to the July 2022 journal post. This time we will discuss our Gympie and Maryborough History & Heritage books, our Queensland coastal travel plans to Townsville, our new Facebook emphasis and our upgrading camera equipment.
Even though we haven’t posted a journal article in two years we have self-published two major books in that period. These are:
A Glimpse of Gympie History & Heritage, and
A Glimpse of Maryborough History & Heritage.
We are proud of these two books, self-published as eBooks and printed books.
I mentioned in an earlier journal that I tend to bite off more than we can chew! Well, I’ve bowed to this reality, and we have acquired assistance with our OS Wayfarer endeavour. But more about this assistance is provided below.
Our focus has shifted significantly since the last journal post. We are now preparing short history and heritage books plus associated photobooks and notebooks for selected Queensland cities.
As with previous journal entries, we’ll maintain the same format, namely: eBooks; Our website; Posts; Travel; and Other Activities. However, we might re-arrange the order to better reflect the current emphasis within our activities and plans.
July 2022 journal post – Travel
July 2020 – June 2022
As a result of COVID-19, we have been grounded within Australia during this period. Hence our travel focus has been within Australia and Queensland in particular, and within Queensland – the Wide-Bay Burnett region. I seem to recall writing that since we live in South-East Queensland (Maroochydore) we should focus on the Wide-bay Burnett region and “own it”. So that has been our goal.
We took the decision to switch our focus from Queensland heritage-listed buildings to the history and heritage of Gympie and more recently Maryborough. Consequently, we have travelled to Gympie and Maryborough several times.
It turned out to be a productive decision as the two books mentioned above have been self-published during this period.
July 2022 – September 2022
During winter we plan to travel up the Queensland coast in a similar manner to an earlier trip in 2015. We will visit Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, and Charters Towers during our five-week journey.
The primary purpose of this trip is to gather data for our next book: A Glimpse of Townsville History and Heritage. A side project is to take photos of heritage-listed buildings for a photobook of heritage-listed buildings in Queensland Coastal Towns. Our goal is to self-publish these books in the first half of 2023. More about this endeavour is provided below.
Gympie eBook:
Amazon (Kindle US), Amazon (Kindle UK), Amazon (Kindle AU), and Amazon (Kindle CA)
Gympie Printed book:
Click on the image to buy a softcover book with economy paper.
July 2022 journal post – Books
July 2020 – June 2022
You may notice the subtle heading change for this section. Commensurate with our change of focus to Queensland coastal towns and their history and heritage, we are now targeting eBooks and print books – hence the title Books. Previously all our travel books have been eBooks only, apart from our Prague book which had an eBook and a printed version.
This shift occurred with the Gympie book which was self-published as an eBook and printed book. More information about the Gympie book can be found through the following link:
A Glimpse of Gympie History & Heritage. The Gympie eBook was published in January 2021 and the printed version in February 2021.
The second book we published during this period was our Maryborough book. The eBook was self-published in January 2022. However, we extended the range of available printed books to include the core book – A Glimpse of Maryborough History and Heritage plus companion books in the form of the Maryborough Heritage Notebook and the photobook – Maryborough Heritage – Through a lens. These books were self-published in the period from late February to late March 2022. More information about these books can be found through the following link: A Glimpse of Maryborough History and Heritage.
July to September 2022
During this period, as indicated in the Travel section above, we will be gathering data for our planned Townsville books and the proposed Queensland Coastal Towns photobook. This will keep us more than busy.
This journal post will be published as we set out for three nights in Bundaberg. The intent with Bundaberg is to take photos of 10 heritage-listed buildings as stock for our Queensland photobook. Bundaberg will not be a focus for our standalone books.
Our next stop will be Rockhampton where will spend four nights on the way north and three nights on our return journey. Rockhampton will be a target for our next eBook and printed books after Townsville. On this visit we will take as many photos as we can to support the Queensland photobook and the standalone books. There are over 30 heritage-listed buildings in Rockhampton.
We’ll press on to Mackay next for one night just to break the journey and take some photos. There is a major mining conference in Mackay during the week we are visiting and finding accommodation was a challenge. We will stay for two nights on our return to take up to 10 photos to support our Queensland photobook. Mackay will not be a target for our standalone eBook and printed books.
The next city we’ll visit will be Townsville for 18 nights broken up with a short visit to Charters Towers in the middle. Townsville, which is my hometown (no pressure!), is the target of our next eBook and printed notebook and photobook.
Charters Towers will not be a target for our standalone books but has some interesting heritage-listed buildings to support our Queensland photobook.
July 2022 journal post – Our website
July 2020 – June 2022
Despite our best plans and intentions, we did not continue to update our website or social media (marketing) functions over the past two years. I have written posts in the past about the difficulty posed by marketing (especially) and the ongoing website maintenance. This remains the case because the work (in retirement!) in preparing our books takes all our time. However, …
July 2022 – September 2022
We have chosen to confront these issues head-on. Hence, we have engaged a firm to assist us in the growth of our website and the preparation of a marketing plan. This will be a 12-month assignment that we trust will bear fruit.
I intend to remain closely involved in our website development and participate in its growth. However, my involvement will be less in respect of the marketing approach, especially on social media. This initiative has commenced.
Other activities
July 2020 – June 2022
The success of our Gympie eBook, especially the printed book with its photographs, has encouraged us to enhance this aspect further. To this end, I have updated my camera equipment significantly.
We commenced this endeavour back in 2011 with a Nikon D3100. In 2016 I upgraded this camera to a Nikon D7200. Both cameras had APSC-sized sensors. In 2021 I decided to upgrade to a full-frame sensor with the introduction of Nikon’s Z5 camera. This was a significant step up and offered further encouragement. So, in May this year, all the previous equipment was traded in for a Nikon Z7II full-frame camera.
The intent is to pursue the printed books, notebooks, and a photobook for each selected coastal town for which good quality photographs are required. Also, I intend to produce wall art (posters, pictures etc) in the future. This level of equipment will ensure these goals are possible and open opportunities during our forthcoming coastal trip.
The final word
We have been deskbound self-publishing our Maryborough books and so we are looking forward to getting on the road to research and gather photos for our Townsville books.
As mentioned above we have sought assistance with our social marketing endeavours and in the first instance, our Facebook Page is receiving some love! So please take some time to visit it and see what is happening.
Hopefully, the next journal post we published in September.
Take care.
Visits: 16
Leave A Comment