From THE ONLINE JOURNAL OF THE NORTH CAROLINA WRITERS’ NETWORK
Pioneering the Book World of Tomorrow: OBX Publishing
By Charles
July 5, 2018
It’s fitting that Outer Banks Publishing Group has positioned itself as a “hybrid” publisher, given their proximity to Kitty Hawk, where the Wright Brothers combined moxie with ingenuity to achieve human flight more than a century ago.
Outer Banks Publishing Group embraces this same pioneering spirit to produce both e-books and printed books to penetrate the world’s biggest book market: the internet.
“We hope you find a book that will enlighten your life,” says the press’ bookstore. More>.
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From Publisher’s Weekly
Former Lulu Staffer Launches Digital Publishing House
By Calvin Reid
Jun 10, 2010
Anthony Policastro, a former business analyst at self-publishing vendor Lulu.com, has launched the Outer Banks Publishing Group, a new publishing venture that will focus on digital publishing and the use of social media to build an audience for POD print releases.
Outer Banks Publishing offers a different model than Lulu.com. Policastro said OBP is not a self-publishing vendor like Lulu, but a hybrid publishing model that combines selective editorial content with new media publishing and promoting platforms. Policastro said he solicits manuscripts like a traditional publisher and is selective about what he publishes. However, OBP does not offer advances. Instead, Policastro says he offers writers the chance to publish their books in e-book format and his experience and expertise in using a wide variety of social media and viral marketing strategies and technologies to promote and market the book online. More>
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From AdWeek
Lulu.com’s Policastro Launches Outer Banks Publishing Group
By Dianna Dilworth on Jun 10, 2010
Former self-publishing analyst at Lulu.com Anthony Policastro has launched a new digital publishing company called Outer Banks Publishing Group. The venture will merge digital and print publishing with social media.
According to the Outer Banks website, “The publishing industry is undergoing a paradigm shift that is catastrophic for the industry. The old business models, born out of The Great Depression, and still in use today no longer work with the onset of the new digital printing technologies, social networking, and the Internet. What it means for you as an author is that your dream of being published by traditional publishing houses is more difficult because the houses can no longer afford to take as many risks with unknown authors.”
Claiming to use digital printing, social networking and the Internet, Outer Banks hopes to cut book publishing lead times from 12 to 18 months to 6 weeks More>.
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From eBooknewser
Lulu.com’s Policastro Launches Outer Banks Publishing Group
By Dianna Dilworth on Jun 10, 2010 05:23 PM
Former self-publishing analyst at Lulu.com Anthony Policastro has launched a new digital publishing company called Outer Banks Publishing Group. The venture will merge digital and print publishing with social media. More>
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From eBooknewser
Anthony Policastro Tells eBookNewer Goals for Outer Banks
By Dianna Dilworth on Jun 11, 2010 09:56 AM
Yesterday, we reported that Anthony Policastro, former self-publishing analyst at Lulu.com, launched a new digital publishing company calledOuter Banks Publishing Group. Outer Banks focuses on digital printing and social networking. Their idea is to cut book publishing lead times from 12 to 18 months to 6 weeks.
Policastro responded to our e-mail asking him his goals for the new company. He had this to say:
“Like any traditional publisher we are looking for bestsellers and because we first publish books as an eBook to test the market, our chances of finding a best seller are higher than the big six in NY and elsewhere.
Let’s face it, not every publishing house knows a bestseller when it comes to them. Many good books are rejected because of limited resources or budgets that publishers have to live by. Look at Chicken Soup of the Soul. It was rejected by more than a hundred publishers, because it was genre-less and publishers couldn’t figure out where it would fit on bookstore shelves. Now there are over tens of millions copies sold all over the world in dozens of languages.
Because eBook publishing takes a lot less resources, financially and otherwise to publish than printed books, we can publish more books and hopefully find more bestsellers in the slush pile of the world.”
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Former Lulu employee creates Outer Banks/Raleigh publishing house
Anthony S. Policastro, a former business analyst at Lulu.com, has created Outer Banks Publishing Group, one of the first book publishers to use digital printing, viral marketing to promote and sell books.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Log (Press Release) – Mar 23, 2010 – SOUTHERN SHORES, NC – Anthony S Policastro, a former business analyst at Lulu.com, an online publishing company, has created Outer Banks Publishing Group, one of the first book publishers to use state-of-the-art digital printing, viral marketing, and social networking and web optimization tools to brand, promote, and sell author’s books.
Policastro believes there is a better way to publish and promote authors by first creating an ebook, promoting and creating “buzz” on the Internet and then moving into the printed product after the work has proven itself in digital form.
“The publishing industry as we know it is undergoing a paradigm shift,” Policastro said. “Ebook sales are exploding while printed book sales are dwindling. The Internet, social networking, digital printing, and electronic books are disruptive technology and Outer Banks Publishing Group is one of the first publishing houses to embrace those technologies.”
“The publishing industry is moving too slow to adapt these new technologies and the result is that many authors cannot get into print,” Policastro said. “Many authors are turning to self-publishing and self-promotion. Outer Banks Publishing Group is bridging the gap between authors and publishers and getting more authors in print.”
The new company will use viral marketing, social networking and web optimization tools to promote and sell its authors.
“We will show authors how to create a significant web presence with blog tours, web sites, blogs and web optimization,” Policastro said. “We will use print on demand digital technologies to create physical books and this means there are no warehousing or print run costs.”
The company has locations in Raleigh and in Southern Shores on the Outer Banks in North Carolina.
“The Outer Banks was where the first flight was born and so it is fitting that Outer Banks Publishing Group is one of the first publishers to use all the latest Internet and digital tools to promote and sell books,” Policastro said.
“The Outer Banks is known internationally for its pristine beaches and sub-tropic waters and it seems a perfect name to launch one of the first of its kind publishing house,” Policastro added. “We are currently looking for authors in all genres. Go to our Query Page for submission requirements at https://www.outerbankspublishing.com/author-query-form/ before submitting.”
Policastro, a published novelist and writer, a former journalist, and photographer brings an “author’s perspective” to Outer Banks Publishing Group knowing full well the storms writers face in becoming a published author.
Policastro was the former editor-in-chief of Carolina Style magazine, a regional lifestyle publication similar to Southern Living magazine. His background is in publishing, technology, business intelligence, and communications. He has published articles in The New York Times, American Photographer, Oceans and other national, regional, and local publications.
He has two Bachelor of Arts degrees – one in Creative Writing, and another in American Studies from Penn State University, both of which have greatly enhanced his writing career.
He currently writes a blog with Michael Neff, author and creator and editor of the Webdelsol and Algonkian websites, about writers’ issues called The Writer’s Edge. Policastro and Neff have been referred to as the Ebert and Roeper of the literary scene with their point/counterpoint posts.
Policastro believes Outer Banks Publishing Group’s unique approach to book publishing will help launch publishing into the 21st century and beyond.
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Email: info@outerbankspublishing.com
Website: https://www.outerbankspublishing.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/OBXpublishing
Press Room: http://pressroom.prlog.org/OBXPub10/