About
CardinalBook

The allegory of the cardinal

My wife has created a bird sanctuary in our side yard. It is frequented by many beautiful birds, especially bluejays and cardinals. The bluejays are gorgeous, robust birds -- but they're mean. They monopolize the feeders, chase the other birds away, make a racket, and even buzz the dog. The shy cardinals, on the other hand, simply grace our garden with their beauty and sweet song.

I like to turn this situation into an allegory where the bluejays represent the big, flashy, pushy, loud, and raucous publishing industry of today, and the cardinals represent the many delightful books that are being "pushed out of the garden."

"You must remember this"

Renowned Shakespeare scholar Gary Taylor wondered what makes some works last over time, while others wither away, forgotten. In Cultural Selection he makes the point that a work is only remembered when someone says "you must remember this" and passes it on to others. This is true whether the work is Shakespeare's (championed by many), or that of Russian poet Osip Mandelstein -- imprisoned by Stalin -- whose works are known today only because his wife memorized his poems and hid rolled-up copies of his songs in the handle of a saucepan.

What CardinalBook does

CardinalBook identifies books that should be remembered, either because they're beautiful or they say something important. We obtain electronic rights as necessary, then put them online to expose them to a broader audience. We make them known to as many online communities as possible by registering them with search engines and getting them reviewed on relevant special-interest web sites.

If a book we adopt is still in print, we tell people how to get hold of it. If it's out of print, we work on getting it republished.

CardinalBook's plans

At present CardinalBook is concentrating on building its list of good books and reputable authors. Over time we may release our books in collections on CD-ROM.

Commitment to quality and longevity

When digitizing a book, CardinalBook prefers to work from first, or at least very early, print editions. We take great care to maintain fidelity to the original work. Copyedit changes are made only to correct clearly identifiable typos. Sentence construction and spelling common to the book's time period are retained. All deliberate changes are documented.

Our books are stored in an electronic format meant to outlast today's standards, and which is easily converted into online HTML, PDF, formats suitable for prepress, and whatever new standards may evolve over time.

Benefits to readers

We really don't expect people to sit and read books at the computer screen. Although we experiment with ways to make the experience as enjoyable as possible, it's just too darned uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, we render a valuable service by providing access to good books that are hard to find any other way. And for books that are more easily found, we make it possible to browse before buying -- much the same as at a bookstore.

Benefits to authors

CardinalBook increases the exposure of good -- but out-of-the-mainstream -- books that don't sell well through the usual channels. An online edition becomes an invaluable tool for reaching specialized pockets of readers over the Internet.

When all of a book's chapters are online, prospective readers are "drawn" to the book as they conduct Internet searches for material that just happens to be mentioned in the book.

CardinalBook pays royalties on any revenue from direct sales of electronic editions of its books (such as on CD-ROM). CardinalBook also pays royalties when it obtains paperback rights.

In the end

Someday electronic books will be the norm. We will all walk around with low-cost, lightweight, super-high resolution devices that put entire libraries at our fingertips.

But that day lies far in the future.

With its foray into electronic publishing, CardinalBook is simply doing its part to make that day arrive sooner rather than later.

John Wilbanks, Publisher
CardinalBook
1633 Kingspoint Dr.
Carrollton, TX 75007

JohnWilbanks@cardinalbook.com