Sonic boom!
Sonicbond is a new publishing company devoted to non-fiction titles on pop culture.
‘Broadly, we are a series-based publisher of books on popular music, although we’ve also published books on film and television,’ said publisher Stephen Lambe, who runs the imprint with Huw Lloyd-Jones. ‘Our flagship series is called On Track, which examines the work of band or artist song by song. We also have series called On Screen and Decades and we also publish the occasional non-series book.’
The company was formed at the start of 2018 and Sonicbond published its first books at the end of that year.
‘However, I have been in book publishing for over thirty years, mainly working for independent non-fiction publishers, including The Crowood Press, Tempus and Amberley, primarily in sales and marketing roles,’ said Stephen. ‘It was working for these publishers, particularly during the boom in local history publishing in the late 1980s and 1990s, that I learned the benefit of series-based publishing, which makes the editorial and production sides of the publishing process much more efficient and cost-effective.’
While working for Fonthill Media in 2016, Stephen started a series called Song By Song. ‘It combined my two areas of expertise – rock music and book publishing,’ he said. ‘However, the series was a long way away from their standard publishing output, so I decided to go it alone and set up my own company to expand a reworked version of that series.’
The result was Sonicbond, and although current events disrupted plans, they didn’t derail them.
‘Both 2019 and 2020 have had moments of disruption, not least caused by Covid-19, so we haven’t published as many books as I would have liked so far, but in 2021 we plan to publish around forty new titles.’
Stephen is looking forward to stabilising Sonicbond’s current publishing programme, and developing new strands. ‘While the On Track series has a limited life span, we are already developing new series ideas. I’d like to think we‘ll start doing more one-off projects within the music world and at some point, return to developing series and other projects in other areas of the performing arts. But, for 2021, our immediate plan is to have a stable and consistent year’s publishing – something that hasn’t been possible in 2020 due to the virus.’
Stephen is happy to hear from prospective authors – but as a series-based publisher, Sonicbond rarely publishes entirely unsolicited books. ‘It’s far better that an author contact us with an initial idea, and we can take it from there. Prospective authors need not be previously published, but should demonstrate the ability to write well in English and have some expertise in their chosen subject.’
Writing for a series doesn’t necessarily restrict authors, says Stephen. ‘There are some standard features which are necessary to maintain series consistency, but otherwise authors have a lot of latitude to put their own spin on the subject. The best books combine perceptive analysis with good dollops of fact. To have access to the subject is an advantage, but most people don’t and that’s fine. However, to be involved in the online communities around their chosen subject is also useful.’
Prospective authors should contact Sonicbond via the website, suggesting a particular band or artist for one of the established series. ‘We are also happy to receive submissions for one-off books on rock music,’ said Stephen.
Sonicbond published in print and ebook and pays royalties.
Website: www.sonicbondpublishing.co.uk