Karoo Roads is Home!

As 2020 winds down and the holiday season looms, Karoo Roads is being dispatched via Postnet to the buyers who made it possible.

Cadar Printers in Port Elizabeth kept us in the loop during the printing and packing stages, and we passed the updates on to a group of purchasers who are obviously planning to make the book a Christmas gift for someone special.

“I’ll take two!” was a common refrain from Karoo fans all over South Africa when told they would only be paying freight for one copy of Karoo Roads. Overseas-based buyers organised for us to send copies to members of their family living in SA.

We’ve also turned Karoo Roads into an ebook (available here) which comes automatically in two formats: image-heavy PDF and Kindle-friendly. So that’s the new baby in the Karoo Space Ebook family.

This year of the Covid-19 plague came with its tragedies, but also some delightful surprises.

Firstly, the lockdown period kept us home and writing, editing and sorting out the photographs for the book. Instead of hitting the back roads and travelling the Karoo, we could make our publishing deadlines without interruption.

Secondly, when we asked our Karoo Space Newsletter group if they wanted a printed version of the book, the orders came in thick and fast. It’s the first time we’ve ever taken pre-orders for an unborn book, and the support completely overwhelmed us. This essentially means that some of you out there joined us on our journey and put some skin in the game.

Thank you.

Thirdly, we decided to spoil our readers by compiling gift packs for them: the author-signed, first-edition book they bought, four classic Karoo postcards and a Map of the Karoo in A5 size, hand-crafted by the talented Gil Vermaak of Jagersfontein. Julie even hit on the idea of packaging it all up in junk supermarket paper for extra courier protection.

Fourthly, we are now talking to our readers on emails, back and forth, with news on content, publication progress and delivery dates. Postnet in Cradock has never been this busy.

And finally, Covid has pushed live-but-intimate book launches and virtual book launches to the fore. This weekend (Nov 20-22), we’re launching Karoo Roads here at home at the Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival to small groups at open-air venues and, at the same time, introducing the book to the world at the virtual Madibaland Book Festival via Zoom.

To order first-edition print copies of Karoo Roads or finalise purchase pre-orders, please contact Julie at julie@karoospace.co.za

Related posts:

Karoo Roads – A New Book Karoo Herbs, Karoo Wisdom The Magic of a Small Town Karoo Donkey Sanctuary, Prince Albert Connecting the Karoo Walking Your Dog in the Platteland Ode to the Karoo Karoo Space e-Bookstore – 12 Frequently Asked Questions