The green agenda of the Green Books Campaign's publishers - part 5: Five Mile Press

6 days are left to the Green Books Campaign and we continue to present some of the publishers that participate in the campaign and their thoughts on why it's important that books will be printed in an eco-friendly manner.

Our guest today is Five Mile Press.

The Five Mile Press is an Australian publisher specialising in children’s books, adult non-fiction, Australiana and stationery lines. Founded in 1991, the company quickly became known for its high quality, innovative product and has been building on that reputation ever since. The Five Mile Press is one of the strongest children’s mass-market publishers in Australia. Today, The Five Mile Press publishes in excess of 200 new books each year and sells to countries all around the world.

Many of their popular children’s books, including those by leading artists such as Shirley Barber, Trace Moroney and Robyn Johnson are published in many foreign languages as well as English language editions. We currently publish books in over 27 foreign languages supplied to over 30 different language markets. In addition to this, when world rights to a title are licensed for a particular language, another 20 or so countries are added to our distribution list.

Five Mile Press is participating in the campaign with the following books (all printed on recycled paper):

1. Ranger in Danger: Diablo's Doom by Sean Willmore and Alison Reynolds will be reviewed on 4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

2. Ranger in Danger: Erik's Enigma by Sean Willmore and Alison Reynolds will be reviewed on LitLad.

3. Ranger in Danger: Hernando's Labyrinth by Sean Willmore and Alison Reynolds will be reviewed on BabyMac.

4. Ranger in Danger: King Cobra's Curse by Sean Willmore and Alison Reynolds will be reviewed on Jennifer Howard's blog.

5. Ranger in Danger: Rapscallion's Revenge by Sean Willmore and Alison Reynolds will be reviewed on Reading Upside Down.

And now to the questionnaire (all publishers were asked to reply the same four questions):

Why do you believe books should be printed on eco-friendly paper?
Like everyone around the world, we are trying to do our best to conserve our resources and in the publishing industry we are very conscious of the large amount of paper we use. If we use eco-friendly paper, then we are at least doing our best to conserve the forests and ecosystems around the world for the future generations.

What is your policy on using eco-friendly paper?
All the paper we use comes from sustainable forests. We decided to print the Ranger in Danger series on recycled paper with the McPhersons Printing Group in Australia because they are ISO 9001 Environmental accredited, and they also have a number of environmental initiatives that support the printing of their books.

The decision to print on recycled paper came at the request of one of the authors, Sean Willmore, who is the director of the conservation organization The Thin Green Line. The Thin Green Line Foundation’s mission is to share the stories of park rangers from around the world and in doing so support conservations projects, and the families of rangers killed, whilst protecting wildlife in their selfless fight for conservation globally. Sean felt very strongly that recycled paper was the way to go for this series, and we agreed.

Are there other ways you're going green? We all try in our various ways. We car pool, we recycle, we turn off lights and use natural light whenever we can, and we limit our water use within the office. We have a large water tank that supplies water for our toilets and gardens. Our production department is always looking for ways to make our company more green.

What's your advice to readers that would like to make their book purchasing more sustainable?
Look out for the FSC, recycled logo or sustainable information on the cover or imprint of the book so you can sure that all the paper has been sourced from environmentally friendly organizations. Look for quality when you are buying books – this usually means the publisher cares about their products, and therefore about the environment. At The Five Mile Press we are very aware of quality and publish to the highest and most environmentally friendly production standards.

Thank you Five Mile Press for your work and your participation in the Green Books Campaign!

The Campaign's page is http://www.ecolibris.net/greenbookscampaign2010.asp .You can also follow the campaign on Facebook and twitter.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

The Birth Machine by Elizabeth Baines, who is collaborating with Eco-Libris, is out now!

Last April we wrote here on a new collaboration with author Elizabeth Baines on her novel "The Birth Machine". This is Elizabeth Baines' first novel, which is reissued by Salt Publishing. And today is the day! Salt's brand-new edition of The Birth Machine is now officially out.

One tree will be planted with Eco-Libris for every printed copy of "The Birth Machine". This is the second book of Elizabeth Baines we're greening up. The first one is "Too Many Magpies", which was described as 'Moving and compelling' by Sarah Salway. One tree is planted for each printed copy of this novel as well.

Here are some more details on the launch of "The Birth Machine" from an update we received from the author:

The London launch takes place next week and all are very welcome. (Details below). The new edition restores my original structure (changed by the Women's Press for the first edition) and at the launch I'll talk a little about the implications of the differences between the editions. Mostly, though, it will be a celebration: one is very lucky to have a reissue at all, leave alone in these difficult times, and I'm more than grateful to Salt.

Do come and help me celebrate if you're free - I would love to see you there!

Wednesday 10th November 2010, 6.30 pm
Blackwell’s, 100 Charing Cross Rd
LONDON WC2H 0JG 020 7292 5100
Free. Wine and nibbles.
Underground: Tottenham Court Road

By the way, on the same day itself (Nov 10), Elizabeth Baines will participate in the Green Books Campaign reviewing "The Mistress of Nothing" by Kate Pullinger, so if you're not in London for the launch party, you can still check Elizabeth Baines' blog, read the review and take part in the campaign!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!