“I know how important it is for us to stay at the cutting edge of the publishing industry.” – Interview with publisher Clinton H. Wallace

Clinton H. Wallace is a publisher from Los Angeles, CA, USA. In this interview he talks about his publishing company Photomundo Publishing and their two releases, a book for children and a pet manual.

You have worked in the media and entertainment business for a long time. When did you become a publisher?

Yes, I have worked in the media and entertainment business for over 20 years; actually I began in college at New York University working as a editorial photographer for the School News Paper the Washington Square News, then I moved to Paris and got into travel and fashion and eventually ended up in Los Angeles and got into Film Production, I loved it so much that I started a filmed entertainment production company called Photomundo International and the book publishing part of it happened only recently when I published a script from an arthouse film that I wrote, produced and directed.

What is Photomundo Publishing approach to the new trends in publishing?

I know how important it is for us to stay at the cutting edge of the publishing industry. With the recognition that today’s media landscape is an ever changing plateau and the fact that people now want direct access to content, we are definitely utilizing the power of social media like Pinterest, Tumblr and we recently launched a Facebook fanpage totally dedicated to Christy’s Oldham’s How To Have A Healthy & Happy Dog Manual. There, as an author, she can engage her fans with a stream of up to date information, appearances, events she will attend etc. In addition, we are planning to build a Photomundo publishing iPhone & Android app that will have video, feature fun games, and an incentives and rewards program.

What is your editorial philosophy?

My philosophy is that we have to connect with our readers, we have to defend intellectual freedom, people should be able to read whatever they choose, whenever they want, we have to develop new marketing and promotional strategies for brand maintenance, we have to develop competence in all areas of new media and its relation to the book publishing industry. We will continue to practice and maintain author and reader participation through the use of social media fostering creative thought and expression.

You are an author too and have published The Adventures of Roger Eldemire (2013). How was the book received?

The Adventures of Roger Eldemire is based on a childhood experience with my German Shepherd named Ringo. The book was such an amazing dream come true, it was a great honor to do it because I loved my dog so much and I wanted to do something to preserve his memory. The book was well received and got wide online distribution. I was able to appear on a radio show, we are planning a YouTube show, we have plans to do a whole series of Children’s Books on Roger Eldemire and His Dog Ringo and eventually an animated series. We are really having fun with it. I also have a travel book I published on the Kindle called Discover Malta about the history and customs of the beautiful Mediterranean Island of Malta.

But actually this whole venture in publishing started with Christy Oldham’s Manual to A Happy & Healthy Dog (2012). How did you meet Christy R. Oldham?

Yes, this whole venture started with Christy as her book is our first official publication. Christy is an accomplished filmmaker in her own right having written, produced and directed an award winning film that went into mass distribution titled “Barracuda.” We met at the American Film Institute Film Festival in Hollywood, CA in November of 2012. She attended the event with her publicist who was friends with my publicist, so that’s how we met and she found out I was an animal lover and was writing a children’s book based on my dog. She shared with me that she owned a pet sitting company called Healthy Dogs and that she had the happiest and healthiest dogs ever. She told me that she had had compiled a manual over the course of five years on how she kept her canines in tip top shape, and thus the idea for her book was born. It was a collaborative effort that paid off.

So what are some of the tips this book gives dog owners?

Some of the tips that this book gives to dog owners are: how to control fleas, choosing the best dog toys, learning how to perform canine CPR, how to treat dog allergies and how to diagnose common canine problems like hip dysplasia, heart worms and canine distemper and separation anxiety.

What’s Photomundo Publishing editorial plan for the next year?

I visited the San Diego Comic Con this year and witnessed the future of the iPad and tablets in relation to the expanded boom of the visual narrative and tablet-based publications so this fits in perfectly with our plan to branch out into comic books and graphic novels and embrace the exciting new concept of motion books. We have already started to adapt a few scripts from our production company. We also plan to connect with print in demand bookstores where customers order their book online and have it printed locally. Of course we will still have our traditional paperback books, there are still people that like to browse through a bookstore, smell the paper etc.