The book’s authors, Sandra Metcalfe and Alan Hall, addressing an earlier meeting on the new book.
A series of free meetings tomorrow and Saturday signals an important stage in the launch of a book chronicling seven years of research into Te Awamutu’s historically rich architecture.
It will bring the public up to date with progress, and organisers hope it will boost the pre-sales vital to giving printers the green light.
The target for pre-sales is 333.
Research for the book, entitled ‘A Bricks & Mortar Legacy: Stories of Commercial Buildings in Te Awamutu 1890–1957’, has been led by members of the Te Awamutu branch of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists. It has been authored by Alan Hall and Sandra Metcalfe and covers the stories of 32 local buildings.
Earlier public meetings about the book have been popular, and now, with the July 1 print date looming, the community will be updated this week.
The May 10-11 line-up at the Te Awamutu Library will cover the importance of preserving built heritage, DNA as a tool for genealogists and how to research your home. It will also feature talks by New Zealand architects FC Daniell and Archie Macdonald – both of whom have designed some of the buildings included in the book.
Metcalfe said the road to this point had been a long one. “Once we go to print on July 1, we will have a hard copy available to show people exactly what this quality coffee-table type publication looks like. From July 1, it will then take about four months for the book to be delivered back to New Zealand and distributed.”
Earlier this year, the genealogy society said the only cost-effective way they could bring the book out was to pre-sell copies to fund publishing and marketing costs. The authors’ work has been pro-bono, and the Te Awamutu Chamber of Commerce stepped up to offer support the initiative with a sales channel.
A portion of the initial print-run target of 500 had to be pre-sold to make the arrangement financially viable. Metcalfe said on Monday that they have received 198 pre-publication orders to date.
“Our break-even point is 333 copies, and we want to achieve that before we go to print on July 1,” she said. “We are well into steering the project to fruition. The key though is to keep those pre-sales levels up so we reach that number of 333 before July 1.”
Meetings from 12pm tomorrow will include displays and short talks on the topics and will offer information on how to purchase the book.
