July 2026 LBP Update
Welcome to my LBP update for July 26!
A couple of months ago many of you were gracious enough to respond to a survey we put out. It was fantastic to read all of your thoughts and suggestions. We did read every single one, and I managed to give a personal reply to a few hundred of you.
One of the comments that came up a lot was that people were missing the updates I used to write, so I’m going to try get back into that habit with an LBP update at the end of each month, and a farm/life update at the start. Fingers crossed I can keep it up!
If you have any questions about LBP, books, life in Australia, or anything at all, please let me know and I’ll try to include answers in either my monthly LBP update, or the farm/life one. This space will evolve as I get comfortable writing and sharing again. The last few years we’ve had to batten down the hatches and just make it through, but things seem to be calming down again at last!
Survey
While it was a while ago I really want to thank everyone who had book suggestions or other feedback in the survey. I’ll talk more about some things that came up a few times in future letters, but for now I wanted to say that I have been busy sourcing many of the old books that were requested and have put them into production. In fact my list had over 500 books added to it, taking the total number of books released, in production, or in the resource-gathering phase to over 1500. (Or about 2.5x the amount of books that have actually been released!)
Sale
July started with our big sale. For the first couple of years, I didn’t hold a sale at this time of year since the 4th of July isn’t celebrated here in Australia. However, after numerous requests, I now try to host one annually. Sales are always a busy time trying to make sure all is ready, then ensuring the site isn’t crashing and keeping on top of all the orders. It makes the time fly! I went down with an ear infection for a week which didn’t help things at all. Thanks to everyone who grabbed something, and for all of your patience as the quantity of orders has made fulfillment a little slower than usual. I’m so fortunate to have a wonderful assistant who helps me out with all of the ordering, leaving me with more time to work on the books and look after customer service.
New Releases
I don’t like to release books during a sale, so I usually do a big dump at the beginning, then don’t release anything for a few weeks. This sale was no exception, and I released a lot more titles than I was expecting to; however many had been in production for years so I just wanted to get them out there!
The first bundle of books I released for the sale was the complete collection of Howard Pyle’s books. It’s been five years since I began working on these. They were complete and almost all had been proof read a few years ago, but I wanted to get the covers exactly right. I had a vision for the feel I wanted, but couldn’t quite get it to work. Until I found an artist who had exactly the style I was after. I loved seeing his videos coming in showing me his work as he created old woodcut style images (though working digitally) for each book. I broke his collection down into different series by using different colors while keeping the same layout for all of his books. I’m thrilled with how they came out. Whether you’re after classic stories of Arthur or Robin Hood, tales of Chivalry, or swashbuckling Pirate adventures, whimsical tales, or adult fiction, Pyle has something for everyone. Many of the books feature his stunning illustrations throughout also.
I’d been asked to release Aunt Jo’s Scrap-bags way back in COVID times, and had them all completed but never got around to the covers (this will be a regular refrain, they’re where I struggle most). Then a couple of years ago I was also asked for Lulu’s Library. I wanted a classic feel and I’m happy with what we came up with. Now to finish off the rest of Alcott’s books. They’re all on the way!
Pilgrim’s Progress/Christiana’s Journey
It feels so good to have these released. When I was starting out with my kids I hated having to work out where to stop reading each week. I ended up working out that there were about the same number of pages in the copy I had as there were school days, so we just did a page a day.
These were a huge undertaking, with hundreds of footnotes and references throughout. I’d worked hard on finding a nice old edition with beautiful woodcut images, a style I’m a big fan of. As a family who uses Ambleside Online as a spine, I wanted to have reading breaks marked in the text to show families easily where to stop each week. It doesn’t take much to work it out yourself, however if my doing that can save every family 2 minutes each week, then over a school year that’s over an hour of saved time, and it all adds up! I was often asked for these, so it feels great to finally be able to supply them.
Peeps at Many Lands Ancient Greece, Rome, Assyria
Ever since I released the Ancient Egypt book from this series a couple of years ago, I had a lot of messages asking about the rest of the series. Tracking down old copies to scan took a while, then we had to transcribe them, but they’re here. I really like this series. Keep an eye out for Ancient Crete and Ancient Palestine in the coming months to complete the series.Â
This time last year I had a surprising amount of requests for the Selous animal stories, so I tracked down some old copies and had them transcribed, and finally had quite a few ready to release. I wanted the covers to be like a kids notebook with a picture taped to the front, and I’m happy with how they came out. The first four books were released this month. Tommy Smith’s Animals, Tommy Smith’s Other Animals, Tommy Smith’s Birds, and Jack’s Insects. Keep an eye out for Tommy Smith at the Zoo and Tommy Smith Again at the Zoo which will be out soon, and then two The Zoo Conversations books to follow as soon as they’re proof read. If the originals had old photos I’ve updated them to new ones that are much clearer and easier to see.
Secret Project
There’s a secret project I’ve wanted to do since just after I started publishing that I think people will find really useful. Most of this month I was getting up at 4am so I could get extra hours of work done on it. I initially planned to launch it this week, but I am working with my web developer to build custom plugins that will improve its functionality. I will share more details soon.
ePub Releases
For the last 18 months all books that suit an ePub format have come with that at release, however it’s been taking a while to catch up on the backlog. I’m excited to say that currently there are only 2 books remaining, and they should be done in the next few weeks. If you’ve bought the big digital bundles the update will be there this December, however if you buy the physical books you’ll now also receive the epub with the PDF when royalty and rights agreements permit. I had 6 people working on them to get everything done before the sale, so I’m very pleased all worked out. I’m currently working on a way to let everyone know that the digital files are included free with particular books. If you have any ideas I’d love to hear them!
If you’ve made it this far, thank you! And a huge thanks to Renee who is doing a great job on my social media and taking these lovely photos.
