This year has been an interesting year for Festoon Publishing with several books that had been in the “pipeline” for decades finally going to print.

It is not easy to “keep the ball rolling” when there are hinderances to getting the job done. Sometimes it is a technical issue, other times it could be a matter of book design or a “feel” for the finished product that needs time to consider, as well as issues to do with marketing, cover design and so forth. Whatever the case, there are many hurdles that need to be addressed before the author gets to hold the completed book in their hands. In that regard, 2024 has been quite a successful year in seeing SEVEN BOOKS  being published.

The booklet: ‘The True Story of Aunt Mabel’s Dead Cat’ by Jon Holden had two unsuccessful book launches before finally getting some attention at The Dimond Book Garden earlier this month. The unsuccessful book launches at various libraries in the South Burnett was a disappointment due to unforeseen circumstances arising that prevented library staff from being able to get behind the book launch with advertising of the event that they are normally delighted to do. So, without the advertising, nobody knew of the event and consequently nobody came!

An informal meeting with Sarah and Tanya Dimond at the Dimond Book Garden earlier this month allowed for a chance to let the public know that there was a great Christmas story written by a local author who could do a book signing event at their store (at Circular Place off Glendon Street Kingaroy.) Thank you Sarah and Tanya, it was a marvellous time of book signing  and chatting with customers with many copies being sold to people looking for a good read for themselves or for their children during the Christmas holidays.

Another milestone was the publishing of a set of four children’s books  in October by Susan Holden. The four books were decades in the making with many hold-ups encountered along the way, but the finished product makes the effort of pursuing this task quite rewarding. Each story is a lesson in personal development for pre-schoolers and young children alike, with illustrations that captivates the imagination and rhyming verse to tantalise their interest. This set of books has yet to have a book launch – more to be heard about this in the new year!

Sarah in her bookstore

The latest book to be published this year was a marvellous children’s story by Julia Green called “The Turtle That Learnt to Dance.” This is Julia’s second children’s book to be published, the first being “The Spider With No Nose” which was published in September last year. As you can tell by the title to these books, they are books that ooze with imagination and flair!

Earlier this month, Festoon Publishing had the privilege of publishing a book for a client that gave credit to their family history in this district for over the past 100 years! Oh! that every family in this district could be enriched with such a family heritage to look back upon, I am sure that we would all be part of a far better society.

What has 2025 in store for us? Who can tell! One thing for sure though, is that it will not be a better society to live in UNLESS WE MAKE IT SO! Hopefully Festoon Publishing can play its part in making this coming year a better year than the one that we had before. Happy NEW YEAR!

Jon. Holden