ANYONE who's written something and tried to have it published will tell you it's not an easy road.
Early last year, two colleagues met in West Melbourne to discuss how they might bring their creative output to the world at large - and their publishing company Spikeback Books was born.
It has the slogan Where Grey Matters and has now published books by six older authors.
The two men believe that older unpublished writers and creative people, with their life experiences ready to be unpacked for all generations, need to be fostered and encouraged into the world of readers, while they still have the time.
One of those men is Howard Birnstihl, art teacher-cum-photographer turned writer, who is prolific with camera and pen.
The other, Tony London, is an ex-teacher, principal and consultant to independent schools, and a passionate teacher of literature.
It's the first time they've worked together since they attended Upwey High School in the late 1950s-early '60s.
They collaborated on one of Spikeback's first titles, Rearview Mirror, which featured Tony's poetry and Howard's photos.
Howard, 73, was a pioneer teacher of film in high schools. He has also produced and published teaching aids, and with his wife, founded a major national photographic library. He started writing 25 years ago.
"Writing became a great thing for me. The more you write, the more you think you can publish," he said.
"Not long ago the only way you could get published was
if you knew someone; it's staggering to think of all the books not published.
"There's so much potential out there among older people and these days we're considered differently from 20 years ago. It's mind-boggling what older people are doing.
"We want to inspire older writers and help them by publishing them, or encouraging and helping them self-publish.
"But we're not just aiming at older readers. We want to be a general publisher and have a broad reach."
Howard's love of film is borne out in his first two major novels, The Colour of Film Noir and Heroine.
Other authors published by Spikeback are Tony London, Alan Pearson, Robyn Collins, Garnet James and Sam Spencer.
- (03) 9326-5314, www.spikebackbooks.com
