Former Lulu employee creates Raleigh/Outer Banks publishing house

March 23, 2010 - PRLog -- SOUTHERN SHORES, NC - Anthony S Policastro, a former business analyst at Lulu.com, an online publishing company, has created Outer Banks Publishing Group, one of the first book publishers to use state-of-the-art digital printing, viral marketing, and social networking and web optimization tools to brand, promote, and sell author’s books.

Outer Banks Publishing Group is the brainchild of Policastro, who believes there is a better way to publish and promote authors by first creating an ebook, promoting and creating “buzz” on the Internet and then moving into the printed product after the work has proven itself in digital form.

“The publishing industry as we know it is undergoing a paradigm shift,” Policastro said. "Ebook sales are exploding while printed book sales are dwindling. The Internet, social networking, digital printing, and electronic books are disruptive technology and Outer Banks Publishing Group is one of the first publishing houses to embrace those technologies.”

“The publishing industry is moving too slow to adapt these new technologies and the result is that many authors cannot get into print,” Policastro said. “Many authors are turning to self-publishing and self-promotion. Outer Banks Publishing Group is bridging the gap between authors and publishers and getting more authors in print.”

The new company will use viral marketing, social networking and web optimization tools to promote and sell its authors.

“We will show authors how to create a significant web presence with blog tours, web sites, blogs and web optimization,” Policastro said. “We will use print on demand digital technologies to create physical books and this means there are no warehousing or print run costs.”

The company has locations in Raleigh and in Southern Shores on the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

“The Outer Banks was where the first flight was born and so it is fitting that Outer Banks Publishing Group is one of the first publishers to use all the latest Internet and digital tools to promote and sell books,” Policastro said.

“The Outer Banks is known internationally for its pristine beaches and sub-tropic waters and it seems a perfect name to launch one of the first of its kind publishing house,” Policastro added.

Policastro, a published novelist and writer, a former journalist, and photographer brings an “author’s perspective” to Outer Banks Publishing Group knowing full well the storms writers face in becoming a published author.

Policastro was the former editor-in-chief of Carolina Style magazine, a regional lifestyle publication similar to Southern Living magazine. His background is in publishing, technology, business intelligence, and communications. He has published articles in The New York Times, American Photographer, Oceans and other national, regional, and local publications.

He has two Bachelor of Arts degrees – one in Creative Writing, and another in American Studies from Penn State University, both of which have greatly enhanced his writing career.

He currently writes a blog with Michael Neff, author and creator and editor of the Webdelsol and Algonkian websites, about writers’ issues called The Writer’s Edge. Policastro and Neff have been referred to as the Ebert and Roeper of the literary scene with their point/counterpoint posts.

Policastro believes Outer Banks Publishing Group’s unique approach to book publishing will help launch publishing into the 21st century and beyond.

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Outer Banks Publishing is one of the first publishing house of its kind to use the latest digital printing technologies, social networking, virtual marketing, and the Internet to publish, promote, and sell your book.