The Ton Run & Other Stories

The Ton Run & Other Stories is a novel by Byron Bay author Lester Brien, paired with four extra short stories of rural and coastal life in the Byron Bay area.

Sadly, Lester passed away in February 2017. He was remembered publicly in Australian media for his legal work, writing, and colorful persona. See for instance the ABC’s obituary, Byron Bay mourns the loss of “surfing lawyer” Lester Brien, and Swellnet’s Vale Lester Brien: Farewell to surfing’s funniest dude. Lester asked us to retire his website, and the print edition is no longer available, but you can still buy an e-book version of The Ton Run from Amazon.

We took this project all the way through from manuscript to publication—Lester brought us a manuscript of around 25,000 words, to which he later added the stories to give the print work more heft. We edited the manuscript, then typeset it for print and produced e-book files.

For the cover design, Lester brought in local designer Sam Clarke, who we worked with to refine the design, get it ready for print, and create graphics for Lester’s website at thetonrun.com. We also worked with Lester’s choice of printer, Melbourne-based Griffin Press, to arrange a first run of 500 copies.

Did we mention that we made the website, too? Built on WordPress, the world’s most widespread content management system for websites, thetonrun.com uses a modular framework that makes it easy to reposition elements on the page and create new calls to action, contact forms and other interactive elements. We also integrated a payment service that allows Lester to sell print books from his own website, and have shipping costs calculated depending on whether the buyer is local or international.

You can get The Ton Run & Other Stories as an e-book from Amazon.

Project cost: $2600 (+ external design and printing)