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They create on their terms

By Helen Anne Travis, Times Staff Writer
In print: Saturday, July 5, 2008

Tony Finkelstein, left, and Doug Travers work on a recording in the Oculus Media studio, a converted shed. Oculus started in publishing. Travers and Ellie Daulton added the musical element.
	[MIKE PEASE | Times]

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WESLEY CHAPEL — Could creating a corporation save others from "going corporate"? The members of Oculus Media want to find out.

Oculus Media is a grass roots and backyard — literally — music and publishing company run in and around Kimbo Savino's mobile home.

Company meetings are held on the front porch. Manuscripts are edited over wine, cheese and pepperoni slices. Before book conventions, the company's promotional items are organized on the kitchen table as a pup named Sage vies for attention.

"Whatever corporate America is, we're at the opposite end of the spectrum," said Doug Travers, 64, who runs a recording studio — a converted shed — in the front yard.

Savino, 44, a writer and editor, founded the company last July to help new authors become established.

"It's impossible to break in right now," she said.

Agents are expensive, she said, and it's tough to get the attention of the big publishing houses without one.

When someone contacts Aisling Press, the publishing division of Oculus, the e-mail lands directly in Savino's in-box.

Oculus started in the printing arena. But the corporation expanded when a 33-foot trailer pulled into Savino's front yard in October.

Travers and Ellie Daulton, local legends in the folk music world, were behind the wheel. For eight years, they hosted concerts in their Lutz home before hitting the road in their trailer in search of gigs and like-minded folks.

They played some shows in the Northeast and visited family, but after a few months headed back to Florida because of high gas prices.

Their home was sold by then, and the couple wasn't interested in hanging out at a senior citizens trailer park. They headed to Savino's.

"We figured if we're going to go anywhere permanently, it's here," said Daulton, 70.

Daulton and Travers met Savino at one of their house concerts. They had the same ideals: community life and living "off the grid." They even shared an interest in American Indian house decorations. They clicked.

"I think Doug and Ellie were one of my most precious finds," Savino said.

Though the two are technically retired, Daulton, a former English teacher, edits Aisling manuscripts, and Travers, a sound engineer, built and runs the recording studio, called LuvSounders.

Due to the size constraint of a converted shed, LuvSounders is mostly used for voice recordings.

Clients so far include a man who recorded a voiceover for an aeronautical supply company's instructional video and Andromeda Library, a streaming Internet radio program.

Savino says Oculus is starting to break even. She has amassed a network of artists, authors and editors, locally and from as far away as Washington and California, to help with Oculus. No one is making any money yet, but Savino hopes the company will continue to grow.

She is hammering out the details of landing Aisling Press novels in the big bookstores. Some are already available for preorder on the Barnes & Noble Web site.

Savino hopes that the artists and authors can eventually make enough money through Oculus to give up their day jobs.

Her husband, Tom, 45, still works for "the man." He's a network engineer specialist at Verizon during the day.

He also creates and runs Oculus' Web sites.

"Eventually, he would like to get to the point where he could work from home, too," Savino said.

Helen Anne Travis can be reached at htravis@sptimes.com or (352) 521-6518.