Who am I?
This recent interview will introduce me to you. Click the link for a You Tube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu2fdrPDQHk
Who are we?
We are an Indie publishing company that exists to help new talent complete the struggle to produce their art and bring it to market. We have been doing that for some years ourselves and have learned some of the pitfalls of the process. We have learned how to help ourselves first.
What are we not?
We don't write, produce or publish children's books, recipe books, gardening books, pornography, erotic thrillers or Harlequin romances. We don't produce self-help books or personal motivation books with messages teaching you how to improve your psyche or gather great piles of money to buy several homes and yachts. We know who those authors and hucksters are. Those things are fine and serve their readers, but not what we do.
What are the troubles we've seen?
The traditional publishers of old, the big five, won't talk to you. They don't want to know you. If William Faulkner came to them today, they would tell him they have no time for unknown authors. Their structure and organization only exists to support their stable of established successful authors. Furthermore, you must get an agent they respect to come see them about you. An agent will tell you he has no time for new talent. If all this is true, logic dictates both of these entities will cease to exist in the near future.
There are many "self-publishing" companies out there that will help you self-publish. Of course, you are not self-publishing; they are doing it in your behalf. They will feed on your dreams and make you promises they cannot keep. They will offer to sell you great packages of long lists of features and services for a lot of money. You will only need some of the services. They will raise your hopes that a big publisher will pick you up and that will not happen; at least not that way.
There are bigger self-publishing support companies that will publish you on-the-cheap, sometimes nearly free. Used judiciously, they can serve some of your purposes. They will be the publisher-of-record and you will not. They earn their money at the backend and you will receive less royalties. You won't own your own self and that can close doors to you later.
What do we want to do for you?
We want to raise you up and be the wind beneath your wings. No kidding. Too corny, cheesy, mawkish, overly sentimental, trite, anacronistic? Precisely not. If that is off-putting, we are not for you.
Have you ever attended a Broadway musical, read a book or poetry, listened to music, looked at a great painting, or watched a dance that brought you to tears? Do you want to write with that purpose for your readers, but with integrity and truth, remaining true to yourself? That is how we write. That is what we believe in. It is about the passion, the beauty and the art.
That is why we want to help you. We haven't even thought about being paid for that service yet. We will talk to you on the phone, exchange e-mails, read your manuscripts, advise you the best we can and report our findings and suggestions. That is what Joan Austin did for David Claire Jennings when I began my first serious book. It is a blessing to find a muse. Even William Shakespeare knew that and had his Ann Hathaway. We will charge something as a consultation fee when we figure that out.
If you write with full heart, for great purpose and to produce serious art, that is what we do and want to help you in ways that we believe we can.
Note:
Our own books are historical novels and non-fiction of a variety of subjects.
Perhaps the first historical novelist and inventor of the art form was Sir Walter Scott. Arthur Herman in his book, How The Scotts Invented the Modern World, referred to Scott:
"The historical novel became a distinct art form, a way of making the past come alive through an intriguing blend of imaginative fantasy and meticulous fidelity to historical truth - a form that has proved more successful with modern readers (18th century) than history itself."
The difference between historical non-fiction and historical fiction is just a matter of the historic writer's perspective. Viewpoint or perspective abounds even within the frame of non-fiction. Therefore, historical fiction cannot be demeaned or dismissed for its validity.