Today, representatives from The Emma Press and Valley Press have announced the unprecedented news that the two small presses are ‘to be married’, in a secret ceremony at an as-yet-undisclosed location.
‘We’re keen to stress this is not a merger,’ says Valley publisher Jamie McGarry, ‘nor are any actual humans getting married. This has come about as we realised the two presses shared a great number of goals and ideals, and we wanted to think of a formal way of working together... without losing our individuality.’
Emma Wright, publisher at The Emma Press, said: ‘I first came across Valley Press when Jamie bought a book from me and we shared a brief but friendly email exchange. I looked him up and found that our approaches to publishing and our route into it were remarkably similar. You could say it was love at first (web)site.’
The Emma Press and Valley Press are both small, independent publishers specialising in poetry and characterised by their personal approach to publishing. Vows exchanged at the ceremony are expected to include the following:
* I plight thee my book news and event write-ups, to publish on our shared blog from this day forward.
* With my combined catalogue I thee cross-promote, and with all my worldly knowledge of sales and marketing opportunities I thee endow.
* I do swear to share a stand at bookfairs and co-host events, while retaining my own identity and separate list, in the presence of the Nielsen ISBN Agency I make this vow.
Both presses will appear on a panel about DIY Publishing at the CIT Northern Lights Writers’ Conference at the Waterside Arts Centre near Manchester on 12th October 2013.
