This week at Valley Press, #88: 'Meet the REO'

Hello!

It’s Wendy Pratt here, I’m one of the Valley Press authors (see more about my book, Gifts the Mole Gave Me, here) and I’m also the newly appointed Reader Engagement Officer for the wonderful Valley Press. Part of my new role is to keep the Valley Press social media accounts full of interesting book-related stuff for you all to enjoy, which is fun for me as I now have a reason for spending so much time on Twitter. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, or all three if you want the full Valley Press experience. I also field enquiries from the general public, so if you want to get in touch (head here) please do, we’d love to hear your views and reviews. Let us know what you love and what you don’t and we’ll always try to answer. One of the best things about being the Reader Engagement Officer is that I get to spend time promoting books, authors, events, festivals and reading in general. My love of books is why I became a writer in the first place, so this is something akin to my dream job. Plus, the office is in the beautiful Woodend Creative Arts Centre which is abuzz with creative people doing creative things on all levels. They have a gorgeous little shop there too, well worth popping in if you’re passing.

I will try not to bang on too much about how brilliant Valley Press are, but I did want to say a couple of things. We don’t celebrate small publishers enough, in my opinion, which is why social media is such a great platform for spreading the word. There are some smashing small publishers out there and I have been lucky enough to work with several. One of the things that has impressed me the most about Valley Press is their way of working; it’s a mix of kindness, professionalism and enjoyment. The office always feels like it’s full of people who genuinely love books and love to see people reading. And it’s fascinating to be on the other side of the submissions portal and see how the team work to bring new titles together. All the submissions are read diligently, and with an open mind, which is why the turnaround time can be quite a long one.

If you do get a rejection, why not drop me a line and I might be able to help point you towards mentors, courses and helpful websites that will help you polish up your work. Try not to be put off, rejection is part of the writing life, I’m afraid, but it’s not personal. I’ll never forget the day I got the email saying Valley Press were publishing my book. It came at a time when my confidence was a bit wobbly and it just felt wonderful to be given a chance by them. I’d bought a few of their titles before and was always very impressed with the aesthetics of the covers, the tactile feel of the books and the details in the typeface and layout. From being on the other side (of the office door, not death) I can see how much thought is put into each one, and that’s because they want the experience to be a good one for the writer and the reader. So bear with us, if you’re waiting to hear; it won’t be long. We’re expecting to have decisions on all outstanding submissions by March, and the next submissions window will likely open soon after (if not before).

Enough of the sentimentality, you’ll be wanting some actual news I imagine, and here it is:

• We were incredibly excited to hear that BBC Radio 4 will be featuring a poem by Valley Press author Norah Hanson on Poetry Please! You can hear Norah’s wonderful poem ‘Grafters’ on Sunday 28th January.
• The official Chinese launch of How Old Dan Became a Tree by Yang Zhengguang was held in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province (apparently in China’s biggest bookshop – see header image for a sense of scale). Several hundred members of the public attended the event, and we’re told some enthusiastic readers queued for more than an hour to obtain the author’s signature!
• And our latest anthology Verse Matters had a brilliant write up in the Yorkshire Post.

What a week!

That’s it from me, I hope I’ve not bored you with my sickeningly positive appraisal of Valley Press. Do check into social media, we have a few lovely new regular features coming up which you won’t want to miss.

Have a bookish weekend

Wendy
x

This week at Valley Press, #85: 'Nearly there'

Dear readers,

The year is winding down, and as of today, Valley Press can begin to do the same. Our penultimate book of 2017, Verse Matters, was successfully launched in Sheffield last night at another emotional, inspiring event (pictured above). Manning the book stall in a charming space known as the Holt, I met a lot of brilliant new writers that I'll be wanting to keep an eye on – and so should you. The anthology is absolutely crammed with talent, young and old, with poems and prose from the first-time-published sitting comfortably alongside brilliant new work from a handful of featured 'A-listers' (if poets can aspire to such a term!)

There's still time to grab a copy or twelve before Christmas, and of course if you use discount code HAMPER (valid until noon on Monday 18th) you'll get 15% off and be entered into a prize draw to win £200 of fine VP publications. After that, please remember to get any and all Christmas orders placed by midday on Thursday 21st, before we close the office and the post elves hang up their satchels for a few well-earned days of rest.

The hamper offer also applies to our final book of the year, which I can (at last!) reveal is titled Prideaux Angels (pronounced 'pre-dough'). It's a beautifully-illustrated children's story, based on a series of promenade performances at Prideaux Place, Cornwall, happening from tomorrow up until Boxing Day (details here). You can only get this book at those performances or through our website – it's an exclusive, a limited edition (only 500 copies of this version will ever be printed), and actually very attractive indeed:

Credit goes to Kimberly Campanello for writing a story that is charming and festive (with just that hint of darkness that is essential for a Christmas classic), and that works both as a dance piece and as words on a page; no easy task. Then there's renaissance man Simon Birch, choreographer and illustrator for the project – we're delighted to add both of them to our ever-growing roster of Valley Press authors. Find out more about the book via its homepage here, and do consider making one of the performances if you live nearby.

Next week's newsletter will be the last one of the year, and I'm planning a 'lap of honour' reviewing the highs and lows of 2017 ... except, missing out the lows, because who wants them so close to the holidays?! I may have one last bit of big news too, so hang on in there and watch this space (and as ever, thanks for reading).

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #82: 'Eggs and baskets'

Dear readers,

Whenever I think we've reached our peak, in terms of events, projects and activities, Valley Press finds a new way to get even busier and send its poor overworked publisher running back to his desk. Not today though; I'm resting up after a bad cold to see if I can make it to yet another glitzy award ceremony in Scarborough this evening. (I'm up for 'Young Entrepreneur' against two bakers, which is a bit of a conflict as I love food and books equally, and am keen to support anything that encourages more baking...)

Today's newsletter is a textbook example of what working on several projects at once looks like, which is also a key topic in this week's 'Friday Morning Meeting' podcast (they're going to be fortnightly, if that hasn't been made apparent before). Towards the end, in what's probably my favourite part, we deconstruct the 'eggs in one basket' idiom – how many baskets/eggs are ideal? Would an egg and spoon race be preferable? We also compare managing a publisher to playing Tetris... it's not all metaphors though, don't worry!

If that's not enough snazzy, 21st-century digital media for you, I also have three videos from Wendy Pratt's Gifts the Mole Gave Me launch event to share. As you can see from the header image, it was held in our favourite room at VP HQ, and attracted a sizable and enthusiastic crowd (hooray!) Wendy had two brilliant support acts, so you have three poetry videos to watch if you feel inclined: Caroline Hardaker, Oz Hardwick and then Wendy herself.  (Enjoy some positive heckling 1min 40sec into Caroline's video, courtesy of perhaps the keenest newsletter reader of all, who also gets some decent airtime in the podcast. You know who you are!)

* * *

There are two books I need to give a serious plug to this week, and the first is Quantum Theory for Cats, which you may recall is being launched at Waterstones York, Friday 1st December from 7pm. This is a debut pamphlet from Ian Stuart, who cites Stevie Smith and Robert Frost as his main influences. Like those literary heavyweights, he champions the art of 'complex simplicity'; the poetry can be witty and wry, but remains serious about its interest in the human experience.

Time I wheeled out a poem. This is one of the more understated pieces, but one that lingered with me long after I first read it:


Phone Call

‘Do you remember, years ago,’ he said,
‘we met up in some bookshop. I was with
my sister. She was quite impressed with you –
said you had a gentleness, an air
of understanding – and a lovely voice.’

‘That’s nice,’ I said, yet knowing as I spoke
I had no memory of that day at all.
It wasn’t me they’d met.

The conversation ended, but he stayed,
my doppelganger – kindly, gentle, calm –
the kind of man I once hoped I’d become.

I look for him each morning in the mirror
and sometimes catch a glimpse,
but then he’s gone.


Ian's pamphlet was the one book this year where I decided to handle every stage of production myself, harking back to days long gone by. I didn't draw the cat on the cover though, that was the work of – fun VP trivia alert! – Ben Hardaker, husband of Caroline Hardaker, our most recent pamphlet author (and in fact Caroline did some of the shading on the final article). Quite the supportive little community we have here!

The next book in our schedule, while also filed under 'poetry', couldn't be more different. Verse Matters is our second big 2017 anthology, and has involved two distinguished editors, cover design by rising star Mandy Barker (of Sail Creative), typesetting by internationally famed text-wrangler Gerry Cambridge, and includes new material from the following writers:

Liz Berry, Bashar Farahat, River Wolton, Shirin Teifouri, Rachel Bower, Sai Murray, Malika Booker, Helen Mort, Vicki Morris, Char March, Mimi Mesfin, Jacob Blakesey, Hannah Copley, S J Bradley, Nick Allen, Wendy Pratt, Jo Irwin, Charlotte Ansell, Warda Yassin, Louise Clines, Catherine Ayres, Ethel Maqeda, Katherine Henderson, Sez Thomasin, Beth Davies, Hollie McNish, Laurie Bolger, Shelley Roche Jacques, Kate Garrett, Debjani Chatterjee, Amy Kinsman, Carol Eades and Suzannah Evans.

Some very familiar names in there, and some exciting 'emerging talent' too. It's all inspired by the legendary Verse Matters spoken word night in Sheffield, and we'll be heading to that fair city on the 14th December to enjoy a launch event, featuring many of the writers mentioned above. Details of that are here.

It seems worth adding that, thanks to the generosity of the editors, all royalties from the book will be split between ASSIST Sheffield and the Cathedral Archer Project in Sheffield, two great causes worth looking up. More on this book next month.

* * *

If all that hasn't quite satisfied your appetite for literary engagement (you really are insatiable), there's also an in-depth review of John Wedgwood Clarke's Landfill on the Manchester Review, with Ian Pople giving that book the serious attention it deserves. Time to hang up my keyboard now, but I'll be back (inevitably) next week, to start the countdown to you-know-what. Plus, there's still time to squeeze in one extra book this year, that I haven't told anyone about yet...

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher                                   

This week at Valley Press, #49: 'Remembering'

Dear readers,

You may recall a book we published last year, titled Remembering Oluwale (with a title like that, how could you forget?) It's returned to the spotlight recently in various ways. One of the contributors won the 'Pitch and Pen' event we took part in during March, and is heading for a solo publication (the slow way – she still needs to write most of the book!) That encouraged me to re-read the anthology, and it's still as compelling a year on.

We're working on another anthology titled Verse Matters, due in November (eye-wateringly brilliant stuff, couldn't be more excited about that one), and during the first meeting today I heard that the editors were encouraged to offer it to Valley Press because of our great work on Remembering Oluwale. Particularly the design; so a big shout-out to Rosa Campbell, if she's reading. (She's very busy with her PhD at present.)

RO's editor SJ Bradley has been working tirelessly to get the book the attention it deserves, and this recently paid off in the form of a shortlisting for the Saboteur Awards. Unlike the typical literary awards, this one won't be decided in a secluded boardroom somewhere; it's a public vote, open until April 30th. Hustling for votes makes me feel a little queasy, but if you do feel compelled to give your opinions on literary matters, you can vote in all the award categories via their website here.

(I also heard SJ is gearing up to edit another 'prize anthology', this one exclusively for short stories – more details later in the year. That's probably a secret though, so shh!)

I'm constantly astonished at how a single project can send out ripples in all directions that don't become obvious until many months, or even years, later; that's been a big lesson from 2017 so far. The Chinese project I've been hinting at (which I will explain soon, I promise) originated from someone attending one of our very first book launches in 2011 – over the years, word spread from that room in Scarborough library to the foothills of the Qinling Mountains, in the middle of China.

That's all I've got to say this week, though after all this it would be remiss of me not to offer you 20% off Remembering Oluwale; use code REMEM at the checkout to claim that. Oh, and I also enjoyed reading this blog post by one of the 'winners' of our 2016 submissions process, Caroline Hardaker, who has a pamphlet coming out in early October. It's a rare insight into what happens after we say 'yes'; something I'm hoping to do a lot more in the near future.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher