This week at Valley Press, #91: 'The Elements'

Dear bookish types,

It’s been another couple of exciting weeks here at Valley Press HQ, with visits from poetry royalty, a graphic novel launch, new books in the Valley Press shop and plans afoot for a Mother’s Day offer. But first, let me tell you about the gorgeous and unseasonable sunshine we’ve had here in Scarborough – it’s been so beautiful that we’ve all been out in the Woodend gardens, sunbathing and drinking home-made lemonade.

OK, that is a total lie. We’re on the east coast and managed to get the full force of the ‘Beast from the East’, causing hugely exciting drifts of alien-like foam over the seafront and much panic-buying of bread and milk in our local supermarket. It did not stop the tenacious and dedicated Valley Press staff from sledging, skiing and snow booting in to the office though; you can see the blizzard from our office window here and another great viewpoint here.

Before the worst set in, we were treated to a right royal visit – poetry royalty, that is – in the shape of the Bard of Barnsley, Ian McMillan. Ian had been running a writing workshop over at the Scarborough Art Gallery, and had accepted an invitation to see our offices (since they're just a few metres away). He was particularly taken with our world literature, and took a copy of Ye Guangqin's Mountain Stories away with him (along with a few other treats). If you don’t follow Ian on Twitter (@IMcMillan), you really should think about it for his early morning stroll tweets if nothing else. They’re little pockets of poetry all on their own, in fact his whole thread is filled with interesting poetry stuff, funny things and really lovely photos. He’s a noticer of things, is Ian, and a sharer. We like that.

The last couple of weeks also saw the successful launch of How to Disappear Completely, in Leeds. It was a great event, held by Tall Boys Beer Market in association with OK Comics, with a really good mix of people... one of them, aspiring film-maker Tom Box, even produced this music video documenting the night. The graphic novel is a bit of a departure from what we usually print, but we like to think that we have impressively eclectic tastes! Give it a go, you will like it.

Next up, news of a new book. This is the best bit of my job, telling all you lovely people about the brilliant authors we are able to support. Trace Elements is Nigel Forde’s first collection with Valley Press, after a long career in the poetry spotlight, and it is something very special. I try to read each book that comes out of the Valley Press publishing house, because it means I can really get behind them and know what I’m talking about; so I can tell you that the poems in this collection are delicate, fine-boned, and do not bludgeon the reader into submission. Instead, they speak softly about what it is to be human, the Ying and Yang of it all. It’s a smashing collection and you should certainly consider it as your next poetry purchase.

Speaking of which, we now get to our Mother’s Day offer. We are giving you 15% off until 3pm on Thursday with voucher code MOTHER on any purchase through our website. And there’s more, oh yes! Because we want to make it dead easy for you to treat your mum, we are throwing in a handmade Mother’s Day card, worth £3.00, printed by my own fair hands while it has been snowing and I have had cabin fever. They look like this:

So, just to clarify, all you have to do is buy your lucky mum one (or more) titles from the Valley Press shop, add the code 'MOTHER' at the checkout, and your book(s) and card will be sent out to you in the post. (You won’t have to venture out and risk polar bears or walruses in the tundra conditions out there.) If you want an alternatively-worded card for Gran, Auntie, or anyone else, just let us know and we will do the best we can to make your Mother’s Day a good one. People who care for us should be celebrated, and we might well be biased, but we think the best way of doing that is by offering cracking, first-rate literature. Chocolates often go down well too, but if we had those in the office we wouldn’t be able to control ourselves and all the books would be covered in sticky fingerprints.

That’s about it from me for this week, have a wonderfully bookish weekend. May I suggest a warm radiator or a roaring fire, a Valley Press book and a glass of something lovely and tummy-warming?

Best wishes,
Wendy Pratt (Reader Engagement Officer)

This week at Valley Press, #51: 'Ten per cent'

Dear readers,

Sorry to use a coin in the header again – sometimes finding an appropriate, creative image for what I've got to say is beyond me! (Particularly last thing on a Friday afternoon.) Ten per cent of what, anyway?

Some work is being done on our website, behind the scenes, and as part of that we discussed the reward which newsletter subscribers receive for ploughing through these missives each week. The current system is a touch vague, and doesn't really work as a reward or an incentive, so a new offer has been agreed on: from today onwards, subscribers of the newsletter are entitled to 10% off any purchase through the Valley Press website. Not bad eh? The web guys are working on a system to make that apply automatically, but in the meantime you can use the code TENFOREVER to get your 10% off (named after the period of time we intend this offer to apply).

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In other exciting news: we followed through on our promise in the last newsletter, and submissions for new books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction are once again open at Valley Press. It feels good! Based on overwhelming feedback from last year, the 'form' is now filled out online – you just need to go here and follow the instructions. Please excuse any teething problems with this system; it's very new.

Also, please note we're going entirely paperless with subs from now on. A4 envelopes were wonderful when we had 100 coming in a year, but with 600 (and presumably more in future) the logistics just get too difficult. We actually lost a few envelopes, it turns out – which were posted recorded delivery – so hoping that won't happen again with the new spreadsheet/email system (and the diligent efforts of Tess each Saturday).

Last week I requested more volunteers for our submissions reading group (which I'm thinking of re-dubbing the 'editorial board' in future, sounds more prestigious). Thankfully, there was a big response – you people really are wonderful. Many readers sent CVs and details of their qualifications; wonderful, but definitely not necessary! If you buy and read books, you're qualified. All I need is a brief message, and you're in.

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Finally, I learned earlier today that one of our 2013 interns (and her colleagues... and future generations of UK children) are desperately in need of your help. Stephanie Cox and co. have been working on a petition to make mental health education compulsory in primary and secondary schools; and when I say working, I mean time, expense, effort and sacrifice for months – only to have the rug pulled from under them this week, with their deadline reduced by two months due to the snap election.

They now need to get to 100,000 signatures by May 3rd, if they want the issue to reach parliament; so if you're a UK citizen, please consider signing the petition here, and sharing the link of course. This isn't going to become a regular thing, but I felt this was a particularly good cause that had been particularly screwed by the system.

Next week: details of our China project, at last.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press: 'You are going back'

Dear readers,

This coming Thursday sees the release of Mr Jolly, the first collection of short stories by Michael Stewart. He's authored hit novels and a slim volume of poetry in the past – all brilliant, of course – but I think short fiction is his real speciality. You may disagree ... but at least now, with the book very nearly out in the world, we can have an informed discussion on the subject.

A keen observer and chronicler of human behaviour, Michael also likes to make things a little bit weird, building most of the stories around a 'mind-bendingly original concept' (to quote my blurb), populating them with some painfully relatable characters, then throwing in the blackest of black comedy to seal the deal. Several years ago, the novelist David Peace described Michael as a 'unique, yet authentic northern voice', and he completely hit the nail on the head – unique, but completely authentic; that's all you need to know.

'Mr Jolly' refers to a particular character in the book, but could apply to most of them, so long as you use the right ironic tone. The handsome chap in this week's header image, for example, epitomises the kind of jolliness found within. He 'pops up' in one of my favourite stories from the book, 'You Are Going Back', which I've put online here to be read in its entirety.

If you've got your diary in hand, and fancy a trip to West Yorkshire, Mr Jolly is being launched at the Huddersfield Literature Festival on the 9th March; details here (Facebook event here). I'll be there with my stall, and the usual great discounts!

Talking of discounts: I owe you one, don't I. This week's half-price paperback is Sue Wilsea's Staying Afloat – our last single-author short story collection, from way back in 2012 (we must try and do more!) To borrow a tiresome Amazon-esque phrase, if you like Mr Jolly you're almost guaranteed to like Staying Afloat, so they'd make a good joint purchase. You can treat yourself to the older book at half-price by entering the code 50FLOAT at the checkout.

This week's newsletter has been a bit sales-heavy, hasn't it – sorry about that! I'm going to run out of news and new books at some point, so if there are any subjects you'd like me to discuss here in future (or any questions you want to ask?) please do drop me a line and let me know.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press: 'History' in the making

Dear readers,

This week we brought a new book into the world, our first since November. History is the debut collection by Northumberland-​based poet David O'Hanlon; the first product of our two submissions periods last year. The volunteers were all over this one on the July 'reading day'; words like wow and fantastic adorned the envelope by 5pm, and it was unanimously agreed to be a 'must' for the 2016 list.

So what's it about, and why all the fuss? Half the book is actually a re-telling of ancient myths (including my favourite, 'Danaus', which you can read here.) What David has done with these familiar stories is astonishing – he's pulled out the crucial elements from each, found a completely original way of reading them, and delivered this to us in poetry that is perfectly constructed, down to each individual comma. I don't say this lightly, but in my view, that part of the book is an achievement to rival Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife.

The other poems are mostly studies of personal history, including an epic 'bildungsroman' describing a twelve-year struggle to paint an authentic picture of the sky – that's where the concept for the cover came from (it's pictured above, if you haven't seen it). These poems have plenty of their own myths, too; it all ties together beautifully. Suffice to say, I really think this book is worth reading; you can find it on our website here.

In other news, if you want your Valentine's fix, you could do a lot worse than read this wonderful article about modern love poetry by The Telegraph, featuring such charming folk as The Emma Press, Andrew McMillan and Warsan Shire. Better still, there's a new love poem by Richard O'Brien on the Emma/Valley blog, here – it's fantastic.

Richard's new poem (particularly the last line) reminded me of this classic by Matthew Hedley Stoppard; so I've decided to make Matthew's collection A Family Behind Glass our half-priced paperback of the week. You can find the book here; just enter the code FAMILY50 at the checkout to get the discount.

This is the fourth newsletter since I went weekly – hope you're all enjoying them so far! See you next week for more (and maybe a submissions update?)

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press: 'a new website is born'

Dear readers,

This week we've been finishing and launching our new website, which went live sometime early this morning – you can see it now, in all its cutting-edge glory, right here.

So far only a small handful of people have witnessed and used the new site, so I'd very much welcome any feedback, particularly if you run into errors. We'll be tweaking and fine-tuning it as we go along ... probably forever, in fact, as nothing stays still for long in the world of the internet. But it's here, at last, and I'm very excited indeed (though I appreciate it may not be quite as thrilling for you!)

To celebrate the launch, I'd like to jump straight on the Valentine's bandwagon and offer two of our love-related titles at half price: Sarah Holt's post-modern take on romantic fiction Love and Eskimo Snow, and Michael Stewart's fantastic high-concept poetry collection Couples. Click the links to find out more about each book.

You can get either, or both, of those in paperback at a massive 50% discount by entering this code when you reach the checkout: LOVEVP. This is the very first time we've done one of these codes, so it may not work flawlessly – but if you run into any problems, drop me a return email and I'll sort it.

I must take a moment to thank our web design agency, Askew Brook, who've given the 'new website' project an enormous amount of time, energy and passion over the last few months. They're actually based in Woodend, like ourselves and many other great businesses, so its great to be able to support that little ecosystem. Oh, and of course, big thanks to Arts Council England for funding the whole project.

Next week we'll be getting back to the serious business of publishing, with our first new publication of 2016; so there's something to look forward to!

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

The Valley Press Newsletter - December 2014

Note: to keep my half of this blog alive, I've decided to post my occasional Valley Press email newsletters on here too. Enjoy!  - J.M.

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Dear readers,

As another year of flat-out publishing comes to a close, I look back on 2014 with a modest amount of pride, and a lot of hope for the future - 2015 is going to be huge. But we're not there yet. I've managed to publish two more 2014 books since the November newsletter, and I feel strangely compelled to tell you about them...

A Pocketful of Windows is an anthology of powerful, original and accessible poetry from writers in North and East Yorkshire; selected, edited and arranged by VP author Felix Hodcroft. The RRP is just £3.99, for which you get 66 poems by 36 poets; aged between 16 and 92, including familiar names and first-timers.

Though formal reviews have yet to arrive, we've had some incredibly positive reactions at the various launch events for Pocketful; and more than 300 copies have been sold so far. You'll be hearing a lot more about this book in future I'm sure - but until then, you can read a sample and more information here. 

Also out this month: a new title from our Ink Lines imprint, selected and edited by the team at Dead Ink books (particularly, on this occasion, David Tait) and brought into the physical world by Valley Press. It's a marvellous pamphlet of poems by Richard O'Brien entitled A Bloody Mess; newsletter readers can see an exclusive sample here.

If you're not a regular visitor to our esteemed homepage, you may not know that there is a special offer on the go: any two books for £12, with free postage. This won't be around for long, so head over there and make the most of it. (Top tip: when ordering, look out for a prompt that says 'Click 'add' and name your two books now' - that's the important bit.) This is the first ever 'multibuy' offer on the VP site: if it's successful there may be more in future, so there's an incentive if you needed one!

In previous years I have kept my head down and worked through the festive season - pausing only for a sip of champagne on New Year's Eve - but this year I am attempting to genuinely take some time off. This is not simply so I can put my feet up and forget about dispersing quality literature for a while; I am getting married on the 22nd December, and it will be nice to actually see the new Mrs McGarry face-to-face, rather than from behind a big pile of book proofs (which is the usual scenario).

Valley Press will close down at 5pm on Wednesday 17th December, and re-open on Tuesday 6th January; but do feel free to email and order books during that time, I'll catch up when I get back. As for everyone who is waiting eagerly for news and developments on future projects ... just hang in there folks.

All the best,
Jamie McGarry
(Valley Press Editor)