Friends of the Emma Press newsletter #3

Did you know you can support the Emma Press and all the work we do by becoming a subscriber? Become a Friend of the Emma Press for £5-15 per month and receive a quarterly thank-you package and an exclusive quarterly e-newletter. Here's a taster of the most recent one:
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Dear Friends,

Thank you for your support! Here, a little later than planned, is an update on the various things that have been going on with the Emma Press.

So, today is the last day of my long-awaited holiday! I've been in California for the last 2.5 weeks, staying with family and friends (someone I met just before I left said "Well done on having family and friends in California"), and I thought I'd enjoy my flight back this evening more if I'd sent out my overdue Friends newsletter. For the most part I've managed not to think too much about work while I've been away, as I wanted my brain to relax and return to Birmingham refreshed and ready to resume kicking ass/publishing recondite literary endeavours, but of course it was always in the background. It's hard to forget the reason why one is telling oneself every day to RELAX!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD RELAX!!!

The main thing I've been trialling recently, even before my holiday started, has been letting go of all the things I've been telling myself I must be or avoid being. I'm very aware of how hard I've been trying since the start of the Emma Press to hold myself to the standards of the biggest publishers. Though my tagline was "small press, big dreams" and my business was the size of just me, I wanted to be just as professional and efficient as the big guys, and even more committed to accessibility and fairness. I think this was partly to avoid the stigma attached to the idea of self-publishing, and partly because I didn't see the point in aiming low. So, I tried to make lots of books, run publicity campaigns, organise lots of events for authors, stick to all my deadlines and committments, reply to all emails, create lots of opportunities for publication and give lots of people training in publishing through work experience and freelance work. Lots and lots. That is what I've been pushing myself to do over the last 7 years, and to no-one's surprise I've worn myself quite thin.

Before I left for California, I stacked up all the books I'd published this year and realised that I'd already published as many books as the previous year-with-the-most-number-of-books (2014; 15 books), and it was only June and I still have many more books yet to come. So that made an impression on me: I thought, "Well no wonder I need a holiday!"

And apart from the holiday, I've been taking care of myself in other ways: planning to do fewer books next year (maybe 12-14), just arranging one launch event per book, not beating myself up about getting behind on social media, moving some pub dates and deadlines instead of burning the midnight oil to hit them, having a little break from submissions, and letting my freelancers go.

The last one was kind of a big deal, as I really wanted to give more people opportunities to work in publishing and be part of the change I wanted to see, but it was costing a lot of money and I ended up realising that I don't need to take it on myself to try and single-handedly transform the publishing industry. I have done a lot already and I can do more in the future, when I'm less stressed.

When I return to my desk, I hope I can retain some of this clarity and keep making sensible decisions for myself and the business. I've been feeling good about the impact I've already had on the poetry landscape, as the various new pamphlets have been launched and I've looked back on all the other pamphlets they're joining in the Emma Press list. I'm glad that it means something now to be an Emma Press poet and I want to keep offering this platform to people, so I'm hoping I can open an new call for poetry pamphlet submissions in September but I'll see how I get in with work over the next few weeks.

I have another children's poetry anthology to typeset and illustrate, about insects, and some poetry pamphlets to get ready for the printer. Also, amidst all my thoughts about slowing down, an opportunity came up with the Arts Council to apply for a huge grant to develop my organisational resilience. My expression of interest was successful so now I have till 15th August to submit my full application. I'll send my next newsletter after that and let you know if I managed it!

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If you enjoyed this newsletter and would like to support us in producing lovely books and providing opportunities for readers and writers, click here to find out more about becoming a Friend of the Emma Press.

The Emma Press Newsletter #39: The Year of Firsts and Lasts

#39: The Year of Firsts and Lasts

Hello everyone,

I'd like to wish you all an extremely belated but no less heartfelt happy new year. As you may have deduced from the tardiness of this newsletter, I've hit the ground running in 2017, spending the majority of January working with editors and authors and trying to get a head start on the nineteen (!) books we've currently got in the works.

This will be a year of many firsts for the Emma Press, as it has been every year since I started it. I know that 2017 will be the first year we publish prose and translations, and I've promised myself it's the first year we'll publish a book without a mad rush to get the files off to the printer. It will be the first year I launch our books in Birmingham as well as London, the first year I really ask for and accept help, and – I hope – the last year the Emma Press is a one-woman operation. I'll let you know how that all goes!

And now, on with the newsletter. Scroll down for details of our Valentine's giveaway and an exclusive preview of our next call for submissions.

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Introducing... This Is Not Your Final Form

This Is Not Your Final Form is our anthology of poems about Birmingham, featuring poems from the Verve poetry competition. I had tremendous fun editing the book with Emma Press stalwart Richard O'Brien, and we're looking forward to meeting the poets in the book at the (sold out!) launch on 18th February. 

Seasoned Emma Press-watchers may notice that this is the first time we've used a photo on a book cover, and subscribers old and new may spot that the photo is of an enormous pink gorilla's head. I feel I owe you some answers:

• The head belongs to the 7ft pink gorilla sculpture built by the Birmingham Originals last year, utilising the various skills of the team members. I'm a member and I actually worked a bit on the early stages of the head, as well as contributing a snippet of pink-themed poetry by Rachel Piercey to be stencilled across the gorilla's torso. 
• The title is a quote from one of the poems in the book (by John McGhee), and we picked it because it nods at the way Birmingham is constantly re-inventing itself. Once we'd decided on that, Richard suggested that the pink gorilla was the perfect fit for the cover, because it's an homage to the famous King Kong statue which stood in Birmingham in the 1970s. The photo is by Lee Allen Photography.

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Andrew Wynn Owen's new poetry pamphlet We published Andrew Wynn Owen's first poetry pamphlet, the delectable Raspberries for the Ferry, back in 2014, followed by his collaboration with John Fuller, AWOL, in 2015.  We're delighted to be working with Andrew again for The Dragon and The Bomb, his mini-epic poem which tells the tale of Don Armando, who wants to be a saint, and Haplo Nous, who wants to split the atom. There's also a dragon, but you'll have to read the book to discover the extent of its involvement in DA and HN's plans. We're launching The Dragon and The Bomb at All Souls College in Oxford on Friday 24th February and you are all invited – see our Events page for details. * * * Dates for your diary: events & opportunities * The Tangerine, the new Belfast-based magazine for new writing, is open for submissions of all sorts of writing. Deadline: 12th February. * BIRMINGHAM. Verve Poetry Festival runs 16-19th February in Waterstones. Booking info here. * The Christopher Tower Poetry Competition for students aged 16-18 years closes very soon. It's judged by Sarah Howe and Vahni Capildeo and the theme this year is 'Stone'. Deadline: 17th February. * BIRMINGHAM. Remember 1000 Trades, our new favourite bar in the Jewellery Quarter? We're running a poetry-and-wine evening with them on 23rd February. £10 earlybird tickets are available until 11th February (£15 after that) – details here. * The Poetry Business has two contests open at the moment: their International Book & Pamphlet Competition, judged by Ian Duhig and Mimi Khalvati, and their New Poets Prize, judged by Andrew McMillan. Deadline: 1st March. * LICHFIELD. Come and see three of our new pamphlet poets read at Lichfield Literature Festival on 4th March! Details here. * LONDON. Save the date for our launch party for our three newest poetry pamphlets on 24th March, with readings from Andrew Wynn Owen, Emma Simon and Jack Nicholls. * * * Valentine's Giveaway! We've teamed up with our fellow Jewellery Quarter business Connolly's Wine Merchants to offer a Valentine's giveaway of champagne and love poetry books. 'Like' our Facebook page and leave a comment on the photo before 10th February to be entered into the prizedraw. * * * Verve Poetry Festival It's been a pleasure to be involved in this brand-new poetry festival, hosted by Waterstones Birmingham and taking place next weekend 16-19th February. I programmed the children's events, including readings, workshops, and an open mic event for children aged 6-16. You can find out more here and you can read my blog about the importance of children's poetry here. * * * Submissions Update Open calls for submissions Here's some exclusive news for readers of this newsletter: our next call for submissions will open on Monday 13th February and we'll be looking for POEMS ABOUT BRITAIN. This will be the fourth book in our Emma Press Ovid series, and our inspiration this time is the Fasti. We'll be looking for poems about customs, ritual and festivals which take place in Britain, to try and build up a picture of what this country and its people are now. The call will close on 26th March. Closed calls for submissions * Our call for poems about British and Irish KINGS AND QUEENS closed on 13th November 2016 and we are no longer accepting entries. We are aiming to send our responses by the end of February. * We have sent out all the responses for POEMS ABOUT ANIMALS and POEMS ABOUT AUNTS. If you can't find your response, feel free to send me a nudge and I'll forward the response on to you again. This is a complete update on all of our calls for submissions, and we do send responses to everyone's submissions individually. In the meantime, just keep an eye on our newsletters for news of our progress and read our blog to find out what we do when we process submissions. That's all for now! Do forward this newsletter onto your friends if you think they might enjoy it, or encourage them to sign up themselves. Best wishes, Emma Wright Publisher at the Emma Press

The Emma Press Newsletter #38: End-of-year newsflash

#38: End-of-year newsflash Hello everyone, The Emma Press won at the Michael Marks Awards last week! Unbelievably, the judges gave us the £5000 Publishers' Award, commenting: 'The Emma Press has grown steadily in the few years since they were first shortlisted. As well as having a remarkable list of poets they pay close attention to every aspect of the pamphlets they publish. This is a vibrant, thoughtful press bringing a great energy and sense of endeavour to their work.' We are quite beside ourselves with joy about this recognition of all our hard work and the calibre of the poets we publish. The financial boost is also very welcome, and I'm looking forward to going out for a fancy dinner with Rachel to celebrate. The announcement took place at the British Library. There was an official photographer in attendance, so I thought I'd do a little photo story about the evening for you, below. [All images © Tony Grant.] The shortlisted publishers had to give a 3-minute speech before the winner was announced, and I took the opportunity to talk about diversity in publishing. I've posted in on the blog, so you can read it if you'd like to get the full experience of the evening. Also on the blog, you can also read Jamie-from-Valley-Press's lovely reaction to the news. Here's Rachel and me at the photocall right at the start of the evening. The photographer said 'Not you again!' when he saw us, which was sweet. After the drinks reception up on the 3rd floor, we moved down to the exhibition space for the dinner. It's huge and there were over 100 people there. At the dinner, I was sat next to Michael McGregor, the director of the Wordsworth Trust. He was lovely to talk to, so I managed to forget my nerves about my speech during the dinner. Then the speeches began and before long it was my turn. I was worried about how it would be received, but the audience was very supportive and even burst into applause after the second paragraph! I always worry about speaking too quietly, so I tried my best to project. Rachel told me afterwards that the microphone was clearly very sensitive, as my speech had emerged at a deafening volume from the speakers. I'd got myself so worked up about giving the speech that I was really relieved when it was over and I could sit down. Then, they announced that we were the winners and it was utterly astonishing. Rachel went up with me to collect the cheque from Lady Marks, which was good because it was a long walk round to the stage from where we were sitting and it was nice to have the company. I looked pretty serious during my speech, because I wanted to deliver it with the appropriate amount of gravitas, but this all crumbled after we won. I hadn't prepared a speech in case we won, so I just said thank you and got off the stage as quickly as possible. Here we are making our way back to our seats. I think my continued shock and confusion is quite apparent! With all that over, we could sit back and enjoy the readings from the shortlisted poets. For the first time, one of the poets was ours: Camille Ralphs, reading from Malkin. She gave a stunning, spine-chilling performance and we felt incredibly proud of her. It was a lovely end to the evening, as it meant that everyone in the room got to see the kind of work we publish.

Submissions Update Open calls for submissions None currently. We'll open our next call for submissions in early 2017, once we have replied to all the 2016 submissions. I will give newsletter subscribers a sneak preview of some of next year's subjects in January. Closed calls for submissions * Rachel and I have made our selection for POEMS ABOUT AUNTS and we will be sending out our responses from now until Friday. If you can't find your response by the end of Friday, feel free to drop us an email in the new year and we'll forward it on to you again. * Our call for POEMS ABOUT ANIMALS closed on Sunday 4th December 2016 and we are no longer accepting entries. Anja and Liane will be sending our their responses in the new year and everyone will have heard by the end of January 2017. * Our call for poems about British and Irish KINGS AND QUEENS closed on 13th November and we are no longer accepting entries. We aim to send our responses by the end of February 2017. This is a complete update on all of our calls for submissions, and we do send responses to everyone's submissions individually. In the meantime, just keep an eye on our newsletters for news of our progress and read our blog to find out what we do when we process submissions. That's all for now! Do forward this newsletter onto your friends if you think they might enjoy it, or encourage them to sign up themselves here. Ooh, and HAPPY CHRISTMAS!  Best wishes, Emma Wright Publisher at the Emma Press

The Emma Press Newsletter #37: The Thankful Edition

#37: The Thankful Edition Hello everyone, Since the last newsletter I've done three festive markets in Birmingham, met up with or Skyped eight of our twelve new pamphlet authors, and turned thirty. I spent most of my birthday on my own, at one of the festive markets. This wasn't what I'd expected or hoped for my thirtieth birthday, but it wasn't the worst way to mark the end of my twenties. I am starting to feel proud of myself and my achievements, and my book table at events is a reminder of how I am strong and I get stuff done. I feel lucky to have the support and trust of my tiny editorial team and all the authors who want to be part of what we do. I also feel thankful to be part of the Birmingham Originals Etsy team, run by my heroes Kirsty and Adrienne at Frilly Industries. Their Winter Makers Market last weekend in the old Municipal Bank building was an astounding success and a tribute to what can be achieved by having a vision and being determined and hard-working as well as really nice. I loved taking part in the Winter Makers Market and being amongst a community of makers. I felt more at home there than I ever do at gatherings of poetry publishers, and I felt spurred on to take part in the #MeetTheMakerWeek challenge on Instagram, sharing some of the backstory and inner workings of the Emma Press. You can read my posts here.  If you're a long-time subscriber, you might notice that the newsletter format has changed a bit. I had some problems with the delivery of my last couple of newletters (you can read the November one here), so I've upgraded to Mailchimp, with all its mind-boggling functionality. Let me know if you spot anything going wrong, such as images not displaying properly. * * * E & R & C at the MMAs The Emma Press has been shortlisted in the Michael Marks Awards for the third year running, so I'll be going along to the awards dinner next Tuesday with my lovely co-editor Rachel Piercey. Excitingly, we'll be joined for the first time by one of our pamphlet poets: Camille Ralphs, author of shortlisted pamphlet Malkin. You can read what the judges said about us on the Wordsworth Trust website, and you can read Camille's fascinating 'How I Did It' article about one of her poems over on the Poetry School website. * * * Perfect Xmas presents I'm not one to give people the hard sell, but my old Prince's Trust mentor Geeta will be reading this and she'll want to know why I haven't mentioned Christmas presents yet. So, I will casually mention that my webshop is hereand I think poetry books make wonderful gifts. Moon Juice is a particularly good stocking filler – aimed at children aged 8+ but a delight for all ages really. You can read a glowing review on Playing By The Book, along with an interview with author Kate Wakeling. * * * Submissions Update Open calls for submissions None currently. We'll launch our next call for submissions in early 2017, once we've replied to all the 2016 submissions. I'll give you all a sneak preview of some of next year's subjects in the January newsletter. Closed calls for submissions * Our call for POEMS ABOUT ANIMALS closed on Sunday 4th December 2016 and we are no longer accepting entries. I am Skyping the editors next week and will let you know the ETA for responses in January. * Our call for poems about British and Irish KINGS AND QUEENSclosed on 13th November and we are no longer accepting entries. We are currently aiming to send our responses by early February. * Our call for poems for POEMS ABOUT AUNTS ended on 29th May and we are no longer accepting entries. Rachel and I are a little behind on these but we are meeting up to discuss the submissions next week and we will have sent out all the responses by 22nd December 2016. This is a complete update on all of our calls for submissions, and we do send responses to everyone's submissions individually. In the meantime, just keep an eye on our newsletters for news of our progress and read our blog to find out what we do when we process submissions. And finally... * Ticket sales are now open for VERVE, Birmingham's first festival for poetry and spoken word, taking place 16-19th February 2017. You can book places in the various workshops and readings here. * Congratulations to Rachel Long, winner of the Poetry School diary poems competition! Congratulations also to Cynthia Miller, Ben Bransfield and Marvin Thompson, who have been selected for Primers Volume 2.  * Rachel Piercey, main editor person at the Emma Press, is teaching a Poetry School course called To Sea in the Sieve: Writing Poems for Children, starting 25th January 2017. You can find all the booking info here. * Have you made a recommendation for the Ted Hughes Awards yet? They're open till 9th January 2017 and you can read this helpful guide to the kinds of new work in poetry you can recommend. That's all for now! Do forward this newsletter onto your friends if you think they might enjoy it, or encourage them to sign up themselves here. Best wishes, Emma Wright Publisher at the Emma Press

The Emma Press Newsletter #36: Fingers crossed!

Hello everyone,

I'm proud to say that the Emma Press has been shortlisted in the Michael Marks Poetry Pamphlet Awards for the third year in a row. Not only that, but we've got a pamphlet in the running for the very first time: Malkin, by Camille Ralphs. You can read the judges' comments over on the Wordsworth Trust website and see all the other estimable publishers and pamphlets in the shortlists. The results will be announced at the awards dinner at the British Library on 13th December – wish us luck!

There's lots more good news in this newsletter, so read on to find out about our latest anthology, our new pamphlet authors, some general book news and dates for your diary, and our call for animal poems.

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Hot off the press: Anthology of the Sea (£10)

Our last book of 2016 has hit the shelves! We were delighted to celebrate the publication of The Emma Press Anthology of the Sea: Poems for a Voyage Out a few weeks ago.

Editor Eve Lacey has assembled a truly excellent selection of poems and we were lucky enough to see some of the poets perform at the launch party in King's Cross. You can see some photos here.

You can read more about The Emma Press Anthology of the Sea here and buy the paperback (£10) in our webshop. I will do the ebook soon too, I promise. Excitingly, we've already had our first review, on the LiteratureWorks website.

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Meet our twelve new pamphlet authors

We're finally able to announce our new pamphlet authors, chosen from last year's call for submissions. And they are... Andrew Wynn Owen, Emma Simon, Jack Nicholls, Leanne Radojkovich, Jan Carson, Padraig Regan, Zosia Kuczyńska, Carol Rumens, Rakhshan Rizwan, Simon Turner, Julia Bird and Malachi O’Doherty. 2017 will be a great year, for pamphlets, at least! You can read more about the authors here.

Latvian success 

A couple of newsletters ago, I mentioned that I was trying to understand foreign rights deals and translation funding bids. I'm happy to inform you that my deals and bids were successful and we'll be publishing two Latvian translations next year: The Noisy Classrom (Skaļā klase), a collection of children’s poems by Ieva Samauska, illustrated by Vivianna Maria Staņislavska, and The Secret Box, three stories from Pirmā reize, a collection of short stories for adults by Daina Tabūna. You can read more about it on the actual Bookseller and you can read about the 'Support for Foreign Publisher Publishing Latvian Literature' programme here. You can also read about it in Russian here.

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General book news: Mums and Moons 

Some of you may have noticed that The Emma Press Anthology of Motherhood has been out of print for a while. This is because I wanted to update the cover design and illustrations, as our house style has changed a bit since 2014. This time, I've done five new drawings, which you can preview here – and you can see the new cover design to the left. The books have just come back from the printer and you can order your copies here.

Moon Juice at the Oxford Lieder Festival 

Some poems from Kate Wakeling's collection of poems for children, Moon Juice, have been set to music by composer Frances Cheryl-Hoad and were performed at Oxford Lieder Festival a couple of weeks ago. Rachel and I went along and we were completely blown away by it. Seeing all the reactions of the audience made me think that Moon Juice should be recommended for the Ted Hughes Award, as it really is an outstanding piece of work. Wink.

Kate went into BBC Radio Oxfordshire ahead of the concert, to talk about her poems and read a couple out loud. You can listen to her interview here, from 1.07.10.

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Dates for the diary: competitions, courses & events 

* Fri 25th-Sat 26th November, BIRMINGHAM. We've got a table at Ikon Gallery's first Winter Craft Market – details here.

* Fri 2nd-Sun 4th December, BIRMINGHAM. You may have spotted that I'm keeping it very local this winter, as a treat to myself. But why leave Birmingham, when there's so much good stuff on? I'm especially looking forward to having a stall at this: the Winter Makers Market in the old Municipal Bank building. Details here.

* Mon 5th Dec. Women writers are invited to send their poetry and prose on the subject of 'Guilt' to Mslexia by 5th December. Winning entries will be published in their March 2017 issue. Details here.

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SUBMISSIONS UPDATE 

Open calls for submissions 

* There's just over 2 weeks left to send us your POEMS ABOUT ANIMALS, for The Emma Press Bestiary, an adults' anthology which will be guest-edited by Anja Konig and Liane Strauss. You can read the press release here and the guidelines here. The deadline is Sunday 4th December 2016.

Closed calls for submissions 

* Our call for poems about British and Irish KINGS AND QUEENS closed on 13th November and we are no longer accepting entries. I'll let you know an ETA for responses in the December newsletter.

* Our call for LOVE POEMS ended on 10th April and we have now sent out all the responses to everyone who submitted. If you can't find a response, even in your spam folder, let me know and I'll forward the email on to you again!

* Our call for poems for THE EMMA PRESS ANTHOLOGY OF AUNTS ended on 29th May and we are no longer accepting entries. The current ETA for responses is the end of November 2016.

This is a complete update on all of our calls for submissions, and we do send responses to everyone's submissions individually. In the meantime, just keep an eye on our newsletters for news of our progress and read our blog to find out what we do when we process submissions.

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And finally... 

* You can see some photos from our launch party for Watcher of the Skies: Poems about Space and Aliens, taken by poet John Canfield, here.

* There's a new writing magazine brewing over in Belfast: The Tangerine. Read all about it in the Irish Times and check out the Kickstarter campaign here.

* I hope everyone who went had a nice time at Poetry in Aldeburgh last weekend! The poet-in-residence Ben Rogers diligently did about a million interviews, including ones with Jacqueline Saphra, Emily Berry and Geraldine Clarkson. Get this man in residence in more places!

* 'These are poems how I like them to be' – Nadia Kingsley from Fairacre Press has written a lovely piece about Deborah Alma's pamphlet True Tales of the Countryside. You can read it here.

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That's all for now. Do forward this newsletter onto your friends if you think they might enjoy it, or encourage them to sign up themselves here.

Best wishes,

Emma Wright
Publisher