This week at Valley Press, #89: 'Grafters'

Dear readers,

Jamie here! We had a great response to Wendy's newsletter two weeks ago (this is a fortnightly bulletin now, remember), and in fact even Mrs McGarry – when pushed – was forced to admit it was a small improvement on the usual communications. That being said, I'm not ready to disappear behind the gates of my chocolate factory just yet, so you can still expect to hear from me occasionally throughout 2018.

I've re-taken the wheel today as I wanted to describe my excitement at hearing Norah Hanson's poem 'Grafters' (from Sparks) on Radio 4's 'Poetry Please' last Sunday. It was chosen by a new-ish friend of ours, Hollie McNish, and you can hear Hollie read the poem, with an introductory discussion, on the iPlayer here. Jump to 5 mins 45 secs to just hear Norah's part (but if you do, you'll miss Seamus Heaney's 'Digging', among other treats).

Hollie's introduction pretty much hits the nail on the head as to why Norah's poetry is important (the first reason: it's great, but there are others given too). That poem is beautiful, and Norah did a great version of it for the Sparks audiobook, which I've uploaded here (or grab the whole audiobook here if you feel inclined, only £3.40). For once though, it wasn't the words or the performance that had me watery-eyed when I listened ... bear with me while I give you a bit of back-story.

There are a very small group of older poets, published in the first years of Valley Press, who took a chance on me when I had almost no idea what I was doing – in my first year of full-time publishing, for example, I was more-or-less running around like a headless chicken. I should have been laughed out of the industry, but instead these authors were patient, let me make mistakes, and gave me the benefit of the doubt. (Hopefully, decent-looking books were their reward!)

Without them, there would be no Valley Press today, and it's a concrete fact that without publishing Love Letters & Children's Drawings (Norah's first collection) in November 2011, VP wouldn't have made it past that Christmas. Because of this history, to hear Norah's poetry make it onto national radio, with McGough, Heaney, McNish et al (even though it only amounts to a minute of airtime) is genuinely one of the top ten moments of my career so far. Here's hoping it brings her a whole new readership. Tell your friends!

* * *

The other big excitement this week was the announcement that Antony Dunn's Take This One to Bed has been selected for New Writing North's tenth annual 'Read Regional' campaign. This means a large-scale stocking-up of the book by libraries in the north of England, a series of events in the region, and Antony writing a new introduction to the book, which you can read here (a great bit of writing in itself). A list of the events can also be found on that link, which includes visits to Hartlepool, Morpeth, Darlington, Newcastle, Leeds, Stockport, Bradford and Hull. A great time to catch this poet in action!

There was also a new episode of 'The Friday Morning Meeting', which (as you'll hopefully recall) is a publishing podcast I've been recording with Emma Wright from the Emma Press. You can hear the new show here, find the whole archive here, and in theory you can now 'subscribe' to the podcast via iTunes here (do let me know if that works). We're becoming quite proud of these programmes, I don't mind telling you – and the EP team are also proud of their new Anthology of Love, which looks absolutely fantastic, and features a handful of VP poets to boot. I've ordered my copy! It's definitely the best book published since our last newsletter (especially with our 'hairy' book, which I unwisely teased at the start of the year, still in production).

On that note, it's back to work now for me and the rest of the team. The submissions backlog is now down to 87 (from 296 when I originally paused subs), so great progress made there... we'll soon be able to open our doors again to new work (keep writing!) Wendy will be writing to you again in a couple of weeks' time, when our first graphic novel is expected to arrive on the shelves – so as ever, watch this space.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #84: 'Your five a day'

Dear readers,

Another late newsletter this week – can you believe I've barely had a minute to myself since the last one went out? One of the things I've been doing tonight (besides publishing) is building another book tree, pictured above, this time at our local chapel and made out of non-VP books. They have a Christmas tree festival every year, and the theme this year is 'words that end in tree'; so after last week's pun, Mrs McGarry volunteered us to construct an actual 'poet tree'. Maybe you can spot some of your favourites? (If not, you might like to visit the 'optome-tree' someone built to our left, covered in pairs of glasses.)

This week, rather than lengthy anecdotes, I have five interesting links for you. Feel free to pick and choose which ones you click on, in line with your interests... or show the full extent of your love of Valley Press by engaging with all five!

Firstly, we launched Helen Cadbury's Forever, Now this week at York Explore. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, beginning to end; I felt so honoured to be involved with the book and the evening (as did the rest of the VP team). YorkMix have captured some of the spirit in their thoughtful write-up; for me, it was the first time I'd ever truly experienced 'bittersweet'... happiness and sadness pulling at your heart simultaneously. A truly unforgettable evening. If you missed out, I'm pleased to report we have more events planned for this book in 2018 (details coming soon).

Secondly, there's news that John Wedgwood Clarke will be teaching a five-day course on 'The Poetry of Rubbish' with the Poetry School in the new year. If you can't get to Exeter to take part, there is at least this wonderful long interview on that subject which they published a few days ago, a great companion piece to Landfill.

Thirdly, we were excited to see that the 'Travelling Man' chain of shops (more commonly known for comics and games) have taken a liking to Caroline Hardaker's Bone Ovation. Not only they did they post this glowing short review, they're also stocking it in all their branches, pitching it as a kind of stocking filler for the more thoughtful, quirky gift recipient in your life. Which I'd very much like to second!

Fourthly (is that a word?), lurking in this article about the reading habits of the 'great and good' is a tiny review of Madame Bildungsroman by the novelist Regi Claire. She says Madame B 'offers a brilliant perspective on existence through fragments and aperçus: ambiguous, acerbic, moving and searingly intelligent.' Once again, couldn't have put it better myself... though I did have to look up aperçus; it's an "illuminating or entertaining comment." One to add to your vocabulary; all part of the service here at Valley Press.

Finally, the latest episode of the 'Friday Morning Meeting' podcast (featuring myself and Emma Wright) is now online here. As this is the last one of the year, we've made it a Christmas special framed around the three spirits of A Christmas Carol... and then there's a little discussion of the value of coding skills at the end. Put on the spot to illustrate this episode, I cooked up the picture below starring Emma in the Cratchit/Kermit role and me as Scrooge... I laughed when I saw the result, and I include it here in case you do too.

All of which adds up to a full newsletter, in my eyes... which means you'll have to wait another week to find out about that final, secret Christmas book we're still working on. I'll get to it next week, for definite. It'll be worth the wait!

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, #80: 'The Late Show'

Dear readers,

A very late missive this week, as the internet has been down in the office, and I've been in York for Oz Hardwick's latest book launch – the third event for his current collection, in fact. (Can't say he's not getting it out there!) It was held as part of the NAWE conference, who really made us feel very welcome; I was given a lovely three-course meal simply for coming, caught up with many old friends, and even made some new ones. As you can see on the photo above, Oz had a slide to match each poem he read, offering an insight into some of the inspirations behind The House of Ghosts and Mirrors (the slide above is a drawing of a castle, hidden behind wallpaper in his childhood home).

Some other news, in brief:

• Wendy Pratt will be celebrating her latest book with an event at Valley Press HQ (aka Woodend, The Crescent, Scarborough), on Saturday 18th November from 2.30pm. Expect cakes and wine, and if those aren't delights enough, she'll be joined by the aforementioned Mr. Hardwick and rising star Caroline Hardaker.
  

• Our next publication, Quantum Theory for Cats, is now available for pre-order; I will share some sample poems in the near future, but for now, please note the forthcoming launch in Waterstones York on Friday December 1st, from 7pm. This is a witty new poet who needs as much support as you can collectively muster; a winner from our 2016 submissions period who has waited patiently all year to see his name in lights. Don't miss out!
  

• The first 'proper' episode of me and Emma's new podcast is now available; you can find it exclusively here for the time being (trying to get it on iTunes too). I slightly hijacked this call by sharing my 'four golden rules' for publishing, each more counter-intuitive and difficult than the last, and then thinking of a fifth rule on the spot – but you might find them interesting. We got some coverage in the Bookseller today for our efforts, you can find the article here if you want the behind-the-scenes scoop.
  

• It was announced this week that VP are teaming up with York St John University for our first foray into the world of journal publishing, taking over the York Literary Review from 2018 onwards. Submissions will be open to pretty much anyone, by the sounds of it, from late January – all details here (and watch this space!)
  

• Finally, more exciting news from York (well done to Vanessa for setting all this up): we will be working with the Cultural Education Partnership to engage children and young people from York's schools, showing them the delights of the literary world (which you newsletter readers already know well) through workshops, author visits and an anthology of work from young writers. We'll be supported in this effort by Colin Jackson of Creative Learning Partnerships, and it all kicks off in January.

Thanks for reading and digesting all that, I hope you found it interesting – I never like to get too caught up in self-promotion, but then it is a company newsletter I suppose! See you next week for some lighter fare; poetry, gossip, and all other manner of fun.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #77: 'Filey via New Zealand'

Dear readers,

A new poetry book has arrived at VP HQ, and though we've had dozens of similar arrivals over the years, the moment never loses its excitement. (When it does, it's probably time to pack all this in!) The new book is Gifts the Mole Gave Me by Wendy Pratt, who becomes one of our most local writers, based in our neighbouring coastal town of Filey.

It's worth saying though, despite us already knowing Wendy and her work, her collection rose to the top of our 600-ish 2016 submissions fair and square – there was no leaning on the scales of subs justice, this genuinely was one of the very best poetry books we were sent last year. The local connection just meant she could join me in the office for such important tasks as typesetting and cover design; it was a nice change to work 'up close and personal' with an author on those crucial parts of the process.

I won't share a poem just yet, as I've got a lot to tell you today, but Wendy has asked that I enclose a few blurb highlights: such as Carole Bromley saying: 'A sureness of touch, a startling image, and an ability to move the reader mark this Yorkshire poet as something very special indeed’, with Deborah Alma adding: 'These poems are the wonderful work of a poet in full control of her art and craft; they are beautiful, musical, understated and unexpected.' And of course, they're right.

We'll piece together a launch for Wendy before the end of the year, but in the meantime you can see her (and Oz Hardwick) at the legendary "Word Club", on Friday 27th from 7.30pm at The Chemic Tavern, Leeds; will be a great night out.

* * *

Speaking of great nights out, I need to flag up our next book today as well: and brace yourselves, it's a surprising addition to the catalogue. I Was Britpopped is the first and last word as far as that titular musical movement is concerned; it's an A-Z, a comprehensive guide to everyone and everything involved, with more than 500 entries covering everything from Albarn to Zeitgeist.

Originally self-published by the two authors, we took the rights early this year and have since given it a complete overhaul, with Jo Haywood doing approximately two million hours of work ensuring every word was perfect. It's got infographics too; I know how much you all love those. I'm looking forward to showing it off in the next couple of months.

This isn't quite the random deviation from our list that it seems; I'd already signed one book on music history by the time Britpopped came to my attention, and am working on more – music-related titles are set to be a significant part of Valley Press going forward. Someone had to go first!

The book's authors, Jenny and Tom, have graciously agreed to do a couple of events to launch the book; I say graciously because Tom lives in New Zealand (making him our most distant author), and is coming over especially for the launches. You can meet them at Waterstones Leeds on Thursday 2nd November, from 6.30pm, or in London the following day at Waterstones Camden (details here), which I'm told is pretty much the centre of the Britpop universe. Thanks to Waterstones too, for having us at short notice.

* * *

Having followed through on our promise a few weeks ago, I'm pleased to report a pilot episode of the Emma Press/Valley Press podcast is now available. The series will be titled 'The Friday Morning Meeting', named after the phone conversation that myself and Emma have been holding every Friday morning (when practical) for about four years now. You can listen here, if your ears aren't doing anything in particular for the next 24 minutes.

The calls are typically quite lively, as we discuss the ups and downs of the small press lifestyle with our characteristic frankness; however, this first one isn't quite so spicy, as we are finding our podcasting feet, figuring out the format and so on, but we have had some positive feedback so far. Do let us know what you think, and forward any questions you'd like answered in a future edition. (We're thinking new episodes will be coming fortnightly.)

* * *

Thanks to everyone who emailed me about the subs issue discussed in last week's newsletter; I will reply at some point (horribly behind with emails again!) I might even put together some anonymous highlights from the correspondence for a future newsletter, when a quiet week inevitably rolls around.

For the moment, you can stop worrying about the rights and wrongs of submissions procedures, as our subs are now closed for the rest of the year. Tess and two glamorous assistants will be combing through the 200 outstanding manuscripts tomorrow – assuming she's not too worn out, of course, from the swanky awards 'do' that four of the VP team are attending tonight. (The Yorkshire Coast Chamber of Commerce Awards, if you're wondering; we're up for 'Arts/Culture Business of 2017'.)

That's in a couple of hours' time, actually – Mrs McGarry is stood in the doorway tapping her watch, so I'd best go and get my tux on. Look out for the result next week!

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #75: 'Year Ten'

Dear readers,

Valley Press is now nine years old; October is the start of our tenth year of publishing in Scarborough. When I registered with the Nielsen ISBN agency as an 'official' publisher (on a paper form!), I had to say when my first books were coming out: I just put 'October 2008', which they then noted in their system as 1st October 2008. I can't remember if I had the books by then or not, but that's the only confirmed date I've got from that era – so that's our official birthday.

The first two books were out of print by the end of that year; good luck finding them anywhere now! They were both written by me, a novel from my late teens and a collection of semi-respectable poems. I went on to self-publish two more books of poetry under the Valley Press name, but realised when going 'professional' in 2011 that it might be a bit of a faux pas have myself on the roster... so those early books were swiftly dropped. Tenebrae, by Nigel Gerrans, is the earliest VP title still for sale; that dates from October 2009.

Since going into publishing full-time, I haven't written a single word of 'creative writing', though my book about snails was resurrected (pun intended) by The Emma Press in 2014. There's some news on that front, however; I've decided to celebrate VP's tenth birthday (next October) by writing a company memoir, and have made a decent start already. So far it reads like a really long, rambling, nostalgic newsletter – if you've enjoyed these last three paragraphs, you'll like that book when it appears. Watch this space.

While we're looking back (and speaking of The Emma Press), here's a great photo of myself and Emma from last week's 'Free Verse' Poetry Book Fair:

We have done a lot of book stalls together over the years; so being in a nostalgic mood, I searched my computer just now to find a classic snap with a similar pose. This is the closest I could get, from a time when Emma only had two books of her own; hard to believe when you see what her stall looks like now! (Also hard to believe: I used to wear a suit to book fairs?)

That's from mid-2013, judging by the books on display. The latest plan for Emma/Valley harmony, adding to our ongoing joint blog, is for us to host a fortnightly podcast discussing 'how to make books, a living, and a difference' – it's still in the early stages, but I find announcing plans publicly makes them more likely to happen. (That's also why I mentioned the book I'm writing, above.) Again, look out for that!

One genre of writing I didn't abandon was the 'informative article', and I've done another one this week, with advice for aspiring small press publishers on how to price and discount their books. If you'd rather just read books, and not see how the sausages are made, you might like to give it a miss – but otherwise, you can find it here.

One final bit of entertainment for you this week: John Wedgwood Clarke appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday, discussing his latest poetry collection Landfill. You can listen on iPlayer here if you missed it on the day; jump to 1 hour 41 minutes (and 40 seconds) in to catch the exact start. It's another great opportunity to hear the thinking behind Landfill; they even get the boss of our local tip on the phone, to get his view on John's year spent visiting and observing the mechanisms of waste.

I'm not going to lie to you: it's still a thrill to hear one of our books discussed on Radio 4 (for the third time, that I know of). If you'd told me back in 2008, when I filled in my ISBN registration form, that a hundred books would follow – and the 101st would get discussed on Today, just after the papers – I'd have thought you were absolutely bonkers. But here we are! Thanks for reading, as ever, and I'll see you next week.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

A Wenlock poem

As we pack for our three-day stint in Much Wenlock, serving as 'publishers in residence' at the Wenlock Poetry Festival, I thought I'd share a poem written specially for this occasion, by one of my newsletter subscribers (they're a talented bunch). Enjoy!

---

Very Much Wenlock
by Alun Robert

Gone to earth in the wild heart of Salop
near the border with mid Cymru,
three days de rigueur reading and writing
for makars and their publishers in
Much Wenlock. More Wenlock. Most Wenlock:
the perfect place for poetry is claimed
on flyers, on the worldwide web
when a spurious brood comes calling
each and every springtime from
Yorkshire valleys, from Birmingham
and rural conurbations stretching
twixt Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth,
and training up from Oxford spires
yet halting at Adlestrop unwontedly
as express trains seem to do. Or did.
Then changing at Worcester (Foregate)
en route north to Much Wenlock through
Wyre Forest and most verdant vales.
For poetry. For enlightenment.
For craic: a long way from home.

Reasons I had a great London Book Fair

Why did I decide to exhibit at the London Book Fair this year? Unlike Jamie, it's never been on my bucket list, and, like Jamie, I don't have a huge amount of money to be splashing out on ventures which will definitely not lead to sales. The LBF isn't a book-selling fair but a trade fair, where publishers go to buy and sell international rights for books. There's networking too, and different countries representing their literary output, but the main business is securing book deals, which doesn't really apply to small poetry publishers.

Rachel, me and Jamie mid-roam at #LBF14

At the risk of sounding frivolous, I think the main reason I decided to fork out for a stand at the LBF was that I wanted my own table and chair. Without the offer of a stand on the Inpress Poetry Pavilion, I would have gone anyway and roamed around like I did last year, but I liked the idea of not having to sit cross-legged on the floor for meetings. As a small, new publisher, my rightful place at the LBF probably is as a bottom-feeder, but it's nice to try on a bit of grandeur once in a while. The other reason I decided to exhibit at the LBF was so I could tell people I'd done it, because I thought it might sound impressive.

So, from the moment I sat down in my chair last Tuesday and sent my first #LBF15 tweet, I'd achieved all my goals. I had low expectations about the fair and was prepared to spend a lot of time sitting quietly at my table or chatting to Jamie (who was sharing the stand with me, naturally), and I would have been perfectly happy with that. Over the course of the fair, though, there was a lot of discussion about how the brand-new Poetry Pavilion concept was doing and lots of people asked me if I was having a 'good fair'. I think I answered every time 'I'm having a great fair!', which was such an unexpectedly superlative reaction that I thought it would be good to share why.

Reasons I had a great London Book Fair 

ONE. Being part of the party. 

Me and Jamie with our table and chairs at #LBF15

Small poetry publishing often feels set apart from the rest of small press publishing, let alone from the big leaguers in the publishing world. I liked having a stand at the LBF because it felt like being part of a huge display of the health of the book industry. I like the optimism and passion on the small poetry publishing scene, but I also like to be reminded that some publishers are producing blockbusters and making deals which the Bookseller and even mainstream newspapers count as Real News. That'll be me, one day!

TWO. Publisher Skills 101. 

Never have I had to explain the concept of the Emma Press to so many people in such quick succession, and on such dwindling reserves of energy. Contrary to my fears, people did actually stop to chat at the Poetry Pavilion and I had to summarise the origins and aims of both the Emma Press and Valley Press (when Jamie wasn't around) to authors, bloggers, printers and other publishers.

I was also pleased to get a bit of practice in slapping down patronising people. Usually I'm taken too much by surprise to react, but at the LBF they came regularly enough that I was able to experiment with varying degrees of hostility.

A fine panorama of #LBF15 by Jamie

THREE. The Inpress Poetry Pavilion. 

The LBF isn't really geared towards unpublished authors, even though the Author HQ hosts talks from editors and agents and being part of the party is important for writers too. For an unsigned writer, I think the LBF is more like a sweets museum than a sweetshop (don't try extend this analogy too far, or at all), which is why the Poetry Pavilion was such a treat. As I sat on the little row of small poetry publishers, I thought about how this was a genuinely useful section of the fair for unpublished poets, where they could come and get to know the editors of some ambitious small presses which might actually be interested in publishing them. I hope the LBF decides to run with this in future years, because it's a valuable resource for unpublished poets and small presses alike.

On setting up a poetry press in your 20s panel @LondonBookFair with @LondonBookFair with @valleypress @TheEmmaPress pic.twitter.com/feZv0DuD3Q

— Nine Arches Press (@NineArchesPress) April 15, 2015

FOUR. The talks. 

I went to most of the talks on the Poetry Pavilion, partly to take a break from explaining the Emma Press to people, and I'm delighted to report that Inpress did a fantastic job of whipping up a programme of readings and discussions at incredibly short notice. Again, I found myself musing on how genuinely useful these talks were, especially to young publishers. When else was I going to hear Michael Schmidt and Simon Thirsk weighing up the differences of Carcanet and Bloodaxe, and Jo Bell and Judith Palmer evaluating the Canal Laureate scheme and the value of arts partnerships?

I especially enjoyed the panel discussion on translating poetry from Susan Curtis-Kojakovic of Istros Books, with Damir Šodan, Ana Brnardić and Pedro Serrano, and felt quite enthused to start dabbling in translations myself. If you're a translator and think you have something which is just right for the Emma Press, get in touch!

My friends @valleypress @wbphull #publishers at the London #Book Fair #LBF15 pic.twitter.com/SFv2Ndcqx0
— Stephanie Cox (@cox_stephanie) April 15, 2015

FIVE. Hanging with my peeps.

What really made the fair for me was that several of my favourite – and soon-to-be favourite – small publishers had also decided to come along. I wouldn't say that my life as a publisher is particularly lonely, but I do miss the sociability of working at Orion, with all the tea breaks and chats across desks. The three days of the LBF were a great chance to have proper chats with Katherine from Ugly Duckling Presse, Jane from Nine Arches Press, Clive from Burning Eye Books, Mick and Sarah from Seren and Tom from Penned in the Margins, as well a rare catch-up in person with Jamie from Valley Press. I also got to meet Michael from Carcanet, Jenny from Candlestick Press and Shane from Wrecking Ball Press.

SIX. Pens.

It was a good excuse to get some promotional pens done.

All prepped for the dark arts seminar with my @TheEmmaPress pen. #LBF15 pic.twitter.com/sz6FCvGQpZ
— Joseph Coelho (@Poetryjoe) April 14, 2015

New books and news from Valley Press

Dear readers,

This month I'm proud to introduce two new books into the world, Seahouses by Richard Barnett and (deep breath) Grandmother Divided by Monkey Equals Outer Space by Nora Chassler. If you want to bail out of this blog post now, having visited those two links, you should feel free - I recently asked Mrs. McGarry if she reads these missives; she sighed and said 'well, they're a bit long aren't they'. So this is your point to escape ... otherwise, let's push on.

I'll start with GDMEOS, or Granny as I've been calling it for short. Set mainly in a small flat in New York, in 1982, this is a novel that has so far been called 'unabashedly literary' and 'a bit post-narrative' by those attempting to concisely explain it. The press release, posted here, offers a more thorough introduction, and there's a sample here.

A launch event for this book is coming up next week in Edinburgh; specifically, at the marvellous Word Power Books, on Monday 30th March, from 6.30pm. This is a 'drinking and mingling' type of launch, with minimal public speaking, but the author will read a few choice paragraphs from throughout the book to whet your appetite - and sign copies of course.

Then we have Seahouses, the debut collection of poetry by Richard Barnett (beautifully pictured here on a bench by our own Jo Brandon). You may have heard of Richard through his acclaimed non-fiction writing, or encountered his poetry in Pocket Horizon back in 2013; but if you'd like to get better acquainted, he recently recorded three Seahouses poems for a podcast, which you can find here. If you prefer poems on the page, where you can keep an eye on them, you can read the first 17 pages of the book on its homepage here.

This book has a launch event too, though you don't need to get your coat on just yet - the Seahouses launch is on Wednesday 27th May, from 6pm, at Blackwell's Holborn in London. Richard will be reading at 7pm, but before that, you've guessed it - drinking and mingling. The literary life is a tough one!

In other news, Valley Press is heading to the London Book Fair on the 15th and 16th April, and this year we really mean business - we're exhibiting, in a part of the fair which the organisers are calling 'the Poetry Pavilion'. The precise stand number, if you'd like to come and see us, is 3A74b; it's a shared one with our perennial allies The Emma Press (who you'll find 50cms to the right, at 3A74a). We're really looking forward to it - we've got our entry badges printed out and everything.

I'll end with a few bits of press: there was a full page on Oz Hardwick's The Ringmaster's Apprentice in the Yorkshire Post a couple of weeks ago; the wonderful Sabotage Reviews tackled Richard O'Brien's A Bloody Mess and (somewhat belatedly) Miles Salter's Animals; Cuckoo Reviews did justice to A Pocketful of Windows and A Bloody Mess; and Helen Mort was full of praise for Matthew Hedley Stoppard's A Family Behind Glass on Twitter last week. Oh, and as I write this very paragraph, Rodge Glass has just declared his love for the writing of Nora Chassler - and says Grandmother Divided by Monkey Equals Outer Space is a great title.

I'll see you next month for details of our two April books, and any news that might arise from the LBF. Looks like a busy spring for Valley Press this year!

All the best, and thanks for reading,
Jamie McGarry (VP Publisher)

The Emma Press is Two Years Old

At the end of this month, it will have been two years since we published our first book, The Flower and the Plough. Two years! It feels like much less time has passed, because I spend nearly every day trying to whisk my business up into something enduring and the deadlines have come so thick and fast that I don't have time to stop and reflect on all we've achieved.

Our book table in December 2014

Towards the end of last year, people at events started commenting on how much my book table had grown since the previous year, and I would think very briefly about how nice all the books looked together, before going back to worrying about the next new books and events. I hope that I'll proceed through this year at a slightly less breakneck speed, but in case I don't manage that I'm going to share with you a short list of what I've been happiest with over the last two years.

Rachel and Emma at the 2014 Michael Marks Awards

1. Working with Rachel Piercey. Mixing business into a friendship has its risks, but it has been a complete pleasure working with Rachel on all the Emma Press books. Since starting to plan The Flower and the Plough in 2012, we have felt our way towards defining how the Emma Press operates and what it stands for. From thrashing out final selections of poems in anthologies to lugging boxes of books across muddy fields, I've had the most incredible time working with Rachel and I'm very proud with what we have created. You can read more about our working relationship in my Poetry School interview.

The tour poster

2. The Mildly Erotic Poetry Tour. In the summer of 2013, I applied for and was awarded funding from Arts Council England as part of the Lottery-funded Grants for the arts programme. I was then plunged into a whirlwind of emails, rehearsals and promotion for the 10-date Mildly Erotic Poetry Tour, learning as I went along about all the challenges of event planning. The most piquant thing I learned was 'Don't book two or even three events within a few days of each other, or even back to back, especially when they're at opposite ends of the country.' But we survived, and it was great, ridiculous fun! You can read my blog about the Mildly Erotic Poetry Tour here.

Amy Key, Sarah Hesketh and Eve Lacey

3. Finding our guest editors. Or, rather, being found by them. We've been lucky enough to be approached by poetry editors who understood what we were doing with the Emma Press and wanted to be part of it. First Amy Key, co-founder of Poems In Which, came to me with her idea for Best Friends Forever, the anthology about female friendship which we published last month. Next came Sarah Hesketh, who was about to publish her collection of poems inspired by her time as poet-in-residence at Age Concern and wanted to edit an anthology about ageing (publishing Sept 2015). And then Eve Lacey, who had recently edited an anthology about women warriors for For Books' Sake and wanted to edit an anthology about the sea (the call for submissions will be later this year). That last one is fresh news, by the way – you heard it here first!

4. The Emma Press Club. I started the Emma Press Club last year because we were getting increasingly large numbers of submissions to our open calls and I wasn't convinced that everyone had read the brief for each themed poetry anthology. As a result, Rachel and I were spending a lot of time reading submissions which seemed only vaguely related to the brief and even less related to the kind of poetry we were interested in publishing. To be fair, in 2013 we hadn't published many books, but by March 2014 we'd published enough books that anyone who read one could form an idea of what we might like.

I felt frustrated with the people who hadn't read my brief properly and concerned for the people who hadn't given themselves a good chance of sending us poems that we might like. We wanted to continue being inclusive and running open calls for submissions, instead of just commissioning everything, so I set up the Emma Press Club, whereby everyone submitting to our anthologies had to have bought a book from our website in that calendar year, with an additional £5 fee per pamphlet submission. It's worked well so far, bringing the number of submissions down to a more manageable level and significantly raising the quality of submissions. You can read more about the Emma Press Club here.

Emma and Jamie at the 2013 Poetry Book Fair

5. Teaming up with Valley Press. And finally, the reason you're reading this on the Emma-Valley Press blog instead of the Emma Press website: the special relationship between the Emma Press and Jamie McGarry's Valley Press. We called it an engagement at first, but perhaps it can now be better compared to the twinning of two towns, in that the VP and EP remain separate while occasionally arranging a food market on their opposite number's turf. The Emma Press comes to Scarborough every spring and puts on a 'real food' fair featuring artisan cheeses and churros, and Valley Press comes to Winnersh in early December with a band of local traders offering mulled wine, biscuits and a suckling pig. You can read more about the original engagement here.

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You can find all of our books on our webshop, including some of our forthcoming titles available for pre-order.

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Catch-up with Valley Press: Jamie McGarry interviewed by Greg Freeman

This interview originally appeared here, on the poetry hub 'Write Out Loud', and was conducted on the 9th March 2014.  Questions were asked by Greg Freeman, answers given by Valley Press editor Jamie McGarry.

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You’ve recently completed a “national tour”, to celebrate, among other things, your five-year anniversary. How did the tour go, and how did Valley Press start?

The tour went well - I'd always envisioned a tour before Christmas on the five-year anniversary, and it was tremendously invigorating to see it come to fruition, and to be living out of a suitcase, travelling round the country celebrating the books I'd published.  I usually lead a rather quiet, uneventful life, so this for me was literally the most excitement I'd had in years... I think the authors and attendees had fun too.  In terms of enjoyment it was a success, and I also made a bit of money out of it, so no complaints.

Jamie looking suitably prosperous, 'on tour' November 2013.

I had also planned to release a celebratory anthology at the five-year anniversary, featuring an extract from each VP book and details of the origins and development of the press.  In the end, it wasn't possible, but I still hope to do it later this year - I may re-write history and say Valley Press began with the first publication of someone other than myself, in October 2009, thus keeping the whole 'five years, fifty books' thing going (which was the title of the tour).

The story from 2008 was that, after failing a Primary Teaching course, I decided to throw myself into literature as a possible alternative career.  I'd been pursuing teaching simply because it seemed like a sensible route to take, but with that door now closed, I was suddenly free to experiment... and with a novel and enough poems for a book sitting on my hard drive, I decided to leap straight into self-publication, without even trying other routes.  It wasn't about the fame and fortune at that point, it was more about the process: I published the first two VP books just to see if I could bring a book into existence.  I think there were only 40 copies of each produced, most of which I gave away, but it was enough to get a taste for what publishing would be like.

By 2010 I had published ten books, and got myself a degree in English Lit, so the future would have been back on course - except, eight months after graduation I was unable to find any employment, so I had almost no choice but to try running Valley Press full-time from January 2011.  And things have worked out surprisingly well!  I suppose the moral of all this is, every failure is an opportunity - just keep plodding forwards, and keep bumping into walls until you find a door.

You also publish fiction and non-fiction. How big a part does poetry play in your output?  How do you regard the prospects for poetry publishing and sales of poetry?

Valley Press is mostly about the poetry, truth be told.  The ratio of poetry to non-poetry reflects my own interests as a reader, therefore around three-quarters of the output has been, and will always be, poetry.

Your visitors will be pleased to hear I think the prospects are extremely good for poetry publishing.  Maybe it's just the way my operation is skewed, but VP poetry titles have always performed as well as - if not better than - the fiction and non-fiction titles.  When marketing, and direct selling at events, I've found readers are readers and are interested in the topic, content and appearance of a book primarily, not worrying too much if it's in verse or not.  I may be wearing large blinkers, but I can only see engagement with poetry growing in the future.  Each identifiable niche of the media seems to have an increasingly audible voice, and with people's attention spans allegedly shrinking, poetry could go truly 'mainstream' (the way erotic fiction has) at any moment.  I'm waiting...

In 2013 came the intriguing news that Valley Press and another small press publisher, The Emma Press – known in particular for its Mildly Erotic anthology – had become “engaged” with a view to marriage. Can you explain this a bit more?

I heard about the Emma Press when Emma published her first book... there was just something about that book, and the press, and its owner, that captured and held my attention like nothing I'd ever seen before.  As me and Emma began communicating, in a series of lengthy emails, I realised our values were pretty much exactly aligned.  Not only did I believe the Emma Press was destined for great things, I wanted to do all I could to help it get there; so we began sharing information and resources in an admirably selfless manner, as well as selling each other's books at markets and events.

The 'engagement' was our idea for formalising this arrangement, in the amusing, romantic and wholesome style preferred by Emma and myself.  Our first act post-engagement was to start a joint blog - see here for the first post, announcing our intentions.  This connection is probably the best thing that ever happened to Valley Press, and I'm keen to keep it going (and growing) in the years to come... though we haven't set a date yet for the 'wedding', which would perhaps come with a shared anthology.  To add a pleasant extra note of complication, I myself am engaged and planning a wedding at the moment, so the key question is: will l beat Valley Press to the altar...?

What has been your most satisfying moment in poetry publishing so far?

The moments I remember the most are the book launches; where it's a book by a person I really admire and respect, we've spent months editing/designing it and got it exactly right, and where dozens and dozens of people horde in and buy big handfuls of copies each.  There was the palace visit as well (see below), but nothing can compare to nights that fit the description above - and I have been lucky enough to have quite a few of those.

Your website mentions the weighty number of submissions you receive each year.  How should a poet who wishes to be published approach you?  Are there any dos and don’ts?

I am constantly grappling with submissions, and it is not an understatement to say I change my policy on them every month - which can be quite frustrating for submitters, I imagine.  A look at the statistics should deter people even further: since I started seeking subs in 2011, I have received more than a thousand unsolicited submissions and published just six of them (with the other titles coming into existence more organically).  All of those six broke through on quality alone; in a couple of cases, they were the best examples of a genre I was keen to try, but it was still quality that got them through.  So the only 'do' for submitters is, write an amazing book - one that happens to sync up exactly with my own tastes.  On you go!

One thing I plan to do (and Emma has already started, I think) is to only accept submissions from people who have purchased a book through the Valley Press website in the past few months - this may be a slightly controversial approach, but it's started to make a lot of sense.  Before I can re-open submissions with that new rule though, I need to work through a big bag of unread manuscripts that has been ignored since September... watch this space!

Your website says you’ve designed nearly all the Valley Press book covers. Again, are there any rules you think should be followed, in creating the look of a book?

The most important rule of cover design is to not give up until it's perfect, or at least at a truly professional standard.  When creating a cover, you should look at it and think: 'would (major publishing house) publish a book with this cover..?'  You have to be brutally honest with yourself, and if the answer is 'no', keep working.

I'm ashamed to say I haven't always followed that bit of advice, for a variety of reasons, but I have done okay (for someone with no design training) and plan to continually improve this aspect of the business in future.  My approach now is to realise my limitations as a designer, and concentrate on getting the most interesting, eye-catching, high-quality photographs for the covers - then adding simple text that doesn't detract or draw attention from the photo.  I can see this becoming a sort of 'house style' in future, though I would never go with the conformist, 'series' covers that a lot of poetry publishers employ (not that there's anything wrong with those).  The great thing about the 'photo/simple text' approach is it doesn't require a great deal of technical skill; just a bit of positioning and good taste.

Readers can see all the VP covers on this page, if they are curious.  I should also mention, in the interests of having a holiday this year, I do hire out my cover design skills for extraordinarily reasonable rates - contact me through the website if you need one doing.

You have your own book of poems, The Dead Snail Diaries. Does publishing get in the way of your creative output at all?

It definitely does, and the truth is I haven't been able to write a single poem since I started full-time publishing back in January 2011.  It was literally off like a switch - until then I used to write at least one a week, after that, not a thing.  If any psychologists are reading this... what happened there?  Answers on a postcard!

Fortunately, by that point I had written enough poems about snails to create a themed collection, and though the VP edition is now out of print, I'm pleased to report the Emma Press will be re-releasing The Dead Snail Diaries (with new illustrations by Emma) later this year.  It will be extremely bizarre to be on the other end of the publishing process for a change, and to be promoting myself and my writing again after a three-year break, but I'm looking forward to it.

Finally, how did you enjoy the recent poetry reception at Buckingham Palace? What was it like to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh?

It was a wonderful experience, a real once-in-a-lifetime thing, to walk through the halls and see the not-too-rebellious cream of British poetry there in their best suits and frocks (and queuing to get their coats back at the end... very strange to see the likes of Armitage and McGough in that context).  It was a night where I'd pass someone, look at their namebadge, and double-take on realising who this was, remembering all the incredible poems I'd read by them over the years.  And it was such a compliment to be invited; it's really the only recognition or reward I've had for my publishing so far, the first hint that what I'm doing might be somehow important - and you can't imagine how chuffed my old mum was when I showed her the invite.

As for the Queen and the Duke, the meeting could best be described as surreal - as they ushered us through the corridors, at one point I looked around and said: 'this is intense!', at which a footman appeared and said, 'this way sir'.  My name was then called out, I stepped round a corner and the Queen was literally there, suddenly, in front of my eyes... I have no memory of what followed, but the official photographs include one of me shaking hands with her and one of me bowing awkwardly, so I know I didn't go too far wrong.  A night to remember, in any case.

My opinions on The Future of Poetry Publishing, which I was too excited and unrequired to divulge at the Northern Lights Writers' Conference

Jamie and I on our way to the Waterside Centre

I've been thinking a lot lately about the improvisational nature of the Emma Press, so I was delighted to be asked to be on the panel at the 'D.I.Y. Publishing' talk in Manchester a few weeks ago, and even more delighted when it transpired that Jamie would also be there, along with Wes Brown of Dead Ink.

The talk was part of the Northern Light Writers' Conference, organised by the lovely Richard Evans, and it took the form of a Q&A led by Leeds writer SJ Bradley. Jamie, Wes and I each explained our route into the small publishing world before tackling questions about the importance of energetic authors, how to get reviews and press coverage, and how to find an audience. Here's a nice excerpt from Desmond Bullen's review of the Northern Lights Writers' Conference:

'The opening panel’s reservations about self-publishing (quite apart from E.L. James’ literary infelicities, her success is the rarest of exceptions to the general rule) might have blanketed the D.I.Y. Press panel with the damp of caution. That it did not owed much to the tripartite enthusiasm and youthful momentum of Wes Brown of Dead Ink Books, Jamie McGarry of Valley Press and Emma Wright of The Emma Press.'

It was very enjoyable, and I was so excited to be on a panel at last that I completely forgot to steamroller the event with my list of the strengths of small poetry publishers. I think they're still worth an airing, particularly given the concerns raised at a recent Byte the Book event on the future of poetry publishing, so here they are:

The Future of Poetry Publishing: the secret weapons of the small poetry publishing world

1. Commissioning apparently uncommercial titles. The received wisdom that there's no money in poetry is oddly liberating, because there's no sense of there being an obviously lucrative strategem from which we diverge at our own peril. We could try and copy Faber, but why not instead do what Faber can't, and take a chance on strange little books and booklets which we love and believe in? Why not publish an illustrated pamphlet of poems about Angela Lansbury, which is so bloody gorgeous that even people who never saw Murder She Wrote love it at first sight?
2. Unconventional book design. You'll never see so many self-consciously classy-looking books as in the poetry section of a bookshop. The idea is, I guess, that poetry is a serious artform and everyone wants to look like Faber, with their iconic typographical covers. But Faber sells books because they are Faber, not because of their cover design! Unless you have a poet with a name like 'Harry Styles', a text-only cover is not going to help sales, and nor will an image of mist and some fences. Instead, how about giving ...
3. individual attention to each title, from the cover to the marketing. It doesn't make sense to apply the same methods to every title, especially when you're a tiny publisher. The cover and interior design should express the character of the book, and I firmly believe that when the publisher manages this then the whole book stands out for being the thoughtfully-crafted object it is. You won't fool anyone into thinking you are Faber, but you can convince them that you're a more fascinating proposition altogether. I was told by a bookseller that The Flower and the Plough was too bright, handmade-looking and small for mainstream bookshops, but people at fairs and markets still reach for and buy it. See also: how Sidekick Books launched their Angela Lansbury book.
4. Developing authors. Once again, because there is no money in it, allegedly, why bother cutting corners? Shoving a poet through a sausage machine is pointless when there's only pence to be made anyway, and there are so few household-name poets that it's better to develop some potential superstars rather than attempt to poach Simon Armitage from Faber. Jamie writes on the Valley Press site that he spends the majority of his time editing, and so do I, along with the powerhouse that is Rachel Piercey, who thank god is on my team. If all publishers waited around for perfectly-formed poems and poets to fall through their letterbox, readers would miss out on a plethora of delights. 
5. The personal approach. Bigger publishers rejoice in business-y names, or the surnames of men no-one remembers anymore, but smaller publishers are labours of love and still intimately connected with their founders' personalities and idiosyncrasies, so why pretend otherwise?

So there you go, my thoughts on poetry publishing, as untold to the audience at the Waterside Centre in Sale. Despite the repeated received wisdom, I do happen to think there is money in poetry publishing, but that's the subject of a future blog.

Poetry Book Fair Report (Valley edition - with a bit of EP/VP back-story)

In Emma's Poetry Book Fair report, she promised you a report on this year's Fair from a 'veteran' - she must mean me! - thus laying down the challenge of following her fantastic 'rookie' post, and adding something new and interesting. I have chosen to dodge this challenge, and in the spirit of our now almost-month-old union, cover entirely different ground... to complement, rather than compete with, my dearly betrothed. Which is exactly the point of all this 'engagement' business!

I realise that besides the somewhat jokey first couple of posts, neither of us have offered comment yet on the actual reality behind the engagement. Here then, briefly, is the story: I read an article on Emma and her new Press on the Bookseller website, way back on the 3rd February. So impressed was I by the attitude (both textual and graphical) on her site, I was moved to spend some of my always-scarce money on a copy of her first title.

This was apparently just enough to insert Valley Press into her subconscious, so when she set up a market stall in May, she wrote to ask if I wanted her to sell some VP books on her stall - I did, of course, and she shifted quite a few! We then started a tentative email exchange, asking questions about each other's approach to survival in the Wild West world of self-employed poetry publishing; these emails continued indefinitely, and became longer and longer, as we discovered a vast variety of shared interests and opinions even beyond publishing (for example, we're both mega-fans of Swedish songster Jens Lekman).

What also happened was this: although I don't always live up to it, I have a pretty clear idea of how a perfect small press would/should operate in 2013 - Emma and her Press not only matched my ideal, but surpassed it; and not just sometimes, but every day, in new and surprising ways. Her energy, enthusiasm and commitment cannot be adequately described in words, nor can her god-given artistic and design talents (you'll see plenty of evidence of those in the coming months, if you haven't already). By the time we finally met up in August, I knew I simply had to find some way of harnessing these powers - rather like a cyclist hanging on to a juggernaut to gain speed - and for some reason, she was totally up for it too. So, we came up with the idea of the two presses getting married, sharing as many resources as possible; and even a blog, which you're on now. What the future has in store is anyone's guess, but I look forward to finding out!

So onto the Book Fair: you've heard from Emma how it was absolutely packed, and in a smaller space than last year - leading to an atmosphere of heady excitement and fevered book buying. In terms of hard cash, I took home about twice as much as the 2012 event, which I credit to two things. Number one: my use of a conversation-starting sign, which I then turned round to reveal the answer...

Number two: the efforts of Matthew Hedley Stoppard and Jo Brandon, who not only gave a world-beating reading from their books (and others), but actually ran the stall for some quite considerable periods of time, while I wandered about and fraternised with Emma. They sold about a dozen copies of each of their books in the end. Here's what Matthew looked like during his reading:

Very expressive! And here's Jo, and me, in a picture that could have been taken at any reading we've done:

All these photos are courtesy of that long-lensed genius Marcos Avlonitis. (You can see the full set on Facebook if you like.) That about wraps up my thoughts on the Poetry Book Fair 2013 - except to answer the question: will I be back next year? to which I would reply: does the Pope love hats? (Yes, he does, and yes, I will.) Keep an eye on this blog for more exciting posts soon.