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Madville at AWP 2022 in Philadelphia! #AWP22

Celebrate with Madville Publishing at AWP22. We will have a reading on the bookfair stage, a reception, and a virtual panel.

Madville Publishing will be in attendance at AWP in person this year. We also recorded a virtual panel so you can see a few of us even if you can’t attend in person. Our booth is #1044… near the food court! This page shows our schedule.

We will update here with information about author book signings. We didn’t get that info in in time for the official program listings.

AWP logo for #AWP22 White text on a pale green background

2022 AWP Conference & Bookfair
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Convention Center
March 23–26, 2022

All About Publicity: Publicists & Small Presses

https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference/event_detail/21532

T242. Virtual

Thursday, March 24, 2022 – 3:20 pm to 4:20 pm

Publishing with a small press with a limited promotion budget can leave an author feeling adrift and alone when it comes to advertising and promoting their books. Some (who have the resources to do so) hire outside publicists. This panel seeks to answer some hard questions about how to find the right publicist to promote your work and how to gauge your success. What should a publicist cost? How many books will the author have to sell to cover that cost? Is it worthwhile in the long run?

Event Outline: All-About-Publicity-outline.rev2_.pdf

Participants

  • Kimberly Davis (moderator) is the director at Madville Publishing, a nonprofit independent press based in Denton, Texas. Kim writes mostly fiction and has an MFA from SHSU. She spent five years at Texas Review Press.
  • Caitlin Hamilton Summie is the former marketing director of MacMurray & Beck and of BlueHen Books/Penguin Putnam. At each firm, she also managed imprint profile and directed all publicity, hardcover and paperback. In 2003, she founded Caitlin Hamilton Marketing & Publicity.
  • Gigi Marino is a senior publicist with Otter PR in Orlando, Fla. She has more than twenty-five years of experience working in higher education as a writing lecturer, magazine editor, photography director, and director of communications, She also is a poet and essayist.
  • Lee Zacharias is the author of a collection of short stories, a collection of essays, and four novels. Her work has received IPPY silver medals for fiction and nonfiction, two Sir Walter Raleigh Awards, the Phillip H. McMath Book Award, and fellowships from the NEA and the North Carolina Arts Council.
  • Michael Simms founded Autumn House Press in 1998 and served as editor in chief until 2015 when he started Vox Populi, a public sphere for politics and poetry. His poetry collections include American Ash and Nightjar, and he’s been the lead editor of over 100 published books.

Madville On Stage

12:10pm – 1:25pm on Friday March 25, 2022
Michener Center for Writers Bookfair Stage 
Hall D & E, Pennsylvania Convention Center, 200 Level

The Pursuit: A Meditation on Happiness by Gerry Lafemina, front cover features an abstract watercolor that might be a man reclining by artist, Cliff Wockenfuss/Zito Art, Pittsburgh
Cover art by Cliff Wockenfuss/Zito Art, Pittsburgh
What a Wonderful World This Could Be by Lee Zacharias. Front cover to look like graffiti on a white painted brick wall with a camera and block letters. Also displays two awards.
Cover design by Jacqueline Davis
Front cover for: The Iron Scar: A Father and Son in Siberia BY BOB KUNZINGER WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL KUNZINGER
Cover photo by Michael Kunzinger
Judgment Day & Other White Lies by Mike Hilbig. Front cover shows an orangutan with a gun and an egg timer balancing on the rim of a Greek Urn with Perseus holding the Medusa's head.
Cover by Crowcrumbs
Heartbreak Tree: Poems by Pauletta Hansel, front cover. White block letters are superimposed over a painting of a road and a tree by Angelyn DeBord
Cover art by Angelyn Debord

This reading brings together poetry, essay, creative nonfiction, and fiction from recently released or upcoming Madville titles. We’ve invited several of our authors who enjoy performing to read on the AWP Bookfair stage. Each of these talented writers/performers has a new book coming out in time to share at AWP22. They are: 

·       Gerry LaFemina

Gerry LaFemina’s poetry collections include Baby Steps in Doomsday Prepping, The Story of Ash and Little Heretic. His essays on prosody, Palpable Magic, came out in 2015 and Kendall Hunt recently released his textbook, Composing Poetry: A Guide to Writing Poems and Thinking Lyrically. He teaches at Frostburg State University and in the Carlow University MFA Program. https://gerrylafemina.com/ His latest collection is creative nonfiction in flash format, THE PURSUIT: A MEDITATION ON HAPPINESS (Madville, Feb 2022)

·       Mike Hilbig

Mike Hilbig graduated in 2017 from Sam Houston State University with an MFA in Creative Writing, Editing, and Publishing. He lives in Houston, TX and teaches English at the University of Houston-Downtown and at Lone Star College. His new collection of short stories is JUDGMENT DAY & OTHER WHITE LIES (Madville, Feb 2022)

·       Lee Zacharias

Lee Zacharias is the author of a collection of short stories, a collection of essays, and four novels. Her work has received IPPY silver medals for fiction and nonfiction, two Sir Walter Raleigh Awards, the Phillip H. McMath Book Award, and fellowships from the NEA and the North Carolina Arts Council. Her most recent novel is WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD THIS COULD BE (Madville, Jun 2021)

·       Bob Kunzinger

Bob Kunzinger is the author of nine collections of essays, including: A Third Place: Notes in Nature, and Penance: Walking with the Infant. He lives in Virginia. His newest collection is THE IRON SCAR: A FATHER AND SON IN SIBERIA with photos by Michael Kunzinger (Madville, Apr 2022)

·       Pauletta Hansel

Pauletta Hansel is a poet, memoirist and teacher who is author of eight poetry collections including Friend, Coal Town Photograph and Palindrome, winner of the 2017 Weatherford Award for best Appalachian Poetry. Her writing has been widely anthologized and featured in print and online journals including Oxford American, Rattle, The Writer’s Almanac, American Life in Poetry and Verse Daily, the Appalachian Journal, Appalachian Review, Cincinnati Review, and Still: The Journal, among others. Pauletta was Cincinnati’s first Poet Laureate, 2016-2018 and for ten years served as managing editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, the literary publication of Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative. Read Pauletta’s work and hear her read her own work on her website, paulettahansel.wordpress.com. Her latest collection is Heartbreak Tree (Madville, March 2022)

Madville Publishing Reception

F252.

people toasting wine glasses
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Join us for some reading and some laughs. We’ll have refreshments of the adult variety.

This event is a celebration for Madville Publishing authors, past and present. Friends of Madville or Madville authors are welcome.

Friday, March 25, 2022, 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Room 308, Marriott Philadelphia Downtown

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Writer’s World Workshop

Writers World workshop mini shows a split screen with an old typewriter on the left in yellow, and a laptop on a turquoise background on the right

The Writer’s World Workshop took place yesterday, and many thanks to the And I Thought Ladies, Jade and Wilnona for inviting Kim Davis to speak about Madville Publishing and small press publishing in general. What a whirlwind! Many connections were made and much information was shared in a short period of time. Pre-Covid, we didn’t see this sort of digital gathering in which people from all around the country came together, spoke candidly and laughed together about our crazy industry.

Attendees ran the gamut from right across the industry. There were writers, screenwriters, publicists, Hollywood producers, and publishers. Madville was in good company.

Who attended?

  • Rose Drew – CEO of Stairwell Books – https://www.stairwellbooks.co.uk/about/
  • Rosemerry Trommer opened with a beautiful poem – AHundredFallingVeils.com daily poems and rosemerry.com, https://www.wordwoman.com/about/
  • It was lovely to meet Janet Todd, who joined from England where a storm named Eunice was raging outside her window. She rejoined the conversation periodically throughout the day, and she was delightful. Her most recent book is Jane Austen and Shelley in the Garden. At one point, Janet Todd drew a connection for us between Jane Austen’s development as it related to Brandy Miller’s talk. She also told us about the Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize for women, which is now open.
  • Kathy Murphy How to attract Book clubs- Pulpwood Queens Kathy L. Murphy, CEO and Founder of The International Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Club Reading Nation.
  • Angela Anderson – Marketing 101 (Book PR/Marketing). Angela is a certified word nerd, who provides quality services including literary coaching, marketing, promotions, and literary cafe events in excellence, the Angela Anderson Presents way. Read about angela here: http://angelaandersonpresents.com/about/.
  • Sean Connors – Dr. Connors teaches courses on young adult literature and graphic novels. He also works with English education interns in the Master of Arts in Teaching program.
  • Victorine (New York Times Bestselling Author) “How to create a book Cover.”
  • Amy Ferris (author, screenwriter, editor and playwright). Co-director story summit Learn about Amy Ferris here: http://marryinggeorgeclooney.com/about/
  • Parasian hostess Tamara (How to Dress Your Brand) – Creator of The Parisian Hostess Brand of hand made essential oil products, Pin Up Personality, creator of Bombshell Academy Bootcamp. Read about the Parsian hostess here: https://www.theparisianhostess.com/collections/classes
  • Charlie Rossiter, http://www.poetryspokenhere.com/, gave a great talk about poetry. He talked about “forest bathing” and the amusing habit we have of naming things like being in the woods. He invited us to feel the earth beneath us.
  • Susan Wingate talked about podcasting. susanwingate.com/dialog, https://www.susanwingate.com/podcast
    She said there are very few platforms (podcasts where they talk about books) where you can post fiction free of charge. Most cost $250-$750 for them to share information about your book. In response to this, Susan started Dialog Between the Lines. She was asked about services for podcasts and recommended pod beam and Buzz sprout, with Sound cloud taking third place because it isn’t quite as easy to use. Next, Susan inspired everyone with a discussion of MFA programs and told us how she has worked on an MFA durning COVID and how much she’s learned. It’s interesting to hear about a multi-published author doing her MFA.
  • B. Daniel (B.D.) Watkins, chief programmer for I Elevate Plus TV. She is a Hollywood producer who talked about the differences between writing for screen and writing for print. She tried to give a true picture of what it is like to write for TV, and told how it has been hard for her to go back to writing books where the author has to tell everything. If we want to get a book to Hollywood, we need to investigate creating a Pitch deck, then writing a screenplay. And we need a logline.
  • Tonya Todd, a writer/actress. She hosts the Dime Grinds podcast, and loves to have authors read and talk about their work. dimegrinds@gmail.com Her most recent short story is in Love in the Dunes: Las Vegas Writers on Passion and Heartache. Her podcast is https://www.youtube.com/c/The52LovePodcast/, and she could always use more subscribers to her newsletter!
  • Gabriel Cleveland – CavanKerry Press – a nonprofit literary press founded in 2000.
  • Madeline Goldman. Publicity and Marketing. Madweek Marketing. Contact her at madeleine@madweekmarketing.com . Madeline also writes under the pen name, Adele Royce, and she invited us to look at and comment on her lovely new author’s website: adeleroyce.com 
  • Recorded reading and interview with Amy Ferris. “Loveletter to Women” Read about women supporting women. Hope and confidence. Storysummit.us 
  • Alex Creswick – film producer – gave a general weather report for the industry. To sum in up, it’s a rough time because of Covid restrictions, but if you have a script with a low production budget and not too many actors, you have a better chance.nwww.alexcreswick.com
  • Lauren Marino, author of What Would Dolly Do? also Bookish Broads: Women who Wrote themselves into History. Lauren had great advice and info for other authors about the publishing process because not only is she an author, she works for Hachette.
  • D C Gomez gave up some insider secrets about how to get onto the USA Today Bestsellers.
  • David Legere of Woodhall Press dllegre.com, https://www.woodhallpress.com/. They’re currently accepting all sorts of things. Check their website.

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Arthur Smith Poetry Prize – Winners

The Parting Glass by Lisa Parker

Winner of The 2021 Arthur Smith Poetry Prize
Look for it September 2022

Jesse Graves, the judge for the 2021 Arthur Smith Poetry Prize, said:

“… moving and memorable in terms of subject matter… accomplished in form and technique. The individual poems are brilliantly expressed, and they add up to sustained and coherent whole. The poet … captures the experiences living [in Appalachia] and moving away and the feelings about the language, beautifully.”

Lisa Parker is a native Virginian, a poet, musician, and photographer. Her book, This Gone Place, won the 2010 Appalachian Studies Association Weatherford Award and her work is widely published in literary journals and anthologies. Her photography has been on exhibit in NYC and published in several arts journals and anthologies.

Splinter by Susan O’Dell Underwood

Finalist for the 2022 Arthur Smith Poetry Prize
Look for it May 2023

Jesse Graves, the judge for the 2021 Arthur Smith Poetry Prize said:

“These poems are wise and generous throughout, and witty at times to provide a balance to the elegiac tone.”

Susan O'Dell Underwood is a native of East Tennessee, where she has lived most of her life. She's the director of creative writing at Carson-Newman University. Besides two chapbooks, she has one full-length collection of poetry, The Book of Awe (Iris, 2018). Her novel Genesis Road is forthcoming from Madville Publishing (June 2022). Her poems and fiction are published and forthcoming in a variety of journals and anthologies, including A Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee, Oxford American, Alaska Quarterly Review, and Still: The Journal.
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Happy 2022 from Madville Publishing

Jojo-troublemaker-in-chief

We wish you Happy New Year 2022, but first, here is a quick recap of 2021.

We know that many among our subscribers, authors, and staff went back to teaching face-to-face amid Covid fears in 2021. We applaud you all for your hard work and dedication. What you do is a calling.

Lee Zacharias, Wondra Chang, and Francine Rodriguez read from their 2021 Madville Novels.
Lee Zacharias reading from What a Wonderful World This Could Be, Wondra Chang answering questions about Sonju, and Francine Rodriguez reading from A Woman’s Story.

We didn’t get to see one another in person as much as we like in 2021, but we attended a few virtual events, like AWP in March, and there were a few bright pockets of time when the likes of Lee Zacharias, Wondra Chang, and Francine Rodriguez braved the scary world outside between Covid mutations and booster shots to sign books and read their stories in front of live people.

Our 2021 authors have been fabulous. They affirm that despite the daunting nature of the search for one’s audience, worthwhile literature can still find an audience. (All praises to the Indie bookstores that have hosted our authors this year.) While the pandemic has seen book sales industry-wide increase due to the increased demand for children’s books and textbooks, that increase in sales has been more modest for authors of poetry, literary fiction and nonfiction. That said, Madville increased production a little bit this year, to an official 13, with one 2022 title coming out a little early, (All I See Is Your Glinting: 90 Days in the Pandemic Gianna Russo and Jenny Carey.) We also added 8 hardback editions of existing titles in our catalog. You can find those here.

We added two audiobooks, What a Wonderful World This Could Be, and Sonju, both read by the wonderful Laurie Carter Rose, and of course, every book we publish is available in multiple ebook formats either here on our website, or at most online ebook vendors.

We’re finally a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

We had some good news in February after two long years of going backward and forward with the IRS, we were granted our official 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. That’s huge for a little press like Madville. It allows us to apply for grants and makes any donations we receive tax deductible (retroactive to June 2020). If anyone needs a receipt for a donation, please get in touch. And, of course, we are always able to put donations to good use, producing and promoting quality literature.

Many thanks to all who donated during our recent online fundraiser. And we have to say, it isn’t too late to make a 2021 donation!

Madville Publishing's 2021 book covers.

We accomplished a lot in 2021

We published 13 titles this year, and we couldn’t be prouder of them. 

Note the badges on the award winners… We had some of our 2020 titles winning awards this year as well. We created a new section of the website for Award Winners so you can see them all in one place.

Ron and Alice Kenney
Ron and Alice Kenney.

On a sad note, we lost one of our Madville family this year. Ron Kenney, our beloved English jockey friend, and author of An Englishman in Texas passed away. We hope you will join us in sending love and condolences to his wife Alice. Ron was 91 years old, and one of the most uplifting people you could ever hope to know. He’s bound to be singing and dancing in heaven. 


From Madville Publishing to you,

Happy New Year and all the very best wishes for 2022!