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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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Poet friends honor Vincent D’Amico

Vince D'Amico came out to listen to a presentation I gave at the University of Houston. Photo shows Kim Davis and Vince D'Amio on the U of H campus

We’ve lost dear friends and this one deserves to be remembered, especially. Vincent D’Amico was Madville Publishing director, Kim Davis‘s high school English teacher. Without his inspiration, it’s no exaggeration to say that Madville Publishing would never have happened. So, we are grateful to our friends Dave Parson and Janet Lowery for putting this annual event together in Mr. D’Amico’s honor. Most friends called him Vince, but to Kim, he was MR. Vince died last year, well into his 80s, and the information in the video will give you a bit more of his background.

For those who did not know him, Vince D’Amico had a lifelong love of Robert Frost’s work. He spent years taking his vacations in New Hampshire, touring the places Frost lived and worked, chronicling his life. That is why a Robert Frost reading makes such perfect sense for this Memorial.

1st Annual Vince D’Amico Memorial Poetry Reading and Open Mic. Thanks so much to Texas Poet Laureate Dave Parsons, Janet Lowery, and Deedee Fox. Janet Lowery edited Madville’s first poetry anthology, By the Light of a Neon Moon.
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Katherine, Kathryn! What a beautiful cover!

Three covers with art by Kathryn Smith for a new poetry collection by Katherine Smith entitled Secret City. The image shows three covers side-by-side. One with a white background one more orange, and one blue.

Take our poll to tell us which cover you like best. It doesn’t mean we’ll change our minds about the one WE like, but it’s always fun to see what everyone thinks!

While Katherine Smith writes beautiful poetry, Kathryn also creates collages we can’t stop looking at.

The story begins with the Madville crew doing some online research about a new poet we had just signed, Katherine Smith. (Secret City, Madville, August 2022). Expect a preorder page to become available for this collection in May. You’ll find that on our homepage, https://madvillepublishing.com.

But back to the reason for the search in the first place, we were looking for inspiration for Katherine Smith’s book cover. We like to start by looking at an author’s previous covers, so we started by looking at Katherine’s Woman Alone on the Mountain (Iris Press, 2014). After that, our eyes were naturally drawn to the really striking collage art of Katheryn Smith, who turned up among our search results. We contacted her about her art before even realizing she is also a poet. Learn more about her at kathrynsmithpoetry.com

[socialpoll id=”2816372″]

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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.