Interview (Part I) with Louella Turner, CEO of High Hill Press

I'm pleased to welcome Louella Turner, CEO and Publisher of High Hill Press to Donna's Book Pub.

Full disclosure: Lou is one of my dearest friends. She and I met about twenty years ago at a critique group and have been friends ever since. She not only is a Pushcart Prize nominated writer, for the past three years she and her husband Brian have operated High Hill press, a small publishing company dedicated to publishing well written books that otherwise might not have gotten noticed.

In Part I of our interview, Lou discusses how she got started in the publishing business, the mission of High Hill, what types of books she publishes, and the services her publishing company provides. My questions are in black, and Lou's responses are in blue.

You and your husband Bryan are CEOs and publishers of High Hill Press, a small press. Can you share with us a bit about your background and what inspired you to begin High Hill Press? My background is all over the place. I enjoyed a long and successful career as an artist, art teacher, and a Tea Room and shop owner. Then in 1992 I retired to write, and in 2008, my husband and I formed High Hill Press. After attending a writer's conference, I realized there was a need for something in between NY, and the Print on Demand publishers that were popping up like mushrooms. A good friend of mine published a beautiful book with Publish American and was very disappointed. On the way home from the conference I talked to my husband about starting a retirement business and that's what we did.

What are the goals and mission of High Hill Press? We want to publish as many great books as we can. New York overlooks so many wonderful stories and writers because their goal is simply to make money. Our goal is to hopefully break even, which gives us a great advantage over NY. We can take our time with an author that might need a little direction. We also look at the author too. I've recently had a query from a woman who grew up on a river boat. How neat. Her story needs a little tweaking, but I think working with her will be wonderful. We've also got a client that was a famous country western singer. He wants to tell the story of his younger years, NY is only interested in his music years. So we're doing one book for him, and hopefully NY will do the other.

Do you specialize in any area of publishing, or are you open to all types of submissions? We'll take a look at any genre. The only requirement is that it be written well.

What are your criteria for submissions? Query letter? Synopsis? Proposal? Personal pitch? Word of Mouth? We try not to advertise too much but we're still getting an average of 80 contacts a month. We ask that they send the first and last chapter of a novel, a short story or two of a collection, a chapter and further chapter outlines of a nonfiction. And we want a bio of the author. If it looks like something we want, we ask for the entire manuscript and then we do what I refer to as the long and windy phone call. I won't work with someone I don't feel comfortable with, and that phone call tells me alot.

What services do you provide that sets High Hill Press apart from most other small presses? A High Hill book will stay in print as long as the author wants it to. And while we're working with the author, we try to use as much input from them as we can with title, layout, and cover designs. Lately I've also been working on making our layouts prettier than the average perfect bound book. I'm paying attention to fonts and chapter headings. Most small press just do a simple layout, we're trying to make ours special.

Tune in Wednesday for Part II of the interview, when Lou will discuss her process for accepting manuscripts and what authors can expect after they sign with High Hill. She will also announce a giveaway of a book by one of her authors.

Book Giveaway - Tanka Moments: A Man's Journey by David Lee Kirkland

In honor of national poetry month, I'm giving away a copy of a book of poetry written by David Lee Kirkland, a long-time writer friend.

David, or Kirk as many of us call him, is an award-winning poet, novelist, short-story writer, storyteller, Templar, fiddler, and frequent wearer of kilts.

Tanka Moments: A Man's Journey, published by High Hill Press, is his latest published work.

Packed in the slim volume are 265 tanka and dozens of haunting illustrations, which capture the essence of the book. The tone of poems ranges from playful to serious, uplifting to thought-provoking, romantic to down-to-earth.

Here's a sampling:

27.

Children's eyes

Even averted

See so much

How can we wonder

Where lessons are learned?

37.

Rattlesnake

Head poised, tail shaking

Fair warning

If only people

Were so courteous

43.

Learning to drive

On Dad's old Mercury

No second gear

Transitions are not smooth

Between youth and manhood

254.

Hungry birds huddle

Outside below the feeder

Hopeful, eager

Our children gather inside

Seeing presents by the tree

If you would like to win a copy of Kirk's poetry book, here's what you need to do:
* Leave a comment
* About your favorite poet or poem or your thoughts on poetry
* Between today and April 20th
* Be sure to include an e-mail address so I can contact you if you win
* I will pick one name at random from all who leave comments.
* Winner will be announced on or around April 21

Good luck, and Happy Poetry Month!

Mysteries of the Ozarks and Welcome

Last week I posted a brief review of Mysteries of the Ozarks (Vol III) on my A Book A Week blog.

If you like reading about the Ozarks, local history, or mysteries, check out the anthology, which is newly released from High Hill Press. Volume III is full of lovely stories, and the cover is amazing.

I have a story in Volume I and another one that will be included in Volume IV, which will be published later this year. Check out my review of Mysteries of the Ozarks Volume III if you get a chance.

Also, I would like to welcome my newest follower to Donna's Book Pub.

Welcome Tiger85. Thank you for being a follower, and I hope you visit often!

Scare the Dickens out of Us Ghost Contest

During a presentation at the MWG conference last weekend, mystery writer and keynote speaker Elaine Viets encouraged writers to enter contests.

The following is information about a contest she recommends. The entry fee for adult writers at $20 is a bit steep, but the prizes are generous and it's for a good cause.

Friends of the Clark Library is sponsoring the "Scare The Dickens Out of Us" ghost story writing contest.

First place prize of $1000, second place prize of $500 and third place prize of $250 will be awarded this year for the best original, previously unpublished ghost stories 5000 words or less that are submitted.

For younger writers, The Junior Scare The Dickens Out of Us ghost story contest, which follows the same rules, offers $250 for first place for writers aged 12-18.

This contest is a fundraiser for the Friends of the Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart, Texas. The main contest requires a $20 entry fee and the Junior contest a $5 entry fee. The contest is privately funded. All entry fee money goes directly to the Friends where it is donated to the library for library projects.

Entries are accepted beginning July 1.
The contest postmark deadline is October 1, 2011.

Full rules are at the Clark Library Friends website. No publication is involved. Writers retain full rights to their stories. The contest is open to published and unpublished writers, and to local, national and international writers as well. The only rules are that you write an original, unpublished ghost story and that it be 5000 words or less in length.

Good luck if you enter.

Lost and Found

Over the weekend, while I was at the Missouri Writers' Guild "Just Write" Conference (more about that later this week), my hubby and our grandson spent the weekend at our country place in Osage County.

The weekend had near record-breaking temperatures, so Walt and Michael--along with Harley our black lab--took advantage of the warm weather. The guys cut grass, plowed fields, rode four-wheelers, and explored.


Harley ran alongside wherever they went and even took a swim in the Gasconade River, which abuts our property for about a third of a mile.

I took these photos along the riverbank last summer.

While Michael was out exploring, he spotted something poking out of the earth not far from the riverbank. At first he tought they were bleached rocks, but he noticed they were shaped weird. After he dug them out, he saw they were large bones.

Walt confirmed they are bones, probably very old ones, but too big to be deer bones. He thinks they might be remains from a cow, horse, or mule--back from when our "farm" was actually a working farm, decades ago.

When Michael showed me his find last night, his eyes widened, and he held them almost reverently. He asked what kind of bones I thought they are. Not having a clue, I suggested he put them in a bag and take them to school and ask his science teacher.

On the topic of discovery, and in a stroke of coincidence, I received the Woman's Day newsletter today. Low and behold one of the featured articles contained stories about amazing metal detector findings. The stories are fascinating, but the one I will be sure and show Michael is the story about the seven-year-old Virginia boy who unearthed part of a Civil War sword last year.

So, while we await the opinion of Michael's science teacher about the bones, my question is: Have you ever discovered anything mysterious or found something you treasure?

Sisters of the Quill Award

After Tuesday's post about Forgotten English, many commented that they liked or loved the modified term I came up with: "Sisters of the Quill." One person wrote it gave her the shivers.

I really like the term, too. In fact, after reading the comments I decided to create a Sisters of the Quill Award. I played around with Clip Art and Power Point, and with some help from my hubby, I came up with the logo on the left.

The very first "Sisters of the Quill Award" goes to the eight people who commented about my post on Tuesday.

As a recipient of this award, you have been deemed a quill-driver, a writer, a scribe, a schrivener, an author worthy of recognition. You are welcome to share this award with deserving writer friends. All I ask is you mention you received the Sisters of the Quill Award from Donna at Donna's Book Pub.

Without further ado, I'm awarding the First Generation Sisters of the Quill Award to the following bloggers and quill-driving writers:

Sioux

Cathy C. Hall

Linda O'Connell

Mary Horner

K9 Friend

Janet

Tammy

Clara Gillow-Clark

Congratulations, Sisters of the Quill. Hope you enjoy your award, and don't forget to write!

Donna

Forgotten English Word for the Day

Today's word from my calendar of "Forgotten English" is quill driver.

Here are two definitions:

From John Hotten's Slang Dictionary, 1887: "A schrivener, a clerk; satrical phrase to 'steel bar driver,' a tailor."

From Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1796: "A clerk, a scribe, or hackney writer. Brother of the quill, an author."

Of all the definitions, I like "brother of the quill," although "sister of the quill" is more fitting since I'm a woman.

So, here's my sentence: Being a quill driver doesn't pay all my bills, but at times it does give me thrills.