From poetry to publishing – The Martha’s Vineyard Times

Islanders Write, which is put on by The MV Times, had its second off-season edition on a cool March weekend at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs. Dozens of local writers and authors converged for a day of writing workshops, a day of conversations about publishing, a Vineyard authors’ book fair, and plenty of community. 

Saturday began with a “Wake Up and Write!” workshop, facilitated by Judith Hannan, and progressed into memoir writing with Moira Silva; playwriting with Nicole Galland; journaling with James Jennings; and nonfiction research with Duncan Caldwell. There was also a workshop with Sherry Sidoti called “Embodied Storyteller,” and the final event of the day was a poetry-writing workshop with Justen Ahren and Fan Ogilvie.

Most of Saturday’s attendees signed up for more than one of the fully booked workshops. Holly Rendle was excited to bring lessons on journaling and memoir back to her students at MVRHS. Paul Bagnall, a journalist in Maine with roots on the Vineyard, said that the research workshop got him to think about different approaches. In the playwriting workshop, Karen Miller enjoyed seeing in real time the ways acting can shape how dialogue plays on stage. 

A celebration is always appropriate after a good day’s writing, and as the workshops wrapped up, the book fair and party opened in the gallery. The book fair was open to all authors on the Vineyard this March, and Mathew Tombers, manager of Edgartown Books, along with his team, wrangled them and their books. The “Featherstone Blue” show was on display behind long tables of local authors’ books. MV Times reporter and singer/songwriter Sarah Shaw Dawson sang and played guitar, then briefly slipped out of the room to write a song for the occasion. Behind the Bookstore’s chef, Juliano Marasca, presided over wine and charcuterie boards with smooth hummus, shiny olives, bright strawberries, and of course, several kinds of cheese and crackers.

Sunday’s focus was a series of conversations about possible paths to publication. Kate Feiffer, the event organizer and director of Islanders Write, began the morning in conversation with Tom Dresser, a prolific author of local histories who has also written and self-published a novel, of which very few copies sold. Some 20 years ago, Dresser connected with the History Press, a publishing company that focuses on local and regional histories, and started writing books about Vineyard history that he said sell quite well.

Sarah Shaw Dawson then interviewed Jennifer Smith Turner, a poet and the author of the novel “Child Bride,” which was published by Spark Press, a reputable hybrid publisher whose books are now distributed by Simon & Schuster. In hybrid publishing, which is different from self-publishing, the author pays some of the costs of publishing, which include editing, book design, cover design, printing, and distribution, and receives royalties when books sell. It was a model that worked well for “Child Bride,” which sold some 15,000 copies and won awards. 

Back to Feiffer, who spoke with Nancy Slonim Aronie. Aronie told a story about how she received a $25,000 advance for her first book, “Writing from the Heart,” in the late 1990s. Twenty years after its initial publication, Aronie got back the rights to “Writing from the Heart,” and rereleased it herself, using the Amazon platform for ebooks and print-on-demand paperbacks, a decision she regrets. More recently, Aronie was working on a memoir, and was intent on having a book published when she turned 80. After hearing Eckhart Tolle speak, she knew she wanted his publisher to be her publisher. Only she found out that he had no interest in publishing memoirs either. So she shifted gears and wrote a book about how to write a memoir, which indeed was published the year she turned 80. 

John Abrams, the founder of South Mountain Co., has published two books focused on employee-owned businesses. He found his publisher through researching books they publish. “What a publisher publishes tells you a lot about what they value,” he says. Abrams also spoke at length about the worth of hiring a publicist who knows how to reach the right audience. 

Carole Hopson’s debut novel, “A Pair of Wings,” was inspired by the life of Bessie Coleman, a Black woman who learned to fly at the dawn of aviation. Hopson’s enthusiasm for the story carried her through 12 years of writing and a rocky road to publication. (Hopson herself is a pilot and a captain at United Airlines.) She connected with an excellent agent, who dropped her during COVID; she then hired a woman to help her with marketing and media. Hopson found a tiny publisher who agreed to print and distribute only 100 copies of the book, which sold out immediately. She then launched her own imprint, Jet Black Press, and sold 10,000 copies of the book. She signed with a well-known literary agent, and “A Pair of Wings” was then re-edited and published through a traditional publisher. 

During an afternoon session, Rosemary Stimola, who has been a literary agent since 1997, told Shaw Dawson that the last thing she wants to hear from a new author is that they’ve written the next “Hunger Games.” (Stimola represents “Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins.) “I’m not interested in following trends,” she says, “I’m more interested in setting them.” In order for her to take on a book, she said, she asks herself two questions: Do I love it? Can I sell it? Stimola advises authors who are seeking an agent to be aware that agents receive hundreds of queries a day, and to move on if they haven’t received a response after a couple of months.

Mark Favreau is both a publisher and an author. He wrote his first book in his late 40s, after many years as an editor at the New Press, a nonprofit public-interest publisher. His own books are nonfiction for the young adult market, and have been published through a large traditional publishing house. As an editor, Favreau says, he’s besieged with submissions. He urges authors to do their research though Publishers Marketplace, and seek out intermediaries to connect with the people who can get their books into editors’ hands.

Charles Sennott closed out the afternoon with the tale of how he organized, transcribed, and self-published his mother’s family stories through the Blurb print-on-demand service. “Through the Lace Curtain” has sold 750 copies in hardback, thanks to a large family. Sennott’s mother had book signings and an event at Boston College, which gave her a sense of accomplishment in the last chapter of her life.

At the end of the day, whatever the size of the publisher or the path to publication, success as an author springs from connections, perseverance, self-promotion — and serendipity. “I am full up to here, as the kids used to say,” said Laurie Peter, a workshop participant, gesturing to six inches above her head. For the writers who attended the weekend’s workshops and conversations, there is much to digest before the next Islanders Write rolls around.