Hi, I’m Emily
As a young girl, I grew up in a family that loved books. My mother was a librarian and she called the library and made sure the bookmobile stopped in front of our home every week. (If you’ve never heard of a bookmobile, think mobile home-sized vehicle filled with books.) My five siblings and I were each allowed to take out up to five books every Wednesday, and each week our house was littered with library books. We loved to read. My whole family loved to read – all eight of us.
I have a wonderful memory from my childhood of lying on the floor in our living room one Sunday, with the sun streaming in on my face, as I listened to my father reading The Jungle Book aloud for us. For my friends and family, it was no huge surprise when after college I set out for New York to pursue a career in publishing. I pictured myself a young, female, Maxwell Perkins, destined to find and publish the world’s next Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Reality had a different plan for me and I found my place in the educational publishing industry. Working in publishing was incredibly challenging and sometimes downright terrifying. Every day I worked side by side with the smartest people I had ever met and there was so much to learn. It was exhilarating. I had many successes in my 32-year publishing career, and my share of failures (from which I learned a ton). I worked with good authors, great authors, and a few awe-inspiring ones, and I learned from all of them.
I left publishing a few years ago and started Bold in Business, a teaching and coaching business designed to teach women how to own their power in the business world. While I loved the work of empowering women, I missed the world of publishing. I missed the excitement of finding and signing authors and partnering with them on the books that would one day have a real impact on people’s lives. On August 14th, I announced to the world the exciting news that I was launching Bold Story Press, a publisher by, for, and about women. At Bold Story Press we intend to publish good books that sell well, and it is our mission to give voice to woman authors who wish to share their stories.
In our culture in 2020, we experience the world from a disproportionately male lens:
Only 20% of the best-selling novels are written by women
Only 25% of our combined legislature are women
Only 30% of our print journalists and television journalists are women
I believe that the world will be a happier, richer, kinder, world when there is a balance of lawmakers, a balance of truth-tellers, and a balance of stories shared – 50% from men and 50% of women. It’s for that reason, that I have decided to focus Bold Story Press on telling the stories of women.
I am starting small by offering two classes this fall. The first, “How To Write and Publish Your Book” teaches the foundations of good writing and includes an overview of the publishing process from someone who knows it well from the inside. We’ll discuss everything you should be thinking about and planning for as you begin to plan and write your book.
That class is live, will run for eight-weeks, and begins October 1st, 2020.
The second program will follow the first and will include things you need to know to publish and market your book: editing, critical reviews, cover and book design, copyediting, and developing a marketing strategy.
By January I will offer a suite of publishing services for women who want to self-publish their books. Also available in 2021, I will begin publishing a small handful of titles in a full-service publishing program. I know there are a lot of publishing scams out there…businesses that will take your money and won’t give you much value for it. So, I make you this promise:
“At Bold Story Press we will always operate with integrity. We will teach you, support you, help you, and work side-by-side with you to publish your book. We will treat you fairly and respect your work, and we will do all that we can to make you and your book as successful as possible.”
If you’re thinking about writing a book, or have a first draft in hand, please reach out to me. I want to hear from you.
Warmly,
Emily