My favorite book… wow, this is a hard one.
So, Nichole, how long have you been writing/studying the writing industry?
That’s when I started to really to consider the word eclectic and all that it implies. The word “eclectic” brings a picture of a magpie to my mind. They are beautiful and funny birds that are always looking for shiny objects to take back to their nests and keep as treasures, and they are curious and not afraid of humans. Some people might call them thieves, but if you really think about, the Magpie is a treasure hunter.
However, the more material goals of Magpie would parallel with that of other presses, I suppose… at least on the business end. Marketing, quality, and sales. These objectives comes second because they support the first objective… the better the quality of the product, the easier it is to market; the easier it is to market, the more sales there are made; the more sales there are made, the more people we reach with our first goal, which is to touch people for God through speculative fiction and the written word. Obviously we can’t reach our first goal without putting our everything – heart and soul – into the second goal. In fact, it’s just best to put your best into something from the get-go. I don’t believe in half-heartedness.
However, I also want to know what my authors feel like. They are submitting to me, entrusting me with their beloved stories, worrying over the outcome. How can they trust me if I haven’t gone through the same process that they have, and if I don’t know what that feels like?
For instance, if they read about us, they will find out that we are not a vanity or subsidized press. Magpie puts out the upfront cost for the production of their book and doesn’t ask the author for a penny. Instead, per standard regulations, the cost of production is set up against the author’s royalty… meaning that the cost of production will need to be earned back before the author starts receiving their royalty.
A few good examples of books that we think fit these criteria within the secular market would be:
I found a really well written description of the speculative fiction genres written up by Jill Williamson: Jill Williamson – Speculative Fiction Subgenres. This description pretty well describes what we are looking for. If your manuscript falls within any of these genres, you are probably good.
Charley Robson says
Fantastic interview guys, i really enjoyed it! Glad to hear you're willing to let secular fiction in too – I write primarily secular fiction, though I don't like insulting religions of any sort (though I love borrowing bits shamelessly, hee hee!) I would love to work with a Christian publisher, but I always get worried that nothing I write will be "Christian" enough, if you get my drift.
Best of luck to you, Nichole, and to Magpie! May it find its little treasures soon, spread its wings and take off into a great big pile of success!
Oh, and one last thing: Lord of the Rings fans unite! :D
Star-Dreamer says
Haha! Thank you Charley. ^_^ That is my hope and prayer for this company as well. ^_^
LORD OF THE RINGS RULES!!! :D
Gillian Adams says
The first of Nichole's short stories was just released in kindle form on Amazon. Be sure to check it out here:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Moon-ebook/dp/B007FMFNJ4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1330714436&sr=1-1
The cover looks awesome!
YaashaMoriah says
Thanks for this interview, both of you ladies! I haven't responded before now, but I want you to know that this was a huge encouragement to me to find like-minded authors and publishers. Gillian, your blog is often very informative and inspiring. Nicole, so much of your background (even your age) coincides with mine; it was a little scary! Many blessings on your endeavors. You may even hear from me in the future…