And White Square is indeed such a place, and Eileen is a significant force in the community, affiliated with many arts organizations and events. She participated in Easthampton’s Bookfest, saying that it was a great opportunity for self-published authors to get their work recognized. She also took part in the annual Cultural Chaos event, which she sees as another way to collaborate with the local talent and be supportive of the arts and, in turn, receive community support.

Eileen also hosts her own events inside the store, such as a poetry workshop every Wednesday night that supports poets. She also works with local authors frequently to provide a location in which they can have book signings and readings; Janice’s book, Divine Renovations, launched at White Square with an eager crowd of nearly 30 people.

Sometimes, Eileen has unwittingly launched talent, the most noteworthy being Ransom Riggs, who released his book, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, at White Square, also the first book store to carry it. Riggs’ book is now being made into a movie featuring Tim Burton—an incredible feat, and it all started right in Easthampton at White Square.

White Square will celebrate its fifth anniversary this December. Looking back, Eileen says she saw the empty space on Cottage Street, now a designated cultural district in the state, and told her husband to ask city officials about it; soon afterward, Eileen saw the space was available. She made a deposit, and the rest is history.

Eileen recalls having “too many books,” so she knew whatever business she started in the shop would relate to books in some way; once inside the space, she knew it was the perfect size and shape for a book store. The name references the large group of talented book artists located at One Cottage Street. She wanted an establishment to augment this talent, so she sells a variety of books, from fine art to rare quality books in addition to used.

Before she became an entrepreneur, Eileen worked in the corporate world in higher education. At Smith College, she served for 20 years in Human Resources and later was self-employed as a consultant for a time.

She returned to higher education, working at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, for 10 years in operations management as well as Human Resources payroll and accounting. She says the business background allowed her to bring a great deal of useful skills to the table in running White Square.

Eileen says she is very grateful to have found her “heart’s desire” in White Square. She hopes the store encourages readers to read and authors to write. She says that there is so much talent in the Pioneer Valley, and one of the most surprising realizations in owning White Square has been the ability to “meet so many interesting people; it’s a side benefit I never even thought about.”

Eileen says her next mission is to tap into the community’s youth. She says she knows young people are interested in reading; she just needs to find a way to bridge the gap and connect.

Stop by to check out the store or, to see the website, drop in here!

The post White Square Books a Community Gathering Place appeared first on Beetle Press.

The goal of Levellers Press, which is primarily run by Steve, a 65-year-old Northampton resident, is to give opportunity and support to local authors, which is why Levellers and the worker-owned Collective Copies also created the Off the Common Books imprint, giving authors the option to self-publish.

Janice’s book, Divine Renovations, a memoir about her late husband, was published by Off the Common Books several years ago, and Janice often turns to Steve for support with client book projects. Steve, Levellers and Collective Copies are important Beetle Press partners.

When a manuscript is selected for publishing through either Levellers of Off the Common Books, authors can also opt to hire Levellers staff to take on the layout, design and early stages of marketing on their behalf, in addition to printing.

In the Collective Copies and Levellers shops, in Northampton and Amherst respectively, many of Levellers and Off the Common Books titles are available for sale, and most books are now available in Kindle, Nook, and Google Play digital versions.

Once the “start-up costs” have been recouped, Levellers Press and its authors share the surplus on each book 50/50. Thanks to the authors’ local reputations and network of friends and family, a Levellers’ title can break even within the first few months, Steve says.

Still, Steve says Levellers’ methods are a bit unconventional as it has no national distributor due to the small-batch printing technique; books are printed on demand, between 25 and 200 at a time, based on need, making it difficult, cost-wise, to distribute on a larger scale.

To date, Levellers has published 60 books—and of those, only two are from outside of Western Mass—and Steve plays a large role in the manuscripts that are chosen. Some of the biggest selling titles are The Curse by Robert H. Steele, The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market and State, and Slavery in the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts, by Robert Romer. Romer’s title was the first title released by Levellers.

The name of the press derives from the Levellers in England who, during the period of Cromwell’s England, fought for extended suffrage and equal rights under the law.

Steve has been in the publishing industry for a long time, starting off at the Daily Hampshire Gazette in 1973 as a “pre-press guy.” He learned a great deal about the printing process and eventually started the worker-cooperative Common Wealth Printing in 1977. In 1997, he needed a change and became more interested in digital printing, joining Collective Copies, a worker-owned collective.

Levellers continues to branch out and grow; it is in the process of creating two new imprints at the moment. For poetry, Hedgerow Books is taking off with approximately one or two manuscripts per year. Thornapple Books is taking submissions from all across the country on the hunt for the next great American novel.

For more information, visit Levellers Press online!

The post Filling a Niche for Local Authors appeared first on Beetle Press.

It is on this turf that she spends the majority of her days, gleaning inspiration from the ambient setting. Suzanne, a 56-year-old, full-time writer from Bondsville, Massachusetts, has been lucky enough to carve out a career that allows her to focus entirely on her craft.

Journalism is Suzanne’s base; her writing career starting at the young age of 9 when she created a newspaper for her parents. This then spurred her on to write for newspapers once she reached high school.

She is extremely ambitious, saying that her career really took off when she realized her town paper wasn’t covering her high school’s hockey team. This frustrated her, so she went to the editor to complain, and he claimed that the paper had no one to send to the games. He told her, “If you go to the games why don’t you write the stories?” Rather than be put off by this, Suzanne did just that, and the rest is history.

As a full-time writer, Suzanne’s reporting days are behind her, yet nonfiction is still an ever-present part of her career. She has written three memoirs, titled Songs From a Lead-Lined Room, Shelf Life and Sundays in America. She is also the author of six fiction novels titled Hoopi Shoopi Donna, Selling the Light of Heaven, Lily of the Valley, Becoming Finola, Around Again and Make a Wish But Not for Money.

Make a Wish But Not for Money, Suzanne’s newest novel, follows Rosie’s accidental career change to palm reader at a failing mall that opens up a world to her that she never knew existed, leading her to reassess her own future while exploring the futures of others.

As far as upcoming appearances, Suzanne has been traveling quite a bit locally this spring and summer. Check out her personal website here for additional information and public appearances and follow her on Facebook to stay up to date!

The post Local Author Series: Suzanne Strempek Shea appeared first on Beetle Press.

Marian is a mogul in her own right. She has created her own publishing company, or empire as she refers to it, called ALL CAPS Publishing, in which she is the founder and editor, and through which not only she publishes her own books but also publishes other authors’ works. This company was designed intentionally in order to ensure that her books never appear self-published, which is very important to Marian; the books are extremely professional, the covers are designed by a local musician and graphic designer named Max Germer, and she assured that the level of detail and attention that goes into each book is such that they reflect this effort.

The post Local Author Series: Marian Kent appeared first on Beetle Press.

The 53-year-old local Northampton author works full time as a professor at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, Connecticut, and he writes creatively on the side.

“I have two careers, one that pays reasonably well and one that doesn’t,” he says. “But both are about making the world a better place, and I’m happy with that.”

Like many writers, it’s difficult for John to find the time to write creatively. He said he is always preparing for school, and the key thing for him is to grab small pieces of time as they arise.

John writes a monthly column for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and in order to organize for this he will grab 15 minutes here and there to gather his thoughts until it finally comes together, similar to his own personal writing. He referred to this as episodic writing—brief but intense periods of writing in which he gets an abundance done in a short time frame.

His main genre isn’t definitive, however, he does work a great deal in memoir writing. One of his works, called Loop Year, is an ecological memoir. This book focuses on John’s experiences in hiking the same trail for an entire year, and he describes it as an environmental and anthropological study, as it focuses on the current events and people he came into contact with during that year in that specific region.

The column he writes for the Gazette is political in nature and deals primarily with current events, and he also has published a book, called Tales of a Real American Liberal, which is political as well. His most recent endeavor has been children’s books featuring his dog Libby, titled Libby Speaks and I Like Sticks! John says that everything he writes comes out of his own life; it is a way for him to connect with what comes from outside of himself.

John has been publishing since he had a poem appear in a literary magazine in college. He used to rewrite obsessively, and felt that everything he wrote needed to be literary or scholarly to be considered worthy of reading. Now as a more mature writer, he says that it wasn’t until he finally gave himself permission to make mistakes as a writer that he was able to publish his books.

Once he let go of the need for perfection he finally saw the greatness in his work. He now starts hundreds of projects and finishes five, and says he now comes up with his best stuff that before he would have disregarded.

He feels that his writing career is more of a hobby; he sells a few books here and there, making enough yearly to cover one mortgage payment, and he works with small publishers, so it is an intimate experience. His goal is not to get rich but to connect with people, including his students. He teaches children’s literature and all levels of college writing, and feels that writing makes him a better teacher. By having lived the craft, he can more artfully model the experience in a skilled way to his students and connect with them on a deeper level.

John grew up in Central Pennsylvania, in Bedford County, on a farm. He elaborates on this experience in his book Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere: A Memoir. He moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1989.

He has been teaching full time at Asnuntuck Community College for the last 22 years; it has been “the career job he was looking for.” John teaches a vast array of courses, from literature, writing and English offerings to communications courses. He has also held administrative positions at the college but prefers to be in the classroom.

Given the ability to write full time, he would jump at the chance, but he would also still teach part time because teaching is a great passion for him as well.

All of John’s books are available on his personal website here, and are all definitely worth the read. He is also available on Facebook, so check him out!

The post Local Author Series: John Sheirer appeared first on Beetle Press.

Janice is a bright businesswoman who has been honing her craft for many years. She has provided a foundational skill set that I can carry with me wherever I go. Aside from the blog writing and social media management I oversaw, which were extremely valuable experiences, I was also able to interview many local authors.

Beginning these relationships and being able to hear and tell the stories of so many gifted writers provided a more subtle learning as well as a network I can draw on to pursue career potentials. I expect I may reach out to some of the folks I met, all of them established individuals in the creative genre in the Pioneer Valley, and I may ask for tip and guidance.

I am not originally from the Pioneer Valley, so to be able to go out into the community and meet these wonderful people was a truly rewarding experience.

The remainder of my learning was more personal, and more gut-centered, than academic.

From the start, Janice and I discussed our meeting was fated; we wondered if some higher power had brought us together at just the right time; I still believe this to be the case.

Janice and I have put in a great deal of work on her fiction manuscript, Unleashing the Sun, and being involved in this creative project was most valuable in advancing my career goals overall. I hope to enter into the publishing industry in the editing field, so to be given the incredible opportunity to be the first set of eyes and hands on this piece of fiction is beyond my existing vocabulary.

I was granted the ability to also research and craft query letters, a synopsis of the book, and to research agents accepting queries in Janice’s chosen genre. The project did not come full circle in this semester. The manuscript is not yet complete, and four of the eight queries we sent were met with a “Thanks but no thanks” type of response.

But it was very educational to stand beside Janice every step of the way during the submissions process. I have no doubt in my mind that she will complete her work on the book because I believe in the quality and integrity of her writing, and I know she will update me on the process because she knows how much it means to me. She has told me when she gets back at it, I will again stand beside her, and I will be compensated for my work. Janice values my thoughts and opinions and treats me like an equal, a colleague.

And that takes me back to our fates.

Yes, working on the manuscript is partly how we were fated to find our way into each others’ lives. Yet, I also look to Janice as a mentor, someone who will guide me when I am struggling with life, when I’m feeling a bit lost, and she has demonstrated she will always be there for me.

Janice has been so much more than an internship supervisor; she has taught me how to be independent, how to stand up for myself but not be angry with myself when I can’t. She has been a support system in so many ways when I needed it the most. Janice has been a friend.

What is my biggest take away from my internship experience? A wealth of knowledge and an amazing friend.

The post A Twofold Internship Experience appeared first on Beetle Press.

As part of my internship, Janice has decided to have me interview local authors and blog about them to give me some hands-on training and insight into the writing profession. Plus, it’s a great way to network with some great people in the line of work I’m aiming for!

The first interview I did was with Fred Contrada, a 62-year-old reporter for The Republican and a self-published fiction author.

Fred has been interested in writing since he was a young boy and began writing fiction while a student at Holy Cross College. Upon graduating in 1974 and getting his career started, Fred said he had to take a step back from creative writing, making reporting his full-time profession and focusing on his wife and children. He emphasizes the importance of raising a family.

Fred has been with the newspaper for 27 years now. His main focus is writing his column,which appears on Thursdays.

At a certain point, once his career was established, Fred began to edge back into his fiction writing. His main genre is literary fiction, and though he is very busy writing for The Republican, he manages to set aside time. He sets aside 45 minutes every morning for his fiction and assured me that this really adds up. If there is nothing on his schedule, he will work a bit longer, but claims “it’s hard to do for more than a few hours” so the 45 minutes works perfectly for him.

Fred let me know that he is in the formative stages of his most recent book, Dirty Rice. The next step in his writing process is sending it off to a reading group for extra sets of eyes, and this process usually takes a few months. He is not quite sure yet what his opinion of the book is, so his readers will need to wait and see if it comes to fruition.

In looking back on his older fiction from his college years, Fred says that he “doesn’t see the creativity, only the artifice,” and it is painful for him to read. This just shows how he has grown as an individual and as a writer over the course of his life. He has written approximately a dozen books in his writing career, yet has only published five.

All of Fred’s titles are self-published; his goal is not to make a lucrative career in fiction, but to continue to pull in enough revenue to print and sell more books. He is basically recouping the expenses in order to publish more books.

If you’d like to read some of Fred Contrada’s work you can download a Kindle copy of his book Dorchester Ave, or for the other four titles, Trager Stories, New Orleans Stories, The Trail and The Boat, you’ll need to get in contact with him personally by email at fcontrada@repub.com or by telephone at 413-478-7512. He is also on Facebook if you’d like to check him out!https://www.facebook.com/fred.contrada

The post A Jack of All Writing Trades appeared first on Beetle Press.

Tim is now a 20-year-old junior at Westfield State University, majoring in English with a concentration in writing; he has also added a second business minor as well.

Born in Lunenburg, to parents Sandra and Peter Schreiner, Tim grew up with two brothers, one older and one younger. He has two cats named Tigger and Annabelle.

Tim chose to attend Westfield State based on its proximity to home; it is close enough that he can visit when he wants, but far enough away that he feels independent. The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, was his second choice for similar reasons. He lives on campus in University Hall and enjoys the freedom that living in a dorm provides.

When entering his freshman year, Tim was thrilled to embark on the college experience. He wanted to start learning, and he was excited to be independent from his parents for the first time in his life.

Now that he is in his junior year and finding his niche in his major, he is truly enjoying himself.

He is in the process of narrowing down what he wants to do in the future and potentially checking out graduate schools upon completion of his bachelor’s degree. Tim is very interested in public relations as well as writing, especially with the recent declaration of a business minor, so this may be a possible career opportunity for the future. He is still searching for his dream job, but he is looking forward to this internship and exploring all the opportunities it will afford him.

Tim will be focused on writing about the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Hampshire County in his internship, and he will also help write blogs for the Beetle Press website and oversee social media efforts for the Mill River Chapter of Business Network International. He hopes the Beetle Press internship will offer connections as well as experience.

Tim originally chose Beetle Press based on his desire to have an internship that would require him to hone his skills in writing while also incorporating learning about running a business. He also stressed that networking with the right people now will better establish solid connections for his future career. He has never had an internship before, but he seems to have the right idea in maximizing the invaluable resources at his fingertips.

As far as previous work experience, Tim worked at McDonald’s as a line cook on the grill but recently left to focus his entire attention on his schoolwork. This summer he plans to work at Dunkin Donuts to make some extra money in his time away from school.

In his spare time Tim enjoys writing, running in the summer, playing video games and reading. He is also an active member of Westfield State’s chapter of the English Honors Society, Sigma Tau Delta.

Tim is excited to get started this semester and learn all he can from this wonderful opportunity.

The post Meet Tim: The Networker appeared first on Beetle Press.