Turkey rings: a new publishing tool

  I want to tell you about a new book I’m publishing in July. But first, I want to tell you about turkey rings. If you’re like me, you’ve never ever heard of turkey rings. And when you hear about them, you immediately conjure up some pretty terrible images. Not true for Chris Decker at [...]

Saying hello to a new season of books

  Last week 6,000 books, representing three new titles, arrived on the Vineyard. It was just like Christmas. Four pallets of books were shipped in a container ship from Hong Kong to New York, then trucked to Wareham, MA, for transport to the Vineyard by Cape Cod Express. All this takes about six weeks; another [...]

A brag page

Richard White, owner of the two Soft as a Grape stores on Martha’s Vineyard, went into the book business today when he began showing and displaying Vineyard Stories’ books in his store on Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs. He also plans to carry books in his Edgartown store. Soft as a Grape manufactures its signature [...]

The Island network

In my work as a local publisher, I try to use as much local talent as I can find. Sometimes that’s not always easy. Back in the winter I went looking for illustrators for two of my spring books. The books are very different – one is a children’s book that uses the Flying Horses [...]

An ode to “real” books

This guest blog from Jeanne Campbell arrived today, just about 24 hours after I learned that Edgartown Books will be closing within a month. As one person wrote on Facebook, reacting to the news,  ”Another big loss for the town, for writers and photographers, and especially for readers.” Buy local, and buy often. This morning [...]

One inspiring mermaid

Books have always inspired me. I grew up in a small Midwestern town with very little stimulus for an overly serious, shy young girl who was never going to be one of the “cool” chicks. Instead, I found my life at the public library. I had to walk a couple of miles each way to [...]

Writers and editors

I spend my days dealing with writers, who are a complicated species. They are usually very talented people who are often unsure how far that talent takes them. They alternate between being resentful of editing and grateful for it. They crave the undivided attention of an editor but fear what will come out of an [...]

A lighthouse revelation

I was thunderstruck one day last summer when I walked into Alison Shaw’s gallery in Oak Bluffs while she was preparing a new show. Glowing white against a dark blue wall was a  huge picture of a lighthouse. It was instantly recognizable, even though I’d never seen anything like it. I knew a lust so [...]