FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ashland, Oregon – August 10, 2011 – White Cloud Press, publisher primarily of books on religion and spirituality, launches its third imprint this summer with 3 new titles. White Cloud Press founder Steve Scholl says the new imprint’s mission is to bring out new nonfiction titles that focus on sports, health, and wellness. “Confluence Books emerged out of our design and production division,” notes Scholl. “We do editing and design work for other publishers and self-publishing authors. We kept coming across self-publishing projects that were not a good fit for our spirituality line with White Cloud but had great trade potential. Confluence Books brings these strong titles to market.”
Confluence Books joins the growing list of publishers offering collaborative publishing agreements with authors. Scholl works closely with Sarah Rosenberg and sales reps at Publishers Group West on final determination of new titles. “This is not a self-publishing/vanity press model. Every book goes through our internal editorial and marketing evaluation. If we feel the book is strong and fits the direction we are taking Confluence, we then bring it to Sarah and the PGW reps for feedback. If we get a positive vibe from the reps, then we go back to the author with a proposal.”
Author contracts are dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Authors either advance buy books for their direct sales or they provide funding or they come with an outstanding marketing platform. “We create contracts based on the specifics of each authors’ situation. Since they are lessening our financial risk, we provide authors with a higher royalty rate, sharing the risk and the profits. We decided that we could no longer approach publishing as a trip to Las Vegas, where we roll the dice on each title and pray that we win,” says Scholl.
The first Confluence release is This Is Our Time! The 2010 World Series Champions San Francisco Giants. The Inside Story. Improbable. Wild. Unforgettable. Written by MLB.com Giants beat writer Chris Haft and White Cloud author Eric Alan, the book was put on a fast track to be released during the current baseball season. “We got the manuscript in early May and had to put a lot of work in fine tuning it. But we jammed on it and are very pleased with the results. We think we hit this one out of the park,” says Scholl.
Demand for the book has been strong. PGW shipped the entire first printing (3,000 copies) within 12 days off release, and Confluence is back to press to meet demand.
The second title from Confluence Books is Dr. John Kalb’s Winning at Aging: Your Game Plan for Healthy Living. Winning at Aging is being hailed as an important new book for any one who wants to live a more healthy and vibrant life after hitting 50. Bestselling author Dr. Joe Marshalla says that, “Winning at Aging is the most practical, thorough, comprehensive, accurate, down-to-earth, compassionate, and fun-loving guide to what we all must ultimately face.”
Confluence’s third Fall title is an inspiring book for women, Earth is Your Sweet Spot: Living Beautifully, A Woman’s Guide by Ellae Elinwood, Mary Lanier, and Katie Garland Noble. This book is a short but profound gathering of women’s wisdom, filled with ideas and activities to help women discover their way in harmony with the Earth and enhance their capacity for youthful looks, health, and vibrancy. Earth is Your Sweet Spot is scheduled for October release.
Meanwhile, White Cloud is not standing still. “We are tightening the focus of White Cloud a bit,” says Scholl, “with new and future titles on Islam, Green Spirituality, Yoga, and Buddhism.”
White Cloud has long had a strong presence in Islamic books, and in May launched I Speak for Myself: American Women on Being Muslim, essays by 40 American-born Muslim women under the age of 40. Contributors have been featured on CNN, NPR, Oprah Radio Network and in Tikkun, Washington Post, Detroit Free Press, Huffington Post and more. “We’ve moved 4,000 copies in just over two months, which is a great start for us,” notes Scholl. “And we are working on the sequel, the men‘s edition, due out Spring 2012.”
Other Fall titles have wild, green themes. Martin Shaw’s A Branch from the Lightning Tree: Ecstatic Myth and the Grace in Wildness, is being hailed by Robert Bly, Coleman Barks, and Malidome Some as a breakthrough work in myth and storytelling.
Embrace Your Inner Wild: 52 Reflections for an Eco-Centric World brings together the photographs of Don Moseman and Mary Reynolds Thompson’s reflections on wildness. Bioneers founder Nina Simons says of this work that “It’s a great gift to nourish the heart and spirit of anyone who loves the natural world.”
The third fall title is Drew Dellinger’s Love Letter to the Milky Way. “I met Drew last year at Bioneers and was impressed by his presence, his poetry, and his passion for global justice and repairing the world,” says Scholl. Dellinger self published Love Letter to the Milky Way and sold 8,000 copies. That caught Scholl’s attention, too. Dellinger’s work has been praised by Alice Walker, Brian Swimme, Matthew Fox, and Thomas Berry. Cornell West calls Dellinger “one of the most creative, courageous and prophetic poets of his generation. I love his spirit.”
Confluence Books plans to do 4-5 books in 2012 with White Cloud Press doing about the same number. “We are excited about the future. We are working with dynamic authors who come ready to promote their books and build their platforms in their respective fields. Our job,” says Scholl, “is to help support them in every way we can and share the wealth.”
