SHALLA Magazine - we love Shalla

Kristen Bailey, a wife, daycare provider, and mother to three has published four novels and a collection of short stories through Brilliant Book Press. (Storefront is located online at www.lulu.com/brilliantbooks)

She has a romance novel, A Cowboy For Christmas, contracted with Midnight Showcase and has published several short stories.

Mrs. Bailey edits Brilliant! online, where she posts flash fiction under 350 words. These stories are included in Brilliant Quarterly, which also contains stories up to 1500 words. (Brilliant is located at www.kristen-bailey.com/brilliant. Downloads of Brilliant Quarterly are free!)

Running a literary journal taught her that she loves to edit as much as she loves to write. So she launched Brilliant Book Press as an extension of Brilliant Quarterly. The press and magazine are both dedicated to giving authors (like herself) a voice in the difficult world of publishing.

Shalla: Hello Kristen, thanks for joining us. How is it going over there at Klamath Falls, Oregon?

Kristen: It’s springtime weather: sun and snow, with bicycling season starting up. I’m hoping for some outside adventures to inspire my writing.

Shalla: And congratulations, I read somewhere that your book, The River People, sold out at your first book signing. That must be exciting.

Kristen: Thanks! I was anxious about doing a signing because I’ve heard it can be a lonely experience. Instead, it turned into a great time of meeting new people and selling all of my copies within two hours. I think it helped that The River People is loosely based on local Oregon Indians. Many adults bought the book to read while others bought it for their middle schooler. In the story, River-Song helps her tribe blend with a band of wandering braves, and then they must defend their valley against a hostile, invading tribe.

Kristen: I’ve written many short stories and have published them together in A Place To Stay and Other Short Stories, available through Brilliant Book Press. The stories are all very short and feature family relationships. I’ve only dabbled in poetry.

Shalla: Please tell us about Brilliant Book Press, is it an electronic publisher? Print on demand? Or…?

Kristen: Brilliant Book Press is both a print-on-demand and electronic publisher, working to help new writers, as well as those who have trouble finding a market. I publish through Lulu, so readers can easily purchase a print edition or download of any title. I started the press with five of my own manuscripts, added Brilliant Quarterly, and then opened submissions to short story collections, novels, and young adult novels. The first book I accepted is a collection of poetry and short stories.

Shalla: Do you accept agented submissions? Or do you prefer unsolicited (unagented) manuscript submissions?

Kristen: I don’t require an agent and haven’t dealt with agents yet, but I would be willing to do so. I invite authors to send a synopsis and a couple of sample chapters, or the first story of a collection, electronically to bbpress@kristen-bailey.com.

Shalla: How does getting published in Brilliant Book Press work? Do you pay the author an advance? Or do you split the money on sales?

Kristen: When I read a submission, I can tell from the first page if I’ll get excited about the project. If I accept the material, we go through editing much quicker than a traditional publisher. Print on demand publishing is different then traditional in many aspects. One difference is that the book is for sale for a longer period, and sales can actually grow over time. So I don’t offer advances at this time, but I split profits equally with authors. With POD, the book is available for purchase much sooner as well.

Kristen: In general, I love quirky, entertaining, fun to read stories. I’m especially looking for young adult adventure books like The River People (a Native American Historical), or coming of age stories with a real feeling to them. I’m surprised all the time at the type of story I like, so I don’t limit myself in terms of genre. I’ll look at different types of short story collections, mainstream novels, and women’s fiction (this can include romance within its framework, such as a suspense or family saga). Brilliant also specializes in collections of short stories.

Shalla: Please tell us about the books Brilliant Book Press has published so far. Each of them seems to be from different genres: More than Memories looks like a detective story, The River People looks like a literary novel for young adults and A Place to Stay is an anthology of short stories.

Kristen: More than Memories and The Enemy’s Son are both romantic suspense novels while Reaching for Redemption is women’s fiction. These feature younger women and have a low sensuality level. The River People is a young adult novel appropriate for fourth graders to read, yet adults have also enjoyed it. The newest title, Sandprints A Collection of Poetry and Prose by Sheryl Chaney contains emotional and spiritual poems plus short stories. I recently accepted a young adult novel titled A New Kind of Music by Diane Payne which features a young girl whose mother hosts a punk radio show. The heroine, Layla, has all the normal kid struggles, plus she wants to know more about her Egyptian father that she’s never met. This book is a perfect example of the type of material I’m seeking.

Shalla: Why do you usually reject a book project? Length? Story line? Characters? Plot?

Kristen: The biggest reason is content: many submissions have contained explicit sex in the first few pages, which just isn’t a part of my focus. If I feel uncomfortable reading material, I know right away I’m not the editor for it.

Next, I look at the basic storyline and decide if I can sum up the book’s theme. On length, I do prefer shorter novels and even novellas, but I’ll review a longer one if the story sounds right. Short story collections can run just eighty pages.

On character, I like the hero/heroine to have an honest, heartfelt voice, and/or a very unique, different way of looking at things. I tend to look at the characters as the last deciding factor because the characters make the story.

Shalla: Would you reject a book project if you don’t get along with its author? Or is it always just pure business?

Kristen: Publishing is about business, but I’m not a big publisher from New York. The relationship probably needs to come first with Brilliant because reputation is important to me.

Firstly, if I feel the material needs a lot of work, I’ll ask how open the author is to revisions. That’s probably what leads to author/publisher disagreements. While I haven’t encountered this situation yet, I think both the publisher and author would need to agree on revisions to move ahead with publication. I’d want both parties to be happy with our arrangement and the product, so I hope we’d be able to work out the kinks. If not, I’d let someone take their ms to a different publisher without holding it against them. As an author myself, I understand just what an author’s work means to them.

Kristen: Right now, Brilliant is growing and finding endless possibilities. I’d like to grow the title list and carry many books in each category, along with developing a presence.

One of my big goals, which I’m already fulfilling, is to help new writers break into print. I’ve even had writers in high school contact me with publishing and writing questions, which really excites me that I can make an impact on future novelists.

Brilliant is about relationships and being a part of the writing community, and that’s been the biggest benefit so far. In five years, I hope people will be looking for Brilliant Book Press books and know they’re getting a high quality, family-friendly read.

Shalla: Thanks Kristen, it’s nice having you here! For more on Kristen Bailey and Brilliant Book Press, please visit http://kristen-bailey.com

Shalla DeGuzman's short stories have appeared in Poetic Diversity, the Mosaic Literary Journal, the Mad Hatters Review, etc.; her articles in The Scriptorium and L.A. Freepress; her skits at the Stella Adler Theatre.

Her flash fiction The Fish In My Bed recently won the FISH AND PLANE Competition and is featured in Issue 6 of Mad Hatters Review.
Shalla, a former writer and producer of a health and fitness cable show, is currently writing a novel. She is President of The ShallaDeGuzman Writers Group where she interviews literary agents, publishers, editors, etc.

News!

Shalla has been nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize.

SHALLA Magazine, which features short stories and excerpts from top, award-winning writers, is here!

For more on Shalla: www.shalladeguzman.com