Author Archives: Laura Stanfill

About Laura Stanfill

Publisher, Forest Avenue Press

Small press publishing highlights

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Laura Stanfill

I’ve been fixated this summer–no surprise–on publishing, the small press world, and community building, and here are a few links and highlights. The Atlantic Everyone interested in small presses should read “American Literature Needs Indie Presses,” an exciting piece by Nathan Scott McNamara … Continue reading →

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Post-BEA Post

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Laura Stanfill

My friend Kevin Smokler, whose Brat Pack America is forthcoming from Rare Bird Books in October, said to reserve Monday for catching up with people and sending follow-ups. That’s the kind of important advice that I picked up as a first-timer … Continue reading →

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BEA bound!

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Laura Stanfill

I have my hotel and plane tickets arranged for Book Expo America next month in Chicago. It’s been on my to-do list to walk the floor and meet people and get that wider sense of the industry, but until now, … Continue reading →

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Query Tips: When to Respond

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Laura Stanfill

Submittable allows us to customize a message thanking writers for sharing their work when they first submit. Do not respond to this message! Asking a question before we have a chance to read any pages definitely shoots up a small warning flag about … Continue reading →

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On Books, Fathers, and Travel

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Laura Stanfill

I’m in Santa Fe for PubWest’s annual conference, with the theme “A Passion for Books.” My traveling companion is H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, a tightly written, stunning, visceral memoir about training a goshawk in the wake of her … Continue reading →

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Query Tips: Give Us a Road Map

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Laura Stanfill

Our editors at Forest Avenue Press are continuing to receive submissions that don’t include a paragraph about the manuscript in the query letter. In these cases, there’s usually no introduction either. No introduction means the author couldn’t be bothered to personalize a letter, but … Continue reading →

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Query Tips: How Volume Has Changed How I Read

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Laura Stanfill

We had more than a 300 percent increase in manuscripts in the first seven days of this year’s open submission period for Forest Avenue Press. That’s certainly due to the national exposure the press has received this year, all the media … Continue reading →

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Holiday Reading, and Hurray for Indies

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Laura Stanfill

My husband says I have become harder to buy books for in the past decade; part of that is because I read so much and attend so many bookstore events, and I attend more events, and buy more books, than … Continue reading →

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Poets & Writers

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Laura Stanfill

I have always, always wanted to pick up a copy of Poets & Writers with my name in it. Of course I’ve had several dreams like this that seem to be coming true in ways I never expected lately. One was … Continue reading →

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The One-Title Year

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Laura Stanfill

This has been a wild year, and also a quiet one. I finished my eight-years-in-progress novel, The Serinette, after reading Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven and seeing how her short chapters worked so successfully. With a big-voiced, many POV novel, and … Continue reading →

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