Interview with Janet Elaine Smith from Star Publish

How long has Star Publish been in business?

Star Publish is the dream child of Margie K. Tovrea, aka Kristie Leigh Maguire. An award-winning, multi-published author in her own right, Kristie has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of publishing first hand with the publication of her own novels. After enduring the difficulties of both traditional publishing and self publishing, Kristie saw a dire need for good publishers who were author-friendly. She decided to form her own publishing company.

Determined to build a publishing house that would produce quality books for other writers while helping them avoid some of the pitfalls of publishing that she had been through, Kristie founded Star Publish in March 2004. The main philosophy behind Star Publish from the beginning was to treat other authors the way Kristie would have liked to be treated while following her own publishing path with her books. Kristie was determined to give each author specialized and individual attention from the very beginning, and even after their book was released for publication. No author would be treated as just a number at Star Publish.

What makes Star Publish different from other publishers?

• We stay a part of the author’s life even after the book is produced with an online meeting room for all Star authors and staff to interact together. We are also always available to our authors for any reason by email
• We offer tips for marketing as well as some group marketing when the opportunities arise.
• We take care of the background things such as adding your book to listings, posting media release on some online outlets, and making sure all book details are correct in such places as Ingram.
• We are not out to make money. The charges passed to our authors are to cover the company expenses for the author’s book or books. This is why it is so important for Star and the authors to work closely together for the good of all. We are here for you, to handle the not so nice things behind the scenes of having a book published.
• We offer a complete edit with each book we publish, which is included in the initial fee.
• There are no “hidden” add-on charges to the authors for any of the services we offer. Both of our packages include an edit, marketing, cover creation, etc.
  

What genres do you publish?

We publish most genres. Our discrimination of what we accept depends mostly on the quality of the writing, the marketability of the book, etc. The only exception is probably for poetry. We have not published any poetry books.

Please tell us a bit about the publication packages available to your authors?

We have two publishing packages. They offer basically the same services. The primary difference is in the number of authors’ copies are furnished upon publication and the amount of royalties paid.

How many new books do you accept in a year?

That depends on how many good manuscripts we receive. So far, we have not had more submissions than we can handle. We did 11 in 2008. We have room to grow, but we will not sacrifice quality for quantity.

Where can people find out more about Star Publish?

The website is http://starpublishllc.com . All of the basic information is there. If someone has questions that aren’t answered, there is a contact place there as well.

Anything else you'd like to add?

As the Marketing Director, I deal with bookstores (primarily by phone) on a regular basis. I think Star Publish is the only POD or independent publisher that does this. We are proud that our books can be found on the bookshelves in many bookstores nationwide. Our books are recognized and included in the database of several of the big chainstores, as well as being well received by many independent bookstores. Star’s online book catalog has been a big hit with many of the bookstore managers.

One of our mottos is “Hang your books on a Star—Star Publish, that is.” We are always looking for great new talent.