By Joseph J. O’Donnell

ED: We are talking today to UK Publisher Johnny Mains who heads one publishing house and two websites.

ED: Tell our readers Johnny about your company and how you started.

JM: Hello Eerie! My company is called Noose and Gibbet Publishing and it is the result of a hard look at the small press industry and seeing an opening which I felt hadn’t been exploited to its full potential.

Around three years ago I started a website called All Things Horror and I would go off and find authors, actors/actresses, artists and other luminaries in the horror genre to interview. Shortly after its launch, I began another a website dedicated to the infamous Pan Book of Horror Stories which saw thirty books published in thirty years and still stands as the world’s longest running horror anthology series. Over the course of two and a half years I’ve interviewed over 40 authors involved in writing the original series and cheekily asked some of them if they would like to contribute a short story for a brand new anthology. Sixteen of the authors graciously provided me with a specially written story, and five of the authors (in one case the author’s estate) have given permission to reprint a classic story from the series.
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ED- Eerie Digest is pleased to share our interview of Donald Maass of the Donald Maass Literary Agency in New York City with our readers.

ED- Donald, tell us about your agency and how it got started.

DM- After working in book publishing first in London, then in New York, I opened my agency in 1980.  Today we are a company of five agents altogether, specializing in fiction.  We sell over 150 novels every year to major publishers in New York and overseas.  We sell audio, graphic novel and movie rights to our clients work, as well.

ED- Tell us about the Writers that you represent.

DM- We handle a broad range of fiction in all categories and genres.  Some leading clients are historical mystery writer Anne Perry and urban fantasy author Jim Butcher, both of whom are New York Times best sellers.  But there are plenty more.  Fantasy author Brent Weeks has been a big success this year, with his first novel going into twelve printings and making the New York Times “extended” best seller list.  I could go on for quite a while… (more…)

By Joseph J. O’Donnell

ED: We are talking with Mike Simpson in Salem-Winston, North Carolina, about Second Wind Publishing.

ED: Mike please tell us the history of the name of your company and your motto referring to it as, “The home of the best authors that you have not heard of yet”.

MS: First, let me say I’m honored to be interviewed by Eerie Digest. For us it’s a real privilege because we admire your work.

Second Wind, of course, has a double meaning. I’m a long time runner and “second wind” is that marvelous phenomenon of suddenly regaining your endurance and enjoying the sensation of running. For our writers, second wind means a new, more productive and enjoyable life in literature. Virtually all our authors struggled with the traditional route of begging for an agent and then praying for a publisher—most without much success. Back in the fall and winter of 2007, a group of us “failed” authors realized that devoting ourselves to the traditional publishing industry brought us no happiness and no tangible reward. We knew enough to know that we were good writers who deserved to be read and, with the help of our colleagues, were becoming even better. We decided to start our own publishing house, devoted to publishing authors who otherwise might never be read by the public. Our authors are all in their “second life”: they are working with fellow authors and supportive editors, honing the art of writing and experiencing the thrill of having our books published, purchased and read. (more…)