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Novello Festival Press Bringing Writers and Readers Together

Novello Festival Press Editors Launch First Library-Funded Publishing House

by Jim Barnes

It all started back in 1999 with a “bitch session.” A group of writers sat over lunch complaining, as they often do, about the difficulties of getting works published. Charlotte, North Carolina, it turns out, was home to a wealth of authors, but nary a publisher to nurture them. Luckily for the local literary community, two of the writers doing the bitching that day were also willing to act: Frye Gaillard and Amy Rogers went to Bob Cannon, director of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County with a proposal…  

Both Rogers and Gaillard had been reporters, and used their journalistic skills to research the publishing business, interview publishers and editors, and learn what does and doesn’t work when it comes to producing and marketing books. They formulated a business plan for a new, ground-breaking independent literary press. Would the library consider becoming more than a repository of books – and publish them, too?  

Already host to the highly regarded Novello Festival of Reading, the forward-thinking Cannon and his library board took a chance and agreed to fund the nation’s first library-sponsored publishing house – Novello Festival Press.

“The library was known for innovation, plus we had done our homework,” recalls Rogers. “Frye and I noticed early on in our planning that the library was already functioning as a quasi-university press, publishing occasional works in-house on topics of regional interest: history, genealogy, poetry. But the library had no publishing ‘infrastructure,’ that is, no ISBN prefix, distributor, discount schedule for retailers, etc. Our ability to put that infrastructure in place was a major selling point. It was also a way to continue branding the Novello name, which was already well-respected from the festival's years of success.”  

Off to a Smashing Start

Granted an initial $70,000 budget from the library’s coffer of fines and fees, Gaillard and Rogers went right to work, publishing Novello: Ten Years of Great American Writing, released in Fall, 2000, to coincide with the festival’s tenth anniversary. The anthology features essays and stories by festival participants and authors extraordinaire Pat Conroy, Frank McCourt, and Dori Sanders to name a few. The book received rave reviews and an IPPY Award in the 2001 Independent Publisher Book Awards competition sponsored by this publication.

They followed that success with their next release in 2001 of local author Joe Martin’s debut novel, Fire in the Rock. Not only did they secure more rave reviews and distribution and marketing through established regional publisher John F. Blair, they also sold Fire’s paperback rights to Random House/Ballantine. Novello Festival Press was clearly on its way.  

Voicing the Struggles of the South

“There is more than one South, but they all touch and overlap. The Carolinas are at a geographic intersection of two rich veins of literature. One is that Deep South, race- and god-haunted tradition from Mississippi to the coastal South Carolina lowcountry. The other is the Appalachian tradition of poetic balladry that underpins a vibrant, oral storytelling heritage. Historically, life has been dramatic in these places, and that contributes to memorable literature,” Gaillard explains.

Gaillard and Rogers had guessed right: Southern-themed literature was a huge hit with readers. Novello introduced Martin, Ron Rash (One Foot in Eden, 2002, another IPPY Award finalist) and Steve Cushman, whose Portisville was the 2004 Novello Literary Award winner. The novel follows in the tradition of Harry Crews, James Dickey, and Larry Brown – the “Rough South” writers of the blue-collar South. “These authors address the struggles and heartaches, tenderness and pain of the working-class people who have been the backbone of the South for generations,” says Rogers.  

Novello Festival Press is dedicated to seeking out authentic voices and becoming a “launching pad” for writers in North Carolina and South Carolina, and they do it in part through the Novello Literary Award. Work is submitted, by both established and emerging authors, for consideration, and the press chooses and publishes a superlative work of literary fiction or non-fiction each year. Readers and industry professionals alike have come to anticipate the release of each award-winning book. It all adds up to a publishing model that works as a business model -- to date, two of the first three NLA winners have been acquired for paperback editions.  

Each year, NFP’s flagship event is Carolina Writers’ Night, presented during the Novello Festival of Reading. This showcase of literary talent consistently draws fans from miles around, making it one of the festival’s best attended events. NFP unveils its books for the season, and presents the first reading from that year’s Novello Literary Award winner. Also at the event, NFP announces – with much fanfare – the winner selected to be published next. Afterward, patrons can buy books and have them autographed.

“We keep expanding our literary range,” says Gaillard. “This spring we are publishing a powerful memoir called Recovering from Mortality by the late Deborah Cumming, and next fall we will publish our first collection of short fiction by a single author, Doris Iarovici. In every case, our goal is to open new doors for emerging writers in the Carolinas -- which continues to be a place of diverse, provocative and creative work.”  

Think Globally – Publish Locally!

This unique structure has allowed NFP to concentrate on services, publications, and outreach. Treating each new title as a “publication project,” they employ creative professionals from across the design and production spectrum, giving NFP books a highly designed, quality look and feel that stands up to the best of New York corporate publishing. Through a creative mix of projects – single-author titles, themed anthologies, poetry collections, works for children – NFP has put into print nearly 300 writers in its first four years.

In recognition of the press’ innovation and professionalism, the Publishers’ Association of the South named NFP Executive Editor Amy Rogers to its Board of Directors in 2003. Then, in 2004, the Southeastern Library Association (SELA) presented co-editors Rogers and Gaillard with its highest honor: The SELA President’s Award, bestowed on individuals outside the library profession who do the most to benefit libraries. The two visionaries are proud of what they’ve done and how they’ve helped assure the Library’s ongoing reputation of excellence through its mission, “expanding opportunities for writers – and readers.”  

Could this be a growing trend? Can the NFP model work elsewhere?  

“We’ve heard from university presses and libraries from all over the country, asking our advice on how they might publish books or promote them more effectively,” says Rogers. “I think everyone recognizes how our style of publishing enhances the relationship between those who love books and those who create them.”

As libraries expand their literary roles in communities across the continent, establishing City Reads programs, conducting author events, and now getting into the publishing act, it bodes well for the discovery of more great writers in other regions. What better place and what better people – libraries, librarians and their book-loving patrons – to help inspire and grow the independent publishing movement?