As we head into the holiday season, we want to shine a spotlight on Vine Leaves Press, an innovative indie publisher that released an impressive array of new titles in 2022, including many that were first brought to you via LitNuts.Read on to learn more about Vine Leaves Press—and for a look back at some of the books Vine Leaves introduced in 2022!
A Family of Nomads
That distinctive “family of nomads”/“tight-knit global community” attitude is reflected in the books they publish. In fact, when you visit the Vine Leaves site, one of the first things you’ll see is a question: “Reading tastes a little different than the norm?” If your answer is “yes,” then Vine Leaves has you covered! They pride themselves on their efforts “to blur the line between commercial and experimental works.” In the process, they publish a wide range of work, including book-length vignette collections, writing reference books, short story collections, memoirs/autobiographies, and character-driven novels with a literary bent.
A Dynamic Duo
The Vine Leaves Press team consists of a number of very talented people working on acquisitions, editing, copywriting, proofreading, and more, but there are two people who form the dynamic duo driving the business: Jessica Bell and Amie McCracken.
Jessica and Amie have their own unique backstories, but they are on the same page when it comes to Vine Leaves Press:
“The two of us always want to be hands-on with this publishing company,” says Jessica.
“We don't ever want to grow so much that we can't have direct contact with each and every author and book,” adds Amie.
Jessica Bell started working in publishing as an editor when she was 25. She has written five novels, a memoir, and lots of craft books on writing and publishing. She has also edited countless literary magazines and anthologies, and designed around 500 book covers in her career. In addition, Jessica has traveled extensively—for work and for pleasure—including speaking at publishing conferences all over the world. She started Vine Leaves Press in 2011, guiding colleagues along the way to help make it what it is today. “I juggle Vine Leaves Press, Jessica Bell Design, Mongoa (Jessica's band), and my own writing around the life of motherhood and my three-year-old son,” says Jessica.
Amie McCracken started in publishing as an editor when she was 21. Not only does she have a successful editing and typesetting business alongside running Vine Leaves’ production, she’s written three novels, two nonfiction books, a novella, a children’s chapter book, and edited three short story anthologies (and has five different manuscripts at different stages). She’s lived in three different countries and traveled to many others. “My son is seven years old and incredibly active, which means my full-time self-employment is split between mornings and evenings!” says Amie.Recent Titles from Vine Leaves Press
The “hands-on” approach of Jessica, Amie, and the Vine Leaves Press team really paid off in 2022. Below is a list of recent releases from Vine Leaves Press. Click on each to learn more.
Work Hard, Not Smart by Alexis Paige
Writing it Real: Crafting a Reference Book that Sells by Melanie Faith
Blood Up North by Fredrick Soukup
Italian Bones in the Snow by Elaina Battista-Parsons
Dream Kids by Michael Wayne Hampton
Hate Mail: Thank You For Reading by Michelle Robertson
MFA Thesis Novel by Ian M. Rogers
From Promising to Published by Melanie Faith
Small Forgotten Moments by Annalisa Crawford
Automatically Hip by John McCaffrey
Jazzed by Jill Dearman
Prepare for Departure by Mark Chesnut
Have You Eaten Rice Today? by Apple Gidley
One Person's Loss by Ann S. Epstein
Lester Lies Down by James Ladd Thomas
Chickens One Day, Feathers the Next by Guinotte Wise