In August, my good friend Livia W. Reasoner and I decided to open our own publishing house called PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS. We limited our submissions to women only, since it’s traditionally been so very hard for women to break into the western writing genre. We also included historical stories as well as western historical romance among our genres.
It wasn’t long until we knew we were going to have to add a contemporary imprint, FIRE STAR PRESS. As much as we’ve talked about getting younger people involved in reading historical stories, we decided to also include an imprint for Middle Grade Readers (9-12), Young Adults (13-17) and New Adults (18-24). PAINTED PONY BOOKS was born. Not wanting to leave out contemporary reading for these ages, we also created TORNADO ALLEY PUBLICATIONS. These three imprints are open to anyone to submit to.
Our first anthology at Prairie Rose Publications, WISHING FOR A COWBOY, made its debut the last week in October, and just this past week had already climbed to #49 in Books > Romance > Westerns, #8 in Books > Westerns and #9 in Kindle > Westerns. Our little anthology was in the TOP 10 in two categories!
But with the amazing talent of the authors, Phyliss Miranda, Tanya Hanson, Jacquie Rogers, Livia Reasoner, Tracy Garrett, Sarah McNeal, and Kathleen Rice Adams—how could it not? I’m very excited to have my story included in this anthology with all these wonderful authors.
Tanya Hanson, a seasoned author, also made her inspirational debut with her first full length inspirational western historical romance novel through Prairie Rose Publications, and has a sequel on the way. Her book is called CLAIMING HIS HEART.
We’ve got two other novels slated for release in the next few weeks. Gail Jenner’s Willa Award winning novel, ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS, will be out very soon. Kristy McCaffrey has a brand new offering called INTO THE LAND OF SHADOWS, also to be released sometime in December.
Prairie Rose Publications will also be releasing another anthology in time for Valentine’s Day, HEARTS AND SPURS, and in addition to the eight authors from WISHING FOR A COWBOY, it will also include veteran romance novelist Linda Broday.
We’ve got some great things planned for our other imprints, coming soon, as well! Livia and James Reasoner have a wonderful story for TORNADO ALLEY PUBLICATIONS for our Middle Grade Reader list—THE PHANTOM RANGER AND THE SKATEBOARD GANG—an exciting adventure about a young girl who sees the ghost of her great-great-great grandfather who was a REAL Texas Ranger.
From PAINTED PONY BOOKS, Sarah McNeal’s FLY AWAY HEART will be releasing in February, giving us more insight into the Wilding and Pierpont families she has created, with the story of Robin Pierpont and Lilith Wilding set in the early 1900’s.
We’ve got many more projects in the works as well, and are just thrilled with the way our small publishing house is “coming together” with much hard work from Livia, me and our fantastic authors. We’re very proud of our first three months!
Come visit us at our PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS website:
http://prairierosepublications.yolasite.com/
Well-deserved congratulations, Cheryl. You and Livia seem to have a solid, success-oriented business plan. Glad to see it's working out--and well, at that.
ReplyDeleteYou can be proud of the accomplishment. Not only are we getting some great stories to choose from, we are also being exposed to experienced and new authors along the way. It is always exciting to find new favorites. We the readers thank you. Doris
ReplyDeleteEverything is going wonderful. When we first started talking about going into publishing, I quickly realized Cheryl was great at everything I wasn't. It is a perfect partnership.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy for both of you Livia, it is great when each has strengths that compliment the other. Here is to many years of success. Doris
ReplyDeleteIt's been wonderful, Tom, and we are thoroughly enjoying working together! The books are just sensational, and we have just been thrilled with the anthology's success! Thanks for the kind words.
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Thanks Doris! We thought the same thing about the experienced and new talent blending together and making for a wonderful mix.
ReplyDeleteCheryl
LOL Livia, and I felt the same way! I think we got the best of "both worlds" here.
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Wonderful to see dreams realized for anyone in this fickle business of writing. Congratulations on your accomplishments and may you have many successful years to come.
ReplyDeleteHuge congratulations, Cheryl and Livia!! Your success is well-deserved.
ReplyDeleteFor future reference, I wanted to confirm if you publish other historical romances not just Westerns. I have a series that takes place in the West, but isn't the traditional western.
Thanks! And here's to continued success!
--Kirsten
Hi Karen, and thanks so much! One of the reasons Livia and I decided to open Prairie Rose Publications is because we both want to help others realize their dreams as well. We hope to be able to do that, and this has been a wonderful thing for us, as well.
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Hi Kirsten,
ReplyDeleteYES! We do! This was one thing Livia and talked about and we wanted to open up the company to American historical stories in general, not just those focusing on the west. So get to writing, girlfriend! LOL We'd love to see some of your work! Thanks for coming by today!
Cheryl
Great news! Thanks, Cheryl!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to have something to you soon!!
--Kirsten
Great, Kirsten--we'll be looking for it!
ReplyDeleteCheryl
With the two of you at the helm, this is bound to go far!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Troy! We are having a grand time with it!
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Cheryl and Livia--I am astounded. You literally hit the ground running! And with Cheryl's amazing promoting talent, every book should be a winner. I congratulate you on making this big move. You'll look back one day and wonder, did we really do all this?
ReplyDeleteI love to see hard work rewarded.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to both of you.
Jerry
Congratulations on your enormous success! You had a dream and you made it come true. In such a short time you established yourselves into quite a powerhouse. I'm thrilled to be included in HEARTS AND SPURS. It was an amazing opportunity to write a story from my heart that wouldn't have fit anything for my other publisher. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteWishing you continued success and much love!
Cheryl, it was such an honor to be invited to contribute to this fine new press. Thanks to you and Livia for your hard work I can't even imagine, putting together a publishing house AND writing, too. I am thrilled to be here. Such a breath of fresh air for many of us authors. Congratulations to you both!! And wow, on WFAC's success, too.
ReplyDeleteCelia, thanks so much for all your supportive words. It means a lot! It's already hard to believe that we've done all this in only three months' time. Livia is a marvel.
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Thank you, Jerry. It's been a lot of work, but it's been fun, too. We're both so excited about it!
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Linda we are so honored and thrilled to have you with us. I know what you mean about having a dream of a story you want to write and being told "no" by the "powers that be" because it doesn't fit the mold. That's one reason we opened Prairie Rose--there are so many stories that don't make it into the reading public because someone else decides "no one would like that." Livia and I are very excited about the projects we've got in store for the coming year(s), and so glad you are going to be a part of it!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Cheryl
Tanya, we have just been enjoying this venture so much! And what a fine group of authors we have to work with. I'm so glad you decided to throw in with us and I'm looking forward to the Valentine's Day anthology, and to seeing what you might have in store for your sequel to Claiming His Heart!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Cheryl
Cheryl & Livia,
ReplyDeleteEmile Zola, had a writing group who met, drank, and feasted, and read stories round the table that Zola challenged them to write.
Even though many had the same plot and characters, not ONE of the stories were the same.
What is great about this blog, about Western Fictioneers, and now Prairie Rose Publications, is that it challenges writers to write, with the immediate goal of being published.
Writers working together, challenged to create stories and books they may never have created on their own.
Congratulations and much success.
Charlie
Charlie, that is so true. I've enjoyed using pictures in my writing classes from time to time and asking my students to write about the same picture--and I get those wonderful variations on a story that are what make each of us unique human beings. It's always such a great delight to see what they will come up with, and how very differently everyone's minds work with the same picture.
ReplyDeleteBlogging is not only a wonderful way of touching base with fellow writers, but also of being able to reach out to readers and humanize ourselves to them in many ways. AND, as you point out, Charlie, it encourages writers' thinking in ways they may never have thought before to create stories that might otherwise not have been created.
Thanks for your kind words and encouragement!
Cheryl