Thank you for joining us for part three of our interview with author and publisher Elizabeth Petty Bentley. If you missed parts one or two, click here.
Beth, in addition to being an author, you’re also a publisher. When did you start Parables, and how many books have you produced so far? Can you tell us a little about each of them?
Parables started in 1985. Scott Smith, who published “LDSF: Latter-day Speculative Fiction,” decided not to turn it into a series, so I took a chance. Benjamin Urrutia edited it, and we had some pretty big names, like Orson Scott Card, Chris Heimerdinger, Jack Weyland, Isaac Asimov, Philip José Farmer. We had one story by James Wright. I’ve never asked James Wright, of “Christmas Jars” fame, whether he’s the same one. And we had some by unknowns like me. My first two published stories were in the original LDSF—one under my real name and the other under Addie LaCoe. Benjamin accepted more stories for LDSF-2 and LDSF-3. I didn’t sell anywhere near all the copies I had printed, and I ended up remaindering the rest years ago, but you can download e-copies of 2 and 3 free from my website, if you like.
My husband, George, likes to say he gave me a publishing company for Christmas. What he did was set aside the money we could afford to invest in resurrecting Parables, but he retains veto power over the manuscripts I choose, and he’s my art director and webmaster. I was surprised by the number of submissions I got, just from posting a couple of announcements on the web.
One was from Arianne Cope. I rejected her first submission because it was a little too experimental in form, but she sent another, “The Coming of Elijah,” which she told me was under consideration elsewhere. I loved it immediately, but when it won the Marilyn Brown Novel Award, I despaired of ever being able to get it. Somehow, though, she decided to take a chance on me. Her story is another hard read, about a woman who grows up in the Indian Placement Program. After having been abused by her father on the reservation, she’s mute, which adds further misunderstandings to the already complicated culture clash. By a small miracle she manages to join the Church and marry the missionary who teaches her. The last part of the book is from the point of view of her youngest daughter, who can’t wait to get away from her ignorant and embarrassing mother. Again, the ending isn’t happy-ever-after, but it’s hopeful, and the insights Arianne gives into both LDS and Navajo culture are nothing short of extraordinary. We may not like to admit that such things go on among us, but unfortunately they do. And how can we change if we won’t even open our eyes to what’s wrong?
The second novel is much lighter: “The Path of Dreams” by Eugene Woodbury. Even though I said I wanted to publish serious, realistic stories, this one just sucked me in with its magic realism. I think our tradition, like the Catholic world-view, is very open to the miraculous in everyday life. Elly and Connor start having disturbing, very sensuous dreams after only seeing one another once, across a railroad platform. When they actually meet at BYU, they know they have to talk about their marriage, which has already taken place in that nighttime world. All this is, of course, being orchestrated by their great-grandfathers from the other side. The characters are engaging, and the telling is laugh-out-loud funny in spots.
The books are available in both paperback and e-book form. I did the e-books because I’d had so much success marketing my Address Book that way (cheaper, easier to search, and same-day delivery) but I’ve learned that there’s a lot of resistance to reading a whole novel on-screen. At my age, I like the big print and bright lighting, which are so much easier on my eyes, but I understand the person who wants to read in bed. Plus brick-and-mortar stores won’t carry e-books at all. It’s been hard enough getting any of them to carry the paperbacks. The best way to get the paperback is on Amazon, or you can get either the paperback or the e-book on my website.
I’ve resisted publishing any of my own novels myself. For one thing, I thought doing that would detract from the credibility I was trying to build for Parables. So after trying to market my novels to mainstream publishers with little success (I don’t call a subsidy offer success), I tried a couple of LDS publishers who said nice things but ultimately decided they didn’t want to take a chance on any controversy. So I went with PublishAmerica for my first book, “The Fly on the Rose.” And they had first refusal on my second book, “In a Dry Land.” Unlike some others, I don’t feel I was treated badly by PublishAmerica. I knew going in that they wouldn’t do much editing, and they wouldn’t do any marketing. I wouldn’t hesitate to go with them a third time, but since self-publishing doesn’t seem to have hurt Chris Bigelow’s Zarahemla imprint any, I’m thinking seriously of doing one of my own titles this year, besides one by someone else. I’ve found someone I trust to edit me, since I don’t feel I can be objective about my own work.
I don’t know any author who can successfully edit themselves!
Thanks for telling us about the books you’ve produced, Beth. I have more questions for you, but I’ll save them for tomorrow.
In the meantime, be sure to visit Beth’s site to learn more about her.
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