As the year begins to come to a close, the Thanksgiving holiday reminds me of how much light there is in my life. I live in a community that reads, celebrates books, and supports literary artists and libraries. Books are something I feel passionately about and I’m grateful to have made them my calling, my livelihood, in this chapter of my life. For her skills and talents as an editor, Jenna Goodman appears top of my gratitude list. The professionalism, support and enthusiasm Sharon Yntema, bookkeeper and blogger, brings to Swenson Book Development LLC is appreciated. I am tremendously grateful to Susan Tripp for the administrative and project support she gives to our clients and contacts. For two interns this year, Alanna Rieser and Samantha Kolb, I am fortunate. Chad Lieberman continues to provide excellent service in webhosting and website design/development for Swenson Book Development LLC and our clients. Bringing books into the world is tremendously satisfying and I owe everything to my extraordinary clients. Four new book releases this fall and three publishing contracts for clients in 2017. Several clients with tremendously promising projects to pitch this coming spring. And for all of you who have shared your writing and stories with me as work-in-progress, I am humbled by my luck in finding fascinating people doing honorable work with words. I am grateful to Linda J. Spielman, whose devotion to wildlife in upstate to New York I share. When she contacted me with an idea for a book—a book…

Whether you are an aspiring author or on your sixth or seventh book, professional development comes with the territory. The business of being an author can be overwhelming for many people who don’t have the background. How can you best prepare for today’s marketplace? I’ve worked with writers on their craft for decades and these are the secrets to the success of their writing and publishing efforts. Read. I mean read a lot. Obsessively. Read deeply in your genre. Read broadly beyond your comfort zone. Read for craft. Read for fun. Patronize your local public library. Volunteer. Get to know your reference librarian. Attend events and participate in programs there. Shop at your local brick and mortar bookstore. Befriend the bookseller and encourage others to frequent the store. Give books as gifts. Attend author events and buy a copy for the author to sign. Join a book club. Reading titles you might not otherwise is good practice. You refine your sense of what you like and learn what other readers like, or don’t, and why. Take a class or writing workshop. Continuing professional development is always encouraged. No matter how many books you’ve got under your belt, you continue to grow your writing talents. Join a writer’s group. Meeting with other writers who commit to improve their work has many benefits. Not the least of which is the support and accountability you provide to one another. Read your work-in-progress or poetry to an audience. Or tell your story at a…

Q&A with Mauro Marinelli Samantha Kolb Mauro Marinelli is an artist, photographer, author, contractor, and one-time novitiate based in New York. Kehrer Verlag publishes his second book of art photography, Under Old Stars: Wanderings in Italian Hill Towns in the fall, and an exhibition with prints from the book will open on September 22 at the American Italian Cultural Center in New Orleans. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mauro and learning what went on behind the camera as he created this project. SK: What was your inspiration for Under Old Stars: Wanderings in Italian Hill Towns? MM: I was sitting at the dining room with my family having a big Italian dinner when I asked my Uncle Peter what he dreamt of. “I dream of Italy when I was a boy,” he said. And I thought, wow, what a great subject. I went to Italy with that in mind. I found my uncle’s dreamscape, in these little hill towns with three or four hundred people, where things were still kind of untouched by time. These towns were so small, they didn’t even have a Pensionne. I would have to find the priest in these towns and explain what I wanted to do. He would then take me to someone he knew and vouch for me so I could rent a room in their house. You know, that takes trust. There’s a lot of trust in those towns, and I think much of that trust lives in these photos I’ve taken.…