Inner River Press

Inner River Press

Inner River Press was conceived of in September 2009, an idea in waiting.

In July 2010, when a young writer, Andy Smith contacted Anora with a manuscript that was a perfect match for Inner River Press, the idea took form.

December 2010, Grey Fox Wilderness Stories by Andy Smith became the first book to be published by Inner River Press.

Inner River Press is an imprint of ClearSight Creative Resources Publishing.

The Concept Behind Inner River Press

September 25, 2009

Humanity now knows more than humans have ever known before, as if we were enlightened, aware of the breadth of human suffering, mammalian suffering, fish and fowl suffering, the impact of our industrial ways on the ecology of our earth, our air, our water, our home.

Bad news abounds. Despair. And true, the more we know about what is happening in our world, between humans, between humans and animals, and to our earth, the more discouraging it can be.

A deeply spiritual experience grounded with roots into the earth that bore us and branches deep into the universe, can sustain and give is a renewable strength, bearing hope and capable of sustained action.

We need to continually nourish our souls to for the vital work of caring for life on earth.

Inner River Press is a vision for deep and rich books nourishing the hearts and souls of readers. Delightful books too. Insightful. Fresh.

Chosen from writers whose voices can’t yet be heard in the crowded space of literary agents and traditional publishers, prolific and famous living writers and centuries of works of literature.

Words that read like the pure cool stream water of melting snows from our mountains.

Covers that soften our cynicism and invite us back into connection with the sacred.

Herein lies the possibility of a stream of books of unusual meaning, beauty and poignancy.
Let’s see what arises, what emerges, what flows from this vision, now named, now laid out in the universe of the Internet.

The idea for Inner River Press started as I was working with Nancy Stolfo Corti on her powerful and moving memoir. It just arose, the way so many ideas do. Many many many more than ever get to take root. I know this now about those ideas. They are like the seeds on trees, only a few of the hundreds and hundreds of thousands from any one tree, get to grow into thick trunks hundreds of feet high.

Yet I also know now, that giving a seed a little space, a little place, a little attention, can allow it to grow. And the tending is a way of nourishing my own soul.

Since publishing Nancy’s book first on Lulu and then on CreateSpace, I have developed a collaboration with another author to publish her non-fiction how-to books on media readiness for authors. These still not under my own imprint. It is in receiving the proof from this last book, Media Ready, Media Savvy, a workbook to prepare authors for the media, that I realized I’ve crossed into the publishing business, brand new, fledgling, but it has happened.

What happens next, I never know, but the more I go forth meeting writers and weaving networks of community and exchange, the more new ideas and possibilities arise.

Perfection

It is all to easy to not venture forth when the goal of perfection haunts every idea.

When tredding on new paths, we can’t know ahead of time what will happen, and how pretty it will turn out.

I was raised on perfection. My father was a diplomat. His father a law professor at a prestigious university. His father before, a state Supreme Court Judge. My mother was the daughter of a diplomat, granddaughter of a medical doctor. Good speech. Good manners. Good education. Multiple languages. Attractive appearance. Good deeds and good accomplishments. All this was part of the perfection that was aspired to.
Perfection – striving towards it, can create the most beautiful things: writing, furniture, gardens, homes, books.

But perfection can also keep ideas from every taking roots and growing. So it can also be a demon.

It’s taken fifty years, but I now see the value in daring to produce and publish in less than perfect ways, as a way of moving foward, stretching, getting out there. It’s always easy to look down on work that’s come before, as being less than perfect. But we have usually no idea at all how much time a person had, how many resources, what circumstances were they in… no idea.

So it is going against the deep-rooted training of my family’s culture, that I dare now to have as much content as I do in the Internet. That I have dared to publish hundreds of blog posts. Dared to edit books and publish them through Print on Demand services like Lulu and CreateSpace.

While I would never strive for mediocrity, there is a place for taking action and getting something finished, even if it can’t be perfect. So it is I dare to carry this vision, and other ideas, forward to see how they may grow.