University of Alabama launches student-led book publishing project, Red Rook Press

Last fall, Red Rook Press didn't even have a name, just a concept, and an unexpectedly large group of University of Alabama undergraduate volunteers turning up for hands-on experience in publishing, diving into acquisition, editing, design, production and marketing.

Roughly seven months later, with copies of their first two books in hand, for sale at $8 each, Red Rook Press will celebrate at 6 p.m. Thursday at Monarch Espresso Bar, 714 22nd Ave. Their authors will read: Abby Armstrong from her poetry collection, "The Blood, The Love, and The Uninterpretable," and Maureen Edwards, who writes under the name Attalea Rose, from her novella "When the Flowers Breathe."

Though Red Rook is a literary endeavor, the 40-plus who showed for the initial September meeting stemmed from various disciplines and perspectives around the UA campus, dividing into departments according to desires and expertise. Collectively, they read 19 submitted manuscripts, divined final selections, offered contracts, then edited, designed and began to promote and sell the completed full-color, illustrated books.

In the process, they've not only bolstered resumes, but set a template for future Red Rook staff.

"There was no one to tell us what to expect. We just went with it," Maya Mungo, head of the promotions team.

Students such as Anna Kate Baxter worked on multiple levels, in design, acquisitions and editing.

"This job was (essentially) telling us what was expected," she said. Most staff had other time demands, full course loads, projects, jobs, so channeling energy when and where needed, working around already crowded schedules, kept the pressure down.

"It was a lot of like hammering out all the fine details, because this is the first year," Baxter said. "So Paul (Albano, faculty adviser) was kind of learning along with us about how we wanted the press to be."

Beating the Catch-22

It's the sort of experience publishing houses seek in new hires, but as a Catch-22, can be found mainly in the Northeast, where most big houses reside, said Albano, assistant director of undergraduate creative writing at UA.

"As far as I know, we're the only press like this in the country," he said. Department Chair David Deutsch pitched the idea to Albano, who teaches a class on publishing, a subject prospective students often ask about.

The English Department provided all the funding, with faculty and staff support from Albano; Merrill Lee Girardeau, faculty adviser for acquisitions; Sarah Cheshire, faculty adviser who worked with the team editing the poetry; Stephanie Marker, faculty adviser helping the team editing the novella; and Travis Turner, faculty adviser for promotions.

Adding to real-world publishing stakes, there are products for sale, which money will feed into promotions, possibly increasing the range of submissions — this year's came from as far north as Long Island, and far west as Texas — priming the pump for the future.

At least two people read each blind — identities redacted from reading copies — submission, passing them to a "maybe" or "not-now" pile. Gradually, the group of maybes winnowed down to the final two. The plan all along had been to publish one work of poetry, and one of prose.

Edwards was a fellow UA student.

"I was like 'This feels so familiar, and so much like this university; that's crazy,' " she said.

Structural questions evolved: Could the books be altered for better flow? Then came more fine-tuning, with line edits, questioning specific word choices. Each book had one liaison, for clarity, who dealt directly with the writer, another parallel to the pro publishing world.

Heartbreak, the eternal muse

Edwards almost felt too overwhelmed to submit, serving as vice-president of the UA Writers Guild, an undergraduate support community, and having pledged a business fraternity. But on the tragically inspirational side, she was also going through her first heartbreak.

"My writing is very rarely about me," Edwards said, but personal emotions sparked this novella, "nothing directly, but just, I mean, that's what art is: real-life influences it. So I think my heartbreak was what propelled me to start writing, and then all the voices and all the little characters in the scenes popped in my head. I'm like, 'OK, I have to sit. I have to listen.' "

Though Armstrong can't imagine not writing, having loved it since childhood, she'd spoken also of a lifelong dream working with animals, becoming a veterinarian. But after her first few years of college, anxiety-ridden and unhappy, she talked with her parents about switching to creative writing.

"And that was just what they wanted to hear," she said, laughing, "but they were very supportive."

Her collection was written with Red Rook in mind, crafting an energetic, adventurous voice, things that felt different, weird, but true to herself.

"I didn't have a specific vision, beyond making sure I hit the page count, and putting down words I was proud to write," she said, underlining one of the best pieces of advice she'd been given: write for yourself, not for an audience. "Normally it comes from a place of frustration. I feel like more often than not I have an emotion I can't decipher, so I'll put this on paper, and maybe it'll become clear."

Because Armstrong also works on the Red Rook staff, she found out by accident she'd been chosen, showing for a meeting early, seeing her work up with checkmarks by it.

"I'd already interrupted, but I didn't want to go 'That's me! I'm that person,' " she said laughing. The notes she heard were that the poems represented powerful feminist stances, full of bold claims, bluntly put, by evocative voices.

"I felt like those were the perfect things," she said.

After final art direction choices, including fonts, page layouts, illustrations, cover art, the manuscripts were sent off for printing. When the boxes of books returned, Albano emailed the good news.

After final art direction choices, including fonts, page layouts, illustrations, cover art, the manuscripts were sent off for printing. When the boxes of books returned, Albano emailed the good news.

Though differing departments had more clustered, furious bursts of action, promotions stayed busy the entire time, Mungo said, so they feel like anticipation is high, at least among UA students and faculty. They hope Thursday's event will bring an even wider audience, at Monarch, 714 22nd Ave., in downtown Tuscaloosa. The books will be available for sale at the event, and at UA's Supe Store, with plans to get them into other shops as well.

For more, see www.redrookpress.org.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: University of Alabama's Red Rook Press publishes its first two books