Sixteen years ago, I started to write my first novel, Ancestors. I have a PhD in clinical psychology, and at that time in 2008 I had a full-time practice with offices in San Francisco and Berkeley, California. Writing a novel seemed more like a hobby than a career. I still remember that first sentence of Ancestors: “Moremi stood in the sand at the edge of the Pacific in the howling wind that spread fire all day through the California hills.” I remember asking myself: “What next?” I did what Moremi did, I plunged in. With fits and starts that first year, I persisted, and after three more years I had a manuscript. I figured I was on the home stretch to publishing with the creds to call myself “an author.” Don’t laugh! I’m sure I’m not the only writer of a first draft to face the harsh reality that waited in the wings to shatter my swaggering ego.

First step, get an editor.

I plowed through three editors until I found the fourth one, who was right for me. Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot from those first three. Style of writer: Plotter, Panster, or Planster? Editing styles: Developmental, Structural, Line, Copy, Fact-Checking, and Proof Reading. Mostly I learned to trust myself and my evolving instincts as a writer, and that a good editor can tell you what works, but not what to write.

I love to write. It came naturally for me. But publishing? I fell into a Sargasso Sea of swirling, ever-changing, siren calls beckoning me to spend more and more of my time, energy and money. I chose self-publishing, but still faced the challenge of self-marketing. Four more novels later in a series I call Eye of the Dream I finally found a group of fellow writers, artists, editors, graphic designers, tech designers who all agreed: “Let’s start our own press!”

We are Crimson Crow Press!

Jan Thorpe, CEO