Saturday, March 21

10am - noon

Publishing Collaboratively: Where Small Presses Shine

Vicki DeArmon &
Juila Park Tracey

Publishing Collaboratively:
Where Small Presses Shine

The publishing gap between the big five publishers and small presses is wide. Authors often aspire to a big five contract only to discover they are not part of critical choices like their book cover or title, that they are one of thousands of books being published, and that they are expected to do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to marketing and publicity. They also may find their platform is not large enough to land neither agent nor  contract. At small presses like Sibylline Press, authors are collaborating partners with input into cover, title, and marketing. Together, publisher and author market the books. Authors with smaller platforms initially often find a home with small presses willing to take a risk on them because of the quality of their books and a willingness to bank on the potential. Two of Sibylline's founders, Vicki DeArmon and Julia Park Tracey, will discuss Sibylline Press and the changing book industry with an eye toward how this impacts authors.  

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Vicki DeArmon is the Publisher of Sibylline Press and a longtime innovator in the book industry whose career spans publishing, bookselling, marketing, event production, and authorship. She first made her mark at age 25 when she founded Foghorn Press with a $25,000 credit-card advance, growing it into a nationally recognized travel publishing company producing 20 titles annually with a staff of 20 before selling the company to Publishers Group West fourteen years later. Throughout her career, Vicki has championed collaboration and community as essential forces in the publishing world.

Her work has included founding the Independent Travel Publishers Association, helping launch the Bay Area Book Council, and serving as president of the San Francisco Bay Area Book Festival, which drew more than 35,000 readers. As Marketing & Events Director at Copperfield’s Books, she created a nationally recognized author events program producing more than 300 events annually and produced large-scale cultural events that attracted national media attention. Vicki has also taught publishing at UC Berkeley Extension and consulted with California’s independent bookselling associations on major statewide marketing campaigns. Today, through Sibylline Press, she continues her commitment to literary community by publishing and championing books written by women over 50.

Julia Park Tracey is an award-winning journalist, editor, publisher, and author whose career spans newspapers, magazines, books, and literary events. A second-generation magazine and book publisher, Julia began her career as a freelance reporter covering subjects ranging from national politics to cultural figures and community stories. In 2001, she founded the Alameda Sun, building the weekly newspaper into an award-winning community publication; during her tenure as publisher she was among fewer than 100 women newspaper publishers in California.

Julia later managed book publishing imprints for Stellar Media Group, guiding fiction, poetry, and regional history titles to publication. She also founded the Alameda Literati literary festival and received a grant from the San Francisco Foundation to support the event. A dedicated advocate for writers, she has edited numerous manuscripts, mentored emerging authors, and helped amplify survivor voices as managing editrix of the online publication Survivor Lit.

An accomplished writer, Julia served as Poet Laureate of Alameda, California (2014–2017). She is the author of several books including award-winning literary fiction, bestselling mysteries, poetry, and women’s history biographies, and her essays and poems have appeared in numerous national publications. She lives in Northern California.

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