Zoom session with Peter Goodman, founder of Stone Bridge Press
(2/15/2021)

On Sunday Writers in Kyoto hosted a presentation by Peter Goodman, with about 15 members participating. It provided a great opportunity to bring our scattered community together, with the speaker and three members in North America, one person in Australia, and others scattered around Japan from Yokohama to Shiraishi Island. Some were actually in Kyoto!

Peter described how he had set up Stone Bridge after working for Tuttle and Kodansha. He mentioned some of the successes the Press has had, such as being the first publisher to bring out a book on ‘wabi-sabi’, thereby. Stone Bridge worked with Donald Richie too, bringing out a new edition of The Inland Sea.

As for the present, Peter talked of the negative effect of the Olympics cancellation, the merits and demerits of amazon, and a tie up with the magazine Monkey. He also addressed the question of what every writer wants to know – how best to catch the attention of a publisher. Writers and publishers are often at odds, but thanks to Peter’s warm input this session demonstrated how they can work together to mutual benefit.

While the virus continues to linger around, WiK is looking to a spring season of Zoom events, and we couldn’t have had a better example of how fruitful these online sessions can be. Peter was also good enough to guide us through the submission process and provided the procedure for putting in proposals. His generosity of spirit was evident in his willingness to reach out to WiK, to help with publicity and in the planning of further development. We are very grateful to him for sparing the time and will certainly be keeping in touch..

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The Stone Bridge Press website is strongly recommended, and its list of authors is a model of how these things should be laid out. Two WiK members are included, David Joiner and Amy Chavez. The background information about the authors makes for interesting reading in itself, quite apart from their books. Please see…https://www.stonebridge.com/authors.

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Following his Zoom talk, Peter Goodman those attending to send him brief proposals to see if there is preliminary interest. Should the answer be in the affirmative, then there are a standard set of requirements (see below).

Proposals for publication should include items from the following checklist:
___1  A one-page cover letter summarizing what the book is, who it's for, and why it's useful, important, necessary, or unique.
___2  An expanded table of contents, chapter by chapter with summaries. Indicate what will be included in the front- and backmatter (introduction, preface, bibliography, glossary, index, etc.).
___3  For fiction or translation, at least two sample chapters. For non-fiction, an introduction and one sample chapter, or two sample chapters. If a translation, what is the rights situation with the original author or publisher? Do you have permission to translate the work and seek a publisher for it?
___4  Estimated manuscript length and completion date (if it's still incomplete).
___5  Number of illustrations and what kind (line drawings, black and white photographs, maps, color, etc.). Are there any special production or handling requirements? You can attach or zip-archive low-resolution jpegs or tif files. Do NOT send original art or high-resolution (that is, large) files unless we ask you to.
___6  Information about you. Include a c.v. if you have one, and indicate your qualifications to write on your subject.
___7  A discussion of the size of the market for your book and how your book compares to its competition. What makes it different/better? What are you prepared to do to promote the book (very important!)? Do you know others in your field who will provide reviews or testimonials?
___8  Your financial and scheduling requirements, if any.
___9. Are you active in social media? Blogging?

Email your submission to:sbpedit@stonebridge.com
Send all materials to:Stone Bridge Press 1393, Solano, Avenue Suite C, Albany CA 94706, USA

Please note that we are primarily interested in books with a Japan/China/Asia connection (however tenuous). If you write genre fiction, like science fiction, war stories, mysteries, and romances, or commercial fiction, you probably shouldn't be talking to us at all. Please also do not send poetry or children's illustrated book submissions. No materials can be returned to you unless you provide us with sufficient return postage. We generally reply by email. We look forward to hearing from you.
THE EDITORS, Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, California