: Paul Rhetts, Barbe Awalt
: Voices of New Mexico, Too
: Rio Grande Books
: 9781936744701
: 1
: CHF 2.40
:
: Erzählende Literatur
: English
: 142
: kein Kopierschutz
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
New Mexico Voices, Too is the second book in the series to honor New Mexico and to give writers the chance to express themselves. This book is mostly about New Mexicans but things can also be human in nature like the Sandia mountains. Poetry, historical essays, and essays about mentors, family and friends are all part of the mix. These essays and poems - by seventeen New Mexico authors - are on all subjects and give the reader a wide range of ideas and topics. This is a project of the New Mexico Book Co-op, a collaborative organization designed to help its 1,400 members join together in their love for the printed word. The New Mexico Book Co-op has novelists, poets, history writers, children's writers, comic book writers, bloggers, consultants, booksellers, readers, and others who strive to share their knowledge about the book in this changing world. Collectively, Co-op members want to showcase New Mexico's long history with book publishing. Books still make a difference and these essays and poems show how important people can be in the lives of New Mexicans.

Interview with Barbara Awalt and Paul Rhetts

by Joanne Bodin

Barbe Awalt and Paul Rhetts are two New Mexicans who have made a huge impact on the writing and publishing community. They are founders of the New Mexico Book Co-op, the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards, LPD/Rio Grande Books, andNuevo Books. Their publications have received numerous awards with over 150 titles currently in print, making them the largest independent book publisher in New Mexico. They are also instrumental in bringing the first Southwest Book Fiesta to Albuquerque.

1. What brought you to New Mexico?

We came here in 1990 to attend a friend’s wedding. We looked around and liked it and decided to sell our PR company in Maryland and move to Albuquerque to retire. But once we got to New Mexico, people found out what we did and there was a huge need for PR and marketing since there weren’t many PR people at that time. So we managed the ISE (Ideas in Science& Electronics) Tradeshow at the Convention Center in Albuquerque. It was the biggest electronics trade show the Southwest had ever seen to date. Then in 1994 we published our first book in New Mexico. It was calledCharlie Carrillo: Tradition and Soul/Tradición y Alma, about artist, Charles Carrillo. We ended up selling over 7,000 copies, which at that time was considered a huge success.

2. How did you come up with the original idea of a Co-op? Most organizations have a vision to accomplish a certain goal. What is yours for the New Mexico Co-op?

The most driving reason was that other than the New Mexico Book Association in Santa Fe, and the Southwest Writers’ group in Albuquerque, there was not really a venue for authors to meet and talk to one another once they had published a book, or were getting ready to publish. Most Albuquerque people didn’t want to drive to Santa Fe to attend NMBA meetings. And we differed from Southwest Writers because we mostly offered information on publishing and marketing whereas SWW’s focus was on the craft of writing. Our vision was simple;give authors an opportunity to share ideas and get stores to carry New Mexico books and sell them. Education and awareness is our primary focus. Even though we are New Mexico based, we also have members outside of New Mexico. Everybody helps each other. Some of our members have published, some haven’t, some are high profile award-winning authors, and some are just starting. Our focus is on helping people who have already written a book by offering information on publicity and marketing. Our meetings are free and open to anyone. We have speakers who talk about topics that deal with the world of book publishing. Even if people come to just listen to some of the horror stories of the publishing industry, the co-op at least is a place to learn what is going on in the world of publishing. When people work together there is more impact than when people try to work individually.

3.Why it is“free” to be a member of the NM Book Co-op?

Because this was a huge undertaking, we didn’t want to deal with money. Everyone is nickel and diming