Interview With Histria Books Assistant Director Diana Livesay

 

 

1. What type of books (genes) do you publish?

We publish every type of book, including adult fiction and nonfiction, children’s books, and academic volumes. Histria Books has seven imprints, each focusing on a specific genre. Currently, we release around 60 titles a year, each carefully curated. We take great pride in our books and our authors.

2. What goes into your acquisition process to determine whether you will publish a book?

We have a two-step process to ensure the books are carefully reviewed by our Editorial Board. The first step is reviewing the proposal and two or three sample chapters. Someone with a trained eye can get a lot of information from a few pages. This first contact with a manuscript can immediately reveal the writing skill and the emotion that went into creating it.  

If it’s something we think might be a good addition to our program, we move on to the next step. For this, we require the authors to send the full manuscript and fill out a questionnaire for more information. Aside from the quality of the manuscript, we look for authors who are interested in marketing their books. No matter how good a book is, if the author is unwilling to work with us to promote their book, it won’t take off.

3. What do you feel your company offers authors as a clear inducement to publishing with you vs. another — or even to self-publish?

Traditional publishing has a myriad of benefits. We will never charge authors. Printing books is costly, especially when going for big print runs. We work with the Independent Publishers Group (IPG), one of the most successful distribution platforms in the world. Self-publishing doesn’t offer the benefit of distribution, which places the books in stores and foreign markets. Thanks to IPG we have access to an amazing marketing team and a great metadata system. 

Histria Books is well-established in the book industry, has an excellent reputation for quality, and our books have won numous awards. We are also a member of many publisher associations, both in the U.S. and the U.K. We also work with a famous rights agency to give every book a chance to be published in foreign languages. 

Above all, the quality of our books speaks for itself.

4. In your role at the publishing house, what do you enjoy the most and least about your job?

The thing I’m most grateful for is the chance to be directly involved in the creation of some of our titles. I got to translate a few of them, the most recent being Pirin Planina, the war biography of a famous Romanian writer. I can’t deny that I also love discovering unpolished gems. Some of my favorite “books” are manuscripts that have not even been published yet and I can’t wait to see them come to life.  

There’s not much I dislike about working in the book industry, but if I have to be honest, I’ve come across some authors, fortunately very few, who do not understand that we need to work together to make their books successful. Of course, I have to stay professional at all times, but sometimes a glass of wine is mandatory after work.  

5. What are some of the more interesting or important books that your press has released over the years?

There are too many to count since every book is important in its own way. However, one of our most appreciated titles is the biography of Vlad III Dracula, which has been a constant bestseller for years. The Scintillating Life of Iulia Hasdeu is the first book in English about her life. She was an important literary figure in Romania, with a tragic life. But She Looks Fine by Olivia Goodreau is the memoir of a young girl with Lyme disease endorsed by many celebrities, and it’s a hit this summer.  

Another very important historical book is a photography album, Romania by Kurt Hiescher. The original photographs were lost in the World War II and this is the first and only reprint. It’s a finalist in the 2022 Foreword Book Awards.  

When it comes to fiction, we recently published The File, the debut novel of well-known international attorney Gary Born.  It has been very successful and appreciated by everyone in the industry.  

One of the most unique children’s books we have is The Enchanted Wind by Tanya Volkova. It’s a middle-grade Gothic story with stunning illustrations by Ukrainian artist Galia Zinko. Little Warriors, Big Lives by Esther Fausett is a poetry book for children battling cancer and other serious illnesses. A part of the proceeds from this book goes toward supporting pediatric cancer research. 

6. What trends do you see in book publishing today?

The publishing industry is constantly changing. We were all affected by the Covid19 pandemic in some way or another, and since then we’ve seen a rise in audiobook and eBook consumers. The number of eBook readers is growing and the prices for digital products are becoming more affordable. Digital marketing has been changing as well, and now we have dozens of new advertising platforms.  

Unfortunately, this negatively impacted independent bookstores, which are essential businesses in every community. Many of them closed, and the ones that are still operating feel the need to sell highly successful books to keep the business going. It became harder to put indie-published books on the shelves, so many publishers had to focus on aggressive digital marketing. This is probably why we’ve seen a rise in digitally exclusive self-published books.

7. How can we work together to promote literacy?

Publishers have the duty to give their customers high-quality books. They must be carefully curated, engaging, leveled, and promoted accordingly. We have to make sure that every category of people finds something they enjoy and they feel connected with. We at Histria Books partner with schools, libraries, and universities to provide resources. We also donate as much as possible where we feel there’s a need.  

Even though publishers play an important role in promoting literacy by offering the right resources, we must inform parents and caregivers of the importance of reading. They are the most important people in a child’s life and they must encourage curiosity. I have a seven-year-old and sometimes it’s difficult to find books that keep his attention.

8. What challenges — or rewards — does AI pose to the book industry?

From my point of view, AI programs are amazing tools if used right. No, we don’t want to see AI-written books, and thankfully we can check for that. Personally, I’m not a fan of AI-created audiobooks either. There are quality concerns about some of the automated tasks AI offers. ChatGPT can give completely false information about a subject and it can be biased. That’s why we have to carefully check a manuscript before we even think about offering a contract.

However, AI can be a great marketing tool, and very helpful for proofreading, indexing, and analyzing data. It can also help authors improve the way their text sounds. Unfortunately writing assistants are still caught by the tools used to check for AI content, even though they have been used for years and they’re harmless.  

AI technology can cut costs, and these programs are here to stay whether we like it or not. We just have to learn how to live with them, and how to use them to our advantage.

The worst part of AI technology is the loss of jobs. People should not be replaced by machines. They should be used together. 

9. Which recently released or upcoming books should we keep an eye out for?

Aside from the recently released titles I mentioned before, we are close to launching our first epic fantasy volumes and I’m very excited about that, being a huge fan of this genre. Ogden – A Tale for the End of Time by Ben G. Price will be released in October 2023. It’s the story of a forest troll adopted by humans sometime at the beginning of the industrialization period. It’s a captivating story, with environmental themes, as well as fantasy and historical fiction elements.

The second book, Shards of Fate by Edward Loom is the first volume in a trilogy and will be released in March 2024. This is for fans of World of Warcraft, The Legend of Drizzt, and Lord of the Rings. It’s the true definition of epic fantasy and when I read the manuscript I couldn’t put it down.  

This fall we’re launching our first titles under the Vindicta Publishing imprint, which focuses on political science and history that nobody really talks about. Paying the Price by L Todd Wood, The Dissident by Evi Kokalari, and Into the Lion’s Den by Daniel Patrick O’Shea are all mind-boggling stories focused on international affairs and recent history.

Diana Livesay is a journalist by trade with a passion for investigation, history, culture, and, of course, literature. Aside from working full-time in the publishing industry in the U.S., she's actively involved in animal rescue and rehabilitation in Romania, her native country. For more information, please see: https://histriabooks.com/

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.