Editor:
Ellen E. M. Roberts
has worked with trade books,
scholarly books and children’s books
in her long career as an acquisitions editor
at St. Martin’s Press, William Morrow and Prentice Hall.
She served as a sales manager at Columbia University Press,
distributing books for the Press Consortium
which included Smithsonian Institution Press,
the University of Tokyo Press and the New York University Press.
Her experience in trade book editing, publishing and book distribution
has informed her approach to new projects:
she believes that editorial excellence will win out in the end,
and has shepherded over a thousand book projects to publication
that prove this point.
Roberts has written two books about American children’s publishing:
The Children’s Picture Book
(available in five languages)
and
Non-fiction for Children.
A Classics graduate of Reed College,
Roberts is an earnest amateur violinist and poetry lover
who recently rusticated from New York City
to the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.
Art Director:
Doug Wink
of Inkway Graphics
has been a designer for leading publishing companies for three decades.
He began his career at the Pratt Institute’s Center for the Book.
He also designs promotional pieces and catalogues
for major cultural institutions including the Pierpont Morgan Library,
the Joyce Theater and the New York City Opera.
He brings a highly developed design aesthetic to his work,
along with cutting edge knowledge of computer programs
and printing and binding protocols.
Wink is based in Santa Fe where he lives with his wife Marcia Sullivan
and their dog Dexter.
He collects fountain pens and knows more about jazz than you do.
To view Doug’s portfolio, link to
Inkway Graphics.
Internet Marketing:
Kim Murphy
has been marketing websites for a host of businesses in the Lehigh Valley
using metatags, link swaps, design solutions and search engine optimization
to help business owners stay current with developments.
Kim enjoys working with authors because he loves the collaborative experience.
Originally from New York like the rest of us,
Kim has lived in Jim Thorpe, a picturesque town up the road from Allentown.
He now lives and works on the West Side where his company
Designz23.com
is located.
Kim helps authors advertise on search engines and specialized directories,
and pay for sponsored listings
that will add up to higher author platforms and bigger book sales.
Sales Support Guy:
James Trivers
was working as a life guard at Jones Beach thirty years ago when he was
still in college. Tired of blowing his whistle all day long at children
who thought the Atlantic Ocean was a splash pool, he decided to write a
book about water safety. It was published by Ellen E. M. Roberts, then
the children’s publisher at Prentice-Hall. Today George is still writing,
living in Los Angeles, staying in lattes and laptops with income from
options. His work has stirred interest by the major studios. This year
he has coauthored a novel about young Hitler and a nostalgic novel about
rich kids in the sixties.
At Where Books Begin James is our token Type B,
cheerfully keeping projects in their lanes with a blow of his everyready
whistle. He works with customers in coordinating appearances and moving
books along to readers. His existential outlook and boyish charm belie
the passion for perfection that has made him a guru for writers and
booksellers alike.
Assistant Editor:
Chad Jarrah
trained as a biochemist at Lehigh University,
has worked in laboratories and classrooms, in factories and pharmacies.
He worked with the Peace Corps building hospitals in Niger
and has counseled troubled teenagers in the Allentown schools.
Fluent in Arabic, Hausa and Spanish, Chad loves writing in English.
He has published travel articles and movie reviews
while he works on his memoir of growing up Syrian in middle America.
At Where Books Begin, Chad is the detail man who handles submissions.
Ilustrator, Designer:
Viqui Maggio
is an accomplished illustrator
who has worked for many years in the book industry.
Her design work has appeared in numerous publications and books.
At
Where Books Begin,
she works with promotional materials for our authors
as well as with book covers and picture book interiors.
A graduate of the Parsons School of Design,
Viqui is a dedicated New Yorker,
living with her husband, librarian and teacher John White
and their two children in a Wall Street loft.
Her work can be viewed at
Maggio Graphics.
Editorial Intern:
Kristen Dalton
is a journalism graduate of Lehigh University, completing a fifth year
in English. She enjoys reading the work of other writers and devising
ways of bringing their work to new readers. A blogger at
inspiredscribble.wordpress.com
Kristen is also a creative writing minor. As a guard on Lehigh’s
back-to-back women’s basketball championship team, she is a top scorer
both on and off the court. She plans to go on to graduate school to
study nonfiction and poetry in the footsteps of two favorites, Don Miller
for non-fiction and Naomi Shihab Nye for poetry. The more she learns
about writing, the more amazed she is at the solitude, quiet and
independence required by writing. For ten years, her basketball world
has been competitive, loud and demanding. She is looking forward to the
next ten in the publishing world.
