Bridging Gaps and Weaving Worlds, By Eileen Wiedbrauk

When I first came to writing “Garbage-to-Gold Spindle,” I had the idea of a character who had less-than-usual desires and was going about filling them via mail order catalog—one that specialized in magic. But what I didn’t have was a shape for that character—who he was or what he ultimately wanted. I imagined irate letters being sent back and forth, the kind of thing anyone who’s ever worked a customer service job knows all about, but they were without form or reason. They had no ambition or sense of direction. Or perhaps they had too many directions, too many possibilities, and nothing to give them purpose. A few weeks later, I saw the Enchanted Conversation call for Rumpelstiltskin fiction, and I immediately knew I could combine the two: Rumpelstiltskin was my perfect disgruntled customer of magic paraphernalia. (Editor's note: The "Garbage to Gold" link here will lead you to a more fully realized and extra-enchanting version of Eileen's story.)

The advent of World Weaver Press came out of a very similar marriage of concept and opportunity. I saw writers struggling between the decision to chase the big New York publishers or use new technologies to self-publish, and I realized that (with the right team) I could bridge the gap between the two extremes. The technological opportunities for ebooks and print-on-demand publishing are amazing right now, both in terms of environmental concerns and speeding up the previously lengthy publication process. But many self-published books languish for want of the services provided by traditional publishers—after all, how many of us have a trained editor, tech guru, copyeditor, social media expert, and professional publicist lurking inside of us in addition to being writers? I gathered a team that had a unique combination of skill sets—we were already trained in writing, editing, and publicity management, we had an eye for art and technology, and an unbridled passion for fantasy and science fiction.

World Weaver Press

Innovation is all about taking good ideas from different sources and putting them together in new ways that solve problems and improve on the product. When I married my formless story idea with Rumpelstilskin I had only one problem left to solve—figuring out why an imp would want to steal a baby. When we married our skills and passions with available technologies, the only thing left was to find great authors with amazing stories to publish.

It took a lot of planning and preparation, but earlier this year we launched World Weaver Press. Our first collection of short fiction is on sale now, and in August we’ll release our first full length novel, Shards of History, an amazing fantasy with a strong heroine. We’re extremely excited about these and all of our forthcoming titles, as well as all the queries which have come pouring in this summer. When we close to queries in August, we’ll have another piece of the puzzle: a great line up of titles for 2013.

I guess you could say I have a thing for reimagining stories and their problems, finding ways to bridge gaps and weave new worlds.

Eileen Wiedbrauk

WorldWeaverPress.com