Manzanita Writers Press is a nonprofit 501(c)3 literary publisher located in the Mother Lode region of Calaveras County, serving the Mother Lode, Foothill counties & Sierra, as well as the Central Valley of California. Our mission is to launch and sustain regional publishing projects that may reflect a rural, historical/cultural foothill/Sierra environment, yet provide cosmopolitan opportunities for our authors. We are open to all ideas and we publish all genres. We normally publish 2-3 titles per year, but we are anticipating a full calendar for 2024 with several books released in 2023 as well.  It’s going to be a fantastic production year. Be sure to contact us and get on our newsletter mailing list.

Searchers, Stephen Finlay Archer’s first book of the Irish Clans historical novel series published in 2016, was followed by Entente, Book 2,   released in 2017, then followed the release of  Archer’s The Rising, Book 3 in the series in March 2018, and was followed by McCarthy Gold, Book 4, in 2019, and Revolution – Book 5 in 2022. His sixth book in the series, Fortunes, will be released in Nov. 2023.

Manzanita released Monika Rose’s early reader children’s book, Bed Bumps, in 2020, right before Covid hit.  The books sold well, and she has had two print runs since.  Books like this do not age but are timeless. Her second children’s book, The Call, will be out by December for advance copies of the January 2024 release.  A novel, a collection of poetry, a collection of essays and short fiction, will follow for 2024 and 2025.

Manzanita published Cate Culver’s The Untold History of Sonora Pass in 2019 — her books are selling like hotcakes. The fire at the Dardanelles in 2018 destroyed the resort there and also many cabins. Cate’s book preserves the memories with over 300 historic photographs of the Pass and its history.

Tom White’s Soldier by Chance: Memories of Vietnam came out in 2020 — imagine a teen Marin surfer drafted into the army for a war that confused so many people in our country and, combined with the Civil Rights Movement, fomented unrest. Tom said he has no regrets – the camaraderie and the bonds that were made have been life-long memories. The photography is all his, countless stills that were remastered and restored by his friend, documentary director, and producer David Vassar to represent a moment in history and time.

Don’t forget Don Urbanus’s Darn Weeds! Zany Tales from a Nurseryman that Manzanita published in 2018 —  based on humorous stories that stemmed from Don’s commercial nursery in Burson, Rising Sun Nursery. The wacky sci-fi and quirky, imaginative stories weave in what it’s like growing plants for purchase, wholesale and retail. He’s working on a wild tale of murder in the nursery, a fantasy YA novel that takes off into a world of gargoyles and fairy creatures embedded in a nursery inherited by a man and his daughter who don’t know what they have gotten themselves into.

The Butte Fire Anthology titled Out of the Fire was published in 2017. A new edition will feature writing and photography with 7 years of reflection after the devastating 2015 fire, coming out in 2025. 

The Voices of Wisdom anthologies, now into Volume 4 production due out 2022, have been released every year since 2018 and were funded by the Calaveras Community Foundation with a generous publishing grant. Classes in 2019-2020 were funded by a grant from Cal Humanities. These Voices of Wisdom senior writers in the Mother Lode region reflect on life in the 55+ years they have spanned, with memories and reflections of living to the fullest in this era. Poignant, heartwarming, memorable — the accounts resonate in the heart. The photography and art by seniors in our tri-county region grace the book with elegance and beauty, augmenting the prose. Volume #4 will be out by January 2024.

After publishing The Sureness of Horses, an equestrian novel by Kevin Arnold, the Press has released his poetry collection: Do Not Think Badly of Me.

In addition, a poetry collection by Mary Anthony, Golden Chrysalis, still has copies available before we do another run.

Sadly, we lost Charlotte Gruendl, who passed this last year (2021). She edited and compiled her daughter’s poetic memoir, Part of Me. We still have a few copies available of this lovely book.

Contact us for more information about how we can help you publish your book. Read about the submission process. We assist writers in seeking publishing support for their projects, but we do not fundraise or provide publishing funding for particular authors. Author autonomy is important to us and to the author. We consider our staff to be gentle guides in the journey of publishing. Potential authors are asked to pursue outside sources of funding to help finance their publishing project. We do, however, give writers a lot of personal editing and design support, and we aim to keep the costs affordable.

Contact us with a publishing project query if you live in Calaveras, Tuolumne, Amador, Alpine, Mariposa, El Dorado,  San Joaquin, Stanislaus, or Sacramento counties:  manzanitawp@gmail.com or 1-209-728-6117.