Local Literati Will Bloom at Apple Blossom Festival

Williamson's Apple Blossom Festival, a May tradition in Wayne County for a half century, this year has adopted Books In Blossom as a theme and includes a mid-week literary happening. On May 12 a day-long series of presentations of local authors, organized by Jane VerDow and others at the Williamson library, will celebrate regional literature, its creation, enjoyment, and impacts on the area. Authors will read, discuss, and take questions on their books. Wolcott's Susan Peterson Gateley, an artisan publisher who uses Whiskey Hill Press as her imprint for local works on Lake Ontario, will answer questions on the art and business of regional literature and artisan publishing at the Williamson Library at 10:30 am. Gateley has authored five full length nonfiction books and five shorter works since 1995. She estimates she has sold about 5500 copies of her various titles and currently has four books in print. Whiskey Hill Press has offered regular softcover books and e books as downloads through on line store since 2005 and distributes books to various specialty shops and book stores between Toronto and Watertown, NY

Peterson Gateley and Pat Cooper Maxon of Sterling have just published a full color photo book titled Our West Side Story as a fund raiser for the West Barrier Bar Park on Fair Haven Bay. They used a Print On Demand format and a completely automated on-line submission process. Gateley says,”You lay the book out, make up the cover on line, and upload the file. Pay for express delivery and five days later you can have a full color hard or soft cover book in your hands. You never have to leave the house.”

Like the publishing business, the traditional printed word, whether news story, magazine article, or novel, is being transformed. Today e readers, Droids and other devices supply readers with tweets and blogs anywhere anytime. As long as the batteries hold up. Is the paper and ink book about to go the way of the dodo and the mastodon? Will all future hard copy books be printed in China?

Come to the Williamson Apple Blossom Festival and find out what the local authors and publishers of Wayne County including Peterson Gateley are thinking and how they are coping with and adapting to this brave new world of the written word.