Full-service independent publishing company Lioness Press launches in Hendersonville

Press release from Lioness Press:

Lioness Press is a new start-up publishing company and publishing services provider owned and operated by Hendersonville resident, Williamaye Jones. Lioness Press aims to release fiction and non-fiction that feeds the soul and makes us think about ourselves and how we live in the world around us. “I like books with meat,” Ms. Jones said, “something that helps me, educates me, makes me think, something that I can relate to.”

In her nearly twenty years as a freelance editor for publishing powerhouses such as Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Sterling Publishing, Lioness Press owner, Williamaye Jones, has worked on over 1200 books, both fiction and nonfiction, from concept to conception. Ms. Jones launched her business to help new writers bridge the gap between self-publishing and traditional publishing. “Today, traditional publishers make it nearly impossible for a new writer to get published—numerous gatekeepers to get passed as well as proving your marketability, while self-publishing prints your book for a fee and then gives no support on marketing,” Ms. Jones said. “I have talked with numerous writers who have little or no concept of the publishing industry. My aim is to educate writers about publishing, whether they want to traditionally publish or self-publish I hope to give them the tools to do so.”

Lioness Press offers services for already completed works of fiction or nonfiction and can also help a writer develop their book from just an idea. “We now offer a monthly Writer’s Salon in Hendersonville where like minds can come and congregate and discuss everything related to writing,” said Ms. Jones.

Writing, proofreading, editing, design, printing, and marketing services are all available through Lioness Press. As a royalty-based publisher, Lioness Press will offer more author control resulting in their message delivered in the form they envisioned. “My goal is to give writers an avenue for publishing who are often overlooked by the ‘big six’ traditional publishers. People who appreciate the value of the printed word in this digitally center society of today,” said Ms. Jones.

Williamaye Jones is also a writer herself so she understands the creative process. She is currently revising her historical novel, which was a semi-finalist for the William Faulkner—William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition for 2017. “Writers often think editors don’t understand writing because they don’t write. I have a different point of view,” Ms. Jones said, “because I understand writers, the angst we go through to put pen to page and I understand publishing, what it takes to get a book in the bookstore and sell it.”

Lioness Press, LLC, is a full-service, royalty-based publishing company, intent on publishing nonfiction and fiction. Owner Williamaye Jones resides in Hendersonville, NC, where she shares hiking adventures with her rambunctious Aussie shepherd to allow time for contemplation. Her nonfiction work has been published in the Western Carolina Business Journal and the Southington Observer, and her fiction appeared in Flash Fiction Magazine. She received a BA in Literature from UNC-Asheville and an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. She loves words and believes that printed books and magazines are here to stay no matter how far technology takes us.

More information is also available at info@lionesspress.us. Lioness Press Writer’s Salon meets the third Tuesday of every month at Olive or Twist Restaurant, 121 W. Barnwell St., Hendersonville, NC, from 6:30–8:30 pm.