The History of Wilton Circle Press
From Robin P. Williams
It's a short history.
Almost twenty years ago, I was teaching Macintosh computer classes at Santa Rosa Junior College. I had an AA degree from that college, but they wouldn't hire me full-time because I didn't have a degree in computer science. My classes were overflowing and had waiting lists, but I "wasn't qualified."
While teaching "Intro the Mac" classes, I wrote a book for people who wanted to learn to use their computers. Ten publishers turned me down because I "wasn't qualified" to write this book. So in 1989 I borrowed money from my mother and published it myself—The Little Mac Book. And then I self-published a small book called The Mac is not a typewriter.
Through my timorous marketing efforts, Peachpit Press found out about the books and offered to publish them. Peachpit was new -- they had only three books on their list at the time. But we trusted each other, they believed in me, and my first two self-published books have now sold over two million copies and are in more than twenty languages. I have written, designed, produced, and indexed more than forty books for Peachpit Press now, and The Little Mac Book is still a best-seller. And Peachpit grew into one of the most important computer book publishers in the world.
About seven years ago I started researching this Shakespeare authorship thing and discovered enough unreported connections to create an interesting book. But once again, no one would publish me. Four agents turned me down because I "wasn't qualified." One NY agent who offered to take it on just didn't quite know what to do with it -- for a year and a half. I approached two small presses with the possibility of doing a cooperative venture because I have a lot to bring to the table, but neither quite grasped the concept of "cooperative."
Once again (said the Little Red Hen), I had to self-publish. So I started Wilton Circle Press, a name based on the most important literary circle in the history of the English language. In the final stages of putting the book together (in-between computer books), just weeks before I was going to print the book and clean out the garage so I could store them, Peachpit Press (bless their hearts) offered to turn Wilton Circle Press into an imprint of theirs.
That's why there's only one book on this site so far. I have a list of books I'd love to do under this imprint, but whether that happens or not depends on how well Sweet Swan of Avon sells. ;-)
Some of the other books I'm working on:
What Shakespeare Can Teach Screenwriters
The Understanders (a series for adults on learning how to read and enjoy Shakespeare)
My Tongue-Tied Muse: The Sonnets Paraphrased (careful paraphrases for studying the sonnets)
And a long list of others are in the formative stages.
