Finding the Path from Paranormal to Publisher

Case Study

Gail Galotta, Voices Carry Here

Almost every person has considered, or perhaps even experienced, what is beyond the day to day of our physical lives as human beings. Gail Galotta feels herself drawn to encounter it—what we call paranormal—or as the dictionary puts it: events, phenomena, or experiences that lie outside the scope of conventional scientific understanding and cannot be explained by known physical or natural laws.

Having premonitions as a child was frightening. But growing up in Chicago with a father who had similar experiences with the paranormal was validating for Galotta. Her interest and experiences with the paranormal would eventually be reflected in her writing and land her a publishing contract with Mission Point Press for her popular collection of short stories, Voices Carry Here: Supernatural Stories of Ghosts, Mysteries, and Suspense. “The possibilities are endless, that’s what’s wonderful about these stories; they make you wonder and marvel,” remarked Tim Dennis, host of Darkness Radio Show.

Galotta had a career as an English teacher. She also wrote and directed plays for her students, as well as community theater, a passion she continued after she moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She’s quick to confirm that besides her grandbabies, writing is what brings her joy in life, it’s in her DNA. She served as a columnist for the Iron Mountain Daily News for several years and eventually self-published a collection of her human-interest articles in the book entitled Views from My Boathouse: Musings of a City-Raised, Small-Town Journalist.

Galotta had also written a collection of short stories that she planned to self-publish. But as she was recovering from Covid, her sister suggested she reconsider. ‘Why don’t you get a real publisher? This is your best work, right?’ Whether it was her fever or her sister’s sage advice, Galotta decided to pursue that suggestion and found a publisher that struck a chord.

She knew where Mission Point was, as she had visited the tip of that peninsula in northern lower Michigan. She contacted the publisher of Mission Point Press, and things started to roll from there. She was matched with the perfect editor, and they worked together for almost four years—a story at a time. Galotta realized, “I definitely became a better, tighter writer over those years.”

Fever to Fervor

When Galotta’s book was edited and ready to publish, she discovered that it would take several more months to launch those ten stories as a bound book. But during this process, she learned there was a great deal beyond the editorial and design phases, “It's the promotion. This is a world I just never thought I would enter. Everything has been very new for me.”  Galotta didn’t have any social media experience or marketing know-how or an understanding of the business side of bringing a book to its fruition as a final product. But she loved it. She states, “I'm grateful that my sister was insistent that day. Did I have a fever? I'm not sure, but it certainly worked out just great. I could not have done any of this on my own or come this far.”

Galotta assumed that publishing with a hybrid would be an impersonal process of turning in her manuscript and having them “do stuff with it.” Instead, she found that she was engaged with every aspect of the process with a team whose expertise guided her on a journey to produce the quality product she deserved. Galotta was surprised to find that she felt like she was with a group of friends that she trusted, particularly with Marketing Manager Terese DiMercurio. “I mean, Terese is like a friend I can go to when I have a question about anything regarding the book. We also share an interest in the supernatural, so her input and creativity on the project have been especially fun for both of us. From the very beginning, every member of the MPP team has made this a wonderful experience. I trust them. Trust is a big thing, and I trust everyone with Mission Point all the way down the line. Everyone they recommended, even outside of MPP, has proved to be very helpful.”

One of MPP’s recommendations for a publicist scored Galotta with radio and TV spots, and with Mission Point Press's help, she’s on social media and has a website now, she’s running the book circuit with readings and events, and her hometown is hosting a mystery dinner featuring her and her book. Another recommended source by MPP provided Galotta with the opportunity to narrate an audio version of her book, to come out this fall. “One of the greatest benefits of working with MPP is that they have provided me with the tools and confidence to continue this book’s journey, as well as any others I might have in the future.”

We at Mission Point Press truly believe in Gail; we know she’ll always be writing and can’t wait for that next manuscript to hit our editor’s desk. Trust us. We have a sixth sense about it.