Accomplished educators David Weiss and Annie Elizabeth have found a way to continue sharing knowledge in retirement: as book publishers.
“Everybody has a book they’d like to write,” said Weiss, former principal of San Lorenzo Valley High School.
After several years learning the ropes, the retired husband and wife from Felton are looking to expand their business by helping local writers publish what they’ve written.
Their company, River Sanctuary Publishing, specializes in inspirational and spiritual self-help books, as well as biographies, memoirs, poetry and full-color books.
Elizabeth’s knack for writing got the couple started. After retiring from Stanford Medical School, she wrote “Affirmations for Everyday Living,” a book to help people achieve happiness in their daily lives. In looking for a publisher for his wife’s work, Weiss researched 70 online companies to compare prices and processes.
What did he find?
“They had different ways of hiding from you what your costs were going to be,” he said. “It was hard to get information to cross-compare. After some research, we decided we could do it ourselves.”
The company that was birthed with Elizabeth’s 236-page book began publishing other spiritual and self-help books from local authors and writers across the country via its website.
River Sanctuary offers “printing on demand,” which means authors can produce just a book at a time, if they like, depending on sales and individual needs.
In one tidy package, the couple provides authors with editing, proofreading, cover design, ISBN numbers and barcodes — and after publication, authors keep all rights to their works.
“What we are really interested in is providing the highest-quality service,” Weiss said. “We feel confident that our per-book print cost is the lowest you can find.”
The couple has involved Elizabeth’s children and their spouses, who help her with the technical side, including Web and graphic design. Each author also receives a Web page dedicated to their book, and within a week of publication, the book is listed on major book-selling websites, such as Amazon.com.
“I love taking someone’s work and putting it into book form and see the product come out of it,” Elizabeth said. “I love the technical side.
Both spiritual practitioners, the couple suspects there are many local authors who would like to share their work.
“We really feel this is a wonderful service in this area, because there are so many practitioners of spirituality and spiritual work,” Weiss said.
What: River Sanctuary Publishing, owned by David Weiss and Annie Elizabeth of Felton
Info: www.riversanctuarypublishing.com or 888-235-2283
