Who is Epigraph?

Epigraph is a new division of Monkfish Book Publishing Company, LLC located in Rhinebeck, New York. We are a team of book publishing professionals dedicated to helping self publishing authors compete more effectively in today’s literary marketplace. Some of the people working with Epigraph include:

Paul Cohen is President of Epigraph and the publisher/editor of Monkfish. Before starting Monkfish in 2002, he worked in other publishing capacities including head of sales for two national book distributors and advertising director for Robb Report Magazine and Boston Woman. He has overseen the release of over 3,000 new books, many by prominent and bestselling authors. When he is not working on some book related project, he is thinking about working on some book related project.

Georgia Dent is Art Director of Epigraph and Monkfish. She has been involved in the arts for over twenty years. She began designing book covers and interiors, catalogs, websites, ads and publicity material  for Monkfish in 2002. Her most recent provocative cover for The Passion of Mary Magdalen was featured in Publishers Weekly.

LOTTCHEN SHIVERS is a publicist with over twenty years of trade publishing experience. Her clients and employers have included: Random House, Workman, Viking, Henry Holt, Goldberg McDuffie Communications, and Princeton Architectural Press. Her authors include Sue Grafton, Garrison Keillor, James Gleick, Witold Rybczynski, Ron Chernow, Marc Reisner, Robert Olen Butler, Michael Dorris, Pat Schroeder, Fay Weldon, Gretel Ehrlich, Roxana Robinson and Andrew Carroll.

ISABELLA MICHON is an independent publicist, media consultant and the president and founder of ImMedia, Inc. She is a former TV and radio producer with 25 years publicity and promotion experience.  She has worked with bestselling and award-winning authors including Deepak Chopra, Hugh Prather, Melody Beattie, Clive Barker and Robert Thurman. Her publisher clients include Harper Collins, William Morrow, Prima Publishing, Conari Press and New World Library.

David Stanford, a freelance editor, spent 20 years in New York trade publishing, the last 10 as a senior editor at Viking Penguin. He works within a wide variety of nonfiction, fiction, and cartoon projects. Clients have included Ken Kesey, The Estate of Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Page Smith, Stewart Brand, Don Dunphy, Leonard Shlain, Benjamin Hoff, Alice Notley, Elizabeth Swados, Kyriakos Markides, Art Spiegelman, Charles Schulz, and Garry Trudeau. He also serves as the Duty Officer of the Doonesbury Town Hall web site.

Kenneth Wapner is an author, editor, book doctor, agent, co-writer, ghostwriter, journalist, and book packager. His company, Peekamoose Productions, develops book and film projects. His author’s books have included national bestsellers such as Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography, Bones of the Master , and The Parrot Who Owns Me. Many of his authors have published through major houses including Putnam, Bantam, Villard, Miramax, Random House and Free Press. His author’s works have been acclaimed in many national publications including The New York Times, People Magazine and Publishers Weekly. His own writing has appeared in many national magazines and newspapers, including Gourmet, Field & Stream, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, and Philadelphia Inquirer.

Cait Johnson is the author of six books including Earth, Water, Fire, and Air: Essential Ways of Connecting to Spirit and Witch in the Kitchen. She currently edits and produces five online newsletters for www.care2.com, an environmental super-site with over five million members. She brings many years of rigorous publishing experience to her editing work, as well as a commitment to helping other writers bring out their best and truest voice.

PETER LEWIS has been an editor at the American Geographical Society very nearly since the institution’s beginnings in 1851. He spends a lot of his time writing book reviews for big-wheel newspapers---The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, The Atlanta Journal Constitution---and for small ones, so small you’ve probably never heard of them, let alone read them. A few times a year he finds topics that strike him---sleep studies or medicine balls or the history of root vegetables---and he writes about them in Outside, House & Garden, Country Living, Simple Cooking, and The Vinegar Factory (see, haven’t read that one, have you?). He lives in the Hudson Highlands of New York with his family.

Betsy Oakleaf is a web designer (she can do FLASH and cool stuff like that) and photographer in Maine. While living in Tokyo she envisioned, developed, designed and built an 800 page online community web site for The American School in Japan. She continues building web sites for small businesses and non-profit organizations. Her images from Asia can be seen at oakleafphoto.com.

EPIGRAPH works closely with other companies when a project requires it. One such company is The July Group which is a commercial art agency representing a select group of exceptional artists. Their artists' portfolios encompass an expansive range of styles and mediums including animators, illustrators, designers, photographers, and portrait artists. They have award-winning seasoned artists and cutting edge emerging artists as well.