Meet Eric Morago of Moon Tide Press

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Morago.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Eric. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
It was 2007, and I was barely a poet. I was just a week into an MFA program with only a year’s experience writing the kind of poetry I knew I wanted to share with a larger audience—one that extended far beyond the charmingly odd transients of a certain Friday night open mic spot I frequented, where a man named Easy would sing and play kazoo.

That being said, I was unpublished. So, when Michael Miller, the previous publisher of Moon Tide Press, emailed me around that same time, asking I send him a few poems for an anthology he was putting out, I was stoked. I mean, I had Moon Tide books on my shelf—Mindy Nettifee’s “Sleepyhead Assassins” and Ben Trigg’s “Kindness from a Dark God.” Whoever was in that collection with me, I knew I’d be in good company.

I wasn’t wrong. “Carving in Bone” featured twelve diverse and distinct voices, and I considered myself lucky to be among them. I was (and still am) grateful my first publication was in that anthology, which celebrated poetry and provided opportunity—not only to its poets but to the readers as well, to discover and enjoy something new.

The next decade saw my relationship with Moon Tide grow; Michael graciously published my first full-length collection after I finished grad school, and I continued to support the Press—both as author and audience. I watched as Moon Tide continued to provide publishing opportunities to deserving poets and was pleased to be a part of its expanding catalogue and family.

In December 2016, Michael approached me and asked if I’d be interested in taking the Press over from him, as he was ready for new adventures, and thought perhaps. I’d be ready for something different, too—to move from poet to publisher. He was right.

I wanted to give back to a community that gave me so much, to present poets (both known and unknown) the chance to have their work seen by wider audiences and give casual and unsuspecting readers a reason to pick up a book of poetry.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There’s no real instruction manual as to how to be a publisher, and there’s so many different facets to the job beyond sharing good writing with the world. With each book, I’ve published (6 titles by the time this sees print), I learn something new about the process and business, and that’s exciting. Ultimately, my biggest challenge is always to make decisions that keep the Press sustainable, so we can continue to publish, and take risks on some lesser known poets who deserve to have their work find its way into the hands of a larger audience.

Please tell us about Moon Tide Press.
We publish poets who might be overlooked by larger presses. Because we are also a smaller press, we pride ourselves in the publishing process as being a collaborative effort between the poet and the publisher. We allow the poet to have a certain level of control over cover art and design that they may not find from other presses. What I am most proud of is how I treat my authors. I am a poet, myself, first and foremost, so I can appreciate where they stand when working with me as a publisher. I understand how important their work is and I treat it with the same care I would like my own.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
It’s only been a couple of years, and I have already published two anthologies and four full-length collections. In 2019 we’ll be publishing a total of 10 titles. That seems pretty good to me. There’s nothing really I would do differently because I am proud of how things have gone up tot his point. I guess I could have started this adventure sooner…

Contact Info:

• Address: 6745 Washington Ave. Whittier, CA 90601
• Website: moontidepress.com
• Email: publihser@moontidepress.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moontidepress/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoonTidePress/

Image Credit:
Alexis Rhone Fancher

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