We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Cabrera recently and have shared our conversation below.
Samantha, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I have told this story only a handful of times, but it never ceases to amaze me how faithful my God is in my life. I knew ever since I was in the 8th grade that I desired to become a writer. A couple of years in writing, I knew I wanted to start a publishing company in the 9th grade and I wrote a very specific letter to my Nana about it. She sent me a picture of that letter and I had completely forgotten that I’d written it.
I always had a reader-heart and a writer-soul, and I knew God wanted me to not give up on my dream of starting a publishing company; it just took about 15 years for it to happen. I started Calla Press as an online literary journal where I published everything from Christian prose to artwork. I loved it, but then I became a full-time teacher for two years and had to put it on hold. I received my ELAR (7-12) certification and taught English and Art I, II to seventh, eighth, and ninth graders. I remember one student came up to me after she saw one of my paintings and asked, why aren’t you an artist?
I told her that I was, I just don’t have the time to paint as much as I used to. I have so many sweet letters from my students that I helped them in some way or another and that blessed me. I also knew I had to leave them and become a stay-at-home mama. With that said, I simply nurtured the call God had on my life from the very beginning; I’ve never stopped painting, writing, editing, or simply creating. My husband often teases me and calls me the Renaissance woman because I just love to tackle so many different things.
After having my second child, my daughter, I knew that I needed to focus on just one thing lest I go crazy and don’t manage my time well with my family. I thought so hard about this and after prayer…I relaized I wanted nothing more than to change someone’s life with words…The Word inspires writers everyday and The Word of God changes lives every day. This is what I wanted to be part of. I know how words saved me growing up in an unstable home, and I wanted to publish other people’s work I knew could help someone else. From there, Calla Press grew and flourished into what is now Calla Press Publishing LLC. I now have an amazing staff that helps me produce our books from acquisitions to having our authors hold their own book in their hands. Our first title was a children’s book, Harriot Hare, by Jeff and Angela Knox.
We now have several more contracts in the works and will be publishing our fourth book by March 24′. We had to close book submissions because we were getting so many amazing inquiries; I still wish I could publish more than I’ve contracted but that will come in time. A good work is never rushed…
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
As the founder and publisher of Calla Press Publishing LLC, I focus on publishing the gospel truths through pure, lovely, and noble books for the glory of Christ. I handed off my main duties to our new Executive Director, Madison Aichele, who now handles the main book publishing process including corresponding to our authors.
A funny story behind Madison is that I sent out a job ad in 2023 for this position and received an incredible response from people. After I decided to take on a publishing assistant, I thanked everyone for applying…all nearly 40 of them…except Madison. I still to this day do not know how I missed her email, perhaps because I read quite a few a day, but when I found her email, I was pleasantly surprised I didn’t reject her application. I ended up hiring her for our new Executive Director and Publisher position and I could not be more thrilled about it. God is good and faithful and knows just exactly what we need.
My team of Madison, Rosa (our PA), Lara (our Senior Editor), and Allana (our Assistant Editor) work together to make CPP LLC thrive. I’m able to now focus on approving books for printing, MS reading, orders, and book design while having the time and energy I wanted for my growing family.
We have several exciting titles releasing soon, including Lara d’Entremont’s debut book, A Mother Held: Essays on Anxiety and Motherhood (April 24′), an ABC children’s book, a baby’s Bible Words book, and another nonfiction title, Draw Near: How Painful Experiences Become the Birthplace of Blessings (March 24′).
I encourage everyone to check out our website at www.callapresspublishing.com to subscribe to our Substack newsletter for updates and book release information.
I’m most excited about publishing books for Christ’s supreme glory, honor, and praise…I’m excited that we stand boldly for the work of The Lord and are unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will not water down the gospel and its truth. We desire for anyone who comes to see our work to not have to question Who we’re working for–Jesus Christ.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1) Reading…reading…and reading more books. I joke with my husband that I read a book a day in HS; maybe I wasn’t kidding!
2) Learning the process of editing and the knowledge of English grammar; once I felt confident in what I was editing and looking for, I took things very seriously. I allow my staff to correspond on what style manuals they prefer. Getting my ELAR teacher’s certification and having to take exams forced me to learn things I wouldn’t have otherwise.
3) I encourage anyone in the publishing industry to read what they desire to write, to practice editing student papers to college essays if they desire to edit and to intern at a publishing house to gain experience.
How would you describe your ideal client?
I first want to answer the question about going all in on one strength or focusing on several to become well-rounded. I say to go all in on one…I’ll never forget one night when my husband cupped my face while tears streamed down and said, “You can be a jack of all trades, my love, and a master of none.” That stuck with me because he knew my heart was torn between oil painting, teaching, writing, and publishing. If I stretched myself too thin, the work I did wouldn’t have been from my strength I know comes from God…but from the scraps of energy I can offer it.
My ideal client, or rather, author, is someone who has their book proposal ready and knows exactly what they’re writing and who they’re writing it for. I’ve gotten so many book queries of half-hazard book approaches that I had to kindly reject them. When a writer truly knows what they desire their book to be and who its for…it shows in their book submission.
While we are a Christian book publisher, we don’t require work to be Christian, but it has to stay true to our mission and values at CPP LLC. We have this on our website.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.callapresspublishing.com
- Instagram: callapresspub
- Twitter: CallaPressPublishing
Image Credits
Samantha Cabrera
