River City Siren Press

River City Siren Press is a small press/ indie publishing company situated in the Richmond, Virginia area. Founders Amber and Donald Rodenbo each bring unique qualities to the team. Amber is a published author with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and a career background in teaching young writers, literary magazine editing, technical editing, and creative design. Amber is also a book cover designer, book formatter, and overall lover of all things books and publishing. Donald is the tech wizard, website designer, jack-of-all-trades business support for River City Siren Press. River City Siren Press is dedicated to author autonomy and author's rights, giving authors complete freedom over their works from the cover design to book formatting.

Frequently Asked Questions about Small Press/ Indie Publishing

In the age of KDP and easy self-publishing, why choose to submit and publish with an indie publishing company? 

• Self-publishing has never been easier, but there are a lot of pitfalls if you don't have a background in creative writing, editing, and formatting. River City Siren Press does all of that work for you if we choose to publish your book. Publishing with us includes editing, cover design, book formatting, book advertising, promotions, and print sales at local events. In addition, we are happy to set up book signings and events local to you if at all possible.

Why choose indie publishing over traditional publishing?

• There are a long list of reasons to go indie over trad publishing, but we'll share a few reasons. Authors get 10% to 5% of sales from traditional publishers, and it takes years for their books to make it to print. Authors have little to no autonomy over the cover design, book layout, or content edits of their book with trad publishers. With indies (with us), our authors make a minimum of 20% of all book sales, their books will be out in less than a year, and our authors have final autonomy over cover design, book layout, and content edits.

Do authors pay River City Siren Press to publish their books?

• NO. Any publishing company that demands a fee is a scam. We have no fee. On the flip side, we also don't offer a signing bonus. All monies are based on book sales. Our contracts are simple and clear without caveats or hidden ways for us to take any additional money.