Lawrence Knorr – Publisher, Author, Professor, Eagles Fan

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Hellbender Books, Lawrence Knorr, Milford House Press, Sunbury Press, Writing, Writing Conferences

Lawrence Knorr, founder and owner of Sunbury Press in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, will be at the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™, “2020 Vision”, at the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center.

Lawrence will be taking pitches on Saturday, March 14. 

“Sunbury Press is a rapidly growing publisher of a wide range of categories represented by six imprints. We typically receive approximately 1000+ proposals a year, publishing roughly 50 of them (about 5%). We choose to invest in those opportunities that we feel have the best chance in the current marketplace. We are always seeking new titles to publish including: history, historical fiction, police procedurals, crime thrillers, horror, steam punk, young adult, current events, science, reference, art history, ANY local/regional history, humor, spiritual/metaphysical, self-help, professional, memoirs, etc. If we didn’t mention your category — try us anyway!”

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Biography:

Lawrence Knorr is the co-owner of Sunbury Press, Inc. and has been involved with book publishing since 2000. He holds an MBA from Penn State University, and is a Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Scrum Master (CSM). Lawrence’s 30+ year career in information technology, as a programmer, analyst, project manager, CEO, and Chief Information Officer has prepared him well for the “Age of Content” – the era of eBooks, data integration, eCommerce, and networks. Lawrence has taught business and economics courses for over fifteen years at local colleges and is the author or co-author over twenty books. He is also an award-winning digital artist. Lawrence often speaks or is a panelist at numerous writers conferences and book fairs.

He is currently working on Graves of Our Founders and Tigers for a Day. He previously published a three volume set of his Knorr grandparents lineage entitled Seventy-One Years of Marriage: The Relations of George and Alice Knorr of Reading, Pennsylvania.

Click “Continue Reading” for An Inteview with Lawrence Knorr

Meet Lawrence Knorr

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Editor, GLVWG "Write Stuff", Sunbury Press, Writing, Writing Conference

GLVWG’s Tammy Burke had a chance to speak with Lawrence Knorr of Sunbury Press, publisher of hardcover, trade paperback, and digital books featuring established and emerging authors in many fiction and nonfiction categories.

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How delightful having you back at the “Write Stuff” conference again! And wow! Is it coming up fast. Anything new and exciting you can share regarding you and/or the Sunbury Press?

Lawrence Knorr: Yes! It is an honor to be asked back a third time. Sunbury Press just completed its best year ever from a sales perspective, nearly doubling. But, there are some interesting trends in the business. EBooks, which peaked at 13% of our business in 2012, have slipped to only 3%. We’ve been strong in nonfiction, but have seen an erosion in many fiction categories. We reintroduced hardcover books in 2014, and had a nice bump from them, but that has cooled a bit. Trade paperbacks remain the strongest format. We’re now at 400 titles and about 200 authors under management. Two of our titles have already been shot as Hollywood movies and another three are in the works. So, who knows what’s in store!

Based on your webpage, I understand the your company holds a “Continue the Enlightenment” mentality from the 18th century and the “Age of Reason.” Could you expand more what that means to you and to the Sunbury Press?

Lawrence Knorr: “Continue the Enlightenment” is a motto that represents our mission statement. Simply put, we are a publisher of diverse categories, but we are always seeking to bring new perspectives and voices to the marketplace. The Enlightenment was about a new order of things — not unlike what is happening in publishing today. The old order governed by a strong center of control is being challenged by more democratic ideals. This is what the independent publishing movement is all about — whether doing it yourself or with an independent publisher. We are experiencing an era of rapid democratization of the publishing industry. If only Hugh Fox had lived a little longer! I’ll never forget the day he called me – Hugh Fox – one of the founders of the Pushcart Prize. He revealed he was dying of cancer and offered me the opportunity to publish his remaining works. He said Sunbury Press was exactly the kind of publisher he was looking for. I was very grateful for his offer, and encouraged him to spread the dozen or so works around to other presses, keeping two of them for ourselves. Hugh liked the motto, and we think it is very appropriate at this time.