Finding a genuinely good book is becoming harder—not because great stories no longer exist, but because readers are being buried under rushed, low-quality content designed to game algorithms instead of move people. At Stories Rule Press, every book is still built the old-fashioned way: by real authors who care deeply about storytelling, characters, and giving readers an experience worth remembering.
Some years are quieter than others. Some years are meant for rest.
And some years? Some years hand you a shovel, a wheelbarrow, and a horizon full of work worth doing.
In this reflective new post, Mark Posey writes about turning sixty, building twenty raised garden beds, rebuilding the future of Stories Rule Press, and why this season of life feels less about chasing and more about building — steadily, patiently, one load of compost at a time.
Stories Rule Press is becoming more than just a storefront. We’re building a true home base for readers—one where we can offer bundles, special editions, early releases, and a more personal connection to the stories you love. Here’s why we’re shifting our focus toward direct sales and creating a better experience for readers.
Mark didn’t expect Shrinking to hit quite so hard—but somewhere between the laughs and the quiet gut-punch moments, it did. A show about grief, friendship, and trying to do better while carrying everything life hands you, it’s exactly the kind of story that lingers—and the kind he’d love to write someday.
Something ambitious is taking shape behind the scenes at Stories Rule Press. Four authors. Four carefully chosen books. One extraordinary collector’s edition project designed for readers who love beautiful books as much as unforgettable stories. We’re not revealing everything just yet—but this is one announcement you won’t want to miss.
Writers collect craft books the way other people collect unread classics and half-finished notebooks: with tremendous optimism and the vague sense that owning them counts as progress. But a few books earn their place beside the desk because they’re not just inspiring—they’re useful. In the first of this series, Mark looks at why The Story Grid has become one of the writing books he returns to again and again: because when a manuscript goes sideways, this is the book that explains why.
This weekend, Mark is trading the keyboard for lumber, screws, and soil as he builds twenty raised beds in the backyard. There’s a quiet satisfaction in work you can see at the end of the day—and a surprising connection between gardening and writing. Both are acts of optimism: you do the work now, trust the process, and hope something good will grow.
Trends come and go. One month it’s a trope, a cover style, or a subgenre everyone is chasing; six months later, the industry has already sprinted off after the next shiny object like a Labrador with three tennis balls and no self-control. At Stories Rule Press, we’ve made a different choice. We pay attention to the market, but we don’t build our catalogue around trends. We start with the story—and whether it’s the kind of world a reader can disappear into and want to return to years later.
There’s a point in many manuscripts where the story quietly pulls back. The conflict softens, the dialogue becomes safer, and characters make the reasonable choice instead of the revealing one. The result is a manuscript that is technically good—but often forgettable. The moments readers remember are rarely the comfortable ones.
Lately, Tracy and I have been watching The Americans, and it has completely hooked us. Not because of the spy story—although that’s excellent—but because everything about it feels real. The relationships are messy, the choices are complicated, and the 1980s setting feels lived in instead of staged. It’s the kind of show that doesn’t just entertain you for an hour. It lingers afterward and leaves you wondering what you would have done in the same situation.
