Book Hub Publishing

Book Hub Publishing We are an Indie Publishing House based in Ireland, working with authors on their book birth journeys.

Run by Director and Author, Susan McKenna supported by Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Equality, Dr Mary Helen Hensley. Book Hub Publishing is a dynamic and inclusive publishing house, proudly chaired by Susan McKenna, with Dr. Mary Helen Hensley leading our commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality. Since our founding in 2009 where we were 'born out of ashes', we have been dedicated to em

powering new voices and amplifying stories that matter. Our team of award-nominated authors and experienced professionals provides comprehensive writing and editing services, guiding authors from manuscript to market. With a global perspective, we have collaborated with authors from Ireland, the UK, Canada, the US, Germany, Switzerland, and France, helping them bring their unique narratives to life. Beyond publishing, we specialise in building author brand identities, managing social media platforms, and crafting impactful marketing strategies. We also take pride in event management, from book launches to author tours, ensuring our authors' works reach independent bookstores and readers around the world. At Book Hub Publishing, we believe in the power of stories to inspire change and foster connection. We are here to support and champion diverse voices, one book at a time.

Wonderful to see lauradoyle.author debut book already selling in different territories around the world so soon after pu...
21/10/2025

Wonderful to see lauradoyle.author debut book already selling in different territories around the world so soon after publication. We've already hit Ireland, the UK, the US...but where, oh where, have the remaining 13% gone out to? Hit us up if you know...

21/10/2025

Sweet Dreams.
(AI)

We met up with Eric McNamara recently to review book 1 and the move to book 2 in his 4 book collection featuring the won...
21/10/2025

We met up with Eric McNamara recently to review book 1 and the move to book 2 in his 4 book collection featuring the wonderful Erica and a host of characters we all know and some new ones enter the saga.

20/10/2025

⭐Irish Book Week 2025 is finally here! ⭐

Irish Book Week takes place 18–25th October this year.
Irish bookshops play a crucial role in championing homegrown talent and putting great Irish books into the hands of readers. Irish Book Week celebrates Irish authors and illustrators, Irish publishers, and Irish interest books, as well as the many brilliant Irish bookshops that sell them.
Make sure to support your independent bookshops this week ❤️

20/10/2025
20/10/2025

My new poetry collection is now available in paperback and eBook on Amazon. “These poems speak of loss and belonging, of time’s slow erosion and the fragile radiance that remains. Rooted in the landscape of rural Ireland yet universal in their reach, McManus’s verses capture the stillness between heartbeats — where light meets dust, and memory becomes prayer.”
Available now in paperback and Kindle Unlimited.
https://shorturl.at/5Yqv8

Unlocking the Language of Loss: Key Images in Maeve McKenna's, 'Body as a Home for This Darkness' (Book Hub Publishing, ...
20/10/2025

Unlocking the Language of Loss: Key Images in Maeve McKenna's, 'Body as a Home for This Darkness' (Book Hub Publishing, 2023).

Poetry often uses recurring images, like powerful keywords, to explore deep emotions and ideas that can be difficult to express directly. These images act as anchors, allowing us to see the world through the poet’s eyes and feel what they feel. This guide will explore three of the most important images in Maeve McKenna's collection; the body, clothing, and the sea, to help you understand her profound exploration of memory, love, and the grief of losing a parent.

The collection, 'Body as a Home for This Darkness', primarily charts the poet's experience with her father's slow decline from dementia and his eventual death. The powerful images we will explore are the tools she uses to make this deeply personal experience feel universal, creating a connection that resonates with anyone who has experienced loss. To begin, let's look at the most central image, which gives the collection its name: the human body.

The Body: A Home for Memory and Decline
In this collection, the body is presented in two powerful and contrasting ways: as a strong, capable vessel in memories of the past, and as a fragile, deteriorating container in the illness of the present. The poet uses her father's physical decline to map the heartbreaking loss of his identity, showing how the self is tied to the physical form.
Seeing the Symbol in Action
Poem Excerpt
The Body in Memory (Strength)
The Body in Illness (Fragility)
From "Him"
> Our wonderful man with metal hands, his huge heart physical inside us.
> his cold feet. Silent him. His human hands grey as putty. In ours.
From "Unknotted Memory"
> His grey flannel trousers rolled knee high, as he steadily wades out...
> I can’t tell from this far if he smiles back or worries. / If he remembers.
From "Heads"
> Him lifting / us over seaweed, carrying / our buckets of crabs...
> your head falls sideways, neck unable to bear the assault inside your skull...
From "Body as a Home..."
> Him mixing grout, mounting tiles.
> your bent frame... nails bitty and yellow... cracked lips...

The Deeper Meaning
By constantly contrasting the father's past and present body, McKenna shows that grief is not just for the person who has died, but also for the strong, vital person who was lost long before death. The memories of his "metal hands" and ability to carry his children make the later images of his "bent frame" and fragile neck all the more devastating. Critically, the body's fragility becomes a map of the mind's deterioration from dementia. The body becomes a living document of what has been lost, both physically and cognitively. McKenna extends this idea of the body as a container to the very clothes her father wore, which become powerful containers for memory.

Clothing: The Fabric of Identity
Clothes in these poems are far more than just fabric; they are tangible symbols of the father's identity, his life's work, and his comforting presence. When the person is gone or fading, these garments are what remain; physical objects loaded with the weight of memory.

Key Items and Their Significance
• The Overcoat & Cardigan:
◦ What it means: These everyday items represent the father's routines and roles. The speaker’s anxious question about the cardigan reveals her desperate need to know he is still being cared for, still himself.
• The Handkerchief:
◦ What it means: The repeated instruction to "Lose your handkerchief" symbolises the father's progressive loss of memory, routine, and finally, his identity. The loss of this simple item mirrors the larger, more tragic losses of dementia.

The Deeper Meaning
By focusing on ordinary items like coats and handkerchiefs, the poet makes the immense pain of loss feel immediate and relatable. We can all understand the feeling of holding a loved one's sweater and smelling their scent. These objects are the last physical things the speaker can cling to as her father's presence and memories fade. While clothing connects the speaker to the tangible past, she uses the vast and powerful image of the sea to explore the overwhelming nature of her emotions.

The Sea: An Ocean of Grief and Memory
Throughout the collection, the sea and water represent the powerful, uncontrollable, and deep nature of both memory and grief. For the speaker, the sea is a place of primal fear, a constant reminder of loss, and, paradoxically, a potential source of final comfort or "home."

The Many Meanings of the Sea
1. A Place of Fear and Overwhelm:
◦ Here, the sea represents the terrifying and overwhelming power of emotion, especially from a child's vulnerable perspective. It is a force of nature that cannot be controlled, much like grief.
2. A Metaphor for Grief:
◦ In this line, the poet directly connects the sea to the experience of loss. It is not a sudden event but a constant, looming presence that shows up in the family's life during its darkest moments.
3. A Final Destination or "Home":
◦ This haunting final line reveals the sea as a potential place of release from pain. It suggests a desire to finally merge with the vastness of her grief and memory, finding a strange and final sense of belonging in the sorrow itself.

The Deeper Meaning
Using the sea allows McKenna to express emotions that are too big for ordinary words. It perfectly captures the feeling of being submerged in sorrow, of being tossed by waves of memory, and of facing something so immense that it feels both terrifying and strangely like a final destination. It is an experience many who have grieved will instantly recognise.

Conclusion: Weaving the Images Together
Maeve McKenna masterfully weaves these three central images together to create a complete and deeply moving portrait of love and loss. She uses the body to show the stark, physical reality of decline and death. She uses clothing to anchor memory in tangible, everyday objects that we can almost feel in our own hands. Finally, she uses the sea to express the boundless, overwhelming emotion of grief that threatens to swallow everything.

Together, these images guide the reader through the poet’s personal experience, allowing us access to what she calls her "secret season" of grief. By learning to see through her eyes, we come to understand not just her loss, but the universal language of love, memory, and sorrow.

- © Susan McKenna, Director, Book Hub Publishing, October 2025.

*Available to buy on our website at www.bookhubpublishing.com

The Publication Journey of 'Clipper the Hurl's Amazing Adventure'...Some Notes to Inspire...The publication of 'Clipper ...
20/10/2025

The Publication Journey of 'Clipper the Hurl's Amazing Adventure'...Some Notes to Inspire...

The publication of 'Clipper the Hurl' by Katherine Scanlon provides a compelling case study in the dynamics of contemporary independent publishing. In an industry often dominated by large-scale traditional houses, this project demonstrates how a focused, personal vision can be brought to market through a strategic combination of authentic passion, an indie publisher, innovative production technology, and robust community engagement.

Analysing the journey of this book offers valuable insights for authors and other indie publishers aiming to navigate the modern literary landscape.
The core details of the project are as follows:
• Title: Clipper the Hurl
• Author: Katherine Scanlon
• Publisher: Book Hub Publishing
• ISBN: 978-1-0685633-9-3

This case study will deconstruct some of the key stages of the book's creation, beginning with the foundational element that powered the entire endeavour: its deeply personal inspiration for Katherine.

Project Genesis
The creative engine driving 'Clipper the Hurl' is not a fictional concept but a direct extension of the author's family life, a strategic choice that grounds the narrative in an undeniable emotional authenticity. An analysis of the book’s prefatory material reveals that the author's personal world served as the foundational inspiration. The dedication—"To Kenneth, Isabel, Patrick and Killian… who inspire me every day…my world"—immediately establishes the project's intimate nature. This deep personal connection is further detailed in the acknowledgements, where the author describes her family's support as "the heartbeat of this adventure," suggesting that this bond shaped the narrative's emotional core and provided the sustained motivation required for completion. How lovely!

Key Inspirations and Support Pillars
The acknowledgements section outlines the primary sources of personal encouragement that were crucial to the author's journey:
• Immediate Family: The author cites the "unwavering support, inspiration, and enthusiasm" of her husband, Kenneth, and their children, Isabel, Patrick, and Killian, as the central driving force behind the project.
• Extended Family: The "encouragement, humour, and belief in me" from her mother, siblings, nieces, and nephews provided a vital secondary layer of personal and emotional support.
This foundation of personal vision was then translated from concept to physical form through a notably innovative and practical production methodology.

The Publishing and Marketing Ecosystem: A Multi-Layered Strategy
The successful launch of 'Clipper the Hurl' was not the result of a single publisher's efforts but of a carefully constructed, multi-layered support ecosystem, demonstrating a modern strategy that blends professional partnerships with grassroots community activation. The distinct layers of this collaborative network, which was instrumental in transforming the manuscript into a published work are noted.

The Pre-Publication Advisory Circle
Before formal publication, the author relied on a trusted circle of early readers, with the author expressing gratitude for "gentle honest advice" and "insight and encouragement." This pre-publication feedback loop is a critical component of the independent publishing process, allowing for refinement and validation of the work in a low-stakes environment before it proceeds to formal production.

Grassroots Community Engagement
A key element of the project's strategy was the leveraging of local and personal communities for both moral and marketing support. The author strategically engaged groups with a natural affinity for the book's themes, creating a foundation of authentic enthusiasm.

Key Takeaways for Aspiring Authors and Publishers
The publication journey of 'Clipper the Hurl' offers a replicable framework for independent authors. Distilling its success into actionable strategies reveals four key pillars: harnessing authentic inspiration, exploring hybrid production models, cultivating a support ecosystem, and activating grassroots marketing.

1. Harness Authentic Inspiration: Grounding a story in genuine personal experience, as evidenced by the book's dedication to the author's family, provides a powerful and sustainable creative engine. This authenticity fuels the narrative and resonates deeply with readers.
2. Explore Hybrid Production Models: The approach of combining personal assets (family photographs) with new technology offers a compelling model for creating a unique and deeply resonant product. This method maximises creative control while embedding the story's emotional core directly into its visual identity.
3. Cultivate an Ecosystem of Support: Success in independent publishing is rarely a solo endeavour. This case study demonstrates the necessity of building a multi-layered network that combines the expertise of professional publishers, the honest feedback of trusted early readers, and the motivational backing of personal and community connections.
4. Activate Grassroots Marketing: Engaging niche communities with a natural affinity for the book's subject matter, such as the local sports clubs acknowledged by the author, is a highly effective strategy for building early momentum, generating authentic word-of-mouth support, and reaching a core audience efficiently.

Conclusion: A Blueprint for Modern Authorship
The journey of 'Clipper the Hurl' from a personally inspired concept to a professionally published book offers a valuable blueprint for success in the contemporary publishing world. Katherine Scanlon's approach demonstrates a masterful integration of core strategic elements. Ultimately, with the right strategy, independent authors can effectively bring their work to market, creating a compelling model for modern authorship.

©Susan McKenna, Director, Book Hub Publishing, October 2025.

20/10/2025

"Up with the lark, a new day breaks,
The sun ascends, the daylight wakes.
Another beautiful morning, bright,
The world adorned in golden light.

The dawn chorus sings a sweet refrain,
With whispers of joy in each soft strain.
Nature wakes, alive and free,
A symphony of harmony.

Another twenty-four golden hours,
Filled with life, like blooming flowers.
I feel the energy, rising high,
Empowered below this vast, blue sky.

The possibilities stretch wide and far,
Every moment, a new guiding star.
Embrace the day with open heart,
For each sunrise is a brand new start."
C.E. Coombes

Artist: Esther Bennink - illustrator under a blankie

Paired by Whispers from the Heart

20/10/2025

Morning Mist, 1986
Eyvind Earle (1916 - 2000), American

Address

Galway

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Book Hub Publishing posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Book Hub Publishing:

Share

Category

Our Story: A Little about The Book Hub Publishing Group.

We are an Indie Publishing House situated in the west of Ireland. Established in 2009, we are proud to have Amazon bestselling Authors and Irish bestselling Authors with 1million+ now following us across all our combined Author social media accounts. We have worked with authors from Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK, Canada, the US, Switzerland and France to assist them with editing their manuscripts, ensure they get published and then market their publications and brand identities and manage their social media platforms. We event manage book launches, arrange author tours and blogs, set up readings, deal with agents, publishers and distributors and have a reach into the independent book stores. Our sister company, The Dissertation Doctors Clinic, works with third-level students providing academic coaching, mentoring and essay solutions services in addition to working with the local business community in technical writing, funding applications and professional development . Check us out on fb or Instagram. www.bookhubpublishing.com & www.thedoccheck.com