Tag: Writers

Lisa Kastner is the founder and executive editor of Running Wild, LLC. This publishing company provides excellent stories, especially from writers whose writing does not exactly fit neatly into a box. As an experienced entrepreneur, Lisa received nomination into the FORBES Next 1000, an initiative designed to spot diverse entrepreneurs who are making their mark and redefining business amid uncertainty.

Running Wild, LLC is an obvious success with “Turning’s Graveyard” by Terrence Hawkins, published by the company, named among the Best of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews. Lisa shared that they recently launched RIZE, a subsidiary of Running Wild, LLC, where they publish genre stories written by people of color. She attributes her company’s growth and success to her companies’ diligence, which led to her nomination into the Forbes 1000. Lisa describes her target audience as fans who love great stories.

The difference between Running Wild LLC and its competitors is that the female-founded independent press publishes stories across different genres, especially titles that would be considered cross-genre, and has received numerous favorable reviews. 

Similarly, Rize is also a female led imprint set to publish three genre novels written by people of color in 2021. Describing the company’s goal, Lisa said, “Our goal is to bring forward unique voices and bring them to the fans that they deserve.”

When asked where she sees herself and her companies in five years, Lisa said, “Our stories will be available where our fans are: in books, in ebooks, on film, on TV, in digital shorts, you name it, they will be there. We will be the number one independent publisher in the world.”

On her motivation, Lisa explains that after realizing that the world has many talented authors with fantastic stories that may never see the light of the day because they do not fit into traditional structures and standards by publishers, she decided to start her press. In her words, “After some convincing, I did so and am honored to publish these amazing voices with stories ranging from a brain cancer survivor (Suzanne Sample’s “Glue Gone Wild,” named among the best of 2019) to a wife’s perspective of her husband’s return home from war with PTSD (“Something Is Better than Nothing” by Alicia Delory to be released in March 2021), to a short story collection of LGBTQ characters of color (Reuben Tihi Hayslett’s “Dark Corners,” named among the best of 2019), and so many other wonderful narratives. I also wanted to give a platform for short story and novella writers who tend to write between the lines, so we publish annual anthologies with no theme, only great narratives.”

Lisa wants readers to see what Running Wild, LLC, Running Wild Press, and RIZE stands for. She wants readers to be able to locate the nearest bookseller and pick any book of their choice published by them. She guarantees that they will not be disappointed.

To learn more about Running Wild, LLC, visit their website.