About

About Us

The invention of print-on-demand has turned the world of publishing upside-down. It used to be that the only way for an author to get published was to have a manuscript accepted by a traditional publishing company, who then took control of the production and marketing. If the book sold, great, and if it didn’t then it quickly went out of print.

Authors could also self-publish through vanity presses. Vanity presses did the production work of a traditional publisher (minus the marketing) and published anything, but for an exorbitant fee. They produced a run of maybe 1000 books and the author often ended up with a garage full of very expensive leftovers.

With the advent of print-on-demand, it is now easy for authors to become their own publishers. Authors can prepare, or pay someone to prepare, their manuscript for publication. They then submit it to a print-on-demand service. Print-on-demand presses print a single book at a time or they can print lots of books, and the cost per book is very reasonable. With print-on-demand, authors can also sell books easily on Amazon and other online retailers. When someone purchases the book, the book is printed, shipped directly to the customer and the author gets the royalties.

At Spencer Meadow Press we know there are many authors who would welcome a little help turning a manuscript into a book. Maybe this is your first book and you’d rather not have to learn how to produce it yourself, or maybe you write lots of books and your time is better spent writing than doing layout. Either way, Spencer Meadow Press can help.

Spencer Meadow Press offers services for self-publishing in literature and music. We can walk you through the whole process and provide layout, cover design, proofreading, ebook conversion and print-on-demand account setup. All services are a la carte so you can get the help you need without having to pay for things you’d rather do yourself. Let Spencer Meadow Press help you turn your dream into a reality!

Meet the team, and check out our website to learn more!

Donna Gielow McFarland
Founder, Spencer Meadow Press

Donna Gielow McFarland wrote her first book at age ten, and her first jobs were in bookstores and libraries. After earning a degree in piano performance from Wheaton College and a master’s degree in piano pedagogy from the University of Oregon, she taught at New Hope Christian College (formerly Eugene Bible College) and Northwest Christian University. She also served as class piano program coordinator at the University of Oregon.

Donna began her self-publishing career in 2008 with her debut children’s chapter book, The Purple Elephant. Her books include Worship at the Keys: A Method Book, Follow the Star: Christmas Songs for Piano, The Purple Elephant chapter books, Duck and Friends early readers, Sam and the Dragon: A Medieval Mars Story and several college music textbooks. Donna lives in Oregon with her husband and son.

Tami Wilson
Editor & Proofreader

Tami Wilson graduated from Thomas Edison State College with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities. She is a proofreader and editor who finds great satisfaction in spotting and vanquishing typos. Tami is constantly noticing errors in books, road signs and blog posts, so proofreading is a fulfilling way to be able to fix the issues she sees! Her hobbies include reading grammar books, diagramming sentences, playing piano and cringing at the incorrect apostrophe on her neighbors’ mailbox.

Spencer Meadow Press was founded in 2008 by Donna McFarland with her debut children’s chapter book, The Purple Elephant. She went on to write and self-publish over 15 more books in children’s literature and music. Donna has so much fun producing books that in 2019 she expanded Spencer Meadow Press to offer services to other self-publishing authors.