We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Patrick Scalisi & Valerie Ruby-Omen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Patrick & Valerie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

PAT: Around 2020, I got the idea to start researching stories about Connecticut creature folklore. While I’m not a huge cryptid aficionado, I do enjoy offbeat local history and trivia: fun facts and that sort of thing. I knew some of Connecticut’s more famous cryptid stories, like the Black Dog of Meriden, and wondered what other tales were out there.

As part of my research process, I gathered a list of every municipality in the state and began contacting local historical societies. As I went alphabetically down my list, I started getting responses — and was pleasantly surprised with how many communities had stories to share!

As the list of responses grew, it became clear that there was enough material to go beyond my original inkling of starting a website or blog; in fact, there were enough stories to potentially fill a book. Connecticut has so many books of folklore that I thought surely someone must have covered this topic exclusively before. But it didn’t look like anyone had. It was then that I realized that this might be a viable project.

VAL: Pat reached out to me with the info he had collected and proposed that I come onto the project to do the illustrations. It was a very easy “yes” for me. I’ve always had an interest in horror, anything strange, and of course cryptids. I was shocked and incredibly excited to learn how many cryptids we had right in Connecticut!

PAT: As Val and I finished the writing and illustration parts of the project, respectively, we worked with “beta readers” to review the text and offer suggestions on how to improve the book. It was from this feedback that we came up with the “field notes” that end each chapter. They add a bit more personality to the story narration.

From there, we had a number of technical questions to answer: Who would do the layout? What kind of publishing platform would we use? Graphic design duties fell to Mathew Duman, who did the page layout and font selections.

VAL: For a publishing platform, we decided to self-publish using Ingram Spark. We briefly considered trying for a tradition or indie publisher, but in the end we wanted creative control over the project.

Ingram Spark was very attractive to us because it gives authors access to the Ingram distribution network. As one of the largest book distributors in the country, our book could be ordered by libraries and physical bookstores, with inventory shipped directly to the purchasers. This helped libraries discover the book before it was even released! And bookstores that we partnered with for signings were able to order copies using the same account that they likely use to order most of their other inventory.

Patrick & Valerie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

PAT: I’ve been a writer all my life. Some of my earliest memories are of writing stories about my favorite TV and movie characters. I wrote all throughout school and earned an English degree from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn. After college, I worked in journalism for about 10 years before pivoting to health writing. On the side, I continued building my writing resume with the publication of short fiction and a middle grade sci-fi novel titled The Key to the Universe (Owl Hollow Press, 2019).

At first, the idea of writing non-fiction seemed really outside my wheelhouse — until I realized that it would allow me to use a lot of my journalism skills, but on a much longer project. Since this is a book of folklore, it draws from a lot of local history. I’m the first to admit that I’m not a historian by training, so I wanted to be very diligent in documenting my sources for the book. It may have been overkill in some cases, but I’d rather have someone say, “He’s not a historian, but he did a good job” that learning that I overlooked something.

VAL: Much like Pat, I’ve been an artist for as long as I could hold a pencil. What really sparked the flame was seeing The Lion King as a small child, and from there, I began copying the characters I saw and then creating my own. I was mostly self taught, besides basic art classes in high school and a brief stint at art college (it’s not for everyone!). I find the best way to learn art is by practicing and creating, which I’ve done consistently my entire life.

Connecticut Cryptids is by far the project I am most proud of, and definitely the longest I spent on a single project. I’ve been fortunate to work with a number of other collaborators in bringing their ideas to life as well. Last year, I designed a beer can label for Armada Brewing in New Haven, Conn. I love working on projects that veer off the beaten path because they tend to be the most memorable and rewarding.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

PAT: Publishing a book doesn’t require the up-front capital of, say, starting a business, but we did have expenses before any copies of Connecticut Cryptids rolled off the printing press. To raise money, we started marketing the book about a year before its release. Val and I put up some initial cash to purchase stickers and pins based on the book’s theme and branding. We vended at local literary events, markets, oddity fairs, Halloween events — anywhere we thought we might find an audience. Wherever we went, we also had a QR code to sign up for our mailing list (managed through Mail Chimp). This allowed us to keep in touch with our audience up to the book’s release.

Stickers and pins have a low price point, so we earned back our initial investment and began saving for what we knew some of our up-front costs would be: hiring a graphic designer, paying for initial inventory, etc. Since we had about a year lead time, we were able to earn enough through many, many little sales to pay for most of our initial expenses without taking too much out of pocket. This also served as early marketing for us, so there was already an engaged audience on release day.

For anyone interested in self-publishing, I would recommend having a few thousand dollars ready to invest. You want to spend money to get quality cover art, editing services, and professional page layout. Readers have so many choices that you want to have as professional a package as possible. Your book cover is your book’s most important marketing tool. You may also need to pay for e-book file formatting, initial inventory, and any setup fees with the publishing service you choose.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

VAL: There are so many rewarding aspects to being an artist, but I think what fills my cup the most is making art that resonates with others. There’s something deeply fulfilling about making a connection with a stranger over something that came from the heart. I am really passionate about community, and I think art has a great potential to bring communities together, so I try to do that wherever possible.

With this project in particular, each chapter has an illustration, and we made prints of several pieces of my art. It’s absolutely fantastic when someone picks up a print and wants to learn the story behind the creature that is depicted. What’s even better is when someone learns that the creature story comes from somewhere close to where they live or grew up.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ctcryptids.com, www.patrickscalisi.com
• Instagram: @ctcryptids, @patrick_scalisi @the.tiny.ruby
• Facebook: facebook.com/patrickscalisi, facebook.com/ValerieTheTinyRuby
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/patrickscalisi

Image Credits
All photos and graphics (c) Connecticut Cryptids