Know Your Publisher: Atticus Books

Posted by greengeekgirl — August 11, 2012

Location: Darnestown, MD

Founded: March 2010 (according to Facebook) by Dan Cafaro

Distributor: BookMobile (Itasca Books)

Notable Authors/Works: The Snow Whale by John Minichillo; The Bee-Loud Glade by Steve Himmer; Kino by Jürgen Fauth

Open Submissions: Submissions seem to be open all year. Story collections and novels for publication; short stories, essays, and poetry for the Atticus Review. More info at Poets and Writers.

Kindle/E-reader available: Yes. Some of their work is only electronic (such as Steve Himmer’s The Second Most Dangerous Job in America)

Twitter: @AtticusBooks

Publishes Periodicals/Quarterlies: Weekly publication of Atticus Review

General Information: Oh, Atticus Books. You’re weird and wonderful and rather honey-badger-esque. (Honey badger don’t care.) Atticus describes themselves as “fiery”, “offbeat”, and “genre-busting”; they haven’t been on the scene for long, but they’re already creating significant buzz in the reading world. (I think everyone and their mom probably has The Bee-Loud Glade on their reading list, including yours truly).

I didn’t find a lot on the history of Atticus Books, possibly because they’re in still in the process of writing their early history. I’ll skip the background and head straight to what I like about this small press.

As a press, Atticus Books has attitude off the charts. At times, reading through the “about” sections might make one flinch a bit against the intensity; words are not minced, smoothly professional corporate-speak doesn’t translate there. From the FAQ:

“We’re not here to numb your senses (we’re realistic: we know we can’t compete with alcohol), nor are we here to offer formulaic drivel. We’re here to challenge your senses and make you care about reading and the world at large.”

This no-bullshit swagger serves them well, I think. For me, whether I like a press boils down to one thing: do they make good books? Atticus seems to share my view, striving to cater to the modern literary reader and cutting out as much interference as possible. Pinning down “literary” can be difficult, but Atticus is on the right track: they seek character-driven stories, strong voices, writers “who, if you nicked their skin, they would bleed words.”

I also love their commitment to short fiction, via the Atticus Review and their new line of Atticus Shorts. One of the best intersections between the reading world and the internet has been the ability to distribute short fiction easily, inexpensively, and without having to put together book-length collections; some presses have struggled to incorporate this, but Dan Cafaro is ahead of the curve on this one. I’m really excited to see if more Atticus Shorts pop up (come on, guys–I’d like to buy some more stories, already!).

Atticus Books also has a commitment to reducing their eco-footprint, which I appreciate. Moreover, the goals are tangible, which I doubly appreciate. (Ever see that fake corpro-bullshit that doesn’t really amount to anything? It’s like how free-range chickens don’t have to be let outside as long as the door is open to their pen part of the day.) Some of their goals: reduce greenhouse emissions by 20% by 2016; use 30% recycled paper annually, along with 20% Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper; to eliminate the use of paper from endangered forests.

All that having been said, I do have to confess that their books have been hit-or-miss for your faithful booksluts as far as finding books we love-love-love. Rob and I weren’t wild about Kino (see my review here); Amy has an upcoming review of The Law of Strings that isn’t a 5-star (spoiler alert). I did LOVE The Second Most Dangerous Job in America (an Atticus Short I highly recommend) and, based on the strength of that, I’m really looking forward to reading The Bee-Loud Glade. Despite not being crazy about every book that we read, all of the books got a solid 3+ stars from us; also, I may be one of the few people who didn’t totally love Kino, so your mileage may vary on that one. I’m still intrigued to read what Atticus has to put out there. I’ve especially been eyeing 2010′s Daring to Eat a Peach by Joseph Zeppetello. (Like I’m not going to read a book that has a titular reference to “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” You know I’m on that like a fat kid on a piñata.) (Don’t get mad, I was and continue to be a fat kid. Smacking the shit out of something until it gives me candy sounds like my idea of a great time.)

I would normally spend this time talking about how awful a press’s website is to navigate, but guess what? Atticus has their shit together. You can find everything you want. There are no mazes of links or terrible graphics (isn’t their logo awesome?). It’s like they actually want you to be able to find stuff. Gaspshockawe. I also love that they’re active on Twitter–not only that, but fun to talk to. Strike up a conversation with @AtticusBooks sometime; they’re pretty rad.

I am looking forward to reading more from Atticus Books. (I think I have a galley of Apostle Islands in queue right now, in fact . . .) What about you guys? Have you read anything from Atticus? Did you love it? Do you have anything from Atticus on your TBR list? Let me know in the comments!

Know Your Publisher, Vol. V: New Directions

Posted by greengeekgirl — February 11, 2012

I’ve had this as a draft for about a zillion years (or a month, give or take) but have just now gotten around to delving into it. I had some time this morning before work and I thought, hey! It’s about time for another edition of Know Your Publisher, innit? Yes, yes it is. Today, I’m only doing one publisher, because it’s a very important publisher and I don’t want to distract you from all of its awesomeness.

Publisher: New Directions

Location: New York, NY

Founded: 1936 by James Laughlin

Distributor: W. W. Norton & Company

Notable Authors/Works: César Aira, Javier Marías, Jorge Luis Borges, Roberto Bolaño, Vladimir Nabokov, Henry Miller–you know, there’s just a ton of ridiculously high-profile authors they have worked with, so I’m going to curtail this list and just say they have literary badassery oozing out of their pores.

Open Submissions: No; New Directions does not accept unsolicited manuscripts or queries.

Kindle/E-reader available: Not apparently. I looked at several books in their catalog, none had e-reader versions available. (Their website is also a bit unwieldy.)

Publishes Periodicals/Quarterlies: Not apparently, although they have in the past.

General information: New Directions was founded based on some advice that James Laughlin received from Ezra Pound, who told him to “do something useful” after graduating from Harvard rather than clinging to the hope that he would be a great poet (which Laughlin, apparently, was not). Laughlin translated that into a passion for experimental literature, which he would highlight in his anthologies, New Directions in Poetry and Prose. The anthology published early works by authors like Ezra Pound, Vladimir Nabokov, Tennessee Williams, Dylan Thomas, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Marianne Moore–many of the alumni of Laughlin’s annuals went on to be heavy hitters in the literary world, proving that he had a keen eye for spotting great talent and an ability to get it into the hands of readers.

New Directions has also long been committed to bringing back worthy earlier publications, stories that Laughlin felt should be classics and that Laughlin was determined to restore to their rightful status. You may know one of those out-of-print classics that he resurrected: The Great Gatsby. Other classic works by authors such as Henry James, Evelyn Waugh, and E.M. Forster were republished by ND when no other publishers would do so. In 1993, ND launched the Bibelot line, which featured short but brilliant works from the “backlists” of authors such as Henry Miller, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams, along with reissues of short modern classics.

ND also has played a significant role in bringing translated work to America, something that I highlighted recently when I reviewed two New Directions works by Spanish language authors, César Aira and Javier Marías. (Did you notice that they were both published by New Directions?) Authors like Rilke, Kafka, Nabokov, Bolaño, Mishima, and a host of others, may not be as well known in America today without New Directions bringing their work to us.

New Directions publishes many small novels–they fit nicely in your purse–and some nice clothbound editions of their works. The designs of their covers are beautiful and often abstract, and never feature those weird stock images that you sometimes see on books (or multiple books, which is even worse). What irks me a little is the seeming lack of ebooks available from New Directions. I don’t personally read a lot of ebooks–in fact, I just finished my very first one the other night, and I have to say that it wasn’t a terrible experience at all–but their books are perfect for digital publication: they’re generally short, which I feel makes for a great ebook (I like to read longer books in paper), and they’re so interesting and experimental that I can see people taking a great interest in stocking up their Kindle or Nook with some reasonably-priced ebooks from New Directions. If the whole point is to get great literature into people’s hands when it wouldn’t otherwise get there, as seems to be the case, I’m disappointed that they seem to be shunning digital technology for the moment.

Update: I just saw that one of their upcoming publications is available in ebook format, so I guess they are moving toward this. Yay! Update the second: I started poking around and I found that even though they say you can purchase in e-format, this isn’t always the case. I had originally thought it was because the ebook wasn’t up yet, since the book I had been looking at was new, but a publication from 2010 returned the same result: click the link, nothing comes up in search, search directly on Amazon or B&N and the digital edition is nowhere to be found. ND, update your website!

I also think their website is kind of terrible. It looks nice, but the functionality should be reconsidered, especially when it comes to selling their books. You have to click a button to see the purchasing options, which creates a popup, which takes you not to the actual pages where the book exists on Amazon or wherever, but to a search for said book. Meh. There’s no reason to hide this behind a popup, and there’s also no reason not to put in direct links. (BTW–does anybody know, if one were to launch a product line on Amazon or a similar seller, such as ND books has their books on the site, and then one linked to them from their site, if one could still use Amazon Associates to get an extra little percentage for the advertising? If one could, then it’s even more unfortunate not to link directly there.)

Overall, this publisher is a literary gem. And not a crappy gem, like unpolished agate, but a nice one, like a diamond. If you’re interested in exciting new literature, New Directions is a publisher to keep a close eye on.

Know Your Publisher, IV: Coffee House Press + Dzanc

Posted by greengeekgirl — January 7, 2012

It’s been a minute since we explored the action-packed world of indie publishing. Today, I bring you two new offerings: Coffee House Press and Dzanc Books.

Publisher: Coffee House Press

Location: Minneapolis, MN (inside of an historic brewery, score!)

Founded: 1984 by Allan Kornblum, who was succeeded by Chris Fischbach

Distributor: Consortium Books

Notable Authors/Works: Donald Duk by Frank Chin, Through the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tei Yamashita, Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage, Somewhere Else by Matthew Shinoda, The Ocean in the Closet by Yuko Taniguchi

Open Submissions: Yes, although not for poetry. Coffee House Press accepts submissions only during their open reading times, March 1 – April 30 and September 1 – October 31; works submitted otherwise will not be considered or returned, so mark your calendars. CHP also doesn’t publish genre fiction, only literary fiction.

Kindle/E-reader available: Yes, although not on their own website. Available on both Amazon and B&N as ebooks.

Publishes Periodicals/Quarterlies: No

General information: We chose Coffee House Press for this post because we actually read a book that they published, The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage. CHP is a non-profit press that has its roots in the 1970 mimeograph magazine Toothpaste, founded by Allan Kornblum. This magazine was apparently about books, rather than dental hygiene; Toothpaste became Toothpaste Press, which published letterpress books and poetry for ten years before Kornblum closed the doors and headed for Minneapolis. Along the way, Kornblum realized that Toothpaste was kind of a silly name for a serious publisher. He rechristened it Coffee House Press and made it a non-profit publishing house when he started over the next year. Kornblum stepped down in 2011 as Publisher, and is now the senior editor–the really senior editor (rimshot!).

I did a search on Allan Kornblum to find any interesting tidbits. The first article that popped up was this one, which was exciting; it talked about how Kornblum helped to shape F.B.I. surveillance policies in the 70′s, helped convict a murderer with witness testimony, and . . . oh. Died in 2010. Wrong Kornblum. Who would have thought that Allan Kornblum would be such a common name?

The Kornblum of our story learned his publishing techniques under Harry Duncan, who had published first editions of the works of William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens, and possibly published the first book by Robert Lowell. In the interview where he talked about his publishing origins, Kornblum revealed that he is a bit of a publishing geek, discussing the history of writing and publishing; he also gave a hopeful prognosis to the future of publishing, stating that electronic publishing will–he hopes–force publishers to improve. I enjoy that perspective; it’s a bit fresher than the usual gloom-and-doom predictions that publishing is going straight down the toilet.

Some of the things that I like about Coffee House Press: their trade paperbacks are very reasonably priced for a small operation (as are the electronic editions), which must be thanks to their NPO status; they seem to have a diverse mix of authors, which I appreciate; their website, while not flashy, is soundly designed and doesn’t make my eyes bleed; and, most importantly, the book that I have read from them so far, I really liked. I found Sam Savage to be a very talented individual, which makes me feel more confident purchasing from their press in the future.

Publisher: Dzanc Books

Location: Westland, MI

Founded: 2006 by Dan Wickett and Steven Gillis

Distributor: Consortium Books

Notable Authors/Works: All Over by Roy Kesey, In a Bear’s Eye by Yannick Murphy, Terese Svoboda, Allison Amend, Jeff Parker, Peter Selgin

Open Submissions: Yes, for literary fiction, both novels and story collections. There are also writing contests.

Kindle/E-reader: Yes. In fact, you get a free e-book copy of every print book you purchase through their website (unless it is one of the few that doesn’t come in electronic format). And they have an eBook Club!

Publishes periodicals/quarterlies: Yes, The Collagist, which is a free online literary magazine, along with Absinthe and Monkeybicycle.

General information:

Wow! Can I just say that I’m already impressed with Dzanc and the features that they offer? This is a publishing house that seems to understand the modern needs of both readers and writers; they not only offer their books in multiple formats for one price, but they host online writing workshops, a writers-in-residence program, an international literary program in Portugal, and have several literary imprints–pretty impressive for a publishing house that is so new to the scene.

The seeds for Dzanc were planted when one of its founders, Dan Wickett, decided to e-mail ’round a review he had written about the book Keeneland. He began e-mailing book reviews regularly, amassing followers who would take his book recommendations and ask for more. “That was foolish on their part,” he said in an interview with Poets and Writers magazine. (And oh, how that self-deprecating humor warmed me to him immediately.) His mailing list snowballed, and he eventually started a website, the Emerging Writers Network. Meanwhile, his future publishing partner, Steven Gillis, was practicing law but yearning to be a writer. Eventually, Gillis said, in his words, “Fuck law”–he was going to live off of a nest egg he’d been building up and try writing. He published a book in 2003, Walter Falls. He also brought–and fully funded–a branch of the San Francisco writing center 826 Valencia to Michigan.

When the pair met in 2005, their chemistry just worked. And Dzanc was created out of the projects they had been working on up to that point.

Dzanc is a nonprofit publisher; Gillis and Wickett both believe in doing good for others, and they do a lot of charitable work. The pair also fully believes in championing good writers, something that I think all of us book-lovers can get behind in an age of too many publishers choosing what is marketable too often over what is truly outstanding writing. They have managed to thrive in hard economic times by spending responsibly; they work from home, not wanting to waste valuable capital on an office. “Authors don’t care,” said Gillis. “We’re not trying to impress anybody.”

Dzanc remains selective in what they publish, only putting out a handful of books a year. This number varies, because the publishers determine their number based on the number of books they enjoyed. Said Gillis, “If we like a book, we want it. We’ll worry about how to sell it later.” Not only are they selective in their publishing, but they’re selective in other people’s publishing; Publishers Weekly posted a story in which the fellas from Dzanc criticized the “20 Under 40″ list of literary fiction writers that the New Yorker put out in 2010. They produced their own list of literary fiction writers to counter the list from the New Yorker, which they claimed was too New York-centric in an age where small, independent publishers are popping up all across the nation. I both agree with them on this point, and also admire their massive cojones.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Dzanc has to offer. Has anybody read books from one of these publishers, or done any business with them? Let us know in the comments!

Know Your Publisher, Vol. III: Quirky Presses

Posted by greengeekgirl — November 12, 2011

Today has been a day of finding presses that are a bit out of the ordinary–for better or for worse. I’m doing more than two today, so I’ll jump right in without further ado.

Publisher: Soft Skull Press

Location: Berkeley, CA.

Founded: 1992 by Sander Hicks

Imprint of Counterpoint Press LLC

Notable Authors/Works: Fortunate Son by James Hatfield; Jameston by Matthew Sharpe; Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet; African Psycho by Alain Mabanckou; Choir Boy by Charlie Anders; Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys, an anthology; Rajiv Joseph (a Pulitzer finalist in drama)

Open Submissions: Yes. For fiction, a cover letter and completed manuscript are required; for non-fiction, a cover letter, a full proposal, and three completed chapters are required.

Kindle/E-Reader available: Yes

Publishes Periodicals/Quarterlies: No

General information: I clicked over to Soft Skull because, wtf — “soft skull”? While I’m sure some would be put off by a name like that, to me it indicated a sense of humor, and a sense of humor is a very good place to start. Soft Skull was founded by Sander Hicks, a politically-charged writer and lead singer of the art-punk band White Collar Crime. The backstory of this press is intentionally murky–instead of writing a definitive “about” section, they offer this:

“The history of Soft Skull is long and twisty, spotted with loveable zealots, underground literati, noble scofflaws, financial bullet-dodging, and indie-lit soldiers fighting the good fight. Someday, we’ll tell you the whole shameless story, and you’ll shake your head with a respectful whoa dude. If you can’t wait, you’ll just have to come visit us in Berkeley. We’ll buy you a drink and spill the secrets of our sordid literary past.” (from SoftSkull.com)

Which led to this:

https://twitter.com/#!/thebooksluts/status/135472513231761408

One must appreciate Twitter.

Soft Skull seems to publish a little bit of everything as far as genre goes (fiction, non-fiction on a variety of topics, drama, poetry), and yet, their overall vision is strong. Their books tend toward the controversial and provocative, and from what I’ve seen, progressive (and possibly a bit radical). The authors’ bios read like profiles of people that you’d really like to meet at a party. I’d like to read books from this press and then put them out on my coffee table so I can look cool. It’s that kind of publisher.

And they used the word “fucking” in a book description, which I can always get behind.

Check out their blog, too. Sometimes they let you download free e-books from Amazon, an excellent way to dip your toe into a new publisher. (Also? Props to them, because their website doesn’t look like shit, which means they give a damn.)

Publisher: Gival Press

Located: Arlington, VA.

Founded: 1998

Notable Authors/Works: Dreams and Other Ailments by Teresa Bevin; The Smoke Week: Sept. 11-21, 2001 by Ellis Avery; The Spanish Teacher by Barbara de la Cuesta; Second Acts by Tim W. Brown

Open Submissions: No, submissions are suspended at this time; publication by winning one of their contests appears still to be feasible.

Kindle/E-reader available: Yes

Publishes periodicals/quarterlies: Yes, ArLiJo (Arlington Literary Journal) is produced by Gival Press

General information: Let me just start off by saying that I do not understand this publisher at all. Their website could use a lot of work (if you’re reading this Gival Press? Contact me, I can do better than what you have and I’ll work cheap) and it’s confusing to navigate. They are a multi-lingual, multicultural press that seems to be fairly progressive (they have won awards for publishing lesbian poetry, even)–but then, I ran across this page, a conservative-based compilation of the most “harmful” books of the 19th and 20th centuries (stuff like The Communist Manifesto and The Feminine Mystique can be found on this list), without any editorial or explanation as to whether they agree or disagree with the list. Massive confusion by yours truly.

But, their seeming lack of organizational skills doesn’t mean that their books aren’t worthwhile . . . even if they are a bit scant in awards that don’t come from ForeWord Magazine. They publish in English, French, and Spanish, which can make for some interesting reading; they also publish a lot of LGBT-related books, it looks like. (If only they would work on their cover art . . . again, GP, contact me for help. I am no novice when it comes to Photoshop. Check out our snazzy site graphics!) Honestly, I can’t figure out what to make of this press. If you have read anything from this press, or if you do in the future, drop it in the comments and let me know how it went.

Publisher: Fiction Collective Two (FC2)

Location: Tuscaloosa, AL (and all over the place, apparently, but they utilize the University of Alabama Press)

Founded: 1974 as the Fiction Collective, “by a group of avant-garde writers”; current incarnation founded 1989

Notable Books/Authors: The Blue Guide to Indiana by Michael Martone; The Kafka Chronicles by Mark Amerika; Revelation Countdown by Cris Mazza; Hogg by Samuel Delaney

Open Submissions: No, although they are still responding to queries; hopefuls are invited to enter their contests for a chance at publication.

Kindle/E-reader format available: For some titles, yes

Publishes periodicals/quarterlies: No

General information: FC2 is a publishing cooperative, where authors become members rather than clients. Their publishing is handled through three different universities (Alabama, Utah, and Houston-Victoria). FC2 describes themselves in their mission statement:

Fiction Collective Two is among the few alternative presses in America devoted to publishing fiction considered by America’s largest publishers too challenging, innovative, or heterodox for the commercial milieu.

If this statement is totally true, I kind of love them already. And I love this story that is included in their long bio on their website:

I went around with Spielberg (and sometimes with Mark Mirsky and Jerome Charyn) interviewing potential distributors. The head of one distinguished publishing house, initially interested in the possibility of distributing our books, woke up one morning (so it was reported to us) furious at the idea of the Fiction Collective. “Who do they think they are?” he said, or was reported to have said. “We publish all the good fiction that comes our way. There isn’t any worthy fiction not getting published.” It was an attitude we would encounter, directly and obliquely, again and again.

Yes, yes, I’m sure all the good fiction is being published. Forever.

Their titles look compelling at first glance, a catalog that Publishers Weekly describes as having “uncompromising adventurousness.” FC2 hosts two annual innovative fiction contests that result in publication and prize money, and the authors who are already members submit between 3-12 books for publication annually, contributing to a small but steady stream of new work. Their books have been nominated for awards that are, while not a Pulitzer or a Nobel, serious-seeming enough, and they’ve gotten mentions in the Nation, The New York Times Book Review, and the Village Voice. Not bad for a press that started in someone’s apartment 37 years ago.

Publisher: Feral House

Location: Port Townsend, WA

Founded: 1989 by Adam Parfrey

Notable Authors/Works: Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr.; American Hardcore: A Tribal History by Steven Blush; Technological Slavery: The Collected Writings of Theodore J. Kaczynski, a.k.a. “The Unabomber”

Open Submissions: Sort of. Non-fiction only. “… if a personal obsession has caused you to investigate a fascinating piece of history or cultural phenomenon, we’d be interested to hear about it. Email a profile of your project, its intended audience, a table of contents and sample chapter…”

Kindle/E-reader Available: Yes (not sure if all books)

Publishes periodicals/quarterlies: No

General information: From an article in Seattle Weekly:

“I want people to question things—that not everything is in The New York Times, which, as they say, is ‘All the news that’s fit to print.’ I wanted to include the unfit,” Parfrey says with a mischievous grin.

That certainly caught my attention. As did this, from their website:

Feral House has been publishing innovative and celebrated non-fiction books since 1989. Movies have been made, cultural trends influenced and political crimes exposed by our small, independent press.

Interest piqued. Well-played, Feral House.

Even the name of Feral House catches the eye; it speaks to wildness, something that we all have in varying degrees. And in case you didn’t notice, they published work by the fucking Unabomber, and from what I can tell from the Seattle Weekly article, the Unabomber might not be the most twisted mind in the lot. Feral House seems to be the circus sideshow of publishing, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. They’re dead-set against the sanitation and sterilization of the written word, scooping up all the talented misfits and proudly putting them out for display. I’ve actually already linked them to someone, even before I published this post. I plan to check out their titles when I’m in a non-fiction kind of mood.

Whew–four new publishers, four offbeat publishers, four hours (or more!) of researching this post. Do you have experience with any of these publishers? Plan to check out any titles in the future? Leave your comments below!

Know Your Publisher: Hawthorne Books + Other Press

Posted by greengeekgirl — September 27, 2011

Welcome to another edition of “Know Your Publisher”! [cue: brightly-lit applause sign, cheering, beautiful women strutting onstage in sequined dresses] In this post, we’ll be exploring two more indie publishers: Hawthorne Books and Other Press. Since someone mentioned in the comments of the last post that they are reading this from a writer’s perspective and not just a reader’s perspective, I am attempting to put in useful information for writers this time, as well. I ~~may or may not~~ (I did) go back and edit the first post about McSweeney’s with additional information, so you may want to pop back over and see if there’s anything new!

Publisher: Hawthorne Books

Location: Portland, OR.

Founded: 2001 by Rhonda Hughes and Kate Sage

Notable Authors/Works: Clown Girl by Monica Drake (Chuck Palahniuk’s 2008 book of the year, Playboy magazine, excerpt available here), 501 Minutes to Christ by Poe Ballantine (excerpt available here; I admit, I include this one only because I read and liked it, I’m not sure how famous it is for them, although they do seem to publish a lot of Ballantine’s work), A Very Minor Prophet by James Bernard Frost (available for pre-order Jan 2012, excerpt available here), Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead, the story of Frank Meeink as told to Jody M. Roy

Open submissions: No (agent required); will re-evaluate the open submission policy in fall 2012.

Kindle/E-reader available: Yes (through Amazon and possibly others)

Publishes periodicals/quarterlies: No

General information: I picked out Hawthorne because I had actually read a book that they published–and own the book–and I really liked it. Hawthorne specializes in both new literary fiction and non-fiction; the publisher also reissues award-winning books by living American writers that are currently out of print, complete with new introductions by “notable” writers. (I didn’t recognize any of the notable writers, although it seems Chuck Palahniuk is a big cheerleader for this publisher that operates in his hometown.)

Information culled from an article in Publisher’s Weekly:

The company’s founders, Rhonda Hughes and Kate Sage, met several years ago in a medieval lit class at Portland State University, where they were both studying for their M.A.’s in English. They started the press and named it for their Portland, Ore., neighborhood.

The seed money for Hawthorne came from Sage’s small savings (she was a literary agent in New York before moving to Portland) and Hughes’s print brokering company, Print Vision, which she founded in 1992 and remains the “literary arts” part of Hawthorne. The press published its first book, September 11: West Coast Writers Approach Ground Zero, in time for the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The New York Times included the anthology, which contained essays by Alice Walker, T.C. Boyle, Ken Kesey and Maxine Hong Kingston, in a roundup of 9/11 books.

– “Hawthorne to Reissue Prize Winners” by Bridget Kinsella

Something I love about their website is that they have excerpts available for many of the books. It looks like they are also on top of re-issuing books as needed/as demanded (I see a 2007 and a 2010 paper version of 501 Minutes to Christ on Amazon) and they take advantage of the “Look inside!” Amazon feature and Kindle format, so those who prefer digital editions can obtain Hawthorne books.

Overall, Hawthorne looks like a promising place to find a good book–especially since it seems like a good third of their books are by Poe Ballantine, for whom I can personally vouch.

Publisher: Other Press

Location: New York, NY

Founded: 1999 by Michael Moskowitz and Judith Gurewich

Notable Authors: Antoine Wilson, Lara Santoro, Tom Sancton, Christian Oster, Jeffrey Lewis.

Open Submissions: No unsolicited manuscripts accepted

Kindle/E-book: Some titles appear to be available electronically, both for Kindle and other e-book formats.

Publishes periodicals/quarterlies: No

General information: I found this in one of their catalogues:

“Other Press publishes literature from America and around the world that represents writing at its best. We feel that the art of storytelling has become paramount today in challenging readers to see and think differently. We know that good stories are rare to come by: they should retain the emotional charge of the best classics while speaking to us about what matters at present, without complacency or self-indulgence. Our list is tailored and selective, and includes everything from top-shelf literary fiction to cutting-edge nonfiction— political, social, or cultural—as well as a small collection of groundbreaking professional titles. — Judith Gurewich, Publisher

Although Other Press started life as a publisher that was devoted to psychoanalytic texts (which is what happens when two psychoanalysts get together and start a publishing house), by 2002, Gurewich wanted to expand the press to a larger readership base. After hiring a ton of people from Random House’s layoffs, Other Press “re-engineered” the company, closing the associated bookstores and web retail site and optimizing it to focus on publishing only. (Although you totally can still buy books on their website. But I guess that’s different.)

Know Your Publisher: Intro + McSweeney’s

Posted by greengeekgirl — September 22, 2011

I had this idea to do a series on publishers, because I myself don’t actually know a whole lot about publishers. I really couldn’t tell you who published my favorite books, or which publishers work with what kinds of materials. Figuring I could learn a lot while doing research–and figuring also that there might be at least a couple of people out there who, like me, tend to fly past the information about the book so that they can sink their teeth right into the story–I decided to embark on this Google journey and see what I could come up with. I would start, I thought, with independent publishers and work my way up to the big boys, ~~kind of like I did when I started dating~~.

Did you know that there are a lot of indie publishers? I mean, like, not just a lot, but a lot? There are hundreds upon hundreds of publishers, big and small, and they’re all just a tiny bit different. I had happened upon a list of independent publishers over at New Pages that I initially thought would be a fantastic place to start–until I actually started looking through the list. Two publishers might both be described as specializing in fiction and poetry, only to visit their sites and find out that one has a decidedly New Age bent and the other one was a self-publishing service; finding publishers to group together turned out to be a nightmare because they weren’t organized by anything but name, which tells me nothing. The prospect of whittling this list down into manageable chunks melted my brain. The list itself is pretty awesome in its magnitude, but not helpful for jump-starting my research.

~~After I got finished rocking back and forth and crying,~~ I searched around more until I found Independent Publisher. Independent Publisher gives out their equivalent of the indie publishing Oscars every year; these awards are categorized by type–poetry, fiction, non-fiction, children’s lit, and more. What does that mean to me (and subsequently you)? Help weeding through which publishers do what, and a launch pad for this series. I started with the most recent years’ awards and went through the general fiction and literature sections, and picked out a few interesting-looking candidates to feature. Usually, I will do 2-3 publishers per post, but today, I found one really kick-ass publisher that I want to highlight and possibly marry.

Publisher: McSweeney’s

Location: San Francisco, CA

Founded: 1998 by Dave Eggers

Notable Authors: Dave Eggers, David Byrne, Nick Hornby, Michael Chabon

Open Submissions: Accepts unsolicited manuscripts, but submissions are closed until Nov. 1, 2011. Also accepts material for the quarterly.

Kindle/E-books: Some titles, not others.

Publishes periodicals: Yes: Quarterly Concern, Lucky Peach, Wholphin

Other sweet features: Internet Tendency (humor on the interweb), book release club (book-of-the-month type dealy), 826 Writing & Tutorial Centers, Scholarmatch

The booksluts found out: As far as publishers go, McSweeney’s fits neatly into the badass category. McSweeney’s has helped launch the careers of several authors (like Rebecca Curtis) and has gotten to publish works by established authors such as Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, and David Foster Wallace. They Might Be Giants wrote a song about them–”The Ballad of Timothy McSweeney.” The story behind Timothy McSweeney is an interesting one:

Timothy McSweeney is a man who during the 1980′s sent Eggers and his mother incomprehensible letters ”in a strange and beautiful hand,” in which he claimed to be related to them (McSweeney was Eggers’s mother’s maiden name). Last year, another man named McSweeney came to work at the journal and informed Eggers that, yes, Timothy McSweeney existed … he was a failed artist with a history of mental illness, and he looked people up in city and state records and wrote to them. — “Too Cool for Words” by Judith Shulevitz

After finding out that the letters from his childhood came from a real person, Eggers printed the story of the real Timothy McSweeney in issue six of the publishing house’s Quarterly Concern magazine, the issue being titled “We Now Know Who.”

Another thing that I am really excited about re: McSweeney’s is a link I followed from their main page: “Lucky Peach.” What is this? I said to myself–lucky for me, under a big block that says “What is this?”, all was explained:

Lucky Peach is a new journal of food writing, published on a quarterly basis by McSweeney’s. It is a creation of David Chang, the chef behind the Momofuku restaurants in New York, writer Peter Meehan, and Zero Point Zero Production—producers of the Emmy Award–winning Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

I just got a boner, I swear to God. If there’s one thing I am other than a book nerd, it’s a food groupie. (For film groupies, they also have a short film quarterly called Wholphin, which IFC says is “…the most relentlessly fascinating and inventive showcase for new short films in the country.” I got that straight from the Wholphin website, so it must be true!)

McSweeney’s seems to have its fingers in a dozen literary pies, and each one sounds more delicious than the last one. I’m so jazzed up about them that I would buy one of everything if my husband hadn’t hidden my credit cards. And checkbook. And changed the password to our online bank account.

Imprints and types of publications: General fiction, McMullens (Children’s fiction), Art and Comics, Non-fiction, Believer Books (collections of works by McSweeney’s contributors, such as Nick Hornby’s Housekeeping Vs. the Dirt, and works translated from other languages–holy shit, I just saw that they published a novel by Javier Marías, which is unfortunately out of stock), Voice of Witness (a non-profit series of oral histories), Humor, Poetry, and the Collins Library (“forgotten” classics).

Conclusion: Run, do not walk, to your computer–shit, actually, you must already be at a computer if you’re looking at this blog, belay that–and hit up the McSweeney’s website. The people running this publishing house are literary rockstars. You won’t regret ~~having bought me a bunch of gifts from the McSweeney’s store~~ having checked out this fine selection of independent literature.

*If you want to check these links out at a later date and don’t feel like going into the archives, I’m starting a category over in the sidebar under “Know Your Publisher.” I live to make things more convenient for my wonderful readers!