Independent publishers

[steve]

Some years ago it became all the rage to support independent bookstores.

Why hasn't a similar trend developed to support independent publishers?

Independent publishers publish in all genres. My tastes run towards literary fiction (whatever that means), and in the recent past indies have produced a Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction (Paul Harding - "Tinkers" - Bellevue Literary Press), a national bestseller ("Matterhorn" by Karl Marlantes - El Leon Literary Arts), and broken a foreign author with one of the best reviewed books of the past decade ("Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson - Graywolf Press).

Most new poetry in this country comes from indie houses, and it's time to get behind them when it comes to our buying habits. 90% of the new books I buy each year come from indie publishers.

Some other favorites: Small Beer Press (MA), Two-Dollar Radio (NY), and Green Integer.

Tell me about your favorite indie publisher.

[Down the well]

Does Soho count? They published The Ghosts of Belfast, which I loved, and Rock Paper Tiger, which is on my TBR list. I enjoy browsing their website and reading the jacketflap for new releases. It seems like indies are more willing to take a chance on the quirky stuff, and I like that.

[Bryan Russell/Ink]

Okay, I admit, I'm kind of in love with the Dalkey Archive. If I ever won the lottery I'd simply buy their whole catalogue. Plus they give discount on bulk.

[OtherLisa]

Soho counts! They are a real independent publisher. Also wonderful people to work with.

Lisa

[marilyn peake]

I support lots of indie publishers by buying good books wherever I find them, from both the big publishing houses and indie presses. I’ve found so many fantastic indie books, it’s been exciting and fun.

[bcomet]

Steve,
I love that we have Independent Pubs.

It's a place where art can show up differently than in Big Pub.

Thanks for starting this thread.

[steve]

Great long interview with Jaimy Gordon, winner of the National Book Award.

Still, obviously, trade publishers are resistant to certain qualities of prose: the dense, the opaquely inward, the flamboyantly learned. Either the editors are unable to read these themselves, or they can't believe their clientele will read them, and they advance statistics, some highly suspect, to prove it. Of course an independent-minded or powerful literary editor will from time to time see such a book to publication, and in fact the literary establishment traditionally keeps a small kennel of difficult prose stylists behind, or rather in front of, its main house, piously praised though unread. (How long the conglomerates will continue to keep up genteel appearances in this fashion is another question.)

Trade publishing, overall, to borrow a trope from William O'Rourke, reacts to the complete spectrum of prose style no better than a dog's eye to the color spectrum. They see only the middle range, which has sufficient clarity or, more correctly, openness about it. Openness means access: they are concerned with how many readers will troop into the clearing.

[Sommer Leigh]

I like good books and to be honest I don't necessarily buy more from one publisher or another. I usually notice who the publisher is, but I don't seek out indie publishers specifically.

I do, however, seek out indie comic book publishers and tend to buy mostly from them rather than the big houses. That isn't so much because I don't like the big houses, I've just got little interest in their titles. The indie comic publishers tend to have edgier, more experimental storytelling that I enjoy.

[bcomet]

Unbridled Books has my eye too.