Small Press

This book is for authors who have: finished writing their book; given up on finding an agent; waited months for an agent to call back; longed for an editor to validate their creativity; recoiled at the thought of self-publishing.In this essential reference, writers will discover publishers for romance, women's fiction, historical fiction, sci fi, fantasy, poetry, literary fiction, history, self-help, spirituality, politics, sports, thrillers, regional guidebooks, creative nonfiction, essays, Christian fiction, horror, crafts' books, young adult fiction, and children's books. Best of all, the publishers in this book aren't vanity presses. They don't charge a fee to consider a manuscript. If they like the story, they will proofread the book, create a stunning cover, and upload the manuscript to the online bookstores. Finally, when people ask where they can buy the book, authors will have an answer.

“For beauty, honesty, sheer weirdness, and a haunting evocation of place, Kevin Sampsell is my favorite Oregon writer. Ken Kesey, Chuck Palahniuk—make some room on the shelf.”—Sean Wilsey, author of Oh the Glory of it All Kevin Sampsell’s A Common Pornography is a memoir, told in vignettes, that captures the history of one dysfunctional American family. An extension of a 2003 “memory experiment” of the same name, A Common Pornography weaves recollections of small-town youth with darker threads from his family’s story, including incest, madness, betrayal, and death. A regular contributor to Dave Egger’s The Believer and McSweeney’s, Sampsell has written “the kind of book where you want to thank the author for helping you feel less alone with being alive” (Jonathan Ames, author of Wake Up, Sir! and The Double Life is Twice as Good).

Anne Trubek wrote several books, was a member fo the National Book Critics Circle, and was a tenured English professor before she decided try book publishing. To start and run a small press, she had to teach herself the ins and outs of a confusing, often archaic, strangely shrouded industry from yet another angle: business owner, publisher, and editor. In So You Want to Publish a Book? Trubek, who also writes the weekly newsletter Notes from a Small Press, provides insights from her journeys through all facets of writing, making, and writing about books, offering authors, authors-to-be, and the curious concrete advice and information about the publishing industry. Chapters discuss book proposals, publicity, developmental versus copy editing, how to make friends (and enemies) with independent bookstores, the differences between Big Five and independent presses, royalties, and cover design. Handy, humorous charts such as Five Things Aspiring Authors Should Never Say, Wait, Wholesalers Receive How Much of A Discount? and The Indignity of Returns, along with illustrations by Belt cover designer David Wilson, will help readers feel less confused by the process and, armed with more transparent understanding of the industry, more prepared to publish, promote, and purchase books wisely and successfully.

The Contemporary Small Press: Making Publishing Visible addresses the contemporary literary small press in the US and UK from the perspective of a range of disciplines. Covering numerous aspects of small press publishing—poetry and fiction, children’s publishing, the importance of ethical commitments, the relation to the mainstream, the attitudes of those working for presses, the role of the state in supporting presses—scholars from literary criticism, the sociology of literature and publishing studies demonstrate how a variety of approaches and methods are needed to fully understand the contemporary small press and its significance for literary studies and for broader literary culture.

From the award-winning poet and playwright behind Barber Shop Chronicles, The Half-God of Rainfall is an epic story and a lyrical exploration of pride, power and female revenge.

Library of Small Catastrophes, Alison Rollins’ ambitious debut collection, interrogates the body and nation as storehouses of countless tragedies. Drawing from Jorge Luis Borges’ fascination with the library, Rollins uses the concept of the archive to offer a lyric history of the ways in which we process loss. “Memory is about the future, not the past,” she writes, and rather than shying away from the anger, anxiety, and mourning of her narrators, Rollins’ poetry seeks to challenge the status quo, engaging in a diverse, boundary-defying dialogue with an ever-present reminder of the ways race, sexuality, spirituality, violence, and American culture collide.

Mara Winkel, a student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is asked by her best friend James to partner with him to start a new software company. Soon she discovers that the world of technology startups is fraught with intrigue, adrenaline, soaring successes, and scorching failures. It turns out this is especially true when your technology threatens entrenched drug cartels.

Author and former literary agent Nathan Bransford shares his secrets for creating killer plots, fleshing out your first ideas, crafting compelling characters, and staying sane in the process. Read the guide that New York Times bestselling author Ransom Riggs called "The best how-to-write-a-novel book I've read."

"This complete, definitive, and illustrated survey of small nineteenth-century printing presses, written by a former curator at the Smithsonian Institution, is the first history of these lovely, useful, and varied machines. For there were, in those days, small printing presses created for every purpose. And there were, as well, innumerable boys and countless men eager to make their fortunes by investing in one, buying a few fonts of type, printing for a local clientele, and, with luck, building a printing or publishing empire." "What the desktop computer is to today, these small iron workhorses were to the nineteenth century. This book catalogues, describes, and illustrates over a hundred, with their makers, giving machine specifications as well as patent information. It provides a mine of previously undocumented printing information. No one seriously interested in the history of printing technology can afford to be without it."--BOOK JACKET.

Fiction. CREAMY BULLETS is a new book of short stories by Kevin Sampsell. "With Creamy Bullets, Kevin Sampsell has created a weirdly sexual but wholly believable universe in just the briefest bursts of words. Each story is a savory gem, capturing the gripping little deviant moments of life. Get off on his characters, those working-class anti-heroes that roam the Pacific Northwest, or get off on his tight-like-your-uncle's-wallet prose-you can't lose with this book"--Jami Attenberg.