Category Archives: books

A guest post by author Lauren Small:

Anyone who follows the publishing industry knows that the news is dire. Independent bookstores are going bankrupt, Borders teeters on the brink, venerable publishing houses cobble together hasty mergers to stay afloat or close their doors forever. The book itself—that physical object so many of us adore—is under attack. Google is scanning every title it can legally get its hands on into the internet, and for the first time ever, an electronic reader—Amazon’s Kindle—shows signs of taking off. The news for novelists is particularly grim. Publishers have always struggled to make money from fiction, and now some of them won’t even consider taking it on anymore. What’s a writer to do?

Well, you could do what many writers do, and give up. Or you could do what I did, and in the midst of all the gloom and doom, you could . . .start a brand-new publishing company.

Yes, I know. I must be crazy. If Random House can’t sell books, what makes me think I can? Starting a new press nowadays, I imagine, is like deciding to breed carriage horses just as Henry Ford rolls the first Model T off the assembly line.

Well, I may be out of mind, but I’m not the only one. More and more writers have begun to take their destiny into their own hands by printing up their own books. Most turn to print-on-demand services like iuniverse, authorhouse, or lulu.com. These companies have a lot of advantages, and for a time I considered using one. Basically you send them your manuscript and a chunk of change, and in return receive a single copy of your book. When you want more copies, you order them. Your investment is minimal, you don’t have to worry about maintaining inventory, and the nuts and bolts of book production—things like getting a bar code and an ISBN number—are taken care of for you.

On the other hand, as the saying goes, everything has a price. Books from print-on-demand services are cheap, and as a result, they often look that way. Their covers are so thin they curl, their design work is uninspiring, and their paper is from unappealing stock. Many of these companies keep their costs low by farming production out overseas —not exactly ideal in a time when growing our own economy and cutting carbon emissions is more important than ever.

I’ve always valued living a lifestyle that is both ecologically and socially responsible. At home, we use fluorescent light bulbs, grow our own vegetables, make organic apple butter and apricot jam from our un-sprayed trees, drive small cars with high gas mileage, winterize our house, and partially heat it through a wood stove. I’ve always demanded that the businesses I patronize conduct themselves in a responsible manner. If I were going to produce new books, I decided, I would do it in a way that reflected my values. The result was Bridle Path Press, LLC. Dedicated to quality, responsible books.

Creating my own press was a lot of work, but I discovered that putting my values into action brought a lot of unexpected pleasures. Each step of the way, my mantra was local and personal. By paying a local graphic artist to design my logo, I helped support the arts—and made a friend. My book was designed at my hometown university by a student who worked with me to make sure that the cover and layout reflected both the mood and theme of my novel. No corporate designer, I am convinced, could have done better. The book itself was printed by a small family-owned company. In between nursing her new baby, the owner’s daughter oversaw every step of my book’s production from cover to cover, including finding paper that was both beautiful and made from 30% recycled stock.

Creating my own press has been, in many ways, a luxury. The process demanded more of my time and was more expensive than using a print-on-demand service. But it has also enhanced my life in a way that turning my book over to an anonymous service never could have.

Writing is one of the oldest arts we have. It is, in many ways, one of the last of the cottage industries: goods produced at home. By producing my own book, I have returned my writing to its earliest, artistic roots. I have the joy now of hearing back from the people who have read my novel—and the added pleasure, through Bridle Path Press, of helping other writers achieve that same goal.

Lauren Small is the author of Choke Creek. You can read more about her work at www.laurensmall.com. In the summer of 2009, Bridle Path Press will begin production of its second offering, a collection of poetry by John Damon.