With editors Leslie Wells and Patricia Mulcahy, and writers Dawn Raffel, Gwen Florio, and Diane Bergner.
1: Small Presses are not on the sidelines of the book business. As books like Braiding Sweetgrass from Milkweed in Minnesota sit atop bestseller lists, and Seven Stories and Transit Books publish Nobel winners, small presses are increasingly seen as viable alternatives to the corporately owned Big Five.
2: Small Presses, many of which are based across the country, enable authors to get out their books, even if they don’t have an agent or contacts in New York City. They democratize the publishing process. Said Juliana Roth, an Emerging Writer Fellow at the Center for Fiction re: the 5E Office Hours session:
“I learned so much about the power writers have to get their own books out in the world, and I was inspired to hear of all the avenues to do so.”
Hybrid publishers such as She Writes Press are also an option, for those who have the funds to invest. Many small presses pay royalties only—no advances.
3: Authors today have to do a great deal of their own marketing and publicity or hire a professional in these fields, no matter where they are published. Some books that are not high-profile at Big Five houses get little attention. Small presses that market well to niche audiences can often sell effectively, but the author will probably still need to be proactive on social media and elsewhere. Dawn Raffel described the experience of her volume of short stories, which was published by a Big Five literary house, being passed over by a major review medium because they didn’t want to devote the whole issue to books from that particular publisher, and she was competing against big-name authors from her own house; instead they wanted to showcase at least one from a small press.
Gwen Florio said, “The relationships I’ve developed over the years with booksellers and librarians are an unexpected benefit of having to do my own publicity. Not only do they stock my books, but often they contact me for readings and events when a new book comes out. Equally important, what began as business relationships have turned into lasting friendships.”
4: Given the hundreds of small presses now in operation, it is essential to do solid research before deciding which one might be right for your work. Dawn Raffel described going to a small press fair to make connections. She also ordered some twenty small press books to evaluate before finding a publisher for her latest, Boundless as the Sky. Author Diane Bergner was similarly pleased with Meridien Editions, which is based in Westport, CT. For those who are not represented by an agent, Gwen Florio emphasized the need to have a lawyer review any contract with a small press.
5: There is no single publishing solution that works for everyone. The better financed big houses with strong sales forces are powerful merchandizing machines, but may not be best for more niche or literary material in particular. Many fiction writers, memoirists, and essayists—whose work attracts major awards when published by a small press—might continue with that press, or opt to go with more money and clout from one of the Big Five. Success stories abound.
University presses also publish some excellent fiction, notably the University of Nebraska, Northwestern University, and West Virginia University Press, whose collection of short stories The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw received the PEN/Faulkner Award, and garnered the author a major new deal with a larger publisher.
Additional resources:
https://blog.reedsy.com/independent-publishers
https://www.pw.org/small_presses
Diane Bergner mentioned an informative article on hybrid publishers by Barbara Linn Probst, from Jane Friedman’s blog:
https://janefriedman.com/everything-youve-always-wanted-to-know-hybrid-publishing/