Starting a book publishing house in today's economic
climate, Anthony Berryman acknowledges, was “insane.” He admits, “From a
business perspective, it was never a thought that I was going to be a
book publisher. I'm a high school teacher. That's what I do.”
But
start a publishing house is just what he did. Berryman, who teaches
English and philosophy at Compton High School, founded Mugger Press in
his one-bedroom apartment in Eagle Rock in 2011. He wasn't deterred by
the catastrophic collapse the publishing industry is facing; he wasn't
frightened by the Great Recession. All he wanted was to bring Sam
McPheeters' novel The Loom of Ruin into the world.
Blame
his experience working at Bookfellows in Glendale — now called Mystery
and Imagination Bookshop. One day, owner Malcolm Bell placed a first
edition of John Fante's Ask the Dust in Berryman's hands. That's when Berryman knew he wanted to publish books.
It wasn't until he came across a draft of The Loom of Ruin
years later that the idea became a reality. McPheeters, co-founder of
the legendary hardcore band Born Against, had an agent shopping the book
to major publishing houses when he asked Berryman, a friend for more
than a decade, to read the draft. Berryman finished the novel in one day
and decided that if it wasn't picked up, he would publish it himself.
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” Berryman says.
Because
of the recession and the way that online commerce, from Amazon to
e-books, is shaking up the book business, larger publishing houses seem
mostly interested in projects they know will sell. They're less likely
to take a chance on a new author with a unique vision or a literary
bent. But that has only created a niche for guys like Berryman.
McPheeters' novel hasn't logged enormous sales, but Berryman remains steadfast in his faith, saying, “I think [The Loom of Ruin] is going to be looked at, 20 to 30 years from now … as a minor classic” that was overlooked in its day.
As
to the number of books sold, he simply doesn't seem concerned. Like
vinyl records and gourmet pickles, independent book-making is becoming
artisanal, with dedicated entrepreneurs producing small batches and
focusing on quality over profit. When the assembly line isn't an option,
why not make something cool and indie — a labor of love?
“My goal
is to create a book as an art object,” says Mark Dischler, co-founder
of Narrow Books, “so that when someone holds the book, they feel it's a
little bit more than a paperback they get at a grocery store.”
Founded
by Dischler and Christopher Lepkowski almost eight years ago, Narrow
Books is an indie press based in Los Angeles. Zines and comics were the
founders' first love. Now they've published such beautiful works as
Travis Millard's Hey Fudge, Joseph Mattson's Eat Hell and literary journal The Rattling Wall, which boasts Joyce Carol Oates as a contributor in its next issue.
But Dischler and Lepkowski still make their living from jobs in technology.
“The
reason why the business model worked, in a weird, twisted way, is
because we were working for free,” Dischler explains. “We were putting
in all this extra time because we really wanted to see this thing
finished. We really wanted to create a voice for what we liked and put
it out there.”
Of their day jobs, Lepkowski observes,
“[Technology] all has a shelf life. You do an app for someone, usually
commercial stuff … A month later, who gives a shit anymore? A couple
years, the technology is dead. A book, once it's there, floats around
and has a life of its own. They kind of travel around and have this
existence that goes on endlessly. And ideally, if you make a decent
book, it's still around 50 years from now.”
Dischler and Lepkowski
think about every aspect of the book: the design, the paper quality,
the art. They sometimes bring in outside artists to create images
corresponding or adding to the text. Looking through Narrow Books'
publications is like sifting through a record collection: You're looking
not just for content but at the cover, the layout, the overall
presentation. You're searching for an artifact and a distinct voice.
“I'll put Hey Fudge
in their hands,” Dischler says, “and they'll look through it one page
at a time. … That is so fulfilling to me because that was my intention
when I edited it and put it together, that there would be this really
nice flow.”
Mugger Press and Narrow Books are just two of L.A.'s
several indie presses: Writ Large Press, A Barnacle Book, Red Hen Press,
Les Figues Press and others also publish small batches of books. All
share one idea: There are writers and artists out there who need to be
read or seen.
While it might be easy to deride these publishers as
fiscally irresponsible idealists, it's probably better to look at them
as pioneers, men and women who are determined to bring quality projects
to the collective consciousness, despite the overwhelming odds of
failure. In fact, the founders of Writ Large Press first started a
literary journal, Wednesday, with failure in mind. That
premise, says its editor and publisher, Chiwan Choi, frees their
creative process. Writ Large now has published five books.
You can
find these indie presses' artifacts in many L.A. bookstores, including
the Last Bookstore, which is starting Indie Shelves, an initiative
spotlighting the presses. But their natural habitats seem to be on the
road or at book festivals, underneath tents, like farmers selling
homemade jam or vinyl collectors hawking Miles Davis' records, hoping
that you'll see art in a medium that's undergoing the biggest change
since the days of Gutenberg.
“There are a lot of amazing writers
in L.A.,” Choi says. “Hopefully, all the small presses will do our own
parts to bring [these authors] to market so people can find them.”
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