Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An “Accidental Profession”: Small Press Publishing in the Pacific Northwest

  • Published:
Publishing Research Quarterly Aims and scope

An Erratum to this article was published on 20 April 2016

Abstract

This research examines contemporary, independent publishing in the Pacific Northwest (USA and Canada). Through a series of interviews with small publishers in Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, BC, this paper will investigate whether independent publishers, based outside of the major publishing hubs of New York and Toronto, believe they can: compete in the global publishing environment; help to promote and preserve regional cultures and identities; and maintain diversity in cultural output. It will also explore how independent presses see themselves situated in the national and international publishing arena and identify what structures are in place to support them to do so. Although the focus of the empirical research is the Pacific Northwest, this paper has been contextualised within national publishing discourse.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Such as Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Henry David Thoreau's Walden, and Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.

  2. A biennial directory of resources, for the writing and publishing community, which focused on Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, and British Columbia.

  3. Although more publishers agreed to be interviewed for this research, five from each state were chosen based on convenience i.e. the ability to be interviewed in Portland, Seattle, or Vancouver.

  4. All interviews were with the Managing Directors of the companies.

  5. For example, small Canadian presses originally nurtured internationally renowned authors, such as Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields, and Margaret Atwood.

  6. Bizarro fiction is a genre that Eraserhead coined in collaboration with their online community, of other publishers, writers, and genre enthusiasts. They describe it as “the kind of thing that we wish we could read and the kind of thing that doesn’t exist elsewhere”.

References

  1. Altman E, Pratt A. Rummaging through dustbooks: an analysis of independent small presses. Book Res Q. 1988;3(4):3–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Atton C. Alternative media. London: SAGE; 2002. p. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Boggs J. An overview of Canada’s contemporary book trade in light of (nearly) four decades of policy interventions. Publ Res Q. 2010;26:24–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bourdieu P. The field of cultural production: essays on art and literature. New York: Columbia University Press; 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Deahl R. Whither the midlist publisher? Publishers Weekly, 4 November, 2011. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/49398-whither-the-midlist-publisher.html. Accessed 1 Feb 2016.

  6. Ellis-Petersen H. Male writers continue to dominate literary criticism, Vida study finds. Guardian, 7 April 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/07/male-writers-continue-dominate-literary-criticism-vida-study-finds. Accessed 1 Feb 2016.

  7. Epstein J. Book business: publishing past, present, and future. New York: W.W. Norton; 2002. p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  8. German Book Office. THE U.S. BOOK MARKET: Information about the U.S. economic situation in numbers. 2014 http://www.buchmesse.de/images/fbm/dokumente-uapdfs/2014/us_book_market_2014_v29102014_48184.pdf. Accessed 1 Feb 2016.

  9. Gold J. Publishing lives: interviews with independent book publishers in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. Seattle: Black Heron Press; 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Greco A. Publishers in migration. Publishers Weekly, October 12, 1992, pp 30–31.

  11. Greco A. Mergers and acquisitions in the US Book Industry, 1960–1989. In: Altbach P, Hoshino ES, editors. International book publishing: an encyclopaedia. New York: Garland Publishing Inc; 1995. p. 229–42.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Greenfield J. Consolidation in book publishing continues as hachette acquires perseus. Forbes, 24 June 2014. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremygreenfield/2014/06/24/consolidation-in-book-publishing-continues-as-hachette-acquires-perseus/. Accessed February 1, 2016).

  13. Horowitz I, Curtis M. Scholarly book publishing in the 1990s. In: Altbach P, Hoshino ES, editors. International book publishing: an encyclopaedia. New York: Garland Publishing Inc; 1995. p. 303–13.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kushner R. Cultural enterprise formation and cultural participation in America’s Counties. In: Rushton M, editor. Creative communities: art works in economic development. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press; 2013. p. 144–65.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Lane M. Shapers of culture: the editor in book publishing. Ann Am Acad Polit Soc Sci. 1975;421:34–42.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Luey B. Editors. In: Altbach P, Hoshino ES, editors. International book publishing: an encyclopaedia. New York: Garland Publishing Inc; 1995. p. 89–96.

    Google Scholar 

  17. MacSkimming R. The perilous trade: book publishing in Canada, 1946–2006. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Madison C. Book publishing in America. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Mathieu P, Parks S, Rousculp T. Circulating communities: the tactics and strategies of community publishing. UK: Lexington Books; 2012. p. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  20. McCleery A, Bold MR. ‘What is my country?’: supporting small nation publishing. J Irish Scott Stud. 2012;6(1):115–32.

    Google Scholar 

  21. McLaughlin R. Oppositional aesthetics/oppositional ideologies: a brief cultural history of alternative publishing in the United States. Critique Stud Contemp Fict. 1996;37(3):171–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Parker G. The beginnings of the book trade in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press; 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Pollard N, Smart P. Making writing accessible to all: the federation of worker writers and community publishers and TheFED. In: Mathieu P, Parks S, Rousculp Tiffany, editors. Circulating communities: the tactics and strategies of community publishing. UK: Lexington Books; 2012. p. 21–34.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Bold MR. The rights and wrongs of operational practices in the scottish publishing industry. Publishing Research Quarterly. 2012;28(4):345–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Rentfrow P, Gosling S, Jokela M, Stillwell D, Kosinski M. Divided we stand: three psychological regions of the United States and their political, economic, social, and health correlates. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2013;105(6):996–1012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Scherf K. A legacy of Canadian cultural tradition and the small press: the case of talon books. Stud Can Lit. 2000;25(1):131–49.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Sheehan D. This was publishing: a chronicle of the book trade in the gilded age. Bloomington: Indiana UP; 1952.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Shirky C. Here comes everybody: the power of organizing without organizations. London: Penguin; 2008. p. 60.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Silverman R. Women writers suffer in male-dominated literary world. Telegraph, April 7, 2013. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9977417/Women-writers-suffer-in-male-dominated-literary-world-says-novelist.html. Accessed 1 Feb 2016.

  30. Stovall L, Stovall D. Writer’s northwest handbook. 5th ed. Portland: Blue Heron; 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Tebbel J. A history of book publishing in the United States. 4 vols. New York: R. R. Bowker; 1972–81.

  32. Tebbel J. Between covers: the rise and transformation of book publishing in America. New York: Oxford University Press; 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Ibid, 265.

  34. Ibid, 201.

  35. Ibid, 373.

  36. Thompson J. Merchants of culture. Cambridge: Polity Press; 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Waltz M. Alternative and activist media. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Whiteside T. The blockbuster complex: conglomerates, show business, and book publishing. Middletown: Wesleyan UP; 1981. p. 11.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Williams L. Canadian Publishing 2011: The British Columbia Alternative. Publishers Weekly, September 16, 2011. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/48700-canadian-publishing-2011-the-british-columbia-alternative.html. Accessed 1 Feb 2016.

  40. Williams L. Diversity north: Canadian Publishing 2014. Publishers Weekly, September 19, 2014. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/64047-diversity-north-canadian-publishing-2014.html. Accessed 1 Feb 2016.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Studies, University College London, Foster Court, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Melanie Ramdarshan Bold

Authors
  1. Melanie Ramdarshan Bold
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melanie Ramdarshan Bold.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bold, M.R. An “Accidental Profession”: Small Press Publishing in the Pacific Northwest. Pub Res Q 32, 84–102 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-016-9452-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-016-9452-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation