Small presses have an extended historical past in Philly. In reality, publishing is likely one of the metropolis’s oldest industries. Simply three years after its founding, the town already had its first printing press. And by the top of the 18th century, Philadelphia had change into the middle for e book printing and publishing in all the nation, surpassing New York and Boston.
As we speak, centuries later, small and unbiased presses proceed to play an important position within the metropolis’s literary and mental panorama.
Very like publishers again then who helped form political discourse when concepts like freedom of speech had been central in conceiving independence from Britain, at this time’s publishing homes are more and more dedicated to a socially engaged, thought-provoking mission.
To them, the mission doesn’t compromise the standard of content material, however slightly redefines it, prioritizing voices which have lengthy been unheard and guaranteeing that publishing stays an area for significant encounters and dialogue.
Billy Penn spoke with a number of small, unbiased publishers to find out how they’re reshaping this legacy, every with their very own method however a shared dedication to selling variety, creativity and sustainability.
We’re sharing our conversations with them as a collection of articles. Up to now we’ve spoken to Josh O’Neill (Beehive Books), Linda Gallant (The Head and the Hand) and Doug Gordon (New Door Books).
So, begin the presses!
How did you begin Frayed Edge Press?
We’ve been in operation for about 9 years now. I used to be simply wanting again by way of a few of my information and noticed that our 10-year anniversary is developing in April of 2026. It doesn’t really feel prefer it’s been that lengthy. I had been concerned in some educational publishing and knew the ropes of e book manufacturing, however I used to be doing very dry educational no matter. So I type of felt like “Why can’t we do issues that really feel extra fascinating, which are extra the type of books I need to learn?” So we began the press. It’s type of a generalist press, however I’d say that the throughline is attempting to publish underrepresented voices. Individuals who perhaps haven’t been printed as a lot within the mainstream or doing one thing slightly totally different, experimental, and in addition we do translations. We’ve carried out a number of issues from minority languages that aren’t translated as typically, aren’t as well-known to an English language viewers.
What are some titles you’ve printed?
I’ll cheerlead our greatest vendor from final 12 months, which was “Blessed Palms” by Frume Halpern. It’s a translation of brief tales that had been initially written in Yiddish and so they appeared within the New York radical press. A number of the tales had individually been translated and had appeared in magazines, however this translator printed all the assortment of her tales, which had by no means been carried out earlier than. They usually’re very shifting. She’s superb at creating characters which are memorable, the tales which have type of an emotional influence. And loads of them are set within the Jewish group as a result of that’s the group she got here from, however it’s actually wider than that. She’s speaking about Irish immigrants and African-People …That e book was named one in every of Kirkus Evaluations Prime 100 [Indie] Literary Fiction titles in 2024.
How does somebody get printed with you? What’s the course of for choosing what you publish?
If we’re prepared to start out accepting manuscripts, we could have a name for manuscripts. It might be on our social media, on our web site, and there’s locations you possibly can listing that you just’re open for requires publications. We’ve got a type that individuals can fill out, and describe their e book and describe themselves and speak about what their e book is about and why they assume it’s match with our press.
We’ll look extra intently at issues that appear like they could possibly be a match. So, we’ve a gaggle of people that do an preliminary assessment of issues that come by way of, after which we’ll observe up with folks with any questions we’ve and ask to see full manuscripts. After which we’ve individuals who will learn the manuscripts and do reader stories. Then we’ll take it from there by way of whether or not we need to make a proposal to publish or if we’re going to then reject it at that stage.
How do you retain your self financially sustainable?
Some books will make some cash. Some books will lose cash, some books will break even. Total, I’d say the press is working at a loss, so it’s sustained by one other enterprise that we run … It’s type of a troublesome enterprise, so that you do should have some mannequin like that. Both you’re sponsored by way of a company or like us by way of one other enterprise, or you possibly can apply for grants as a non-profit or do crowd funding.
[This other business] is in the identical trade and the press is type of an outgrowth of it as a result of we had been doing publishing help work. We had been doing format and indexing and modifying … Offering companies to different publishers or self-publishers who wanted assist. After which we thought, “Properly, why don’t we simply begin doing this ourselves?”
What are the benefits and downsides of being based mostly in Philly in comparison with different main cities?
I wouldn’t say that there’s any actual disadvantages to being a writer right here. A number of the benefits are undoubtedly a group to attract on. That we’re giant sufficient to produce other folks doing comparable issues and have these pursuits and prepared to share some concepts and recommendation and whatnot. And I really feel perhaps for us, as a small unbiased press, it’s in all probability simpler right here than some place like New York or LA, which could possibly be too massive, too overwhelming, too many massive publishers type of crowding out the house.
Do you may have any upcoming publications?
We could have a e book popping out in September of 2025 and it’s a historic novel that’s set at Japanese State Penitentiary. So it’s for individuals who like studying issues set in Philadelphia and could also be considering type of a historic tackle that.