Some Comments on Small Presses and Weird Fiction

In the topics of the last week or so, I missed these comments from Barbara Roden of Ash-Tree Press. For the record, I never meant to say small presses are hellbent solely on profits from their rare writers. Rather, only to illuminate the difficult issue often faced by readers of weird fiction, which often takes a higher literary style than other forms of horror in the market. It should also be noted that conflicting issues differ on a case-by-case basis--determined by publisher, type of book or collection being released, and the popularity of the author.

Despite the quality editions and even specialized features (very limited editions, signed copies, etc.) offered by many small presses, works by writers like Reggie Oliver and Thomas Ligotti tend to remain, so to speak, in short supply. The case is particularly bad with the latter, who recently saw a new edition of Teatro Grottesco put out by Mythos Books. For now, at least, that short story collection already temporarily (hopefully) sold out just days after its release. Though it's worth pondering in Ligotti's instance whether or not this hints at a problem with small press releases of his books, or actually the weird monger's great success at reaching the cusp of popularity sufficient for a release by a large publisher, if he should so desire. For others, however, like Oliver, we come back to the old quandary: a choice between pricey editions that may or may not sell fairly rapidly, or nothing at all. This problem is most damning for readers who stumble upon an author and cannot find any short story collections for further reading, as the case was with Oliver before Ash-Tree's release of his Masques of Satan: Twelve Tales and a Novella. I myself would need a lot of luck and around $1000 US to have any shot at finding his first collection, The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini.

As a disclaimer, despite the frustration I'm fairly confident this entry echoes from other readers, this is not blaming the small presses at all. In fact, hard working publishers like Ash-Tree Press deserve the admiration of weird fiction admirers, for bringing out new collections by talented figures like Oliver at all, and for doing it with masterful quality. That said, weird fiction shortages are a difficult issue that even I'm not sure how to resolve (maybe someone out there does?). Perhaps new technologies like ebooks can bridge the availability gap for some writer's works and bring down the cost to the publisher. This is especially relevant in the case of Ligotti, which verges on the ridiculous almost every time he has a new work or even reprint released.

For insight into the matter from a publisher's perspective, I'm reposting the original comments left by Barbara Roden here:

Interesting to read your comments about Reggie's new collection. As one-half of Ash-Tree Press, may I offer a couple of comments about small presses?

You touch on the fact that many of the authors published by the small presses will never get picked up by larger publishers, and that's true. While readers who love classic supernatural fiction are very passionate about the field, and love it when a new talent like Reggie Oliver or Mark Samuels comes along, the sad truth is that there is a very small market for this type of fiction. Ash-Tree does print runs of 500 not because we want to make a ton of money by quickly selling out a small run of high-priced hardbacks, but because we've learned, after 13 years and 130 books, that that's about the number of books we can expect to sell out in two to three years. I'd love it if we were proved wrong, and Reggie's book sold out in six months or a year; but that's very, very unlikely.

As for the price: yes, US$50 for a hardback is expensive. However, as anyone with any knowledge of publishing will tell you, it's expensive to produce short runs of 500 books; much less expensive, per unit, to produce even 1000 copies, or 2000, or more. But then we come back to sales: what's the point of saving some money per unit by publishing 1000 copies, when the books will be sitting around for years, and we'll have an even higher printing bill to pay up front?

And while Ash-Tree doesn't go in for lettered, numbered, deluxe, slipcased, signed, special, bound in human skin, whatever special editions - all our hardbacks are the same - they are a quality product: sewn (not glued), acid-free paper that won't start to go brown in three months, nice cloth binding, attractive endpapers, specially commissioned dustjacket artwork, new introductions (for our reprints) by people who know the field, etc. In short, we produce a book that not only has (we think) great content for those who love to read, we produce a book that is an attractive object in and of itself, one that's a pleasure to look at and hold. We've said from the start that we produce books that we, as book lovers, would love to buy. We could shave a buck or two off the cover price by going cheaper - binding, cloth, paper - but at the end of the day the economics of doing short runs makes that a non-starter.

Two other points I'd like to make:

First, the type of fiction we publish does, as I say, appeal to some readers. However, for every reader who appreciates fine and thoughtful prose which is unabashedly 'literary', there are - 50? 100? 1000? - who prefer slam-bang action, violence, generous dollops of sex and blood, and books that can be polished off in an evening. Even if we were able to bring Reggie's book out in a $9.95 paperback, sales of whatever slice-and-dice horror book or erotic vampire novel you care to name would far outstrip it.

Second, Ash-Tree books take a long time to produce, and there are only two of us doing all the work. The book has to be read and considered; the stories have to be set; editorial changes have to be suggested, discussed, and implemented; the book has to be laid-out and proof-read (twice), the cover design has to be discussed and worked on, and then, when the books come from the printer, the orders have to be kept track of and filled, which involves hours of book-packing. When you factor in the hundreds of hours that go into producing each Ash-Tree book, you'll find that no one is making a pot of money from small press titles.

-Grim Blogger