A recent article in The Atlantic, “Why American Publishing Needs Indie Presses,” makes notable points. For example, the five major publishing houses are investing millions of dollars in a few writers, primarily in the hopes of gaining future success. In one case, All The Light We Cannot See, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Anthony Doerr, fell into the hands of one of the five big publishers, and spent more than two and a half years on The New York Times Bestseller List.
On the other end of the spectrum are indie presses—organizations operating independently of larger publishing houses. Some of the most prominent indie presses include Dorothy and Graywolf; Graywolf is home to titles like Citizen and The Argonauts, which are both short in length, yet won the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, respectively. This is all to say that the time and trust invested in unique works of art is invaluable, and indie presses are embracing this philosophy that authors have something new to say about the world.
This practice of investing in less well-known writers and taking inventive approaches to bringing their work to market is paying off. Brian Evenson, for example, has recently published his horror fiction with indie presses. In an interview with Hobart Magazine, Evenson spoke about his view on publishing today and contemporary writing in general. He shares, “I only rarely have that experience with contemporary work that everybody praises to the skies. The best books tend to fly under the radar.” His opinions on books and the publishing industry also aligned very closely with my own, particularly with the following comment: “I love those books that do something that I didn’t think a book could do.” This perfectly captures the experience I have when reading a book that breaks the mold or takes on a form I haven’t seen before.
While eighty percent of books in the U.S are currently published with “The Big Five,” more of the literary discussion is revolving around indie presses, with frequent reviews on their work appearing in magazines like The Guardian and The New York Times. Perhaps in the future indie presses will be the primary publishing houses, places where every writer will turn to when publishing their work.
After reading “American Literature Needs Indie Presses” in The Atlantic, I had several ideas and reactions. For instance, I greatly appreciate the point that indie presses focus intensely on creativity and originality, often making these some of their most important priorities. With the majority of writers publishing at major publishing houses, approximately 80%, there may be a decline in the amount of unique, new works released to the public. Indie presses, instead, are seeking to celebrate works that are inventive, as in the case with Martin Riker, a co-founder of Dorothy Press. “What we like about Dorothy books is that each one of them is unique,” Riker says. “If you like something because it’s unique, then it logically follows that you don’t want a bunch more of them.” The trend as a whole reminds me of indie rock bands and artists that go their own direction in the music industry, creating a new style of music that hasn’t been done before.
Unfortunately, new and complex works of art generally don’t receive the attention they deserve, and, more often than not, receive poor reception by art critics. The same argument could be made with new and complex works of literature; the experience of being an artist comes down to knowing that what you produce in your own voice and style matters, and there will always be a market for it, big or small.
Selected Sources
Nathan Scott McNamara, “American Literature Needs Indie Presses,” The Atlantic, 17 July 2016.
Nathan Scott McNamara, “It Just Made Perfect Sense: Dorothy, a Publishing Project,” The Los Angeles Review of Books, 22 October 2018.
