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A Guide for New Literary Publishers

The decision to start a literary magazine or press can be the beginning of a lot of hard—and rewarding—work. In most cases it is also the beginning of an extensive learning process. CLMP frequently receives requests for information from people interested in starting a literary publication and looking for guidance. One place to start is your local library; for example, there are numerous publications available which can help you market and promote magazines or titles, once published.

But for general information about obtaining manuscripts, finding a designer, working with writers and other less-technical aspects of a literary publishing operation, your best bet is to simply talk to people who have themselves gone through the process. In order to provide some guidance for publishers at the very beginning stage, CLMP has solicited advice from a few more experienced editors and literary publishers. All contributors to this guide publish magazines or presses of merit; a few are still relatively new.

The following information includes advice from literary publishers who have started from scratch, resources they found useful, and a list of contacts who are willing to answer questions about their experiences and offer any advice they can. This is not a comprehensive guide; we encourage you to contact other magazines or presses, either publishers in your area or those that are similar in focus to the publishing operation you are starting. We hope you find this information helpful and wish you success with your publishing efforts.

Advice from People Who Know

These suggestions and bits of wisdom are offered by editors and publishers who have recently started successful literary presses and magazines.
  • Define your goals at the very beginning. Do you want to publish for two years, ten years or indefinitely? What kind of writers are you interested in? If your venture is being started by a group of people, it is important to define an organizational structure and to determine the degree of commitment and time each individual can offer.
  • No matter how dedicated you are to your publishing project, the time commitment will always be greater than anticipated.
  • Never underestimate the importance of a good proofreader! If you find someone who is good at this, with an eye for detail, never let this person go.
  • The visual aspect of a publication is very important, even for a literary magazine or press for which content is the primary element. Before people read something, they simply see it.
  • Distribution, Distribution, Distribution!
  • Grow at a pace which seems natural, and understand that being a small press or magazine means being small.
  • Judge success in terms of survival.
  • Network with everyone you know in literary publishing. Usually one good suggestion leads to another.
  • Sometimes with the pressures of deadlines, it is easier to act first and think later, but don't rush yourself. Set a reasonable schedule and give yourself some leeway. Quality must come first.
  • A blind submissions policy (reviewing manuscripts by number rather than by name) may save you from criticism about favoritism.
  • As an editor, saying "yes" or "no" to someone's work carries a certain responsibility. Assert your judgment fairly and with respect.
  • Know why you are choosing to publish something. Not only is this vital for a strong editorial mission, but it will also help you market and promote the magazine or title.
  • Ask yourself this question: "Is there a strong enough connection between the material you are publishing, how it looks, who you want to read it and how much it is going to cost?" In other words, can the people you want to read it afford to buy it, and will they view the final product as being worth the price?
  • Editing and publishing good literature is only half of your responsibility. You also have an obligation, to your writers and to your mission, to distribute and promote your magazine or titles to your potential readers.
  • Visibility is very important to a new press or magazine which is just creating a name for itself. Apply for prizes, submit titles or issues for review, develop your local media contacts. All these efforts will help your name recognition.
  • An important part of publishing is attending readings and circulating among writers, making contact with new ones, and keeping the magazine or press in people's minds.
  • Authors that will work hard for their books by doing readings and outreach are invaluable.
  • Establish a consistent, standard operating procedure so that you don't have to publish, promote and sell each book or issue as if it were the first.
  • If you don't know much about design, publicity, or running a business, get advice from someone who does. Accept that you have certain strengths, but also that other people may have knowledge from which you and your publishing operation can benefit.
  • Be flexible in how you define your activities, especially for fundraising purposes. Can your regular publicity activities be described as an outreach project? Does a particular editorial project lend itself to making your publishing program more "fundable" to a particular sector? If so, use it!
Contact other publishers for answers to more detailed questions. CLMP's Directory of Literary Magazines and Dustbooks' International Directory of Little Magazines and Small Presses provide contact information for independent publishers.

Cydney Chadwick, executive director of Syntax Project for the Arts; editor of Avec (recipient of a 1988 Gregory Kolovakos Seed Grant) and Avec Books, Penngrove, CA.

In 1988, after I'd published one issue of Avec, I began working on getting non-profit status for our organization. There is a very good book on how to do this called The California Non-Profit Corporation Handbook, published by The Nolo Press and written by Anthony Mancuso, his attorney. The book takes you through a step-by-step process from picking a board of directors to filling your articles of corporation.

I felt that it was important for Avec to become non-profit because private foundations will not give grants to organizations without 501(c)3 tax exemption, and without the exemption, individual contributions are not tax-deductible. Unless you have a university-sponsored journal or a patron (and sometimes even if you do), you will probably need grants and contributions to stay alive.

If you are a non-profit organization, act like one. This means doing benefits and fundraisers for your magazine or press. Many prominent writers and poets are happy to read for a fundraiser. With your 501(c)3 status, individuals who want to contribute to your organization can do so, and their contribution is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Volunteers are important. If a board member, managing editor, or contributing editor is associated with a university, it is likely that they will come in contact with people who would be interested in interning for your magazine or press. Interns have a lot of energy and can really help out doing consignment business with bookstores, soliciting ads, proofreading, typesetting and business correspondence.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. There is a sizable literary publishing network in the US, so don't be afraid to call or write publishers and ask them questions. Many of us share information on which printers do good work for reasonable prices (and which do not), which distributors pay publishers and which don't, advice on marketing, which magazines are usually interested in exchanging ads, etc.

Don't over extend yourself. This should be obvious, but you'd be surprised how many stories I've heard about presses that accept numerous titles without having any inkling of how they were going to pay for them. I've also heard of journals that were edited before the organization had the funds to put them out; sometimes the magazines were never even published. Also be cautioned that many funding sources want to see an organization's track record before awarding them a grant, so don't expect to receive federal, state or private foundation funding if you've only published a couple of books or a few issues. Many organizations will not even let publishers apply unless they meet certain criteria regarding the number of issues published or number of years in existence.

There are some things that I wish I had done differently (Avec's 8-1/2 x 11 format makes it a favorite among writers, but it is one of the most expensive standard trim sizes you can use), but everyone has to experiment and learn. The important thing is to avail yourself of the resources that are out there and to learn from other people's experiences so you can avoid making unnecessary mistakes.

Fred Gardaphe, former president, editor, sales manager, order picker, packer and shipper for City Stoop Press (1992 Gregory Kolovakos Seed Grant recipient), Chicago, IL.

Starting a press is easy these days. First you incorporate (for-profit or not-for-profit). Then you apply for ISBN numbers. You get a good desktop publishing system, you learn how to use it, you print out pages, design a cover, find a printer and the book is done. Then comes the hard work, especially if you are a literary person and not a sales person: promotion and distribution. While anyone can produce a book, very few know how to promote and distribute them so that people are aware of their existence.

City Stoop Press was happy when Baker and Taylor, one of the largest distributors in the US, agreed to take on our book. We had 500 copies of a 1,500 press run shipped directly to them. However, there was a lot we had to learn. Once they sold the original shipment, they began requesting stock on a per-order basis. This cost us $1 every time we shipped them a single copy. The best way to find a distributor that will work for your press is to go to local bookstores (both sole proprietor types and national/local chains) and ask them where they order their books. That's how we found Baker and Taylor.

Early on we depended entirely on Baker and Taylor, and while the early promotion generated interest, the life of a new book in the potential buyer's consciousness won't last long. Most "distributors" are really wholesalers which fill only the orders that are called in by bookstores. Few act as sales forces, and that is what a small press needs: a distributor who will also sell your book. You should be prepared to pay more for the services of such a distributor.

You can distribute your own books as a complement to the work of your distributor or wholesaler. While this does mean that you can keep a higher percentage of the sales money, it also means more work (i.e. paperwork and regular personal contact with all the outlets). Dedication to the books you publish is the key to motivating yourself to keep accounting and inventory books, maintain correspondence, and to hop in a car and meet new booksellers.

We had no problem selling the books because as book reviewers ourselves, we knew of the lead time that was required by such important media resources as Publisher's Weekly. We sent out galleys and a press kit six months before we knew the books would be available. This is a must. You cannot publish a book and then send it out for review; the PR starts the moment work starts on the project (6-8 months lead time is optimal for most major reviewers). Reviews help, but you cannot depend on their impact for long. However, the more reviews your book receives, the better your press kit will look.

We also contacted bookstores. These days most bookstores do more than sell books and are interested in hosting events that bring people into the store. We found that we were able to post flyers and hold readings, not only in bookstores but also in public libraries. Person-to-person is a good--but labor intensive--method for promoting your books.

Eventually, our being full-time teachers and writers, as well as part-time publishers, took its toll on the press. We couldn't keep up with the demand and had not started to seriously think about reprinting the first publication, which was dwindling down to under a hundred copies. This prompted us to take a long hard look at our lives, and we began searching for a full-time press to take over the operations while maintaining the founding philosophy. After a year of inquiries and negotiations, we turned over operations to Another Chicago Press, which agreed to keep the books in print as long as there was a demand. Even though we made the decision not to continue with the project, we don't regret a bit of it.

Suggested Print Resources

The following resources have been suggested by publishers and editors who have gone through the process of starting a literary publication.

Book Publishing: The Basic Introduction, John Dessaur, The Continuum Publishing Company

Book Publishing Resource Guide, John Kremer, Open Horizons Publishing Company

The California Non-Profit Corporation Handbook, Anthony Mancuso, The Nolo Press

Directory of Book Printers, Marie Kiefer, Open Horizons Book Publishing

How to Start and Sustain a Literary Magazine, Joseph Bruchac, Provision House. (This is out of print, but you may be able to find a copy if you ask around or check out an online used book source like http://www.abebooks.com/ or http://www.powells.com.)

The Magazine: Everything You Need to Know to Make It in the Magazine Business, Leonard Mogel, Globe Pequot Press

Pressing Business: An Organizational Manual for Independent Publishers, The Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

Poets & Writers Magazine and AWP Chronicle for solicitation notices.

Publishing programs

These programs all give instruction on book and magazine publishing. Some have added curriculum on online publishing.

New York University - Offers a masters degree and continuing education courses in publishing as well as the summer course.

Columbia Publishing Course (formerly the Radcliffe Publishing Course) - 6 week summer course. Mostly for recent college graduates.

University of Denver - 4 week summer course

Yale Professional Publishing Course - intensive, week-long program for publishing professionals

City College Publishing Certificate Program - certificate program for undergraduates and non-matriculating students at City College.

Organizations that offer workshops and other technical assistance resources

Other networking associations

Useful periodicals

Email lists

Online resources

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