Small Press, Big Success

By Bob Hughes - Apr 26 , 2010

How a Pulitzer shows that the publishing world still doesn’t get it

When Paul Harding won a Pulitzer Prize a few weeks ago for his novel, “Tinkers,” small publishers everywhere were thrilled, and big publishers everywhere (although there aren’t that many big publishers left) once again proved how their decision only to buy books they are sure will be blockbusters not only has left them out of the loop when it comes to quality, but also out of the loop when it comes to where publishing itself is going.

An article in The New York Times quoted Harding talking about the reams of rejection letters he got from clueless publishers. “They would lecture me about the pace of life today. It was, ‘Where are the car chases? Nobody wants to read a slow, contemplative, meditative, quiet book.’ ”

But a lot of people did, and Bellevue Literary Press, which has only been around for a couple of years is reaping the benefits of actually doing what it’s there to do: find interesting voices, publish them, market them and help them find readers.

What the big publishers seem to have missed, and keep missing, is that if they’re in the business of publishing books, they have to publish not only the blockbuster, but also the book that perhaps might be the bookstore equivalent of an art-house film. Not every movie has to have car chases, and not every book has to feature vampires or spies or whatever acquisitions editors at publishing house – who increasingly thing like Hollywood studio executives – are focusing on in their desperation to hit it big with every book, always.

You can’t hit it big always. But you can always trust your instincts, be independent and not rely on what the others are doing to see if you can release something similar to capture a share of the market.

The Times story mentions that Random House crowed about signing Harding late last year, after his book was published by Bellevue. Hey, that’s great. Where were you when his novel languished in a drawer for three years and your editors were busy signing authors to write tripe that sold like stale bread?

The world of publishing is evolving, of course, and big publishers are under enormous pressure to prop up their staffs and bottom lines. Smaller publishers are probably better equipped to withstand the tremors of the seismic changes within the industry.

But I bet there will be more and more writers like Paul Harding who use a personal platform, a small press, a network of independent booksellers and their own forward thinking to make an impact on the publishing world and grow.