By Natalie Hamil, Staff Writer, Emerson College
I’m a Writing, Literature and Publishing major at Emerson College. If I could, I would narrow my focus into the publishing aspect of my major. This would mean that acquisitions, editing, production and publicity would be in my near future (fingers crossed). As I’ve become immersed in this program at Emerson, it has become increasingly obvious that people idolize the “Big 5” publishers that are located in New York City: Random House/Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Macmillan. While these publishers are certainly admirable, I recently learned just how many small presses exist throughout the United States that are completely overshadowed by larger publishing conglomerates.
I’m a Writing, Literature and Publishing major at Emerson College. If I could, I would narrow my focus into the publishing aspect of my major. This would mean that acquisitions, editing, production and publicity would be in my near future (fingers crossed). As I’ve become immersed in this program at Emerson, it has become increasingly obvious that people idolize the “Big 5” publishers that are located in New York City: Random House/Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Macmillan. While these publishers are certainly admirable, I recently learned just how many small presses exist throughout the United States that are completely overshadowed by larger publishing conglomerates.
Small presses deserve love too! Books are books, no matter where they are published. The only major difference between the big houses in New York, and the smaller ones throughout the rest of America, is the amount of money that can be funneled into production. However, these small presses (which can sometimes only put out a few dozen books a year), can find real gems that the public deserves to get excited about, such as Praying Drunk by Kyle Minor, and The Last Days of California by Mary Miller.
On February 4th, Richard Thomas (a contributor for BuzzFeed) wrote an article entitled “15 Highly Anticipated Books from (Mostly) Small Presses,” which is what inspired me to write this piece. While Thomas’ article would likely be skipped over by some BuzzFeed readers, it certainly caught my attention. These books, which are just as eagerly anticipated as books from a major publishing house, are finally getting some recognition.
On February 4th, Richard Thomas (a contributor for BuzzFeed) wrote an article entitled “15 Highly Anticipated Books from (Mostly) Small Presses,” which is what inspired me to write this piece. While Thomas’ article would likely be skipped over by some BuzzFeed readers, it certainly caught my attention. These books, which are just as eagerly anticipated as books from a major publishing house, are finally getting some recognition.
Exposure from BuzzFeed is GREAT for publishing. It caters to us, the college age generation, and provides us with quick snippets of information that we want to know. Many college aged students find BuzzFeed to be an accessible source of news that can easily be spread from device to device. In terms of book selling, the advertising outlets for books are relatively limited (print ads, reviews in newspapers, and maybe one or two ad spots on TV), so any press is good press. Getting featured in an article on a website as popular as BuzzFeed introduces the books to potentially hundreds of thousands of more people than would have originally known about them. They even have a BuzzFeed Books section. Granted, many probably haven’t even heard of that section of BuzzFeed, but it does exist.
In short, take a look at where the next book you read has been published. If it’s owned by one of the Big 5, that’s great, but if you can manage, try to pick up a book from a small press. Keep the publishing industry alive, and, more importantly, keep calm and read on. And try out one of these new books from this BuzzFeed article!
Natalie Hamil is a Writing, Literature and Publishing major at Emerson College. She enjoys skimming bookstore shelves, watching the sun rise, and wearing bright/patterned pants.
Images: Kyleminor.com, Startribune.com
In short, take a look at where the next book you read has been published. If it’s owned by one of the Big 5, that’s great, but if you can manage, try to pick up a book from a small press. Keep the publishing industry alive, and, more importantly, keep calm and read on. And try out one of these new books from this BuzzFeed article!
Natalie Hamil is a Writing, Literature and Publishing major at Emerson College. She enjoys skimming bookstore shelves, watching the sun rise, and wearing bright/patterned pants.
Images: Kyleminor.com, Startribune.com