Small press

All right.

Well, next we can celebrate small press publishing at the Book Catapult on Saturday.

What do people need to know?

So this is Small Press Night, which brings in local and touring authors, people who are publishing with small presses.

So these publishing houses may not have like the giant marketing budgets of the big publishing companies today.

But they are still producing amazing, interesting work, possibly more interesting and more risk-taking.

And so for years I was actually the only person in our group who was traditionally published.

We've actually formed a indie press together now that we're indie releasing our members' books, which is another thing, another road we can go down.

But I think it's, it's inevitable, right? To have those feelings of jealousy or that you're not good enough, and to just recognize that those feelings happen and that's okay, and to bring it back to the work.

You know, we're learning together, we're working together, and everybody's running their own race, but I'm gonna help you as best I can run yours, and you're gonna help me run mine, and eventually we're gonna get across the finish line.

Yeah, I think that's good.

I, I was gonna say generosity is a good word to use.

So let's come to that indie press then.

So what made you decide to go that way, and how are you doing that amongst a group like that? I think it is becoming a more common thing, but also the practicalities of publishing and marketing can be quite difficult.

Don'll be in conversation this evening with Deborah Goodrich Royce.

Deborah's latest book, Best Boy, is a USA Today and Indie Press bestseller, and Reef Road, a national bestseller, was named one of the best books of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews.

She began as an actress on All My Children and in multiple films before transitioning to the role of story editor at Miramax Films.

With her husband, Chuck, Deborah restored the Avon Theater, Ocean House Hotel, Dear Mountain Inn, United Theater, and Martin House Books.

Yes.

I mean, it was a thing I was probably going to ask about eventually, but like, yeah, that is a, cause that is like a, a thing to think about of like, cause you know, I've been doing this for like six and a half years and there really is not indie game, small press still besides myself.

Like,

well, that, that sounds like something that like, uh, I should, I also want to in solidarity, like do things together.

Yeah, you know, before I became an indie game dev, I actually was a cartoonist for a while and did comic anthologies.

And I think the comics world has the vibe that I want the indie dev scene to have, which is that there's large creators, there's small creators, there's actually publishers specifically for indie comics, you know? Yeah.

Yeah, I've got multiple – I am always – you go to any indie comic show, you're going to trip into like 76 different small press indie comic publishers.

Yes, yeah.

I've, I'm, I've never seen it verified, but...

And I, I, a lot of people felt that we pioneered some independent publishing in a lot of ways.

A lot of other people said, "Hey, some guy in Winnipeg can do this, so maybe I can too," kind of thing.

And we did get a lot of mail back then.

She's a contributor and editor for the award-winning Nerds of a Feather.

She writes the wonderful Small Press Dispatch for ARB, and you can also find her thoughts on books at her own blog and at other venues.

Rosanna, how are you?

I'm very well.

Before we go, tell people, uh, where they can find you, what you're working on, what you're excited about.

So most of me you can find, um, either @NerdsofFeather, where I edit and also post, um, so there will be reviews periodically there.

I also have a monthly column at the ARB on small press novellas because novellas are amazing.

Um, and if anyone wants my one big takeaway for next year's awards season, it's read novellas from small presses because there is so much good stuff out there.

Oh, what details do the bio provide?

So Schaefer is a USA Today and Indie Press bestselling author.

They are originally from Brooklyn, but they have since relocated upstate.

And here is the kicker.