Small Press Month and Read an E-Book Week
March 12, 2008 by Lillie
I’m a fan of small presses. I have one novel published and a second scheduled for publication by a small independent publisher. Most of my book editing clients either self-publish or are published by independent publishers. According to statistics quoted on Parapublishing, there are 6 large publishers (in New York), 3-400 medium-sized publishers, and 86,000 small/self-publishers.
The month of March is Small Press Month to celebrate the writing published by those 86,000 independent publishers.
Small Press Month, now in its 12th year, is a nationwide promotion highlighting the valuable work produced by independent publishers. An annual celebration of the independent spirit of small publishers, Small Press Month is an effort to showcase the diverse, unique, and often most significant voices being published today. This year’s slogan is Celebrate Great Writing.
If you usually read books only from the six major publishers (which have a number of subsidiary companies and imprints), you might try reading a few independently published books this month to discover new authors with unique voices.
Of course, I can make a few biased recommendations. The following list includes books I have written or edited that are published by independent publishers.
- As Shadows Fall by Grace Anne Schaefer, published by GASLight Publishing
- The New Day Dawns by Grace Anne Schaefer, published by GASLight Publishing
- On the Wings of the Wind: A Journey to Faith by Patricia Eytcheson Taylor and The Reverend Doctor James C. Taylor, published by LangMarc Publishing
- Patchwork Trail (children’s book) by Janet Kaderli, published by GASLight Publishing
- Some Monument to Last: Memoir of TV Journalist James Muñoz with Family Poems and Letters by James Michael Doughty, published by Doughty Enterprises (print book scheduled for release in May; pre-order the print book now and receive a free e-book immediately)
- Spring House by David Bowles, published by Plum Creek Press
- Stroke of Luck by yours truly, published by GASLight Publishing
- Uncle Big Bud: A Family’s Journey from Slavery to Self-Determination by James E. Williams, published by HenryRetta’s Publishing (release date later this month)
Most of these books are also available as e-books, and my novel is available only as an e-book. March 2-8 was Read an E-Book Week. I failed to recognize it since I didn’t have Internet access last week. But if you didn’t read an e-book last week, it’s not too late.
BEEN READING eBOOKS TOO LONG? appeared in the ParaThoughts section of a recent issue of Dan Poynter’s newsletter.
My speaking travels average some 6,000 miles each week…. Traveling as light as possible, I do not carry printed books.
…I was home for a couple of weeks. I had a couple of mass-market paperback that I wanted to read. They were not available as eBook editions so I decided to read myself to sleep with one of them.
How awkward! With the printed book, you have to turn on the (bright) light….
Holding a printed book (pBook) is awkward. It take two hands.
Poynter describes other advantages of e-books: no need for a bookmark, lower cost, ability to adjust the type size, built-in dictionary, the convenience of being able to download books from anywhere in the world, and the ease of disposal without impacting the environment. He concludes:
Electronic books are a far superior platform to dead-tree books for numerous reasons. But let’s be practical. After trying both—extensively, I prefer to annoy electrons than cut down trees. This is not just an environmental concern, it is a practical reading decision.
I love eBooks.
I love e-books, too, and I love books from small presses.
Related Posts:
E-Books, Parts 1-4
Hi Lillie,
What a FABULOUS blog! I’m a regular at Writing the Cyber Highway. It’s clear I’ll have to drop by often to keep up with you. I loved this post about Small Presses. Very informative and extremely well written.
blessings,
julia
julia ward – a BLINDING heart – a writer’s blog – http://www.ablindingheart.com
check out my latest post:
Zen Habits and Chicken Pot Pie
Another “celebration” I missed. National Grammar Day was on March 4th, and apparently March 7th was World Book Day. Sigh. Why do people not TELL us these things? (grin)
As to the rest, I don’t read e-books very often–I sit in front of the computer enough as it is–but I love to find and read books from small presses. Naturally, I’ll have to check out the ones on your (biased) list.
Hi, I liked what you said about the small press’. I couldnt agree more. I recently bought a book published by a small press agency in Ireland. It was one of the best reads of my life. I think we get so caught up in all the hype that surrounds the major agencies that we tend to forget that there is so much more on offer.
Love your blog. Will be back for more.
Thanks for the recommendations – I’d love to support small presses!
E-books vs. P-books (“p-books”?) is not really a discussion for us. We are so used to looking at text on screen that it seems natural to do so. Still, something is special about holding a book in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, sitting in the sun.
David,
I think both have their place. E-books are easier for me to read on my handheld reader, but I know many readers prefer print. As long as people are reading, either one is fine.
I never buy books anymore if I can find the book I want on e book. Of course my granddaughter of 10 reads books from the library and that is the best way for young adults. I would not give her access to my E books as I would want her limited to what she could read. I wonder if E books has a way to limit what a young reader can read or if has parent control.
annakat,
That is a good point. If young people are accessing e-books online, they could come across material that isn’t suitable. In my opinion, one of the downsides of e-books is that there seems to be a lot of books on subjects and in genres that I find offensive. Of course, for the people who like to read those things, e-books are great because they can order online and no one knows what they’re reading.
I believe you have to rely on parental control, but if you’re using an e-book reading device, it should be pretty easy—the responsible adult could have control of downloading books to the reading device. The child then gets only books the parent finds acceptable. If the child is reading on the computer, the same kind of parental control that keeps them from offensive Web sites would have to be used.
Thank you, Julia. I visited your blog and understand your challenges with physical therapy. After my stroke several years ago, I spent months in physical therapy. We called our therapists “physical terrorists” because therapy is so difficult. Prayers and best wishes for your recovery.
I looked for an RSS feed on your blog but couldn’t find one. If I can subscribe to blogs I like, I keep up with them … but I don’t do a good job of visiting blogs that aren’t in my feed. If you have a feed, please let me know how to subscribe. Thanks!
Deb,
I posted about National Grammar Day, but I scheduled the post before I left town and scheduled it for the the wrong date … so it appeared late.
I didn’t know about World Book Day.
I don’t read e-books on a computer, either, and Dan Poynter said in his article he reads on a PDA. I use an eBookWise e-book reader. There are many handheld devices that are great for reading e-books – portable and able to hold lots of books. I have a difficult time reading print but I can adjust the text size on my ebook reader large enough for me to see.
Hope you enjoy the books on my biased list.
Thanks for your comment and agreement. I’m glad you like my blog and hope you come back often.
Angela,
Hope you enjoy reading some of my recommendations.