Creating a Green Press: Portland's Book Publishers and Literary Magazines

Ooligan Press produces more than books—they create book professionals. Natalie Guidry is co-manager of the Sustainable Publishing Initiative at Ooligan Press, a student-run press at Portland State University. Guidry and her colleagues learn the business of publishing through acquiring, editing, designing and marketing books about the Pacific Northwest.

Built into a master's degree program in book publishing, Ooligan is a teaching press started by Dennis Stovall in 2001. Students in the Sustainable Publishing Initiative consider environmentally-preferred inks and papers, the estimated carbon-offset of a paper book compared to an eReader, and eco-minded printers and distributers. But ultimately the decision is what to publish: does this contribute to a meaningful dialogue about how we're going to live in harmony with the environment, or not?

Brew to Bikes: Portland's Artisan Economy, by associate professor of Urban Studies, Charles Heying—addresses sustainability by sharing the best practices of local business. The book is available October 1, 2010 as part of the OpenBook series––two titles each year that embody environmental thinking and practice.

In 2009, Ooligan published Rethinking Paper and Ink, a guide to sustainable publishing practices, by Janine Eckhart and Melissa Brume. A PDF of the book available for free. Sustainable publishing is about quality of life. The content we put in our minds. It's impossible to ignore how it got there: writers, publishers, and readers making conscious choices.
 

Hawthorne Books

Loretta Stinson, a recent graduate of Portland State University's book publishing program has her first novel in stores this month. She released Little Green with local publisher, Hawthorne Books. Publishers and editors, Rhonda Hughes and Kate Sage, will celebrate the tenth anniversary of Hawthorne Books in 2011.

It's easy for Portland readers to pick up Little Green, but getting the book to a wide audience is an elaborate process. The average print run for a book at Hawthorne is 5,000 copies (to give you some idea of how this compares with a successful book from a large publishing house, mid-list writers sell about 20,000 copies). To get readers interested in a title, Hawthorne Books creates an online presence, sends press releases and review copies to blogs, book clubs, magazines, journals, and newspapers. "We do book events––author readings––and we push for reviews in all the major papers in every city an author goes to. Six months in advance, we're sending out hundreds of review copies."

Nonfiction has a tendency to get more press, and it's easier to sell. Not many fiction authors can make a living off their writing. "Some mid-list writers can live on their writing," Sage ventures, "if they're frugal and drive a car with two hundred thousand miles on it." Writers often teach to supplement their income. Sometimes, especially for nonfiction authors, they can make more money doing speaking engagements than they do selling books.

"There is a relationship between the book as an art object and the content," Sage says. "We're not willing to compromise on the actual object of the book." One arm of Hawthorne Books does print management and print brokering for larger publishing houses, arranging all of their printing and shipping. "We deal with a lot of printers," Sage says. "The printers that we use are FSC certified." Forest Stewardship Council is the equivalent of doing fair-trade with the forest.

Hawthorne Books publishes literary fiction and narrative nonfiction––memoir and personal essays. "We're very much in support of an open submissions policy," Sage says. "We like to be as open as we can because we've received unsolicited work that's quite good. We don't want to close that down, but we're not averse to working with agents as well. We'd like to increase our international focus." They have foreign rights agents that go to all the big overseas trade shows; the biggest is Frankfurt Book Fair.

"The agents either have a booth or they walk the show and talk to their foreign agent contacts in different countries and say, Hawthorne's looking for international titles or Hawthorne has an American title that we think will do well overseas." There are foreign rights deals for a couple of Hawthorne's titles that are just now being released.

"Over the years we've gotten really careful and smart about the books we take on," Sage says. "We don't feel a lot of pressure to put books out into the market place. We publish between two and four books a year."

Propeller Mag and Propeller Books

Thankfully, there are publishers who do ask the question: "What kind of press can I have if I'm not trying to make money?" Dan DeWeese makes his living as a writing teacher at PSU and curates writing, photography and art in an online magazine, Propeller Mag.

To support the short story as a literary form, Dan and contributing editor, Evan P Schneider, will publish a collection of short stories this year. Propeller Books' debut title is by Portland author, Mary Rechner, Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women, available in October of 2010. Propeller Books plans to publish one book a year. Portland readers who read Rechner's book will help support yet another new author. And we can look for another Propeller Book in 2011.

The Grove Review

The Grove Review is literary journal based in Portland. Twice a year, they publish a collection of poetry, short stories, photography, fine art, and interviews. To celebrate the new issue, The Grove Review invites you to meet with writers and artists and hear readings from Molly Gloss, Hannah Louise Poston, and Oregon’s newest Poet Laureate, Paulann Petersen.

The Grove Review Release Party
Date: July 15, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Writer’s Dojo, 7518 North Chicago Avenue

Readings begin at 8:00 p.m.
Wine and dessert to follow (complimentary)

For a writer, the process of publishing typically begins with getting their work in periodicals. "Dennis Stovall, the director of the publishing program has been a huge supporter of The Grove," says Matt Barry, publisher and editor of The Grove Review. About five years ago, Barry met two writers while taking a class at The Attic and they decided to publish a journal.

"I was invited to a couple meetings of the literary arts organization," Barry says. He mentioned that he wanted to start a literary magazine and the man sitting next him turned out to be Dennis Stovall. Their conversation led to a collaboration with students in the publishing program. "Our managing editor is from Ooligan," Barry say.

The Grove Review plans to offer a blend of hardcopy books and a PDF version. With electronic distribution, Barry says: "Someone could be sitting in Japan and download a copy of The Grove."

The Big Picture

Online literary magazines could have a button on the webpage that allows the story to go to the reader's Facebook or Twitter account, maximizing the capacity of the Internet to distribute a story. Even with international distribution, a resilient business has its roots in the community and grows through relationships. Collaboration is the heart of literary arts because writing is ultimately communication between people.

Here are some of the presses and publications in Portland:

Book Publishers
Tin House Books
Inkwater Press
Timber Press

Micro Press
Future Tense Books
Publication Studio
Bedouin Books
Verse Chorus Press

Literary Magazines
Burnside Review
Portland Review
Tin House Magazine
Orlo
Glimmer Train
Poor Claudia
Plazm
Voice Catcher
Yeti Magazine
Gertrude Press

And a blog dedicated to covering Portland's literary culture: Reading Local.

If you know of presses or literary journals in Portland (or any recommendations given what you've experienced of Portland's literature), please comment.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction (6.15.2010):

Rethinking Paper & Ink: The Sustainable Publishing Revolution was a booklet written by Janine Eckhart and Melissa Brumer and published by Ooligan Press in 2009—not May 2010. We regret the error.