Small Press Spotlight: Rooster Republic Press

Today’s spotlight is on Rooster Republic, a relatively new press in a relatively new genre, Bizarro.

Give a brief overview of what you publish.

Mostly bizarro but we’ve also dabbled in poetry and horror. As long as it’s strange (and good) it has a home at Rooster.

What inspired you to go into publishing?

I learned the business while working as a Staff Accountant at a small book factory named Thomson-Shore. I saw the way traditional publishers did business and I thought I could do it better. Honestly, from the outside looking in, publishing looks pretty easy. I was so wrong. So, so, sooooooo wrong. This is an incredibly difficult job and I wouldn’t recommend it for most people.

What’s a publishing pet peeve of yours?

Authors and small presses fighting on the internet. It’s extremely unprofessional and it makes everybody involved look childish.

Talk about one goal you have for your press/publication.

Graphic novels. I’ve been trying to get a graphic novel out there for years. There are so many challenges with putting together a graphic novel that listing them would fill up this page. But, I think we (StrangeHouse Books) may be close to finally putting one together. Although, I probably just jinxed it by speaking about it publicly.

Publishing is a tough business, have you ever thought of quitting? What keeps you going during the bad times?

I’ve thought about quitting many times. It’s an incredibly demanding job and the pay is terrible. Honestly, I think my stubbornness is what keeps me going. That and the fact that each year we do this we make a little more money and sell a few more books than the previous year. It’s a slow incline, but it’s there. We’ve been in the black for a few years now and the money we make allows us to travel and go to conventions promoting the books we love. That’s pretty awesome, I don’t think I can give that up just yet.