WHC part 3—pack mentality

There is no doubt in my mind that the best part of the con was being next to Dave Barnett from Necro Publications and Jeremy Lassen fromNightshade Books in the dealers room. Plus Matt Schwartz fromShocklines often stopped by. Not only are these guys extremely nice and helpful but they really know what they’re doing when it comes to publishing and selling books.

We haven’t had much contact with other publishers and I always feared that they might resent the competition. That is definitely not the case with these guys. In fact, many people start small presses because they see something missing from the market and know there is quality work being overlooked. Once you start publishing you realize how much it involves and find yourself turning material down simply because you don’t have time to do it justice. So when you see another press spring up you think, ‘thank god, there’s another wolf in the pack.’

From the outside the small press seems like a mysterious coterie. There’s a million and one things to learn and a plethora of ways to go about doing any one thing. Most of us start out in a vacuum, stumbling blindly, making mistakes and hopefully learning from them. The problem is if you make a big mistake right off the bat that could kill your press. That’s why there is nothing more valuable than getting a chance to talk to the survivors. The ones who made it through the first 3 winters.

current mood: grateful
current music: Strangeland Soundtrack