Do you ever buy small press books?

Cafe Society
1

The only small press publishers I’m halfway familiar with are the ones that publish horror titles. (I don’t even know if there are others.) Much of Stephen King’s work has been published in special limited editions, and I think Dean Koontz has done limiteds too. I can’t think of any other hugely popular writers who have done this.

By small, I mean print runs of 300 to 500 copies. The books are usually signed, numbered, lettered, slipcased, with original artwork either inside or on the dust jacket. Cost is generally from $50 to $300, sometimes more.

I’m interested to know how many general readers buy limited editions, and why. Is it because that’s the only way you can read a particular author, or for the collecting value (resale), or to own a really nice rare book?

Have you discovered any favorite authors through limiteds?

If your favorite writer published something in a limited edition, would you buy it, or would you wait for a mass market edition?

2

I’ve never bouugth anything super-deluxe like you’ve described, but I’ve cetainly got a few books that were only ever published in the 300-500 range. Normally, it’s from totally obscure authors who only ever sell that many books anyway.

3

I do, but you probably knew that already.

Primarily to obtain editions of books unavailable elsewhere because of limited demand for the authors’ work. I’ve bought several reprints from specialty publishers Midnight House and Ash-Tree Press…major publishing houses would see no profit in putting out the books of Charles Birkin or John Metcalfe or W.C. Morrow.

Also the Gauntlet Press edition of Ray Bradbury’s first collection, Dark Carnival. It cost a lot, but I really, really wanted a copy of Dark Carnival.

4

The last figure I saw was that the U.S. had 57,000 publishers. There are maybe 6 major publishers left. I’ll bet that many of the books you buy come from small presses and you aren’t aware of it.

Yes, there are some small presses that are set up to sell high-value collectibles to fanatic fans and people who are under the usually false impression that they will soar in value. It’s not just King and Koontz. Hundreds of authors are involved and most high-end booksellers catalogs will be full of such editions. Just put signed numbered limited edition books into Google to see what all pops up.

Personally, I don’t ever touch 'em. I can better spend the money on true collectibles or on twenty less expensive books or, even better, on small press books unavailable elsewhere.

Many other small presses have evolved to fill niches that the six majors can’t profitably deal with. It’s become almost impossible for a science fiction author to get a collection of short stories published from a major press. So there are many small presses in the field that print wonderful, amazingly brilliant writers like Kelly Link, John Crowley, Ray Vukcevich, John Kessel, James Patrick Kelly, Paul Di Filippo - to name some I’ve personally bought recently - and dozens more whom the public mostly (except maybe for Crowley) wouldn’t recognize. Some of these are also in limited signed editions, but at maybe $25 instead of $500.

And many of these small press reprint genre books that have fallen out of print.

The mystery field has similar presses, both for new works and old. Crippen & Landru, e.g., has been collecting short stories by many classic mystery writers that weren’t already in other collections in their Lost Classics series.

Other writers are appearing from regional presses who are willing to take chances on local talent that is not being recognized elsewhere.

The number of copies in a print run is going to vary tremendously from house to house, genre to genre, fiction to nonfiction, and even book to book.

So the limited edition small press is a tiny, tiny fraction of the small press market.

5

Yeah, Ike, I thought of you. A lot of Joe Lansdale’s work has been small press, hasn’t it?

I’ve bought from Midnight House too. (You need the Bob Leman collection – Feesters in the Lake – worth every penny of the $40.)

What Tapioca Dextrin said – about the writers being obscure – have small presses changed? Back in the 80’s, limiteds were from writers I was familiar with. A special edition was like a reward for success, or a revival of something that was tragically out of print.

Now they’re asking big bucks for new writers. Some of them are probably quite good, but who can afford to try them?

Maybe I’m just longing for the good old days of solid, mid-list horror writers.

6

Aha! I have collections from Kelly Link and James Patrick Kelly. Never thought to look and see who published them. You’re right, I’m probably buying lots more small press than I knew.

7

I don’t often buy limiteds, but I do seek out some small press books - I’m slowly buying everything Persephone has put out, for example, because they’re all so good! Impeccable taste, and a lot of things I’d never have found elsewhere or on my own. (Free recommendation: The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield-Fisher.)

8

My hobby is Sherlock Holmes and Doyle related stuff. While some items can hit a larger (relatively) market, most of the stuff has to be printed by small press publishers just because of the limited number of interested people. A press run of 400 is pretty typical with 1,000 being considered fairly big. The people running Ash-tree Press mentioned by Ukulele Ike also have Calabash Press which is their outlet for Holmes stuff. I helped with editing a reprint of a Doyle short story manuscript last year. It was a small run (I forgot to ask how big - I need to check that) and as a result the book costs $45.