Why SPD's closure risks losing vital literary culture
A deep dive on what happens to books on defunct presses in the wake of SPD's closure
Today is the 7th anniversary of my book A Turkish Dictionary. Unfortunately, after SPD’s closure, the book is no longer available through normal conduits. And, since 1913 Press is currently on hiatus, I fear that it’s unlikely to move to a new distribution platform like Asterism or Itasca or another anytime soon if ever. (If you’re interested in getting a copy, DM me.) While I usually celebrate this day, this year it’s a reminder of the current crisis.
I’m lucky, though. I did the design for my book, which means that I have possession of the design files. My background in publishing also means that I have the knowledge and experience to “do something” (whatever that is) to keep the book available to someone who wants it. I’m not sure what (if anything) I’ll do, but I do know that I’m lucky to know that I could.
But I also know that there are hundreds or even thousands of authors who don’t have the same luck as me. They’re authors who put out interesting, unique pieces of literature that added to our culture—and now at a moment’s notice those books have disappeared. Thinking about this collection of books makes me mad, sad, and determined. Thinking about this collection of books is one of the reasons I went on my initial rant on my IG stories and eventually started this substack.
So why is this such a big problem?
I think many people reading this probably know some or all of the answer to this question, but I still think it’s important to write it out and document it. I’m going to break it down into a few individual questions, which are all overlapping and intertwined.
Why doesn’t the press just move to a new distributor?
This is a great option—for some presses. And we’re seeing it happen a lot thankfully, with Asterism and Itasca onboarding new presses daily from SPD’s former list. But this doesn’t work for everyone.
In the small press world, in large part due to the economic reality of small press publishing, presses commonly close or go on an extended hiatus. This could mean years before a press starts back up with new books, if ever. At The Offending Adam, a literary journal and chapbook press I ran, we had about a hiatus starting in ~2016 before returning in 2021, then going on hiatus again starting last year.
One of the good things that SPD did was ensure continued distribution of the books these presses put out—as long as there were books to distribute, of course.
This presents two obstacles that are challenging if not possible to overcome.
First, a new distributor has little to no incentive to bring on such a press. The vast majority of book sales are of new books. Backlist books (books a couple of years old and past their “release window”) can provide a nice “long tail” for a distributor and publisher. But that won’t cover the cost and effort of onboarding a press.
If a typical backlist poetry title sells ~5 copies per year through the distributor (this is honestly probably on the optimistic side, especially for the smaller presses), and the press has about 30 books in total, that means the distributor is seeing income for 150 books a year. This is unlikely to be anywhere near covering their costs. They either have to make it up that gap through exorbitant fees (hello, SPD!) or by saying “no.”
Basically, market and economic forces are huge headwinds that are difficult to overcome.
Second, if a press is on hiatus (formally or informally), there’s less chance that they will figure out a way to overcome the challenges. Typically, a hiatus means that the press’s directors and/or editors don’t have the time, energy, or finances to continue operations at the time.
(I want to emphasize something here: This isn’t meant to knock traditional distribution. The point I’m hoping to get to is something else—that we need traditional distribution AND something else.)
Ok, so why don’t you just move your book to a new press?
Again, this is a great option—for some books. But similar economic pressures that I mentioned above apply here. If a book is only moving a handful of copies at best a year, that’s a big ask for a press to spend the time, energy, and resources to reprint it and list it in their catalog. Most presses have a mission and focus on bringing out new books, not saving old books.
There are also likely contractual challenges. While not every small press book is formally contracted (dirty secret), there are some pretty standard practices. A press typically has all printing and distribution rights as long as the book is “in print”. That term generally means that books exist AND they are available to the trade in some channel. And when the book becomes “out of print” (no books and/or not available to buy), the press has some period of time in which to bring the book back into print. A press can give an author an early release, but regardless this is a hurdle an author needs to get over.
To overgeneralize using a rule of thumb, the right to print and distribute the books in this limbo won’t revert to the author until sometime in 2025. And if there isn’t a contract? Well, most likely nobody will sue anyone else because there’s no money to be had, but that’s an even more complicated quagmire.
If all of these things get overcome, there’s still the question of the book design. In a perfect world, the press would provide the original design files, making it easy for the new press to print and release the book. But in the real world, many of these design files will be lost or corrupted or otherwise unavailable. That increases the cost for the new press even further.
And this is all to bring out a backlist book that’s unlikely to move the needle.
Why don’t you just put it yourself out as an ebook?
Again, a great question. But you run into a lot of the same friction points. First, the contractual issues. Second, the design file issues. The design file issue is even greater if it’s poetry, because poetry oftentimes is at odds with how e-readers are set up. The line breaks, line lengths, and arrangement of words on the page is, in many books, a concrete part of the artwork. An e-reader’s ability to change font and page size is great for accessibility, and works well for standard prose. But it can wreak havoc on a lot of poetry.
Third is the question of how you put it out as an ebook. Dealing with Amazon and other comparable ebook providers is both a large operational hurdle AND an ethical question. I’ll likely dive into Amazon and corporate bookstores another day, but suffice here to say that many authors even if they can overcome the operational hurdles have little to no desire to “feed the beast” of Amazon.
The alternate digital option is to offer the book as a PDF, probably on the author’s own website. This means that the book is available, though very little discoverability. And it also loops back to the question of: how do you get a PDF if you don’t have the original design files or weren’t given a PDF by your publisher in the first place?
But most books are lost to the ether after a couple of years. Is this really a problem?
This is a great point that’s important to interrogate. Most books released to the trade are out of print and leftover copies are pulped REALLY quickly. But the kind of books I’m talking about have a completely different function to these books.
There are a million ways to categorize books, but here we can put them into two buckets: “literary culture” and “consumer product.”
The presses formerly of SPD and the general literary community, while existing in a capitalist society and thinking about financial sustainability, is primarily focused on contributing to and supporting literary culture.
The “other books” in this setup function for a different primary reason: to generate an acceptable profit margin for ownership. This isn’t meant to say that books in this bucket aren’t sincere, don’t contribute to culture or a sub-culture, and don’t have value beyond their profit margin. But the reason they exist is first and foremost to turn a profit for one of the Big 5 publishers. If the publisher didn’t think they would generate a profit, they wouldn’t print the book.
So the point of the whole pursuit is different. The point is to contribute to and sustain literary culture. And losing part of that culture is a huge blow.
Ok, I get it. Problems, problems, problems. Is there a solution? Something?
The current solution is: libraries. I don’t know the percent of SPD’s books that found a home at libraries, but many if not all are likely housed at one institution or another. And some library institutions such as the Beinecke Library at Yale and Arizona Poetry Center have built up a fairly comprehensive archive of small press literature.
Itasca and Bookmobile are ramping up print-on-demand (POD) options alongside their digital printing options. This will in the aggregate and over the long term lead to more books being available for longer.
But there is still a gap. A huge gap. If you don’t live near one of these libraries and don’t have institutional support or your own financial support to visit, then they aren’t accessible to you. If the press or book isn’t available via Bookmobile/Itasca, then the book isn’t accessible to you.
So at the moment, I’d say: No, there isn’t really a solution. Or at least a solution that comprehensively solves the problem.
But I do think there is a potential solution. I’m not sure exactly what it is right now. But I do believe there’s one (or, more likely, more than one) out there. And I hope, through talking this out here, we’ll be able to find those paths and ensure a stronger future for literary culture.
Ok, I’m wrapping it here for now but I’m excited to dive into these topics more in the coming weeks, from “what does it mean to publish?” to “why is nobody talking about small publishing business models” to “how have ALL the changes over the last few decades changed what we need as readers, writers, publishers, and distributors?” and MORE.
If you’re a publisher or writer who has been impacted in any way by SPD’s closure or wants to talk about possible paths forward, please message me using the button below.