As I said in my last blog, it’s almost impossible to compete with the ginormous dickhead that is Amazon. But it’s so much better for our authors (and for us) to order straight through our shop that it behooves us to get a little creative —in an attempt to lure you away from the behemoth and gently balance things out.
Does it Really Matter Where You Buy? Here's the Math
Publisher's Notebook, Book News, ParentShift
Celebrating and Reflecting on the (Weird) Launch of ‘ParentShift’
Now, as personally fulfilling as it’s been — and as proud that I am of the finished product — and as glad I am that my amazing co-authors agreed to publish the book through Brown Paper Press — I would very much like to NEVER DO THIS AGAIN. It’s just too difficult wearing the cap of publisher and author at the same time. I
‘Inheritance’ inches closer to the New York stage
Peter has been in New York this week workshopping his adaptation of The Inheritance of Shame with a bunch of Broadway actors — and will speak about it at The Center in Chelsea on Tuesday — and, dammit, it’s all just hugely exciting.
Just a Treasure Trove of Cool Stuff About Our Latest Book Is All
Of all the aspects of bringing a a book to life, the cover design is, by far, one of the most fun. We have had the pleasure of working with some wonderful designers here and abroad, but none as well known as Joan Wong, the designer for our latest book.
#PubTip: Offset-Printing Contracts Should Come With Free Xanax
Activist Author Adapting 'Inheritance of Shame' into Play
Conversion therapy survivor Peter Gajdics, the author of our own Inheritance of Shame, has a lot to celebrate these days. In addition to bringing much-needed awareness to efforts to ban conversion therapy for gay youth and adults in his native Canada and beyond, he also has been contracted to adapt his book into a play. How cool is that?
Our Newest Treasure: 'Trove'
When you publish as few books as we do, every one needs to be fantastic. That’s my philosophy, at least. There have been a lot of “almost-fantastics” that have come our way in the last year — more and more every day, thankfully. But none of them reached out and grabbed me until September—when I received Sandra Miller’s debut, Trove.
Publishers Have Dads, and Sometimes Those Dads Die
When I started this blog last March, my intention was to write regularly about what it’s like to be a small book publisher, to pull back the curtain and expose how things really work around here. But within weeks of starting the blog, my dad was given a terminal diagnosis. The cancers — yes, plural — that he’d been staving off for years had finally made their move, and this wonderful human began his long goodbye.
The One Where We Announce 'ParentShift'
Shit Just Got Real Because We Have an Intern Now
Book News, Publisher's Notebook
Author Helps Bring End to Conversion Therapy In his Native Vancouver
Hold the Bag, Please
Can You Spare a Moment in the Name of Literature?
Five Books By, For and About Women
In honor of supporting books by women all year round and also of World Book Day, here in the first of our Five Things series are five books we’ve loved written by, for, and about women.
Catching Up With Tim Grobaty Two Years After He Said He was "Dyin'"
Welcome to NOTES IN THE MARGINS, the world's first publishing blog
'INHERITANCE' NAMED AS RANDY SHILTS AWARD FINALIST
We are thrilled to announce that The Inheritance of Shame: A Memoir was named today as a finalist for the prestigious Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction.
Awarded by The Publisher's Triangle, an association for lesbian and gay men in publishing, the Randy Shilts Award is an honor shared by David France (How to Survive a Plague), Barney Frank (Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage), and David Sedaris (Naked).
The winner will be announced at the 30th annual Triangle Awards, celebrating the best LGBTQ books of 2017. The ceremony will be held on April 26, 2018, at the New School in New York City, at 7 p.m.
The four finalists for the Randy Shilts Award are:
Brilliant Imperfection, by Eli Clare (Duke University Press)
The Inheritance of Shame, by Peter Gajdics (Brown Paper Press)
Lives of Great Men, by Chike Frankie Edozien (Team Angelica Publishing)
Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic, by Richard A. McKay (University of Chicago Press
The night before the awards, Peter will be among a select number of Triangle Awards finalists participating in a reading at the Bureau of General Services, Queer Division — the bookstore inside the LGBT Community Services Center in Manhattan. The event is free to the public.
Congratulations, Peter!
NEW YEAR, NEW DISTRIBUTOR
Since our inception in 2014, Brown Paper Press has been distributed through IngramSpark, a subsidiary of Ingram Content Group. This arrangement has made our books readily accessible by every bookstore in America and in several foreign countries.
But it also means we lack a dedicated sales force, or automatic exposure to established booksellers — which is a disadvantage when it comes to building a publishing business.
So, as of Jan. 1, 2017, our books will be made available through SCB Distributors — a full-service distributor and home to a number of small presses we greatly admire. At the same time, we will be making our first foray into offset printing with Peter Gajdics' The Inheritance of Shame. Check out SCB's latest catalogue here.
We are very excited about this new step, but it also means that we are taking a big risk. So think of us fondly, will you? With all your fingers crossed.
BPP'S LATEST BOOK, 'INHERITANCE OF SHAME,' DUE OUT IN MAY 2017
Please join us in congratulating Canadian author Peter Gajdics, whose breathtaking memoir — The Inheritance of Shame — will be published by Brown Paper Press this spring.
The Inheritance of Shame chronicles the six years Gajdics spent in a bizarre form of conversion therapy that attempted to “cure” him of his homosexuality. You can read more about the book here, or on the book's website — inheritanceofshame.com
We cannot tell you how proud we are to have this memoir in our small but slowly growing arsenal. The book is a page-turner, to be sure, but also is an inspirational glimpse at the power of compassion, resilience and self-acceptance.
And, as you'll soon see, it took a hell of a lot of courage to write it.
We expect the book will be of special interest to Americans curious about conversion therapy, as Vice President-Elect Mike Pence has thrown his support church-based therapies in the past. This, despite reams of evidence proving such tactics are both fruitless and damaging.
The Inheritance of Shame will be published on May 16 — during Long Beach’s Pride Week. Stay tuned for news of Peter's launch party and book tour. As always, we'd love to see you there.
Oh! And the beautiful cover was designed by the Alban Fischer, whose other work can be found here.