Making Publishing Visible

“The Contemporary Small Press: Making Publishing Visible is essential reading for anyone interested in the Anglo-American publishing industry of the past fifty years. At a time when conglomerates are dominating the industry, small presses offer an alternative model of development. The book shows how these enterprising publishers have carved a niche for themselves in relation to the mainstream firms. This is a powerful story of survival, of creativity and ingenuity at a time of rapid change and digital disruptions.”

—Lise Jaillant, Lecturer in English, Loughborough University, UK

The Contemporary Small Press: Making Publishing Visible addresses the contemporary literary small press in the US and UK from the perspective of a range of disciplines. Covering numerous aspects of small press publishing -- poetry and fiction, children's publishing, the importance of ethical commitments, the relation to the mainstream, the attitudes of those working for presses, the role of the state in supporting presses -- scholars from literary criticism, the sociology of literature and publishing studies demonstrate how a variety of approaches and methods are needed to fully understand the contemporary small press and its significance for literary studies and for broader literary culture.

The book is edited by Georgina Colby (Senior Lecturer in English Literature the University of Westminster), Kaja Marczewska (researcher, writer and Research Manager at the Victoria and Albert Museum) and Leigh Wilson (Professor of English Literature at the University of Westminster).