Some people think small presses are what an author resorts to where they can't get a big agent or big publisher. This is a bullshit narrative, so let's undo it. (thread)
#smallpresses #amwriting #publishing #amquerying

I publish with small presses because I WANT to. When I set out to find a publisher for Volcanoes, Palm Trees and Privilege, I started with small presses. They were the first tier for me.

I choose to publish on small presses because they publish interesting work--work that takes chances. They aren't concerned with commerce over art, and ARE concerned with their relationship with their authors.

A small press has time to let a book grow in the world. They nurture it, and you, for a long time. You never stop being their author. Baby’s on Fire came out on @Press53 in 2015, & they're still finding ways to promote my book.

Volcanoes, Palm Trees and Privilege has been out more than a year and a half, and Overcup Press is still thinking about how to get it into more people’s hands. “There’s no such thing as a backlist at Overcup,” they recently told me. You won't hear that from a Big 5.

Small presses don’t give blockbuster advances, and they don’t expect blockbuster sales numbers. They on't expect you to fail. They do everything they can to help you succeed--for as long as it takes.

Small presses want your weird, dark, unusual, sad, sexy, fantastical, stories. They want essays that bend structure, that combine lyricism and facts and are non-linear poems, and they want your poems that are memoirs and language lessons and mix tapes.

Small presses are the beating hearts of our literary world, so let’s stop talking about them like they're a last resort. Let's re-define what success looks like. (end of thread)