Misspent Youth

I’ve made a living off of my misspent youth. More about that in a minute.

Scalzi-san’s been kind enough to assign me Mondays, which should get everyone’s week off to a stumbling start. In about three weeks I’ll join the ranks as one of John’s publishers, when we release his novel, Agent to the Stars. I’ve met John twice, and can tell you he’s bright, short, bald, dresses better than most authors, and gestures with his hands when excited. His table manners are excellent. He claims to be able to dance, but, thankfully, I’ve seen no evidence of that.

Back to my youth. Like many a geek, I spent most of my free time buried in one book after another, one magazine or another. Everything from drawing room mysteries to thrillers to SF to my monthy dose of Asimov’s Science Fiction. Naturally enough, I grew up to be a publisher.

I’ve earned my living running Subterranean Press for the past five years, where we’ve published the likes of Joe R. Lansdale, Dan Simmons, Orson Scott Card, Charles de Lint, and many others. We release 25 hardcovers a year, with print runs ranging from 500 to over 5000 copies.

Enough of the backstory. Starting Monday, I aim to talk a little bit about the smaller end of publishing, the things that are important to an outfit such as ours, what we can offer to readers and writers. If you have specific questions you want answered, I’m glad to consider them.

See you Monday.