Independent Presses

My novel belongs in the literary fiction category and the intermittent esoteric allusions (I've been told) found throughout the text might be more appealing to independent presses than to commercial presses. Is there a list somewhere of some such entities? Are there any independent presses you're familiar with that accept unsolicited mss?

James D. Macdonald said:

What is your understanding of the terms "commercial press" and "independent press"?

Does your novel resemble, in any way, any other novel you have ever read?

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Thank you for your response and forgive me for my ignorance in such matters. I employed the term "commercial" in the same way others use it when asking for the genre in which your work belongs.
As stated above, mine belongs in literary fiction rather than commercial fiction. That's the way in which I referred to a commercial press.

The only novel it bears any resemblance to (by design) is James Joyce's Ulysses. Thus I am looking for a publisher willing to take on a book that does not fit into any of the "sure thing" categories that most presses apparently look for nowadays.

Perhaps you can enlighten me on the proper differentiation.

I would be all the more indebted if you were to recommend where I might find reference to some of the publishers who might consider some such novel.

AW Admin said:

An independent publisher is one who sells to the trade (i.e. retail book stores etc.) but is not one of the Big 5.

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Thank you. That certainly helps.

James D. Macdonald said:

Who publishes the books you enjoy reading?

Seriously, if I had something well away from popular genres, I'd look to the Big 5 first: they have the financial resources to back a worth-while book that won't show an immediate profit (or, perhaps, any profit at all). Your smaller presses may not have that luxury.

The Big 5 also have imprints that are definitely geared to the so-called "literary" market, as opposed to the genre markets.

To walk in the door at any of them, you'll probably need an agent. Look for agents who work with "literary" books, and who have positive recent sales histories to major publishers.

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Very helpful. Thank you.

AW Admin said:

Random House is the U.S. publisher; they've also published other similar "experimental" works since. G. P. Putnam publishes Nabokov's Pale Fire. Harper Collins publishes Vikram Seth.

You might want to look at more recent kinds of fiction and who publishes it; the publishing world is not what it was when Sylvia Beach first published Ulysses in 1922.

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I will follow up on these. Thanks.

JCornelius said:

Entity list 1 http://www.pw.org/small_presses
Entity list 2 https://www.thebalance.com/small-and-independent-press-profiles-1277429
Entity list 3 http://www.writersdigest.com/writin...sell-my-work/not_in_new_york_15_small_presses
Entity list 4 http://www.ralan.com/m.publish.htm
Entity list 5 http://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/

When browsing publishers check each one's reputation on the net, not least of all here in the Background checks section http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?22-Bewares-Recommendations-amp-Background-Check

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Excellent suggestions. Thanks for going to the trouble to provide them.

Aloysius said:

Excellent suggestions. Thanks for going to the trouble to provide them.

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Great links. Just what I need. Thanks again.