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Dzanc Books / Keyhole Press

DreamWeaver

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Their "About" page does not inspire. This is it in its entirety:
We make books.

Keyhole is an imprint of Dzanc Books.
Evidently it did not occur to them that some prospective authors might be interested in more information about who is running the show and what background they have.

The site appears to be mainly aimed at readers, so it's possible providing background information to prospective authors is quite far down their list of priorities. However, if I as a book customer clicked on that link to find out more, I'd be a bit put off by the "We make books." I can't decide if they're going for snarky or hipster. But then, I loathe uncommunicative About Us pages, no matter the subject of the website, be it kitchen gadgets, life insurance policies, telephone services, or publishers. Pet peeve ;).
 
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Fruitbat

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Dzanc Books lists Keyhole as an imprint. But on the Keyhole site, on one page it says it is an imprint of Dzanc. On another page it lists Dzanc- and another press- as "partners." http://www.keyholepress.com/
 
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LindaJeanne

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The Dzanc about page says:

As a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, Dzanc:

...
* Supports several editorially-independent imprints and literary journals, including
...
Keyhole Press,
...
 

Fruitbat

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Thanks, everyone.

This "supports several editorially-independent imprints..." what does that mean?
 
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LindaJeanne

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Thanks, LindaJeanne. Thanks also to Dreamweaver, OJCade, and CaoPaux.

This "supports several editorially-independent imprints..." what the heck does that mean? Is that a customary thing?

When I think "imprint of," I consider that the quality etcetera is the same as that of the parent publisher, like it's a department within a business. This sounds like a looser association, as in maybe I wouldn't know who I was dealing with or what to expect from them.

Does anyone know what such wording means and how that differs from a "regular" imprint? Or am I making a big distinction where there isn't one?

I think that it is an important distinction.

(though I have no idea specifically what it means for a publisher to "support several editorially-independent imprints". What sort of support? Financial? Mentorship? Something else entirely?)

Also, since Keyhole seems to put at least as much emphasis on its print literary journal as on its book publishing, it seems odd for its about page to simply say "we make books" without mentioning the journal.

Could it be the Keyhole website is still under construction and that's just placeholder text?
 

Jakobkraft

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I was thinking of submitting to them--and I see the "About" page no longer reads "We make books." There's actual information there.

Think it's safe to submit a novel?
 

OJCade

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Weird. It still looks the same uninformative placeholder to me...
 

Round Two

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ohjammer

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By 2015, Dzanc has become a major force for literary fiction, with quite a few illuminaries in the catalogue. Well respected. No worries with these guys, except if they publish you, then you are teaching creative writing somewhere and living on 40k$ a year.
 

CaitlinJans

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They are still respected and continue to publish some excellent work but they now charge a reading fee for all manuscript submissions.
 

CaoPaux

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Dzanc subs are currently through their contests: $25 fee for chance to win $1500-$5000 advance with publication.

Subs to The Collagist still free, though.

Dropped support of "editorially-independent imprints" in '15. Perhaps related, no activity for Keyhole Press after '16.