Just returned from a mini-hike in Deep Cove (nature = good for my soul + sunshine = good for my body). There's a tiny art shop/gallery on the main street strip, where they were selling hand-bound, -illustrated and -printed children's books. Each was embellished with gold ink and embossed titles. The illustrations were Alice-In-Wonderland-Amazing, but Canadian (sub hedgehogs for beavers, but keep the rabbits). The artist, who's name I can't remember, blast!, is based in Deep Cove, but has recently worked on the new edition of Wind in the Willows out of a London publishing house. Each handmade storybook I saw was around $60. I commented that this seemed quite reasonable for all the work that went in to each one, but another patron of the store disagreed with me. The owner said, quite amiably, that she had bought one each for her children, owing to the fact that she is "a Romantic at heart."
Need you be a Romantic to purchase such a book? There seems to be a feeling that those writers who really "make it" publish with RandomHouse or Pengiun. However, "making it" and having talent and producing a quality book are not mutually inclusive occurrences.
Now, this may not be categorically true like, 100% of the time, but I feel strongly that small presses do not want to sell you disposable stories. Small presses publish the very best of the submissions they receive, without regard for whether their readership will like the stories or not. Honestly! When I was on the board of echolocation, we published a poem comprised of a list of fonts. Why? Because it was new. Because we had never seen it done before. We also published wonderful stories that were, incidentally, easy to read. Small presses have the ability to publish innovative and interesting work because there are less barriers. The staff is smaller, the editor has more hands-on time, and the budget, though tighter *sigh*, is not expected to be met by sales of the mag itself. Donations, fund-raisers, and grants keep small publishers alive. In this way, the small publisher is less accountable to the tastes of the masses.
On the opposite end, when a huge publishing house has an idea about what types of stories sell, then they are apt to publish those kinds of stories. In fact, my new edition of Pride and Prejudice (from Penguin) is designed to look like pocket Chick Lit (you all know that swirly font). They have an obligation to entertain as much as to publish quality materiel.
Next time you are at a bookstore, buy an independent literary magazine (even in Chapters! If you look, you can find them). You might not be entertained, necessarily (but probably! probably you will be entertained!), but definitely: you will not be disappointed.
