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We had the privilege to interview Elaine Katzenberger, Executive Director and Publisher for City Lights Books. City Lights is a bookstore, a small press, and a forceful voice in the literary industry.
BGBL: Why are small presses important?
Elaine: Our choices are not based solely on what kind of marketplace demand might be perceived, and are often made in spite of it, in all honesty, as we work to CREATE a market and readership for the authors and the writing we believe in. I’d say that in this regard, independent presses enrich not only the literary landscape, but also our civic life, by cultivating alternatives to pop culture and stimulating curious minds to look further, be more adventurous, think more critically, ask questions and reach for answers. This may sound lofty, but in truth it’s our reason for working as hard as we do against all odds!
BGBL: How are small presses elevating the publishing world?
Elaine: We expand the world of ideas far beyond the “taste” cultivated by corporate houses with a bottom-line-driven approach. But also, by successfully doing what we do, we nip at the heels of those “big houses” and show them what’s possible. And then sometimes they pick up on the fact that there actually IS a readership for certain kinds of books they hadn’t thought worth publishing, start to think about communities they hadn’t bothered to think about serving, and so suddenly those books get the big money behind them and many more people become aware of authors who otherwise would never have seen the light of day. So, in this sense, we’re elevating the overall publishing world by not only publishing our own books but also by operating as a test environment that can open book industry minds that might otherwise be closed due to a lack of awareness of possibility.
Find Your Next Indy Read At: City Lights
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