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[15.5.06] [Andrew Gallix]
WE ARE GETTING CLOSER
 Here is a short extract from the press release for The Edgier Waters: 5 Years of 3:AM Magazine (edited by A. Stevens) to whet your appetite: "Since its founding in 2000, 3:AM Magazine has emerged as the leading litzine for writers and upstarts who work beyond the narrow confines of the mainstream, championing and giving a space to those who defy boundaries and taboos. Now, for the first time in print, Snowbooks is proud to present a selection. Taking pride in this edgy focus and ignoring the more commercial terrain of its rivals, this anthology assembles a diverse selection of stories, poems and essays which have appeared in the magazine over the past five years, from award-winning authors to emerging new talents." The book will be launched in London on 29 May.
The Guardian's Culture Vulture lets Snowbooks explain why they are Small Publisher of the Year:
"Snowbooks was started three years ago by two people who had never worked in publishing. Undaunted, they set about creating a publishing company from scratch, picking up authors who had been passed over by the majors but lauded elsewhere. At the same time, they produced beautiful editions of forgotten classics: Virginia Woolf's 'lost' essays about London; EM Forster's exquisitely crafted short stories; AA Milne's Punch columns on the themes of war and party games. The real change though, was in the way in which the publishing company was set up, and the manner in which it grew. Traditionally, the grand houses are split into ring-fenced departments: editorial chooses the books (and, less and less these days, edits them), production puts them together, design makes them pretty, marketing promotes them, publicity shouts about them, and sales sells them. Along the way those books, and the authors, are going to find someone who is passionate about them, but many of these people will be a long way from the centre, and the number of books that fall through the cracks every year is unimaginable. The sheer number of titles published by the majors, and the range of genres involved, means that no one can give their full love and attention to every one. . . .
At Snowbooks, on the other hand, each publisher acts as editor, designer, typesetter and publicist for their books, and the only condition attached to acquiring them is to make a good case that they'll sell -- even in the idealistic world some of us live in, these things still have to turn a profit. It is hoped that this individual focus on each title passes a little more of the publisher's belief in them onto the reader. That's why Snowbooks' 2006 list, compiled by just four people, includes such diverse titles as new fiction from JD Landis and Sarah Bryant; the sequel to Robert Finn's bestselling thriller Adept; memoirs about motherhood, rock'n'roll and east European rent boys; gruesome crime novels from Carol Anne Davis and US fine artist Jonathan Santlofer; an anthology celebrating 5 years of 'edgy literature' from online magazine 3:AM; several martial arts training guides; and a volume of hilarious interviews with the friends and colleagues of Peter Cook. . . ."
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