MFA Fiction Alumnus Jeremy T. Wilson on Publishing a Novel with an Independent Press

In a typical MFA program, workshops consist mostly of short stories, a form of fiction we are told no one likes to read. So when I was putting my short story collection Adult Teeth together, the work often felt doomed from the start. Why am I spending so much time laboring over this thing I am told no one will read? Why doesn’t anyone read short stories? I like short stories! And look, this collection by George Saunders is selling well. And everybody, I mean everybody, read that “Cat Person” story in the New Yorker. Well, as the many agents and presses and contests and loved ones and strangers and medical professionals I sent the collection to reminded me, I am not George Saunders, and the only time I’ll see my name in the New Yorker is on the subscription sticker.

But you know who does like to read short stories? Small press editors! Small presses are able to take risks that large presses are unwilling or unable to take. And let’s face it, a short story collection from an unknown writer with little social media presence and no built-in following is a risk. Taking chances, filling the gaps, finding the weird, placing the unplaceable, these are all vital enterprises in a publishing world that seems to grow more homogenous year by year. This November I am fortunate enough to publish my second book (and first novel) with Tortoise Books, a small press based in Chicago, and I am especially grateful that my work has found a home there. I thought I might take a moment to celebrate why working with a small press can be emotionally satisfying and rewarding.

• A small press will let your daughter take your author photo. This will make her very happy.
• Publishing with a small press means that when someone asks if you’re a writer, you can say, “yes!” When they ask if you’ve been published, you can say, “yes!” When they ask if they’ve ever heard of your book, you can say, “no.” Note: these are the exact same answers you will give if you publish with a big press.
• Deep down you believe an artist should not make money off their art, so publishing with a small press allows you to live your values!
• Nobody roots for Goliath.
• Small presses will let you design your cover with a friend, which means you are making art with your friends, which is exactly what you’ve wanted to do since you were in elementary school.
• The owner of a small press will hand sell your books, tirelessly, even the collection of short stories you wrote five years ago, so you know you have not been forgotten like a once promising casserole at the back of the fridge.
• The owner of a small press will ride their bike to your house during a pandemic and ask you what you’ve been working on. The owner of a small press will wait a year or two for the answer.
• You might find yourself referred to as any number of charming monikers such as “indie darling,” and “writer’s writer,” and “who?”
• Small presses allow you to control the water temperature and extraction time, which makes for a full-bodied and more personalized cup profile. Oops, that’s French presses, my bad.
• Small presses have much cooler names like Tortoise and Graywolf and Coffee House and Long Day and Hub City and Two Dollar Radio and Great Place Books and Copper Canyon and Akashic and Jack Leg and 7.13, which is so cool it’s not even a name!
• But most importantly, a small press can make your dreams come true.