Galleon Books, How we came to be, and Where we are going…
We started charting our course first as a literary journal, eventually putting out five issues over 40 years (well, not that long), publishing many new and some established authors, and were preparing our sixth issue when we hit rough waters and had to drydock for a spell. A funny thing happened in drydock…
Well, nothing really funny, just our life as an editor and book designer took flight (I mean caught wind!) and the labour of love that the journal was, was suddenly more labour than ardour.
But here we were, helping authors send their newly christened novels out into the vast Sargasso of impossible-to-catch publishing schooners and vanity-press pirates — all left behind like flotsam.
These were good books, and although some found safe harbour, more were left sailing their own journey, never encountering any true land. Yes, in many ways it is harder to land a publisher than escape a metaphor.
That’s the short of it. There’s more to this story, but essentially we got tired of telling talented authors to persist, and someone will publish this.
The model was there, waiting, and more and more publishers were using it – Print on Demand*. Immediate distribution, good quality printing, and the rest, that’s up to the press.
We strive to produce books that content-wise and print-wise are fully professional, and the primary difference from a more traditional publishing house is that our stock is small, print-costs are low, and our titles less likely to appear on physical shelves in major bookstores unless requested. And we don’t have staff. And we don’t receive government funding. (See Subscriptions and/or Support.)
Looking ahead, we do want to keep a focus on Atlantic Canadian authors, but we’re a fan of anyone writing well and struggling to find a publishing home.
That’s all for now; thank you for reading this.
Lee Thompson
Editor, Galleon Books
(*We are now taking a hybrid approach, mixing both print runs and POD, depending on the title and pre-sales.)
Galleon Journal – 2006 – 2016
Galleon Books 