Comments (0) Best Small Press - 2008
Manic D Press
Indie-lit may well be the only publishing culture in San Francisco, but Manic D Press has a distinctly DIY approach to bookmaking that would make even the most cynical, caffeine-soaked experimental writer hum with approval. Manic D is the brainchild of Jennifer Joseph, a publisher who since 1984 has sought to cover a wide swathe of weirdness. The titles are generally riotous and self-explanatory, like Good Advice for Young Trendy People of All Ages, The Civil Disobedience Handbook, or In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot (a bona fide best-seller). The company encompasses everything from paparazzi and porn screenwriter tell-alls to alternative travel guides — in short, anything that has zero chance of being picked up by a publisher more intent on commercial viability than talent and novelty. Of course, despite its proclivity for accepting manuscripts from street poets and other folks typically marginalized in the literary community, Manic D has nabbed accolades from just about everyone in the field, which makes its humility and willingness to read unsolicited manuscripts particularly laudable.
