A discussion about the necessity and importance of indie publishers on the rise

By: Akira B.

There’s been a rise in small publishers and it’s important that everyone knows about it.  

Okay, well, let me back up. This is very important to you, reader, and if you’re here on the WildStar Press page then you may already have an idea why that is. And to those that may not, no worries, that’s why you’re here. 

To understand what a small publisher is, often referred to as an indie or small press (and how I will be referring to them as well), I decided to reach out to several creators of small publishers and get their insight. Throughout this article here’s who I will be quoting or mentioning based off of previous interviews:

Jasmine Walls of Bonedust Press | Matthew Nolan and Erika Moen of Oh Joy Sex Toy | Allison O’Toole of Balustrade Press | Zach Clemente of Buligilhan Press | Chris of Band of Bards | 

Eve Greenwood of Quindrie Press | Patrick Crotty of Peow2 

So what makes these publishers “indie” or “small”? We hear the name so often, but there’s never been a singular answer to that question. After interviewing each of these individuals, I can safely say while there’s no set in stone answer, there’s two specific qualities that everyone can agree on: Technicality and Aesthetic.

The technical answer that rang fairly consistent was that money and size of the team are a big factor of what makes an indie press indie. They tend to range from a one man band to a few short term contracted individuals. The size of the press coexists with the money generated because a lot of the time presses rely on “shoestring budgets and self-fundraising” (Nolan, OJST). More often than not, these creators of small presses are sacrificing their time and own money to build without the help of prior investors, nepotism, or other connections. With an indie press, all that man power comes from a will and a way, from determination and hard work. Using WildStar Press as an example, I (Akira) do all of the heavy lifting; editing, promoting, laying out books for print, receiving and reviewing pitches, negotiating, calculating and delegating payments, and a laundry list of other things. However, I’ve started to contract others for certain things. There's Zab who has drawn all of the comic anthology covers (Tales of the Unknown, Songs of the Sea, Coiled to Strike) and Rebecca M. who has taken over as the book designer. Outsourcing just these two things makes a world of a difference for the plates I’m already spinning. It’s no easy feat, but that’s what makes it indie. 

And while it’s not the most fun answer, there is still the aesthetic answer. O’Toole of Balustrade Press takes this answer a step further by saying that there could even be a distinction between an “indie” press and a “small” press. Think of indie as “anyone without ties to traditional publishing OR big IP licenses” (O’Toole, Balustrade) whereas a small press is denoted by its technical definition like Balustrade, Bulgilhan, and all of the publishers on the list that I’ve interviewed. With O’Toole’s idea, this would mean publishers like Fantagraphics and Drawn + Quarterly are indie but aren’t small presses. It’s fun to think about and is part of the reason why the definition is always so blurred. 

You could even go as far as saying that these small presses are “willing to take bigger risks to publish stories for the love of those unique stories” (Walls, BoneDust Press) and they “outright ignore popular publishing demarcations such as “Middle Grade” or “Young Adult” (Clemente, Bulgilhan Press). This is particularly important because comics in the mainstream have a heavy focus on younger readers often without giving space to those who grow up and still want to continue reading comics. This isn’t to exclude things like IPs, Cape Comics, or the more adult graphic novels out there, of course, but it is pointing out that it’s much harder to pitch newer kinds of stories for older audiences than it is for younger ones because there's so few spaces that it's possible. There's gaps that need to be filled, but it gets overlooked. All of these publishers, want to keep older audiences reading comics or in Oh Joy Sex Toy’s case, educate adults in a growing space that wants to sanitize them. 

But that’s why these indie presses crop up! All of our core values are trying to spur something, whether it’s inspiration, realization, motivation, etc., in both the readers and the comics industry as a whole. Indie presses are here because there’s a change that needs to happen and so be it, it will start with us. We value unique stories and diverse creators on our rosters, wanting to champion creator owned work as Chris of Band of Bards put it, and wanting to “excite people to make their own comics” (Crotty of PEOW2). Sometimes it goes deeper than that and it’s about building a community that didn’t exist before. Eve Greenwood of Quindrie Press is based in Scotland, a place that doesn’t have as large of a comic population as the US. Where the US has various Comic Cons and other large conventions in just about every state, Eve would have to travel to the UK to go to popular conventions like ThoughtBubble or MCM Comic Con to give a small example of some. And while that may not seem too far, imagine those that can’t afford the trip having a comics hub closer to them and being inspired by their community and culture. Eve is bridging that gap in Scotland while also enlightening people that comics are everywhere, imbued with their own styles and cultures, and just need the platform to be seen. 

Indie publishers are built based on a need typically missing where it should be in larger spaces. Fair treatment of creative teams (Walls) and only taking specific rights to the published work that would truly benefit the author (Clemente) are issues that crop up, and what better way to mitigate it than by setting an example and being better? 

Unfortunately, we wouldn’t get to see values like OJST’s in the mainstream where they "share knowledge about all things relating to sex and spread information and understanding about topics that society has deemed embarrassing, shameful, or taboo.” (Moen, OJST). Nor would we get to see ones like Balustrade's in having "form- conscious narrative comics for the adult audience". It’s an earnest desire to want to connect people and stories in ways that they wouldn’t have otherwise, whether that’s through representation or experimentation.

With indie presses, it’s usually both! 

Representation comes from who you are and who you want to see portrayed. Adults still read comics, people want to read more than just superheroes, there's different ethnicities and cultures that want to see themselves as the protagonist rather than the afterthought.

Experimentation becomes even more fun because we (as indie presses) have the freedom to make our own rules. Comics are a medium so full of life and can be created in so many different ways, it’s almost silly not to try them all! It could be something as simple as monochromatic coloring like Half-Past Pink from WildStar Press or Rodney R. Rodney from Peow2 and it could be pushed even further branching out into comics’ sibling industry, prose. Experimentation allows intertwining illustrations with novels like The Traitor & The Wretch from Bonedust Press because there’s no rule that says you can’t have splash pages of art or comic page inserts in your novels! And if you really  want to deep dive into all things indie - the indie game sphere has these types of experiences too and though I won’t touch on them, if you love videogames it’s definitely something to check out. 

There’s a lot of self indulgence and love put into pushing against the norms of larger book industries, however that can only sustain a small press for so long. We are built through crowdfunding and appeal from viewers like you (I had to, hah). It’s not as simple as making the book and putting it in your local comic shop or Barnes & Nobles. Mass distribution really only works if you’re printing books at a rate unsustainable for one or two people to maintain. Fortunately there are ways to help sustain these indie presses so that we can continue to produce books that show just how much we love comics and how much we want them to be more accessible to everyone.

Word of mouth is the biggest advertisement of any publisher. When you recommend a comic to a friend, a neighbor, an enemy, a loved one, that’s yet another person that knows about our publishers and can support. On the large scale of this, there’s comic initiatives like Cartoonist Coop and Comics Cultural Impact Collective who are actively building the community and trying to improve careers of comics. Advocating for small publishers in places like these guarantee that a wide audience of artists learn that there’s more places to pitch and share their work to. There’s an audience of non-artists but avid readers out there too who should know about these books as well, so going to your local comic shop or bookstore and sharing our wholesale/retail pages (if applicable) would get our books into stores! A big game changer would be a distributor that focuses solely on indie comics. Places like Radiator Comics are on the right track for this, but it does require, again, telling your local shops to order from them. 

And if you’re doing all of this and even buying books for your own shelves, there’s also more tangible ways that people can help too. Volunteer work! Now, I know that the majority of us would rather pay someone to help than agree to that free labor (another common thing about being fair within our means), but extending a hand goes a long way when we have so many tasks to accomplish. I will always be grateful for Seth who created the original WildStar page simply because he needed to refine his own portfolio at the time. And I am continuously grateful for Caitlin who has refined the branding so that the style and cleanliness you see remains consistent, professional, and fun. Website building and branding is hard! I would have eventually learned in time, but with the help of my community (and after some convincing because I wanted to be fair to them), it got done a lot faster.

With the creation of a small/indie press, there’s a lot of resolve and tenacity that comes with it. That support, whether it’s monetary (buying books, donating to tip jars or Patreons) or being that “man on the ground” (telling people about these presses, sharing reviews of the books, asking libraries and bookstores to stock them), keeps that fire under us to continue doing what we do - not that we plan on stopping any time soon, of course. 

Indie presses are for all those whose art and stories don’t fit the mold of the mainstream. Indie presses are for those that love comics and want them to be accessible and obtainable for everyone. Comics is a literary art form just like the rest and deserves to be treated as such. Sometimes that means taking matters into your own hands and building it yourself. 

What? Like it’s hard?

Until the next morning

~ Akira B.