We love books. Literature matters because words lets us explore and share the best of what we think, and who we can be. Good fiction, nonfiction, and poetry grow our knowledge and imagination, take us into new lives, and illuminate truths as well as empathy.
So we’re looking for talented authors and poets, both new and established, whose work we help refine, support, publish and promote. And, through their works, we hope to continue to grow the reading public’s love of writing, craft, and dreaming.
A BRIEF HISTORY & OUR STORY
C&R began as a small press with big ideas in 2006 and was originally a non-profit with a focus on poetry. After 9 strong years, the founder sought to call it quits (it’s very difficult to run a press using the old large print-run model unless a press is supplemented with large donations and or an extremely robust donor list–usually both), and we stepped in to keep the press alive having followed it ourselves as young writers and MFAers, having known or been interested in the work of C&R authors. We didn’t want it to go down as many great little-big presses do despite the energy and dedication so many show for the presses they start. As technology began to make it easier for networking, sales, and distribution solutions, and as the non-profit model predicated on the old world print-run deficit strategy began to prove too risky, and as new platforms were emerging that enabled publishers to charge reading fees (controversial then and even still a bit now though it’s become nearly ubiquitous and rather essential) we thought we had a good grip on a new sustainable model. We jumped.
Rescuing a press and keeping authors in print seemed like a social good and if we could maintain some level of sustainability, we’d be living a dream of being editors and publishers. We’d served our time as MFA grads and working in various fields editorially for years prior, so the thinking went. We were writers too, aspiring and or accomplished, and who better to understand the needs of other writers. We took the plunge, struggled for a while (i.e. years) with multiple side jobs to stay afloat, and eventually found our footing, aided by direct sales, a tour of independent bookstores that we drove to the summer we took over the press in 2015–30 plus stores from NC to TX to CA back through CO, MI, KY, and PA–contests, and social media marketing, conferences, NYC readings, revamped cover designs, and ads.
Upon assuming ownership, we set about with the specific goals of diversifying the catalog through inclusion, building a sustainable business model to keep books in print for decades, bringing great independent literature to a wider audience, and helping to elevate literature into mainstream culture. Since 2015, C&R Press has published an average of eight-to-ten books per year across genres including novels, story collections, memoirs, art books, experimental works, poetry, chapbooks, history, essays, and anthologies.
A BRIEF UPDATE
After eight strong years, we’ve begun to take stock of some of our author’s accomplishments. And so, we’ve curated a non-exhaustive list of theirs & our awards and accolades. The list includes awards, notable accolades, reviews, and interviews as an illustration of the author’s and press’s hard work in writing and promoting the important literature C&R has published since 2006.
Since 2006, we’ve helped writers and readers prove literature is an essential part of life and culture, and over fifteen years later, we’re still doing it.
For hundreds of years, books were how content was shared. Today, C&R Press is pushing into new media, while keeping the best of what always made books great.
Long live books!