Meet 6 Rising Indie Presses that Signal the Future of Publishing
What does the rise of the indie press suggest about the future of publishing? (And which publishers are leading the pack?)
If you judge the state of book publishing by the irregular pulse of the “Big Five” publishers, you might assume the industry is in its death throes. In May, Penguin Random House dismissed two of its top publishers, Reagan Arthur (of Alfred A. Knopf) and Lisa Lucas (of Pantheon and Schocken), amid ongoing internal turbulence. “The departure of two prominent publishers comes at a moment when Penguin Random House and other big publishing houses are facing financial challenges, with rising supply chain costs and sluggish print sales,” The New York Times stated in an article following the incident. Months earlier, Publishers Weekly reported that the Big Five’s domination of adult bestseller lists slipped in 2023. Meanwhile, several independent presses “scored some notable successes.”
As publishing giants struggle to maintain their slick grip on a fast-evolving industry, numerous indie presses have quietly gained traction, finding innovative ways to address production and distribution. Unlike the Big Five, successful indies are nimble, largely autonomous, and driven by passion rather than profits. Increasingly, these attributes are more important than ever, as consumer trends fluctuate in response to the ever-shifting digital landscape.
So, what does the rise of the indie press suggest about the future of publishing? And which publishers are leading the pack? It’d be criminal to ignore the far-reaching influence of indie titans like Grove Atlantic, Semiotext(e), and Verso Books, but the recent success of several newer indies suggests the younger crop may have a strategic edge on their forebears. I spoke to six of these rising publishers about what sets them apart from the rest.
FAR WEST PRESS
Founder: Willie Crane
Founded: 2020
Recent releases: Myth Lab by Jack Skelley, Down at Max’s by Peter Crowley
What sets Far West apart from the rest of the publishing industry?
“Whether others are doing it or not, we want our books to be immediate. To be now. Right now. To each have their own zig and their own zag within a unified look and feel. So, when you see it, it's a Far West release. Not really to stand apart, but for our books to stand together. Nearly all books are paperbacks, 4"x7", and roughly 100 pages.
When reviewing manuscripts, we look for immediacy. We look for a voice. And that intangible yet crystalized feeling. That one you had when you picked up the one book off the shelf or off the ground. That one book written by someone you didn't know, but you knew you needed to right at that very moment. We have really published all genres from memoir to fiction to poetry to illustrations to avant-garde. A variety within a defined space and medium.”
HOUSE OF VLAD
Founder: Brian Alan Ellis
Founded: 2013
Recent releases: Scumbag Summer by Jillian Luft, Leasing by D.T. Robbins
What sets House of Vlad apart from the rest of the publishing industry?
“Well, for one, House of Vlad is basically an independent enterprise, outside of having to deal with Amazon or Ingram, etc. There’s no college backing. No staff. It’s just me, my tastes, and the close-knit community of writers and artists I choose to work with. It’s by no means a money-making venture; it’s mostly self-sustaining. I pay my authors, my contributing artists, myself, but not much. It’s very self-contained. The press itself—the people I work with—is priority. We don’t kiss ass or compromise, and we’re generally not invited to academic-funded gatherings. We work outside of that system. No publicists. Just raw-dogging it in the sometimes insular literary scene, independent or otherwise. And House of Vlad has been around a long time, starting as a zine imprint from 2003-2007 then transitioning into books in 2013, so we’re defiant and hard to kill. I wish everyone else luck.
I’ve thought of closing the press many times. Still do. But there’s a thing inside of me that won’t quit. I want to leave a legacy. I want to inspire others to do their own thing. I want underground literature to thrive. Still, I don’t want anyone to do it better than me, which is why I keep at it, most likely. I want my flowers. I also want others to have their flowers. I want the wheels to fall off. I’m stubborn and entitled. Literature needs people like that, and it benefits from having presses like House of Vlad around. It’s a stupid war, but it’s fun.”
MICROCOSM PUBLISHING
Founder: Joe Biel
Founded: 1996
Recent releases: Unfuck Your Shame: Using Science to Accept Our Feelings, Resolve Guilt, and Connect with Ourselves; Burning Rage of a Dying Planet: The FBI vs. the Earth Liberation Front
What sets Microcosm apart from the rest of the publishing industry?
“We fired our distributor and resumed handling our own distribution in 2018. Our sales doubled in the first year and quintupled over four years. This was a lifesaver over the past six years, for other reasons, as we watched other publishers who were distributor-dependent suffer reduced sales. It's interesting but I think we've always focused so much on our ground game of supercharging interest in our books and what the reader gets out of them as well as we have never been allergic to putting our books into boxes. We add 3.4 new accounts per day, now servicing over 14,000 stores worldwide with our books.
Somehow—and I still feel dizzy—we were Publishers Weekly's Fastest Growing Publisher in 2022, and third fastest in 2023 and 2024. Then I won the PubWest Innovator Award in 2024 also! Today, I focus my efforts on changing the industry globally so that small publishers succeed like we have and to give them the tools to change their lives and the world around them. That’s the same reason that we built WorkingLit.com for publishers—we want others to experience the success and opportunity that we’ve had as a publisher.”
ARCHWAY EDITIONS
Founder: Chris Molnar & Nicodemus Nicoludis
Founded: 2019
Recent releases: Molly by Blake Butler; Kind Mirrors, Ugly Ghosts by Claire Donato
What sets Archway Editions apart from the rest of the publishing industry?
“Uniquely, we have wide distribution but are not beholden to anyone in our publishing choices—AE's own weird little niche. We can stay true to our values and morals as independent publishers and people while still having the capacity to walk into most bookstores and find our titles on the shelves (the joyous feeling never gets old).
Something we really look forward to is deepening our connection to and knowledge of bookmaking. Being the literary imprint of photo book publisher, powerHouse Books, also means that we have excellent production quality and a unique relationship to the arts. For example, our John Farris project coming out this fall is full of images and archival material, and we're able to experiment with a range of bookmaking approaches and materials to give the book the special physical form it deserves. We want to keep learning and investigating and figuring out how we can push the horizons of literature and of the publishing format.”
PUBLICATION STUDIO
Founder: Patricia No & Matthew Stadler
Founded: 2009
Recent releases: My Dead Book by Nate Lippens, The Dream Life by Bo Huston
What sets Publication Studio apart from the rest of the publishing industry?
“We started PS in 2009. The goal was publishing broke, going ahead without having money and trying to make a sustainable economy that would pay writers. The key was making the books ourselves, one-at-a-time. No print runs, no inventory: more like a neighborhood bakery or cafe than a bookstore—a reader pays for a book, and we make it, and repeat, x 10,000. Between storefront and online, it grew fast.
The second step was to encourage copycats, so we'd have a collective of studios. There are studios on three continents now, in six countries. Every studio works with the same collective catalog, at this point over 600 original titles. All of the books are available from all of the studios. That way the books circulate globally, with affordable shipping anywhere that's served by a studio.
The arrangement with writers is equally direct: we use a non-exclusive rights contract (the writer grants permission for us to make and market an edition of their book, in exchange for half-the-net-profits) that leaves rights in the hands of writers; we encourage them to work with other publishers too, anyone who will support their work and treat them decently…We're advocating for non-exclusive rights contracts to be an industry norm. The old model (wherein the publisher prevents others from publishing the same work) is archaic and regressive, like a chattel marriage.”
CASH 4 GOLD
Founder: Jon Lindsey & Harris Lahti
Founded: 2023
Recent releases: Sillyboy by Peter Vack, Suicide: An Anthology
What sets Cash 4 Gold apart from the rest of the publishing industry?
“Style. Too much of publishing doesn't just lack style, but also lacks any sense that style is something to strive for.
The current moment feels unique in that the old gods of big publishing are collapsing and the new gods of AI have not quite arrived. Writers and small publishers are standing alone in the sun. We're enjoying the present, not worrying too much about the future.”
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