Louder Than Words: Akashic's Principled Publishing

By Jamilah King, WireTap
Posted on March 31, 2008, Printed on August 28, 2008
http://www.wiretapmag.org/arts/43476/

Akashic Books isn't an ordinary publishing house. Founded in 1997 by punk rocker Johnny Temple, the Brooklyn-based independent company calls itself the "reverse gentrification" of the literary world. The mission is simple: make literature accessible and inclusive of everyone.

The process has proved difficult, yet doable. Akashic's four employees publish around twenty books per year and put considerable energy into finding local talent. The imprint's fiction and nonfiction catalog includes many titles by writers of color, whose works express both diversity and depth. From murder mysteries based in Los Angeles' racially charged landscape to punk culture anthologies, Akashic is a literary haven from the corporate-driven niche marketing that's behind much of the publishing world today.

Wiretap sat down with Akashic Books founder Johnny Temple to talk about his company's vision.

Wiretap: What do you mean by saying Akashic is the "reverse gentrification" of the literary world?

Johnny Temple: It's not an entirely serious declaration, but what we're hinting at is the idea of trying to make literature more appreciated across a wider swath of the public. Literature too often becomes the domain of the affluent and well-educated. For instance, if you've read the New York Times, the book reviews in particular, you'll see that they're written for a very select audience. And don't get me wrong, I like the New York Times, but I think it represents the selective audience that the New York publishing world often caters toward.

So our idea of "reverse gentrification" means that we're taking literature away from the ivory tower. This is not remotely suggesting that we're "dumbing down" literature, just presenting it in different ways and reaching out to people who aren't being explored a lot these days.

What's been the response so far?

JT: It's been really great. We've had wonderful community support. We've also had books like Nina Revoyr's Southland that have been very successful for us and allow us to stay in business. It's also really hard. Any book publisher will tell you, whether it's a giant one like Random House or a smaller one like Akashic, it's a difficult business for all of us, and so there's a constant struggle element to it. But our books have been received well, they've won awards, we work with some great authors like Nina Revoyr, Chris Abani, Lauren Sanders and others, who are just stellar human beings in addition to being really talented writers.

(Nina Revoyr pictured right)

What's your process for finding authors?

JT: We get books from all different directions. One thing that differentiates us from a lot of other publishers is that we deal directly with {our} authors. We can't accept much unsolicited stuff because we have a small staff and we're so busy publishing the books we've already signed up.

I love Jamaican literature and more broadly, Caribbean literature, so I'll go down there and meet writers. A lot of our writers refer us to other writers, and that's how we find many of our authors. It's always great when a writer who I know and trust can recommend someone to me, and that's how we find a lot of good books.

How important is Brooklyn's cultural history to the work that you do?

JT: It's extremely important. Brooklyn's literary history is stunning, dating back to Walt Whitman, Richard Wright and so many others. Wright wrote passages of Native Son here in Fort Greene Park. Today we have so many great writers within a mile of where I'm standing.

I'm also the chair of the Brooklyn literary council, and we put together the Brooklyn Book Festival every year with some of the amazing writers who are based in Brooklyn. It's a big international book fair but rooted very locally. And a lot of that we're doing is celebrating Brooklyn's history.

What are the most popular books you've published? Why do you think they've been so successful?

JT: Brooklyn Noir has been a big success for us, and that just struck a chord for people who were interested in dark fiction with the added element of a gritty, changing urban landscape. We were so successful with it that we turned it into a series based on other cities like D.C., Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco. It's a great idea for organizing stories that capture the hidden corners of cities that you maybe don't see in other literature about that city.

Southland was also a huge hit for us. Our most successful novel to date is a book called Hairstyles of the Damned, by Joe Meno. We need these little successes to stay afloat because it is tough. We're one of the only publishing companies that doesn't have a big corporate backer, so there's urgency to what we do because we don't have much of a cushion.

What's the most common criticism or critique that you get from readers about your books?

JT: Sometimes what people critique is actually our biggest strength. Our books tend to explore very dark themes. Our authors are an extremely diverse lot, and yet there's a common thread that runs through a lot of the books we publish, which is that they tend to be based on very dark themes. Sometimes we publish books that are so brutal in a way that some people might not appreciate and don't want to read something that is that brutal.

At the same time, that's not the type of criticism that makes me want to change what we're doing. I also understand that not every book is for every person. I have no problem with that. I respect if someone can't read something that's really sexually brutal. I don't think that's a problem, it just means that the book's not a good fit for them.

Why do you publish these types of books?

JT: It's hard for me to say. On the one hand, it's definitely my own aesthetic taste, and we're a company that publishes things based on an aesthetic vision, not a marketing vision. I think following marketing trends is just a soulless approach to working with art. My taste in music, art and literature is very dark. I'm not a morbid person. In fact, I like a lot of American classic literature as well, and if you read authors like [William] Faulkner, his work is extremely brutal. Native Son, by Richard Wright, which was the first best-selling book by an African American author, is really harsh and brutal and heavy. Toni Morrison is my very favorite author, and her books are harsh. They're also beautiful and multifaceted. In today's society, these dark themes get criticized a little bit, but American literature has this great tradition of tackling very intense subject matter.

The Age of Dreaming

Nina Revoyr's third novel confronts racial hatred in the Golden Era of silent film. Nina Revoyr's The Age of Dreaming marks a departure from her previous work. Her first two novels, The Necessary Hunger and Southland each had queer female protagonists who negotiated Los Angeles' tense racial landscape in an effort to find a greater sense of purpose. In contrast, The Age of Dreaming's main character Jun Nakayama isn't just a straight man, but a playboy. He's Hollywood's most enigmatic star, saddled with sex appeal and the barbaric caricatures that plague the Japanese community. Set between the 1920s and the racially hostile 1960s, Dreaming tells the story of Hollywood before its current levels of megastardom and moral decay. Jun Nakayama recounts how he came of age as a young Japanese-American silent film star, grappling with a murder mystery that ultimately ends his career. It's as much as a story of aging and the natural suspicion that accompanies change as it as one of race and stardom. Yet his pompous, racially ambivalent attitude is downright annoying. For the average politically aware reader schooled in today's outspoken politics, Nakayama's ambivalence might make you want to put the book down. In fact, readers are at times beaten over the head with a holier-than- thou rhetoric of the good ol' days when Hollywood was in its infancy. But it's this type of visceral response, coupled with Revoyr's ability to go outside of today's progressive norms, that is the book's crowning achievement. (Jamilah King)

How do you engage a youth audience?

JT: I have this musical background, and my musical roots are in punk rock, so I spent years playing in rock bands. A lot of punk rock culture is based on image and presentation, and I think the same applies to literature. I think if you present your books with dynamic artwork and if they're well designed, really well edited and just sharp, they'll reach your niche audience. Our best-selling book, Hairstyles of the Damned, appeals to both younger and older audiences. By the looks of it, because of it has a very punk rock-looking cover, you might think it was just a book that appealed to young people, but the readership is actually pretty broad in age.

How do you think the music business and publishing business are similar?

JT: There's increasing corporate domination in both music and publishing. Simultaneous to that, there are also a lot of dynamic independent companies who pursue aesthetic visions as a counter to the bottom-line mandate. On the music end, you have things like MySpace that allow artists to get their music out to their audiences with much more freedom. I think they're both moving in the same direction in terms of corporate consolidation, but in truth there's still plenty of room for smaller companies to flourish, so I don't feel oppressed by it.

What's your advice to young people who want to get into the publishing business?

JT: I would say that if your main goal is to make money and a good living, then don't come into publishing. [Laughs] It's a humbling business. People need to make a living, but it's not a place for people looking to discover the next "big hit." That goes back to the reverse gentrification motto. The publishing world is in itself a socioeconomic stratum, and some of the people don't need to be making very much money.

But we do need new life, and new blood. I encourage any motivated young person to get into publishing. I love it. I feel so lucky to do what I do, but the hope of ever making "real" money isn't realistic.

The best way to get into the business is to intern, to contact any publishing companies and ask to intern with them. Most of the time it's going to be an unpaid internship.

For anyone who wants to pursue writing, my advice is to keep writing and writing because it's going to take you a bunch of years to get good.

For more, visit Akashic Books.

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