For staffers at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park and Seattle, Wash., Chloe Jarren's La Cucaracha by Matthew Stadler is an especially important handsell. The novel was copublished by Third Place Press, the store's publishing division, and Publication Studio, a company founded by Stadler in Portland, Ore.
Third Place Press launched in late 2009 after Robert Sindelar, managing partner of Third Place Books, purchased an Espresso Book Machine. The print-on-demand device has been used primarily to fulfill customer requests for out-of-stock titles (converting 10-15 lost sales each week into business for the store) and as a printing service for people looking to self-publish.
For Stadler, partnering with Third Place Press was an opportunity to link "the crucial social environment of bookstores to our interest of local, one-at-a-time production." Publication Studio puts out 30-40 titles a year, ranging from photography and art books to poetry and novels. Orders are filled on demand. Books are made using separate hand-operated machines for trimming and binding printed pages, and the spine is stamped with the date of its creation.
A former literary editor of Nest magazine, co-founder of Clear Cut Press and the author of five novels, Stadler started Publication Studio with writer Patricia No in 2009. "I love great books, and I wanted to see a number of them into publication without the rigmarole of sales meetings, agents, print runs, warehouses--all the things that stand between some of the writers I know and readers," he said.
"Sibling" studios have since opened in Vancouver, Toronto, Berkeley, Minneapolis and Los Angeles, each with its own imprint name and own publishing agenda. Books are sold online, at Publication Studio storefronts, and at retailers in the U.S., Portugal, Australia, Japan and more than 15 other countries. "We work individually with any bookstore that is truly interested in our books," said Stadler. "Returns are fine, but we do everything we can to be sure no book gets shipped out and then sent back. The books demand a level of care that indie bookstores are best at."
Chloe Jarren's La Cucaracha ($19, 9780984306046) is the third title co-published by Third Place Press and Publication Studio, following novels by American Book Award winners Anna Odessa Linzer (A River Story) and Matt Briggs (The Strong Man). The editions Publication Studio created have simple covers fashioned from recycled file folders. Bookseller Vladimir Verano, who runs the store's publishing operation, designed two covers for A River Story, each of which features original art by a local artist. Both that book and The Strong Man were supported with author events at Third Place Books. (Customers were invited to come early and watch the books being printed.)
Third Place Press has played a larger role in the publication of Chloe Jarren's La Cucaracha, participating in discussions with Publication Studio about packaging as well as actively marketing the book. "This is the first time we've really gotten behind something like this," said Sindelar. One way he has been spreading the word about the novel is by reaching out to fellow independent booksellers. "Yes, we do happen to be co-publishing it, but this is a book I really love. I think customers will find it a great summer read," he said. The suspense-filled story is set in the expatriate community in the mountain town of Guanajuato, where a young photographer is caught in a dangerous web of American money and Mexican politics after a wealthy, respected woman is murdered.
Among the retailers that have signed on to carry Chloe Jarren's La Cucaracha is McNally Jackson in New York City, which will print copies on the store's own Espresso Book Machine. Previously, Third Place Press had provided the University Book Store in Seattle with a file so it could makes copies of The Strong Man on its machine. "As there are more and more of these machines around the country, we can make a catalog available to other independent bookstores," noted Sindelar.
Along with "a combination of deep experience and willingness to experiment," Stadler had another reason for wanting to work with Sindelar and his team: Third Place Commons, a community space in Lake Forest Park that includes Third Place Books, restaurants, a seating area and a stage for events. "Third Place has direct experience managing the social life of books and reading, using all the elements that Publication Studio favors--food and drink, the table, music, conversations, staged and otherwise," added Stadler.
Attending to "the social life of the book" is an integral part of Publication Studio's mission. "It's at the heart of how we try to create an enduring public for the books we publish," Stadler said. "The physical book has been the ultimate social networking tool for 500 years. You hold it in your hand and then hand it to the next person." In addition to hand-crafted volumes, Publication Studio produces e-books and maintains a digital commons where anyone can read and annotate its works for free.
Every Publication Studio title is supported in a different way. "What we do is completely unknown to us until we meet the writer, know their life, know the book and where it sits in their career," Stadler said. "That is only possible when you make books one at a time." Canadian author Aaron Peck, whose Letters to the Pacific was designed and annotated by two Düsseldorf artists, embarked on a tour of art schools and art institutions in Germany. Other writers have participated in the "Publisher's Lunch" series hosted at the Portland studio, talking about their work during a conversation with Stadler. (Next year's line-up includes Edmund White and noted landscape architect Diana Balmori).
Stadler is currently on a "NAFTA Tour" for Chloe Jarren's La Cucaracha, visiting a dozen cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. (Read his tour diary here.) Some of the action in the novel--which he wrote while living in Guanajuato--takes place at lavish dinner parties, the inspiration for unusual tour events. At paid, sit-down dinners, local chefs are reinventing the Mexican staple carne en su jugo, "meat in its own juice." And for toasting Stadler's accomplishment? Tequila, of course. --Shannon McKenna Schmidt
photo of Matthew Stadler by Claire L. Evans