An Interview With Black Coffee Press Publisher Scott C. Rogers
Black Coffee Press publishes and promotes great books of poetry and fiction every year, straight outta’ Detroit. Learn more about them in this interview with Scott C. Rogers, Publisher.
Matty Byloos conducted this interview over several rounds of email, with Black Coffee Press Publisher Scott C. Rogers, who is located, along with Black Coffee Press, in Detroit, MI.
There is nothing quite like the feeling of the Internet doing its job to join like-minded people who might otherwise always be strangers to each other. Through facebook or twitter or one of the other social media outlets, I had the pleasure of being introduced to Scott Rogers, publisher at Black Coffee Press. BCP is run by Scott, along with co-founder Thomas Michael.
Scott’s press, run out of Detroit, has been going for a couple of years now, and appears to have at least four titles slated for release in each of the next two years (2011-2012). It’s never easy to get a press off the ground, and I always wonder — what was the goal when the publisher started? Did they plan to run an operation for a long time or was that never even thought of at first? Did things begin with a friend’s manuscript or a school project or a spin-off from zine production during one’s high school years? Either way, the conversations never end up dull with small publishers — the fight is real and the road seems perpetually uphill.
As part of what seems to be developing into a little series of very helpful conversations with small presses, I asked Scott to join me in an interview dialogue over email. The following QnA represents that conversation as it too place in several installments over a period of about a week.
Byloos: Your “About” page on the website speaks to an idea that Black Coffee Press is “dedicated to providing a forum for writers with fresh voices.” Can you talk more about what you see as fresh? Feel free to talk about what is conversely “stale ” or “played out,” and more importantly, what kind of manuscript would show up in your mailbox that would have you remarking, “wow — this is really, different and we want to get behind this.”
Rogers: Since I co-founded BCP with the poet Thomas Michael in 2008, our main objective has been to publish works that we would want to read. Grant you, that is a huge pot to fill; our tastes vary from urban fiction/poetry to MFA clones to the Classics.
We are interested in giving an opportunity to writers who do not fit the mold of the NYT Bestseller list or something that Oprah would take to the can after downing a box of laxatives. I instinctively shy away from anything that is considered mainstream or popular. My taste in literature follows suit.
I love good writing. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true. If you have something that you feel is worth the time for someone to read, take a chance and put it out there, then by all means send it our way. I read every manuscript that is submitted. Last submission call we received over 500 out of which I had to select only five. It’s tough, but so worth it, especially when you find great work.
Byloos: Did you have a set of criteria in mind when you went into that pile of 500, or did you find it was easier to let the stand-out manuscripts speak to you when you found them? I’m always curious about the ratio of poetry to fiction, male to female, etc. Did you have any kind of spread in mind or goals that you wanted to maintain with respect to evening things out? Hell, even MFA versus no MFA or big city versus smaller state. The voices, when inspired by place, can be so very different.
Rogers: Honestly, I am very open-minded when I go through the manuscripts; I wait for the piece to speak or grab me in some way. I have turned down some really great writing based solely on the fact that it did not speak to me. Also, if I feel like I’m not in the right mindset, I will often put the piece down and go back to it later. I always give each one a second glance before moving on to the next stage.
Although I am very proud of the fact that BCP has a balanced gender selection, I did not intentionally set out for it to be this way. Those selected truly are the ones that speak to me the most, regardless the author’s sex, location or education. When we first thought of starting BCP, we imagined it would be more of a gritty house full of males, but I am thrilled that the females who have moved in kick ass and are awesome, talented writers.
Since we only do five books a year, the pattern we’ve adopted is: two poetry, two fiction and the fifth being whatever.
Byloos: Looking at all of the books of contemporary literature (poetry, fiction and otherwise) that have been published — to the best of your knowledge, what one book would you have loved to publish? In a perfect world that you could engineer yourself, in other words, what book would you love to have been responsible for putting out into the world for readers? Why?
Rogers: Oh, man. There are so many, but the one that really jumps to mind is the Phineas Poe trilogy by Will Christopher Baer. I don’t believe there is a living writer who can come close to what Baer can do with a single sentence. After that it, it would have to be Frank Stanford, The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You. I think the world needs a complete collection of Steven “Jesse” Bernstein.
Byloos: How are you thinking about your book covers? Will there be some kind of uniformity among all of your output, or are you giving writers free reign to take over design duties when they ask for it (or prove to have a knack)?
Rogers: We want each of our titles to have the feel of an old school LP. From cover to text, it needs to be completely unique, we want the cover art to add artistically to the piece as a whole. Bookmaking should be a merger between the artist/writer/poet. That’s our goal with each book—an eclectic work of art.
Byloos: Was it ever a difficult decision to make about producing traditional books, given all the talk about the days of the printed book being over? Personally, I think the argument is not without its merits, but at base, it’s completely an argument of the privileged class, and one that has horrible implications for the majority of the world, who A) lives without widespread technology, and B) tends to value a book (read: religious text) as the principal guide to culture, behavior and even law, in some cases.
Rogers: There are a lot of Chicken Littles out there saying that Print is dead. Bullshit. It’s not dead, but to be sure, the landscape has definitely changed. No longer will publishing be controlled by a selected few. It is now in the hands of the masses. I would much rather pick up a book from Mud Luscious Press or Write Bloody Publishing then say, Random House, because I know what went into creating it—passion… and nine out of ten times the writing is far better.
The Digital World must be met with open arms and an eager mind. This is a new wave of publishing that the big boys are tossing around like a hot potato. Small presses need to capitalize on these trends because they are the future of the field.
The only true way for Print to survive in its complete form is for us to pass along the love we have for it to our children. Today’s youth need to embrace the printed word as they do the latest trends and gizmos. How we do that is by interacting, encouragement and even hosting a writing workshop via your local school system. If we don’t teach these little boogers how to read and write then where will Print be in fifty years when you and I are done with the battle?
Byloos: What do you talk about with your writers with regard to marketing? Do you have thoughts on book touring? Are there any stories you can share with the writers and publishers reading this, in the hopes that they might save themselves a mistake or two (or a hundred)?
Rogers: Marketing is tough. Obviously funds are limited and we try to nail down a few major plans for each book. We send out to reviewers, advertise online and in print. We encourage our writers to take an active role in getting the word out for their work. I’ve found grass-roots marketing has been the most effective. Because marketing is such a trial by fire, our marketing strategy is not set in stone.
Book tours are awesome. We are trying to work this into our marketing strategy and will do whatever we can to ensure each book is successful and getting as much exposure as possible.
Again, the grass-roots strategy is the best I have found that drives in results. Reach out to everyone, you’d be surprised how effective this is. And don’t take rejections or shitty reviews personally. Just keep pushing forward.
Byloos: If you could give one piece of specific advice for writers sending in a manuscript to Black Coffee Press, what would it be? Aside from the obvious: really do your homework, read a couple or even a few books on the press, investigate the writers involved and read their blogs or other published work, polish the shit out of your own manuscript, etc.
Rogers: I think you nailed it on the head. Most writers, I believe, just blindly send out their manuscripts to whomever is accepting, or even when they are not. Majority of what we get are from people who have no clue as to who we are or what we do. I have to wade through a ton of manuscripts just to snag a few. But on the other hand, I‘m just thrilled we are receiving manuscripts. Obviously I would much rather have too many than not enough.
Read the guidelines. Follow the guidelines. Embrace the guidelines. Be one with…
Also, we only do five books a year, so our publishing schedule isn’t always Kosher to some folks. They don’t want to wait until to 2013 to see their book published. I understand the hunger and desire, but, hey, you were accepted and you will be published. Bottom line is, is if all you are concerned about is getting it out there then perhaps you should go the self-published route. The fucker will be there in 10 days that way.
Byloos: Tell me your worst horror story / biggest mistake a writer has made with the manuscript they sent in to Black Coffee Press. Hopefully, this will be a gigantic and specific lesson to all of us writers about to send somebody something to read…
Rogers: We’ve gotten some weird manuscripts. One smelled like it was sitting in a basement for twenty years. Got one that I swear had blood splatter on it. And yes, we are called Black Coffee Press, but that doesn’t not mean that a coffee ring on several pages of your manuscript will endear you to us. Sloppy manuscripts work against you.
Thanks Scott!
Scott C. Rogers was born and raised in a small town in the middle of Indiana. He now lives in Detroit, Michigan. The last decade of his life has been spent doing what JIM CROCE called “Intense Character Development.”
He is the author of the novels Duct-taped Mouth, Celluloid Cowboy and Love Like A Molotov Cocktail to the Chest.
Learn more about Black Coffee Press and their current authors here.