An Interview With Burrow Press Publishers Ryan Rivas and Jana Waring
Burrow Press is committed to publishing excellent, honest writing that they believe in, especially emerging talent in Orlando, Florida. SD talked with Jana Waring and Ryan Rivas, publishers.
Matty Byloos conducted this interview over several rounds of email, with Press Editors in Chief Jana Waring and Ryan Rivas, who are located, along with Burrow Press, in Orlando, FL.
My first Smalldoggies Twitter followers ended up being the fine people behind Burrow Press. The Internet once again did its job and through a piece of fiction published on the site, Ryan and Jana found the magazine, and then signed on for updates. I love talking to other presses, trying to figure out the common ground and maybe even collaborating in the spirit of creating something greater together. Who knows. Building a network, if that doesn’t run shivers up your spine.
So Burrow Press, according to the website, “is committed to publishing excellent, honest writing that we believe in. [Their] immediate goal is to highlight emerging talent in our home base of Orlando and home state of Florida.”
Byloos: Why a press? Did you see an opening, beyond the regional consideration, for something new? Did you have capital for projects at your inception?
Ryan: I can speak to the “why” of your question. I got involved with BP because here in FL the literary community is not very connected. I use “literary community” loosely but definitely in opposition to the the genre community, which is large and in charge. Mystery novels abound, etc. But I live here, I like it here, and I’m not leaving anytime soon. And being a writer, I want to be around other writers, and create a stronger literary community in my area. So why not show off the work of people in my community, as well as people in this state, whose literary claim to fame may very well be when Hemingway and Wallace Stevens got in a fist fight in Key West.
Jana: I was in the process of writing a creative thesis, which was intended be a coffee table book, when Ryan and I started joking about starting our own publishing house. I can be a reckless writer, so I try to surround myself with much better writers than myself, especially when getting feedback on something as important as a publication. As I began to share my work, others began to share their work with me, and I was blown away by the talent surrounding me, including Ryan’s work. I wanted the world to know about it. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that some of the work I thought was brilliant was being rejected by zines and pub houses for reasons unknown.
I also had a pretty specific vision to what I wanted my book to look like, and honestly, I didn’t want anyone else telling me what to do. Besides the fact it’s pretty niche and specific to Orlando, so I was skeptical of any publishing house that would even consider it. So I decided to start Burrow Press and take Ryan down with me. I had been saving up some money to either start up a project or take a trip to Africa. I obviously chose the press, but I still dream of safaris and elephants and giraffes and big trucks with muddy tires.
Byloos: It’s amazing how much effort can still be spent, and how very worthwhile, community building. It’s like one day you wake up and realize it’s so necessary, and all too often absent.
Do you guys have books set to publish (authors or material, as in poetry or fiction), the work of colleagues and friends, or are you openly calling for submissions?
Ryan: A mix of both. We have some pretty solid ideas for the next two books, but we won’t openly call for submissions until the current short story anthology is closer to being wrapped up. As for the content, we’re not publishing poetry (there is a strong spoken word community here and their work is best shared through performance). We’ll continue to publish fiction (short stories, novellas, novels) but we’re also open to other artistic ventures, so if anyone has a funky book idea they’d like to pitch, we’re all ears. We want to pull from the largest possible talent pool (within FL), and calls for submissions are easier than seeking out talent. However, I have a friend with a great manuscript and we’re working together to get it where it needs to be for publication. For the most part though, the writers we’re about to publish and those we plan on publishing in the future are not from our circle of friends. To be clear, we plan on maintaining a strong working relationships with the writers we publish.
Jana: Yeah, what Ryan said. We’re like 7-Eleven — we’re open for creativity at all hours and welcome all kinds, even those that are barefoot.
Byloos: And given (directed to Jana) — your awareness of what you wanted your book to look like, do you also anticipate giving that creative control to your authors, or rather, do you have a vision of what you want all the books on the press to look like, and will offer more specific guidelines?
Jana: While I like to think I’m omniscient when it comes to what the masses want to experience, I think it’s important for authors to be hands-on during the publication process, even if it means putting my inner control freak tendencies to the wayside. Channeling thoughts from the brain to a readable format was just one small step in writing and publishing my own book. I think the way a book looks and feels in someone’s hands is just as important as its content, and I hope the authors we publish have the same kind of passion about their own work, yet are willing to let us use our experience to assist in the execution.
Ryan: Jana and I really feel that the author should have a say in their book design. Some don’t want to touch it and I respect that, but I know if I had a book coming out, I’d want some control over how it appears to potential readers (see: David Foster Wallace re: the cover of Infinite Jest, possibly the worst cover ever for one of the best books ever).
I think the major publishing houses have caught on to the fact that you need to make books look pretty if you want to compete, but there’s still plenty of lackluster design out there, and even with the pretty covers you’ve got designers who are talented, but not totally invested in the work. We do a really good job of “tricking” artists, photographers and designers into reading a lot of our content. By showing them how invested we are in a project, I think that passion sort of rubs off on them. Our current cover designer is pretty hooked on his task at this point, and his work is a beautiful visual portrayal of the upcoming book’s theme.
You’ve gotta’ consider the book as a physical object and make people not only want to pick it up, but hopefully think about how the design itself does justice to the content of the book. I think having a “branded” look to our books — kind of like how you know a book is from McSweeney’s just by looking at it — is appealing, but in the end our designs are geared toward the content/concept of a specific book, and so each one is probably going to look pretty different.
Byloos: If you could publish any book — either one that has already been published with some tweaks of your own, or one that you know exists and is currently with another press, or even an idea of a book that would be the lodestone of Burrow Press many years into the future but one that has not yet been written by an author who you may not even know exists?
Ryan: Full disclosure: I had to look up the word “lodestone.” Anyway, I’d love to have been the one to discover some of my favorite authors and been the first to put their work out. But “couldas” aside, my goal is to find some really badass writers and help them get their careers started, whether it’s by publishing a couple short stories or a debut novel. While I’d also love to work with established writers who may, for whatever reason, want to publish with us, the ideal book right now would be that landmark novel that causes some people to throw around the word “genius” and other people to deride the book in stunned disbelief of something so undeniably good. Ideally.
Jana: Ha! I had to look up lodestone too, which is not surprising. But you stumped Ryan! Wow. Well done, Matty. I’m more focused on what’s coming up as opposed to what’s already been done. Even though I’d like to create a book so delicious that it’s hung in a gallery as a fine arts piece, I’m curious to see where technology takes us. It’d be the ultimate compliment to be at everyone’s finger tips, even if it takes a quick download. I want to publish that book.
Byloos: Where do you see Burrow Press in exactly 2 years? Feel free to break it down generally, or specifically.
Ryan: Consistent book output of at least 4-5 books a year. More money for marketing/promotion and innovative book design. Just getting closer to being a well-oiled, sustainable machine where it’s necessary (budget, etc.), so that there’s more time for the fun part. And why not throw in that landmark novel, too.
Jana: As for me, I’ll be in Africa on some great adventure Skyping Ryan so that we can argue over stories and the use of indefinite articles.
***
Learn even more about Burrow Press when you visit their website.