Catalog: Apostrophe Books

Because we are a new press, we want those who submit manuscripts and those interested in supporting the press to be assured of our commitment to this project. We have spoken elsewhere of the spirit of work we want to print, but we also feel strongly about the materiality of the books we will publish.

We project that we will publish three books a year for the first three years. In the fourth year, we will publish only one book (the tenth in the series), which will be an anthology of new work by the writers of the first nine books. This first set of ten books, each of the same dimension, will have a letter printed on each binding spelling out APOSTROPHE. The complete set will be made available in a limited edition slipcase.

Each APOSTROPHE book design, unique to each title, will emphasize typography as the only artful quality of the covers. We want to utilize the cover (front and back) as an extension of the manuscript instead of as the more typical intermediary face for the market (meaning simply: no cover art, no author photos, and no blurbs). This is not a new idea, we realize, but it is an idea we find compelling. We are not antagonistic to the concept of blurbs, photos, cover art—we just envision the book spilling over its covers—a last poem, a repetend, a fragment, a paratext. Of course, we know we are also building a product image.

In order to distribute our books, we are exploring small press distributors, web sales, and subscription sales.

APOSTROPHE BOOKS is a not-for-profit press. We do not charge a reading fee. If you are interested in making a donation, you can send a check to either of us at the same address where the manuscripts are sent.