The Best Way to Support SSP

December 15, 2015 ~ deborahemin ~ Leave a comment

It is now close to Christmas and everyone asks you for money and support. SSP is no different but the pitch is different and better. Why? Because we aren’t asking you to spend any money.

Ask your library to buy our books

You read that correctly. Don’t spend a dime, but ask your library to spend the money it has to buy e-books and paperbacks and make sure that they buy the books that Sullivan Street Press publishes.

A big sale is going on right now

All our books are now on sale to libraries. They can buy them for 35% off.When you go into your library with the list of titles published by SSP, you are actually going in and saving them money.

Not a way to undercut bookstores

I know you are thinking that. Your mind is saying right now: If I go to the library and ask them to buy a book written by Mickey Z. or Deborah Emin or Paul Graham, I am hurting my bookstore. But you are not.

What you are doing is helping this publishing company to get its books into more hands than just yours. If you like any of our books, your trip to the library is a gift to this publishing company and to the authors we publish. If all the people who like our books went to their library and asked for the books to be on the shelves or available for digital download, this company and many other small publishers would be financially viable and able to publish more books and put into readers hands many more stories about this world that need to be told.

You could never buy as many copies of our books as the libraries can

Simple math, my friends. Think about it this way too. I can ask each of you to buy a book. I could even ask you to also contribute to our GoFundMe account. But with one visit to the library, you could order all of our books, not spend one penny and make sure that all of our books can be read and enjoyed by your entire community. How many times do appeals for help come this wrapped up with ease and sharing?

Thank you to all of you who will take me up on this project.

Here are the books, with their ISBNs, which the librarian will need to order the books. And if you are asked if our books are available for library purchase, say yes, and say by Baker & Taylor, OverDrive, 3M, and EBSCO. Your librarian will think you are very smart.

Occupy These Photos, by Mickey Z.//e-book ISBN: 978-0-9819428-9-6 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9963491-0-9

Occupy this Book, by Mickey Z.//e-book ISBN: 978-0-9819428-4-1 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9819428-1-0

Eating Vegan in Vegas, Second Edition, by Paul Graham//e-book ISBN: 978-0-9819428-5-8///Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9819428-2-7

Scags at 7, by Deborah Emin//e-book ISBN: 978-0-9819428-6-5 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9819428-0-3

Scags at 18, by Deborah Emin//e-book ISBN: 978-0-9819428-8-9 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9819428-7-2

#Vegan Thanksgiving: More Thanks

November 24, 2015 ~ deborahemin ~ Leave a comment

We are a mere two days away from Thanksgiving and it appears that there is way too much for Sullivan Street Press to be thankful for to be expressed all in one blog post. I am definitely thankful that the press has had the opportunity to publish books on being vegan, Eating Vegan in Vegas, and that we are working on its third edition, due to launch in Las Vegas during the Vegas VegFest.

Authors Teaching Publisher

I am grateful to the authors who entrust their books to Sullivan Street Press and want to share with the world their ideas whether they are about what it is like to be a vegan in Las Vegas, meaning a big shout out to Paul Graham. Or an also big hug of gratitude to Mickey Z. for his two books, Occupy this Book and Occupy These Photos. Working on Mickey’s books has been a joy and the look of each book has made me very proud of the quality of the books Sullivan Street Press publishes. I have learned a great deal from both these authors. Paul, in a way, led me to being a vegan and that led me to search out vegans in NYC and see what they were up to which led directly to Mickey and his fascinating talks at cafes, at rallies and that led to the books.

Publisher Meets Incredible Chef

As a publisher, I walk into all kinds of situations to meet new people and learn from them what they are doing. In a similar fashion, I met Laura Theodore, to many known as the Jazzy Vegetarian. Laura has graciously supplied recipes from her new book, Vegan-Ease to this #vegan blog. I am thankful for the ways in which Laura supports the work Sullivan Street Press does and so, I share with you a favorite recipe of hers:

Spinach-Tomato Vegan Omelet
Makes 2 servings / Ease Factor 3

I tried for years to create a tasty vegan omelet, so I was super excited when I came up with this oven-baked version. Because a tofu-based omelet is more delicate than the classic egg version, I have developed a jazzy method for helping it to stay together when serving. It takes a little bit of extra fuss, but is well worth the effort.
TOMATO LAYER
2 medium tomatoes, cut into ¼-inch thick slices
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon sea salt
Several grinds of freshly ground pepper
SPINACH LAYER
5 to 6 cups very lightly packed baby spinach, washed and dried
TOFU “EGG” LAYER
1 block (14 to 16 ounces) firm regular tofu
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
1⁄8 teaspoon smoked paprika
1⁄8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika (for dusting top)
¼ cup shredded vegan cheese (optional)
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat with vegan margarine a heavy, ovenproof 10-inch round sauté pan or skillet with tight fitting lid.
Arrange the tomatoes in the prepared skillet by overlapping them slightly. Sprinkle the thyme, 1⁄4 teaspoon salt and several grinds of black pepper evenly over the top of the tomatoes. Top the tomato layer with all of the baby spinach, pressing it down slightly.
Put all of the tofu “egg” layer ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Spread the tofu mixture evenly over the spinach, smoothing the top as you go.

Dust the top of the tofu layer with the additional 1⁄4 teaspoon smoked paprika. Cover tightly and bake for 45 minutes. Put the pan on a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.
Carefully cut the omelet into two servings, by slicing down the middle. Gently lift one-half of the omelet out of the pan, using two very large, flat spatulas. Place it tomato side down onto a rimmed dinner plate. Place a second rimmed dinner plate of the same size firmly over top of the omelet and quickly flip it over to invert the omelet so the tomatoes will now be facing upward. Sprinkle the tomatoes with 2 tablespoons of the vegan cheese, if desired. Then, use the spatula to gently fold the omelet over. Proceed plating up the second half of the omelet in the same manner.
Spoon the sauce that remains in the bottom of the pan over each omelet. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste. Serve warm.

Amount per serving, based on 2 servings: 188 Calories; 11g Fat; 2g Saturated fat; 21g Protein; 107mg Sodium; 7g Total Carbohydrate; 2g Sugars; 4g Fiber

E-Books, Print Books and Giving

November 23, 2015 ~ deborahemin ~ Leave a comment

Ah, it is that time of year again, no, not quite Christmas, but almost my birthday and Chanukah. Now my thoughts turn to snow, the cold and how you can support this publishing company I run, Sullivan Street Press.

Hear my prayers

First I pray that most of you will take it into your hearts to love and to read e-books. Whether you buy them for yourself, buy gift cards for your friends and family, ask your libraries to buy our books, there are so many ways you can both show your support for our e-books while at the same time helping the authors I publish get their stories into a wider world of readers. (To learn more about e-books, here is a recent blog post about e-books.)

Know our mission

I was talking to a new author today and I realized that I don’t outline our mission clearly enough. It is a lofty one, full of the need for more stories being told that will help our readers understand the life around us better. The authors I publish have all helped me to gain things I might not have even known I needed. Paul Graham’s book, Eating Vegan in Vegas helped me to become a vegan. Mickey Z.’s first book with us, Occupy this Book helped me to understand how to be an advocate and activist while his second book, Occupy These Photos was an eye opening series of photos showing activists at work from OWS to the #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations in NYC.

Coming Attractions

It is not seemly, some say, for a publisher to sell her own books through her company. My answer to that is simple: Who cares? The latest volume of the Scags Series, Scags at 30, will be out in May. (You can learn more about the earlier volumes here.)

Look to April for the Third Edition of Eating Vegan in Vegas. This latest edition will be a guide to vegan restaurants in Las Vegas but more than that it will be a resource for all visitors to Las Vegas who want to know what is going on in the Animal Rights community, how the environmental movement is shaping up in Las Vegas, where to go to find the artists and those working to help spread the word about a plant-based life in Las Vegas.

Starting a new poetry series, too

I had a vision in West Virginia of the sort of poetry books that SSP could publish. I know we now have the capacity, through our distributor, INScribe Digital, to make available both e-books and bound books that could have text as well as full-color photos in them. I had been thinking about Liza Charlesworth’s poetry and her photographs for a long time.

Out of these visions and memories, a new hybrid poetry book was born. Liza’s book, Why Happiness Makes Me Nervous, uses text as a trunk for her lyrical narrative of a girl growing into the world and uses photographs as visual poems that expose another set of emotional experiences similar to leaves on a tree that come out of the trunk, her poems. This will be a book to linger within for hours. Whether bought as an e-book or a bound book, it will be a beautiful addition to what we refer to as poetry but as a new hybrid form.Liza’s book will be out in April, in time for National Poetry Month.

Send good wishes, support and your money

SSP is in need of your support as we begin this new year with new books, new authors, new ways of producing books (which I will describe more fully in another blog post) and our continued commitment to see publishing as a creative act.

GoFundMe will gladly take your payments for next year’s work. Thanks in advance.

Road Trip in Fall–Books at a Discount

October 9, 2015 ~ deborahemin ~ Leave a comment

We are leaving for Toronto, Dublin, London and Reyjavik and will be gone for 3 weeks. I feel grateful as hell to be able to travel as much as we do. (Don’t ask me where we will be going next because it is really a goodly amount over the next year.)

While we are away, Sullivan Street Press carries on its mission by sharing with you a number of promotions to help get the books out to more and more readers.

I often think of the books we publish as events, events that keep on going, whether the books are being created, produced, launched or available. No matter where they appear on that time line, they are alive, living happenings of ideas, words, pictures and responses that can’t be stopped. The real perpetual motion machines of our lives–books.

This weekend we are having an e-book promotion of our 4 books that were published before 2015–Scags at 7, Scags at 18, Eating Vegan in Vegas and Occupy this Book. They are on sale at Kobo for $4.99. I urge you to download the Kobo free reading app and put it on your device. That way you can take advantage of this sale. (Plus, to me, Kobo is the one e-tailer who understands the value of the independent bookstore and works with them as much as possible. This is another way to read e-books and not undercut the bookstores.)

Over the month of November, all our e-books will be discounted by 35% to libraries in the US. That means that if you go to your library and request our e-books, and please tell the library that the e-books are being discounted, we can take advantage of having more of our e-books filter through the library systems all across the country. You will be fostering more events that will help others to discover what Sullivan Street Press publishes.

Finally, we just launched a new book, Occupy These Photos. Another addition to the growing body of work by Mickey Z. This new title is a photo collection of Mickey’s eye roaming the city from the time of #OccupyWallStreet to #BlackLivesMatter. With a moving Foreword by Cecily MacMillan on the power of the witnessing eye to those harassed and targeted by the police during times of political actions, Mickey’s book should be essential reading and meditating for those who want to both understand and participate in the changes we need to see at all levels of our shared lives right now.

This post calls attention to the work we have done so far and doesn’t speak to the work that will be happening. More events, more ways to connect with readers and to share visions and ideas and photos and stories in ways we intend to be indispensable to the community. Thanks for all the support you show us.

#DemandCreatesSupply: Your Help Needed

September 23, 2015 ~ deborahemin ~ Leave a comment

SullivanStPress is on the march until we can get Amazon and B&N to carry the beautiful print version of Mickey Z.’s new book, Occupy These Photos.

You can help speed up that day by going to the Amazon and B&N websites and placing Occupy These Photos on your wishlist.

Good corporate operatives that they are, they will respond to an ever growing demand for this title because as our new hashtag campaign makes clear #DemandCreatesSupply.

This campaign to get Mickey’s book on the corporate radar so that they will add it to their virtual shelves has reminded me of two things. I love being a publisher. That job allows me to wander the world asking myself what else would make a great book and how can I help bring that book to life? The second thing I am aware of is how much I also love to write. I am finishing Scags at 30 and want to have the focus it takes to complete my novel.

Saving SullivanStPress right now is an even greater need. The mission is the same: To change the publishing paradigm.

My needs are the same: To have a company that won’t abandon my writing (or anyone else’s) because times are hard.

Publishing and writing can feel like mutually exclusive activities. But without both in my life, I would feel rudderless. Asking you, and your friends and family, to take up our cause of putting Mickey’s beautiful new book on the virtual shelves of Amazon and B&N, is a worthy use of anyone’s time.

People talk about Banned Books. What about books that are flat out refused to be stocked? The only time our book pages should read “temporarily out of stock” on Amazon or B&N’s websites should be because they can’t keep up with demand.

Please join our campaign #DemandCreatesSupply today and share this vital work with all who love to read and want to see fair and equal treatment extended to all publishers, large and small.

Join us on Facebook to share your thoughts about this campaign.

Sullivan Street Press Needs Your Help

September 23, 2015 ~ deborahemin ~ Leave a comment

I feel that anger that comes when I know we are in one of those David vs Goliath moments and there is no telling if we can stay afloat. Yet, we must.

Two weeks ago, Occupy These Photos, by Mickey Z. came out. It is available as an e-book or as a beautifully produced paperback. But Amazon and B&N have listed the paperback as “temporarily out of stock” since the date of its publication (9/8/15).

For small presses like this one to stay in business, our books need to be available, they need to be seen and to be purchased. We need our community to support us and they can’t if they can’t buy our books.

We are a small press. We are using a new distributor who is more determined sometimes than we are to see our books be available but even with that determination, Occupy These Photos, can’t be ordered from the Amazon or B&N websites.

We need the support of all those who believe in the wonders of small presses to produce books that are necessary for the survival of a literate culture and who also love books as much as we do.

Here’s how you can help us.

Go the Amazon and B&N websites and make a wish. Put Occupy These Photos on your wishlist. Let’s build up a demand for this book. Since Amazon and B&N are good capitalists, that will drive the engine that will break this deadlock and make Mickey Z.’s beautiful new book available to all.

There is nothing like making these behemoths bow down to the only power they respect–demand for a book, a large enough demand that they will not be able to ignore us.

Do it not just for Sullivan Street Press but for every small press that wants the corporate giants to treat small presses with the same respect they treat the larger presses. I truly thank you for this support.