K, Editor and Chief
WHAT IS 0101 PRESS?
In 2008, I became fascinated with the nascent ebook. I purchased my first Kindle
book in April of 2008. I went back and reviewed my account on Amazon and found
out that I've purchased at least one or two ebooks (usually more) every month
since then. My bibliomania doesn't stop at ebooks either. I have continued to
add to my personal traditional book piles as well. My reading has greatly
impacted my life in positive ways I can't even begin to explain, but this isn't
about a bookish lawyer, this is about 0101 Press. (0101 is a mouthful, so you
can call it "Binary" Press -- that was the point.)
With all the books I purchase and read, I wanted a bigger say in what was
available. I wanted to give voices that might not be heard in the hurricane of
published words, a chance to be heard above the din. I realized that books and
their contents need to be approached in ways that are opposite to the unrelenting
parade of information. Books are more intimate conversations, whether they are
in audio, on the page or on the screen. More quiet dialogue, than rock concert.
I'm also an attorney by trade, so the economics of things are always present in
my bill-by-the-hour brain. Economics and art have always been at odds. At the
end of 2014, I realized after putting out over fifteen book, having several books
leave in a spin-off publishing venture, adding and subtracting employees as funds
would allow, attending Book Expo America and talking to other small publishers
that it was time to try something different.
I am currently in the process of turning 0101 Press into a non-profit corporation that
will foster not just the writer, but the editors, formatters, marketers and graphic
designers that are a necessary part of the book production process. Great quality books are a
collaborative effort.
Publishers have served several purposes in the more traditional environment:
curation, marketing, graphic design, content editing and line editing.
When it is so easy to type on a screen and have Word underline your grammatical mistakes
in green and your misspellings in red, we tend to forget that great literature is more
than machine edited grammar and spelling. While unseen, literature is a community effort
of many talented people helping to amplify the voice of the author.
I have followed and admired the work of Electric Literature and of course, McSweeney's.
Both of these sites have become non-profit corporations and I think the economics
of digital publishing almost demands it in the current state of the world. I'm not looking
to replicate the excellent work of those or similar sites. In fact, I fully support and follow
what those other sites are doing. Rather, I am creating a non-profit publisher that will bring
all the elements of traditional publishing into a community that can put its own stamp
on the literary world.
I have always loved books and the people who write them. 0101 Press is my
attempt to support the art form I love the most.
-K
Editor and Chief
