United We Stand: What’s Happening in Independent Publishing

Helene Atwan is the Director of Beacon Press, an independent non-profit book publisher founded in 1854. She began her publishing career in 1976 at Random House in New York as an assistant editor in their College Division, before moving to Alfred A. Knopf in 1977 as a publicity associate. She then joined The Viking Press in 1979 as the associate director of publicity. In 1981, she moved to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where she began as the director of publicity. She also became a vice president of the house in 1987 and the associate publisher in 1991. In 1993, she joined the Pocket Books division of Simon & Schuster as the vice president and director of marketing. She was appointed director of Beacon Press by the board of trustees of the Unitarian Universalists Association in October of 1995.

Johnny Temple is the publisher and editor in chief of Akashic Books, an award-winning Brooklyn-based independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction. Temple won the 2013 Ellery Queen Award; the American Association of Publishers’ 2005 Miriam Bass Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing; and the 2010 Jay and Deen Kogan Award for Excellence in Noir Literature. Temple also plays bass guitar in the band Girls Against Boys, which has toured extensively across the globe and released numerous albums on independent and major record companies. He has contributed articles and political essays to various publications, including the Nation, Publishers Weekly, AlterNet. He is also the chair of the Brooklyn Literary Council, which works with Brooklyn’s borough president to plan the annual Brooklyn Book Festival.

Australian-born Michael Reynolds has served as editor in chief at Europa Editions since 2005, the year in which it was founded. Europa strives to bring fresh international voices to the American and British markets and to provide quality editions that have a distinct look and consistently high levels of editorial standards. The Europa catalog is eclectic, reflecting the founders’ belief that dialogue between nations and cultures is of vital importance and that this exchange is facilitated by literature chosen not only for its ability to entertain and fascinate but also to inform and enlighten.

Mitchell Kaplan is founder and owner of the independent Miami-based book story Books & Books, with seven locations. Books & Books flagship location in Coral Gables serves as a community center for writers and readers, hosting 60 author events a month and featuring a carefully curated selection of books, magazines and gift items. Kaplan is co-founder of the Miami Book Fair International, which began in 1984 and has grown into one of the preeminent literary events in the country. He is a recipient of The National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.

Morgan Entrekin is the President and Publisher of Grove/Atlantic Inc. Books in New York City. He is one of six owners of the publishing company. Entrekin is a graduate of Montgomery Bell Academy, Stanford University and the Radcliffe Publishing Course. He began his career at Delacorte Press. In 1982 he moved to Simon & Schuster. In 1984, he started his own imprint at Atlantic Monthly Press. In 1993 he merged this company with Grove Press to create Grove/Atlantic Inc.

Oren Teicher is CEO of the American Booksellers Association (ABA)—a national, not for profit trade association that exists to protect and promote the interests of its members: independently owned bookstores, large and small, with storefront locations in towns and cities nationwide. In 2008 ABA created Indiebound—a community-oriented movement that brings together booksellers, readers, indie retailers, local business alliances, and anyone else with a passionate belief that healthy local economies help communities thrive.

Pamela Paul is the editor of the New York Times Book Review and the author of Parenting, Inc., Pornified, and The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony. Prior to joining the Times, Paul was a contributor to Time magazine and the Economist. Her work has appeared in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and Vogue. In By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from the New York Times Book Review (Henry Holt and Co.) sixty-five of the world's leading writers open up about the books and authors that have meant the most to them. Every Sunday, readers of the New York Times Book Review turn with anticipation to see which novelist, historian, short story writer, or artist will be the subject of the popular By the Book feature. This collection contains full, uncut interviews, featuring personalities as varied as David Sedaris, Hilary Mantel, Michael Chabon, Khaled Hosseini, Anne Lamott, and James Patterson. It also features dozens of sidebars that reveal the commonalities and conflicts among the participants, underscoring those influences that are truly universal and those that remain matters of individual taste.