Vivek Shraya: 'If you don’t see the book you need, write it'

A dialogue between publisher and bookseller

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Vivek Shraya’s latest book, She of the Mountains, will be published by Arsenal Pulp Press. He’ll be guest editing The Afterword all week.

As a writer, my main focus is on trying to tell a compelling story. But as a writer who has also self-published books, I have had to ask myself — and others — questions relating to book production, promotion and sales.

Whenever I visit Glad Day Bookshop, the world’s oldest LGBTQ bookstore (and the only local bookstore that has consistently stocked and supported my work), manager Scott Dagostino and I have had interesting conversations about the publishing industry. I wanted to open this dialogue to Brian Lam, Arsenal Pulp Press publisher, a major press for LGBTQ books in Canada, and publisher of my debut novel, She of the Mountains, to see how their answers might mirror each other and where they might differ.

What kinds of books do you like to publish?
Brian Lam As an indie press, we are drawn to the books that resonate with us on a personal level. For me, that means books that pose tough questions about our world and our culture. As a gay man of colour, I am drawn to books that deal with LGBT and culturally diverse issues, but that’s not all. I’m happiest when I discover an author trying to change the landscape of writing, regardless of subject matter; writers who try taking down the literary status quo and creating something unique and truly their own. At its best, literature is about being alive, in every sense of the word.

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Scott Dagostino, manager of Glad Day Bookshop
Michael Erickson

What kinds books do readers love to buy? What kinds of books do readers ask for most often?
Scott Dagostino Like any other reader, our customers at Glad Day just want great stories — either a rich novel or a compelling memoir — but there’s also a hunger for representation. With more and more middle-class white gay and lesbian characters on TV, for example, we now see a stronger demand for books featuring trans people, bisexuals, and queers of colour who are still ignored by the mainstream media. A good story, well told, from a fresh vantage point is still what drives book sales.

What are the kinds of books you are still looking to publish? Where are the gaps in your existing published collection?
BL We’re actively searching out more young adult literature and graphic novels, but it’s not because they’re the latest mode du jour; it’s because some of the most interesting writing being done today is in these fields. We’re keen on an expansive idea of literature, books that break out of the stiff parameters of the straight novel, story collection and poetry book.

What are the themes/gaps missing from the books you are selling?
SD With so many LGBT small presses having gone belly-up in the past decade, it’s increasingly frustrating. So many classic queer books are out of print, but I could still sell them. (I credit Arsenal Pulp Press’s “Little Sister’s Classics” line for keeping a few of them around and would love to see more — hint, hint, Brian!). In general, however, it’s the growing specificity that’s both challenging and heartening. Last month, a girl came in asking if we had any trans Muslim books. Aside from one novel, we didn’t but soon, I told her, soon! Such a wave is coming, and I always tell people: if you don’t see the book you need, write it!

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A good story, well told, from a fresh vantage point is still what drives book sales

What is your best-selling book? What factors do you think contributed to its success?
BL Our biggest selling books have largely been happy surprises; books that we published because we thought they were good, period. Stoney Creek Woman was an intimate biography of a First Nations woman in central BC named Mary John; first published in 1988, it’s been reprinted seventeen times and continues to sell. How It All Vegan! was one of the first vegan cookbooks ever published, back in 1999, when one still had to explain what “vegan” meant; since then, it’s sold a quarter million copies and is regarded as a bible of introductory vegan cooking. And Blue Is the Warmest Color is the translation of a French graphic novel by Julie Maroh; as we were preparing its release, the film adaptation won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013, triggering an onslaught of media coverage and controversy over its explicit lesbian scenes. We wanted to publish Blue because it was a beautifully told and drawn graphic novel; the fact that it became a runaway success was icing on the cake. The bottom line is that a book’s success (or failure) is completely unpredictable. We learned a long time ago not to count on anything when it came to predicting a book’s success.

SDWe’ve found that Glad Day Bookshop’s customer base is too diverse for any one type of book to dominate like that but last year’s best-seller was Intolerable, Kamal Al-Solaylee’s memoir of growing up gay in Yemen, creating an open life for himself in Canada, and trying to maintain ties with his increasingly fundamentalist family back home. Obviously, it spoke to a great many people with similar histories, but it was also a fascinating and engaging read for Westerners. Kamal was also relentless in promoting his book, doing a lot of press, and he’s a warm and interesting person so I think a lot of his sales were also driven by his personality, which counts!

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Brian Lam, publisher at Arsenal Pulp Press
Arsenal Pulp Press

How do you define a successful book, outside of sales?
BL A book is successful if it reaches its target audience and resonates with them in the same way as it does with us. Nothing is better than hearing a reader say that “Ivan E. Coyote’s books changed my life,” or “Wayde Compton wanted me to become a writer.” It’s the largely the reason that most writers write, but it’s also the main reason why we continue to publish: to feel that rush of having made a difference to a reader’s life.

SD Like I said, a good story, well told, is key but, I also love a well-designed book. I do judge a book by its cover! There’s a lot of sloppy Photoshop out there, and I love when a book looks great, inside and out. At the risk of sounding too kiss-ass, your own book She of the Mountains is one of my latest favourites. It’s beautifully designed and movingly written and fabulously fresh. Even if it doesn’t sell (though I won’t let that happen), it’s a triumph. The happiest part of my job has been promoting great new Canadian writers like Zoe Whittall, Greg Kearney, and Shawn Syms.

Which of your books have surprised you in regards to the reaction they elicited? What has surprised you as a publisher?
BL We’ve been known to publish a few risqué books over the past 40-plus years. It’s not an intended goal of ours; most of these books are important historically and culturally, such as Thomas Waugh’s books on the history of gay art. From time to time we hear that certain books of ours have been censored, whether destroyed by American prison officials for being “inappropriate material,” or banned from Apple’s iTunes store, which happened last year to Waugh’s Lust Unearthed. It’s frustrating and unnerving when third parties intervene and pass judgment on our books at the expense of their availability to readers. Perhaps the most surprising incident was when BC Ferries banned our graphic novel/cookbook Scrambled Brains from their gift shops, for having recipes enhanced by, um, alternative flavorings. Surprising then, but now we wear it like a badge of honour — all part of being a true indie press, I suppose.

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What are books you have stocked that have surprised you in regards to the reaction they have elicited? What has surprised you as a book seller?
SDHistorically, it’s Pat Califia’s lesbian S/M story collection Macho Sluts, which got a former manager of the shop arrested for carrying it in the early ’90s! These days, it’s mainstream and still a proud part of our collection. Recently, however, it’s hard to pick one. I get surprised all the time, like with the recent In Bed With Gore Vidal, a gossipy new book about the famed writer’s love life. I didn’t think there would still be so much interest, especially as his novels don’t sell like they used to, but I can barely keep it in stock. Then there are books that I thought would be huge — like the beautiful history book on queer couples The Invisibles — but weren’t. Never quite knowing exactly what people want is both the frustration and the fun of the book biz. I’m just happy as long as people are reading.
https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/vivek-shraya-if-you-dont-see-the-book-you-need-write-it
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