In this post I will highlight some of my favorite small and indie presses that offer its readers subscription plans. By offering subscriptions a press is able to fund upcoming publications and readers get a fantastic discount on books. These are a few of my favorites and this is by no means an exhaustive list. I have included links to all presses for those who want more information on each plan. Please add any additional suggestions in the comments:
New Vessel Press: A subscription of New Vessel books includes all six of their books for the publication year. Subscribers also get to choose one book from their backlist. The cost is $80 which amounts to about 25% off of the cover prices. I haven’t read a book from New Vessel yet that I haven’t enjoyed. This year’s titles include If Venice Dies and A Very Russian Christmas so this subscription is definitely worth it. New Vessel Subscription Page.
Two Lines Press: I embarrassed myself with a gushing review of Two Lines 25, a collection of international writing for which the Two Lines editors have scoured the world. A copy of Two Lines 25 is included with a subscription and to me that alone is worth the price of admission. Two Lines is also one of my favorite subscriptions because every year they send some sort of book related gift to their subscribers. This year is was a package of postcards which all contained quotes from their latest books. A subscription for 2016 is only $40 ($80 International) and you get four fabulous books. Two Lines Press Subscription Page
Deep Vellum: This non-profit press offers subscriptions of five or ten books and they also provide a few options with each subscriptions. Readers can choose both paperback and ebook versions of their books for $60 or the ebook versions alone for $50. International subscriptions are a bit more pricey at $150. But Deep Vellum also puts out a large variety of fantastic books that are translated from languages around the world. Deep Vellum Subscription Page.
Archipelago Books: Archipelago is also a non-profit press dedicated to publishing contemporary and classic world literature. A one-year subscription of print books which 
includes twelve of their titles is $170. A full-year of ebooks is $70 and a half year subscription for six books is also $70. They provide a lot of choices depending on one’s budget. Subscribers who are really passionate about their books and want to spend some money up front can also purchase two or three year subscriptions. Archipelago Books Subscription Page
And Other Stories: This is one of my favorite book subscriptions because they offer a recurring subscription. I don’t have to worry about there being a gap in the books I receive because I’ve forgotten to renew. I wish that other publishers would follow suit and also do an auto renewal option. I was very impressed that And Other Stories sent out a lengthy survey recently to its subscribers asking for ways in which they could improve their service. They also offer a range of options to fit different budgets: 6 books a year for £50 in UK/Europe/USA/Canada (approx $80 US), 4 books a year for £35 in UK/Europe/USA/Canada (approx $55 US), 2 books a year for £20 in UK/Europe/USA/Canada (approx $32 US). And Other Stories also prints the names of subscribers in their books since it is the funds from these readers that have helped to publish their books. And Other Stories Subscription Page
Open Letter: This small press also specializes in world literature in English translation (notice a theme here.) One of my favorite books this year, The Brother by Rein Raud, has been translated from the Estonian and published by Open Letter. They offer a six month subscription for $60 or a twelve month subscription for $100. Shipping is free within the U.S. for both subscriptions. I love that each new release comes with a letter from the publisher which explains the book and how they came to publish it. Open Letter Subscription Page
Persephone Books: Persephone specializes in reprinting neglected fiction and non-fiction by (mostly) female twentieth century writers. A friend who has impeccable taste in books sent me a copy of Greenery Street and I have been hooked on their titles ever since! They offer a six month subscription for £60 or a twelve month subscription for £120. For an additional fee they will also gift wrap the books. Subscribers get to choose which books they would like to receive from their catalog of 120 titles. My husband bought me a Persephone twelve month subscription for my birthday last year and it was delightful to receive a new Persephone title each month. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Persephone Books Subscription Page
The New York Review of Books: This press also specializes in reissuing lost classics from different countries around the world. They call their product a “book club” but it is essentially a subscription service. For $140 members receive a book every month for 12 months and the membership automatically renews. For a limited time NYRB is also offering a four issue subscription to The Paris Review when readers purchase a membership. I can’t get enough of the books from NYRB classics and I might have to buy a storage unit to house all of my books from their catalog. I will pretty much read anything they publish and $140 is a pretty good bargain for a year’s worth of their books. NYRB Book Club Page
Melville House: This indie press based in New York publishes a series called “The Art of the Novella.” They have published classic novellas written by Chekov, Tolstoy, Melville and Woolfe just to name a few. Subscribers can choose a hard copy book for $12.99 per month, an ebook for $6.99 per month or both for $17.99 per month. Subscribers are automatically billed monthly until they choose to opt out of the service. This is a great option for someone who wants to try a subscription and not spend a lot of money. Melville House Novella Subscription Page
Peirene Press: Peirene specializes in contemporary European novellas and short novels in English translation. All of their books are best-sellers and/or award-winners in their own countries. They only publish books of less than 200 pages that can be read in the same time it takes to watch a DVD. As an added bonus, their books are beautifully designed paperback editions, using only the best paper from sustainable British sources. A one-year Peirene subscription is £35.00 and members receive a book every four months. There is also the option to sign up for automatic renewal (UK only). Peirene Press Subscription Page Peirene has also decided to crowd fund Peirene Now! No. 2 on kickstarter. For a pledge of only £12 supporters will receive a copy of the book which looks like another fantastic and thought-provoking read. Peirene Now! 2 Kickstarter Page
Pushkin Press: A one year subscription to Pushkin Press is £95.00 and subscribers receive one book each month from the Pushkin Collection, a %25 discount on all purchases from the 
Pushkin online bookshop, and a free copy of Stefan Zweig’s novella Confusion. The Pushkin Collection is a series of paperbacks typeset in Monotype Baskerville, based on the transitional English serif typeface designed in the mid-eighteenth century by John Baskerville. It was litho-printed on Munken Premium White Paper and notch-bound by the independently owned printer TJ International in Padstow, Cornwall. The cover, with French flaps, was printed on Colorplan Pristine White paper. Pushkin Press Subscription Page
Vibrant Margins: Ben Winston has started this fantastic subscription service that delivers to its subscribers a variety of books from several different small presses. According to the website, “Great novels from small presses are out there. Let us find them and deliver them to your doorstep.” For their debut season they have chosen titles from Dzanc Books, Restless Books, Lanternfish Press, Unthank Books, The Heart and the Hand Press, and New Door Books. Subscribers receive a new book every month and can choose two, three or six books for as low as $15.33 per book. This is a great way to try a variety of small press books. I will be reviewing two of the titles from their debut season later in the month and doing a giveaway. So stay tuned! Vibrant Margins Bookstore Page
For my next post maybe I will dare to dive into the world of literary magazines!
This book can only be described as a literary Odyssey, a roaming adventure through the crumbling town of Voroshilovgrad and its surroundings in the post-Soviet period. The plot offers so much more than Herman’s bizarre story as he attempts to run his brother’s gas station; we are confronted by a poetic journey through the landscape of Ukraine and a up close look at the unique people who inhabit this part of what once was Soviet territory.
Serhiy Zhadan is one of the key voices in contemporary Ukrainian literature: his poetry and novels have enjoyed popularity both at home and abroad. He has twice won BBC Ukraine’s Book of the Year (2006 and 2010) and has twice been nominated as Russian GQ’s “Man of the Year” in their writers category. Writing is just one of his many interests, which also include singing in a band, translating poetry and organizing literary festivals. Zhadan was born in Starobilsk, Luhansk Oblast, and graduated from Kharkiv University in 1996, then spent three years as a graduate student of philology. He taught Ukrainian and world literature from 2000 to 2004, and thereafter retired from teaching. Zhadan’s poetry, novels, and short stories have been translated into over a dozen languages. In 2013, he helped lead the Euromaidan demonstrations in Kharkiv, and in 2014, he was assaulted outside the administration building in Kharkiv, an incident that gained notoriety around the world, including a feature article in the New Yorker. He lives and works in Kharkiv.
Our senses are our most precious natural gifts because it is through them that we are able to experience the world. At one point we have all probably wondered what it would be like to lose our hearing or our sight or our sense of smell. In Seeing Red, we are given a vivid understanding, through the character of Lina, of what it is like to lose one’s sight. Lina, a young woman attending graduate school in Manhattan and living with her boyfriend Ignacio, suddenly loses her vision. She has been a diabetic all of her life and from what we are told about her medical history in the book, the blood vessels in her eyes have burst and have caused her blindness. She knows that this is coming and the opening of the book is the moment at which her nightmare comes true.
Lina Meruane is one of the most prominent and influential female voices in Chilean contemporary literature. A novelist, essayist, and cultural journalist, she is the author of a host of short stories that have appeared in various anthologies and magazines in Spanish, English, German and French. She has also published a collection of short stories, Las Infantas (Chile 1998, Argentina 2010), as well as three novels: Póstuma (2000), Cercada (2000), and Fruta Podrida (2007). The latter won the Best Unpublished Novel Prize awarded by Chile’s National Council of the Culture and the Arts in 2006. She won the Anna Seghers Prize, awarded to her by the Akademie der Künste, in Berlin, Germany in 2011 for her entire body of written work. Meruane received the prestigious Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize in 2012 for Seeing Red. Meruane has received writing grants from the Arts Development Fund of Chile (1997), the Guggenheim Foundation (2004), and National Endowment for the Arts (2010). She received her PhD in Latin American Literature from New York University, where she currently serves as professor of World and Latin American Literature and Creative Writing. She also serves as editor of Brutas Editoras, an independent publishing house located in New York City, where she lives between trips back to Chile.
thebookbindersdaughter.com 