NIU sprouts new imprint: Switchgrass

Literary fiction gets a bad rap when it comes to sales (check out Editorial Ass's breakdown of what a high-selling hardback means to the field). Or maybe it's better to say it doesn't get a bad rap, it just does badly. That's why we're seeing a lot of this work end up on smaller or academic presses (as Josh Barkan's Blind Speed landed at Northwestern University Press). That's not to say that academic presses should be viewed as second (or 72nd) options. Rather, they're becoming bunkers from outsize market demands.

With that in mind, I was pleased to receive notice this morning that Northern Illinois University Press has launched a new fiction imprint: Switchgrass (not, of course, to be confused with locals Switchback). According to a declaration from DeKalb, Switchgrass is "committed to enhancing the cultural landscape of the Midwest by offering a forum for publishing dynamic, original voices of literary fiction." The new imprint will publish only novels set in or about the Midwest. According to marketing manager Linda Manning, the imprint will publish two books per season, beginning in Fall 2009. No books have been lined up yet, said Manning. The announcement doubles as a call for submissions, but the editors hope to have made their selections by January 2009.

It's always seemed to me that books put out on academic presses have one great hurdle to to leap over: A somewhat stodgy design aesthetic. But I dig the Switchgrass look and logo, which gives me hope for the looks of their books.