A Simple Sentence

by Neil Alger

I can somewhat safely say that there are few really important things that I have ever learned from the front matter of a book. But nested among the library of congress designations, the mysterious sequences of numbers counting down from ten to one (which I have always assumed refer to something relating to reprints, but, have never managed to actually research), the ISBNs, the Copyrights, the publisher locations, one occasionally finds the curious statement, "Distributed by Small Press Distribution, Berkeley CA".

If, after reading this statement, I had been told that this simple sentence might have the ability to change lives, I would have loudly disagreed. However, as these kinds of things frequently play out, I would have been wrong.

I moved back to the Bay Area in the Fall of 2003. With a degree in literature and a job at Peet's Coffee, I needed something a little more exciting to fill my off time. Returning to some of the old favorite books (probably, in this particular case, Potential Random by Keith Waldrop, published by paradigm press), I re-encountered the sentence in question. Living in Oakland, working in North Berkeley, I figured that I would stop by SPD and see what might happen.

More than three years later, I'm still here. The time that I have spent at SPD has taught me more than this short piece allows me to elaborate. But perhaps most importantly, I have learned first-hand about the critical importance of independent literature to make different and dissenting voices heard. Mainstream publishing does allow for certain types of writing to make it into the hands of many readers; that fact, I feel, is relatively indisputable. However, the diversity of that literature is easily brought into question. New writing, published through independent presses, allows for a diverse conversation in the written world that mainstream publishing is neither interested in, nor at this point, I belive, capable of producing.

And this is where SPD fits in, I think. Is anyone in the independent literary community getting rich? If you're reading this, chances are good that you already know the answer to that question. But the value of independent literature for an open, engaged and intellectual society is immeasurably large.

Neil Alger is the Sales & Marketing Manager at SPD. He has a degree in literature from Brown University. He currently sits on the board of the Northern California Book Publicity and Marketing Association, and is studying accounting. He finds accounting to be strangely fun.