Akashic Books
Founded | 1997 |
---|---|
Founder | Johnny Temple |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | Brooklyn, New York |
Distribution | Consortium Book Sales & Distribution (US)[1] Turnaround Publisher Services (UK)[2] |
Publication types | Books |
Official website | www |
Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent publisher. Akashic Books' collection began with Arthur Nersesian's The Fuck Up [3] in 1997, and has since expanded to include Dennis Cooper's "Little House on the Bowery" series,[4] Chris Abani's Black Goat poetry series,[5] and the internationally successful "Noir" series,[6][7] originating with Brooklyn Noir,[8] since expanding to international titles such as "Delhi Noir" and "Havana Noir."
Akashic Books authors include T Cooper, Ron Kovic, Derek McCormack, Melvin Van Peebles, Ryan Adams, Lydia Lunch, Richard Hell, Nina Revoyr, Les Claypool, Pete Hamill, Carlos Pintado, Lawrence Block,[9] Travis Jeppesen, James Greer, Joe Meno, Elizabeth Nunez, Adam Mansbach, and Greg Prato.[10]
In June 2011, Akashic published the widely successful Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach. Go the Fuck to Sleep was subject to an unintended viral marketing campaign after PDF copies of the book, presumably from advance copies sent to booksellers, were distributed via email. While the book was originally scheduled for release in October 2011, by the end of April the book had hit #2 on Amazon.com's bestseller list, and by May 12 the book was #1. In the meantime, the publishing date was moved up to June, and Akashic increased its first printing to 150,000 copies. Akashic, which acknowledged the importance of social media in popularizing the book ("it's a miracle from the heavens for us"), is trying to prevent unauthorized copying of the book.
Akashic Books was started by Johnny Temple,[11] former bassist of Girls Against Boys and mid-80s Dischord band Soulside,[12] with the mission "to make literature more part of popular culture, not just a part of elitist culture."[13]
The publishing house is currently run out of the (OA) Can Factory in Brooklyn.[14]
References
- ^ "Consortium Book Sales & Distribution | Our Publishers". Retrieved 2017-12-02.
- ^ "Publishers Representatives | Publishers Distributors". Turnaround Publisher Services. Archived from the original on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
- ^ "Arthurnersesian.com". Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
- ^ "Indie | Literary | Books". Akashicbooks.com. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ^ [1] Archived February 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Indie | Literary | Books". Akashicbooks.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-02. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ^ "San Diego's underbelly exposed in "Noir" book | UTSanDiego.com". Signonsandiego.com. 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ^ "Indie | Literary | Books". Akashicbooks.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ^ "Indie | Literary | Books". Akashicbooks.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ^ "Primus Book by Greg Prato". Akashicbooks.com. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
- ^ "Johnny Temple of Akashic Books on subversion and the future - latimes.com". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ^ U.S.A. "Soulside". Dischord.com. Archived from the original on 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ^ "nthWORD Shorts". Shorts.nthword.com. 2011-07-07. Archived from the original on 2012-07-24. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ^ "The (OA) Can Factory | People". Xoprojects.com. 2012-10-02. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2012-11-08.