John Martin (publisher)

Not to be confused with John Martyn (publisher).

John Martin (publisher) (born 1930) was the founder of Black Sparrow Press. He was in the book business for 36 years, retiring in 2002. He is most noted for helping to launch the literary career of Charles Bukowski and re-publishing the catalog of John Fante. He sold 650 titles annually, with more than $1 million in sales. He also sold works by Wyndham Lewis, Paul Bowles, Robert Duncan, Theodore Dreiser, Joyce Carol Oates, D.H. Lawrence, Diane Wakoski and many others. Martin sold 184 titles of Black Sparrow Press to David R. Godine. But his four major authors, Bukowski, Paul and Jane Bowles, and John Fante, were sold to Ecco Press, where they still appear with the now-famous covers designed by Barbara Martin.