Everyone who works at Invisible Publishing is cooler than you. And why wouldn’t they be? A creative collective masquerading as a publishing house, the six superstars (Robbie MacGregor, Nic Boshart, Megan Fildes, Jenner Berger, Emily Leeson, and Sacha Jackson) at Invisible make kick-ass books by kick-ass authors. Make-you-think, sock-you-in-the-stomach, blow-your-mind good books. This American Drive turns the archetypal American road trip upside down with it’s imaginative take on the graphic novel. Migration Songs is an engaging examination of a 30-year-old underachieving cough-drop addict. Even Richard Nash thinks they’re cool. And no one is cooler in publishing than Richard Nash.
When the urge to publish cool books and do unprecedented things with them overwhelmed him, Robbie MacGregor left his job at a regular publishing house in Halifax, hitchhiked to Montreal with his girlfriend, and joined forces with longtime pal Nic Boshart. The goal? To publish unique books by underrepresented writers. Books they wanted to read and wanted others to read. “Basically there were a lot of people around us writing things that we wanted to read and were more exciting and a lot more representative of our place in the world than CanLit was providing,” Boshart explains.
MacGregor returned to Halifax to set up shop. After a stint in Montreal and a round of treeplanting, Boshart landed in Toronto, sunlighting as the Digital Services Coordinator at the Association of Canadian Publishers. Their inaugural list (Homing by Stephanie Domet, The Same Woman by Thea Lim, and Transits: Stories from In-between, edited by Jaime Forsythe) hit bookstore shelves in May 2007. Since then, they’ve published five other titles with two more expected this spring: Ghost Pine: All True Stories by Monteal zine master, Jeff Miller and Ian Orti’s L (and things come apart). In between publishing season, Invisible’s books are heaping up accolades like contending in Canada Also Reads (Fear of Fighting by Stacey May Fowles) and scoring an Atlantic Book Award nomination (Migration Songs by Anna Quon).
And people are noticing – including other publishers, who may romance Invisible’s authors away with whispers of larger advances, bigger print runs, and greater publicity prowess. This hasn’t happened yet, but when it does (and it will) that’s okay with Invisible. “I like to think we do our own thing, but we’ve got some great writers that I can see coming to prominence very soon,” Boshart says. “Invisible will be the farm team. Invisible is the catalyst for the new Canadian literary landscape.”
Invisible’s publishing process is collaborative and transparent, like their name suggests. Authors sign a plainspeak contract and are intimately involved in the publishing process. Invisible matches authors with editors and works closely with authors to ensure the final product is something they love. Designer Megan Fildes may “French kiss a unicorn until it poops out solid gold stars which she uses to fuel her rocket-fish rainbow that takes her to a land of pure beauty,” (as Boshart so eloquently put it) but if it takes 15 redesigns until the author is happy, then so be it.
Their first season’s titles had very little marketing support, but that’s slowly changing. Like everything else they do, Invisible dives headfirst in brazen, buzz-worthy schemes the big presses seem to reluctant to try. For example, you can go download Stacey May Fowles’ and Marlena Zuber’s Fear of Fighting. For free. Right now. Stacey wants you to. Really, it’s okay. “We had a title that had a little media attention, an ePub that was just sitting around, and we thought what the hell?” Boshart says. “’Nothing to Lose’ is our other motto.” The venture was such a success, they’re going to do it again. The press the venture is getting doesn’t hurt, but getting more books into more readers’ hands is the ultimate goal.
Invisible is primed to grow, take on more authors, publish more books. Maybe even have a full-time paid employee someday. And with nothing to lose, there’s nothing to be scared of. “I’m excited,” Boshart admitted. “Publishing isn’t going anywhere. Publishers will probably have to figure out new ways to bring in cash, but that’s okay because the publishing business was broken before digital became the hot topic. But now we can do stuff about it, make new things, and have a lot of fun coming up with new ways to make books worth something again.”
Despite the street cred, love for all things literary, and exciting future prospects aside, one asks why? Why the long hours and near-poverty existence? Why sacrifice blood, sweat, tears and time to building a publishing house in a battle-weary and exhausted industry? Why try to change the Canadian literary canon? It’s simple, really. “Making books is a better two hours in the evening than NCIS,” Boshart said. “But not better than Law and Order SVU.”
Ain’t it true.
Invisible will publish Ian Orti’s L (and things come apart) and Jeff Miller’s Ghost Pine: All Ture Stories in Spring 2010.
All photos courtesy Invisible Publishing.
