Hudson Whitman

Hudson Whitman is a small, independent publisher, and we plan to publish high-quality books in a new way. In partnership with authors who are willing to shoulder some of the responsibilities of producing and marketing their books, we want to edit, publish, distribute, and sell books of high literary quality that also have commercial appeal. We are a partnership press. We believe that, by discovering a few well-written books each year that can appeal not only to general readers but also to an identifiable niche market, by printing short, hardcover runs (under 5000), and by handling many aspects of distribution and marketing, Hudson Whitman can avoid the crippling overhead and discounts that plague larger publishers. But to do that, we need to rely on the efforts of our authors as well. If you believe that you can sell your book as well as you can write it, a partnership with Hudson Whitman may be your best publishing opportunity. Over the past ten years, for many reasons, the world of publishing has changed dramatically. Large publishers, like Hollywood movie studios, are tending more and more toward the focused promotion of their celebrity authors -- established stars of the political, sports, entertainment, and literary spheres -- whose well-known names can often offset the mediocrity of their books in the marketplace. These large publishers have become less and less willing to take risks with new authors or to support many talented, mid-list authors whose work does not generate huge initial sales. Often, they choose to remainder books that aren't selling well within the first few months of publication. However, while the vast majority of professional writers are not offered the advances, the advertising campaigns, and the reading tours that celebrity authors are, many of these writers continue to turn out excellent, saleable work on a consistent basis. We at Hudson Whitman believe that an opportunity exists to bridge the gap between vanity publishers (who will publish anything as long as the "author" pays for the costs) and larger, commercial publishers. We know that many good writers want to have more control of their work, and we believe they would be willing to enter into a publishing and marketing partnership with a publisher if that partnership allowed them to make greater profits and better books, and to keep those books in print long enough to generate strong sales.