Award-winning journalist Wendy Thomas Russell and local architecture writer Jennifer Volland have set out on a mission to prove that there is still demand for great storytelling, even in today’s fast-paced technological age.
The two moms and self-made entrepreneurs, who met through their daughters and a mutual love of books, teamed up two years ago to launch a new independent book publishing company called Brown Paper Press.
Wendy Thomas Russell, left, an award-winning journalist, and Jennifer Volland, a local architecture writer, launched a new book publishing company in Long Beach two years ago that utilizes print-on-demand technology to make books readily available in a new environmentally friendly way. The two moms are holding copies of their latest titles at Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Long Beach, where the books are sold. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)
The goal was to develop a model that would fill “gaps” they said exist among publishing houses, such as large New York presses ignoring the relevance of niche books or small publishers disregarding the importance of design. They also want to lend a professional hand to authors uninterested in self-publishing, often considered a “vanity” project.
Through the use of e-books and print-on-demand technology, in which a certain amount of copies are ordered as demand grows, more publishing opportunities have become available to authors, said Russell, a former Long Beach Press-Telegram reporter.
“It is completely shifting how people get books and how they produce books,” she said. “It has opened up this breeding ground I hope for people like us who want to come in and take advantage of what’s available for people who really deserve to be published.”
Brown Paper Press employs a team of outside professionals and has partnered with IngramSpark, a subsidiary of major distributor Ingram Content Group, for print-on-demand services, making books readily available at bookstores and in libraries.
Having an outside firm handling distribution frees up time to focus on editing and design while reducing waste, since books aren’t stored in warehouses, Russell said.
The main goal of the company, currently the only “general-interest” book publisher in Long Beach, is “bringing thought-provoking, well-designed books to the public in a way that is both generous to authors and mindful of the environment,” she said.
The impetus for starting the book publishing company partly emerged out of Russell’s desire to publish her first full-length book, “Relax, It’s Just God: How and Why to Talk to Your Kids About Religion When You’re Not Religious.”
Russell said the idea for the book, which offers advice to secular parents on talking about religion with their children, came about “accidentally” as her then-six-year-old daughter blurted out from the back seat one day, “Mommy, God made us!”
“We never talked about religion or God at all, and it just kind of hit me in the face,” she said. “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to figure out how to handle this situation and talk to her about religion in a way that does not indoctrinate her into my beliefs but lets her find things out on her own.”
The subject quickly took on a life of its own and is something Russell has become very passionate about, she said. Thousands of copies of the book have sold and it was also featured on the PBS NewsHour. Russell now writes columns and a blog called “Natural Wonderers” at Patheos.com about secular parenting.
The subject, however, wasn’t always what she wanted to write a book about, Russell said.
“That’s not the book I’ve been wanting to write all my life at all,” she said. “It’s a book that came to me very, very fast . . . Then the idea stuck around because I kept thinking, ‘this is really good and there’s nothing out there like it.’ We are at a time and a place in our history in America that it’s a perfect time to talk about tolerance.”
Volland, co-author of Long Beach Architecture: The Unexpected Metropolis in 2004 and Edward A. Killingsworth: An Architect’s Life in 2013, said Russell’s book fit into the company’s mission and is exactly what they hope to produce.
“It was a timely topic with a fresh perspective and I think that’s something that we look for,” she said.
On February 23, the company released its latest titles, “I’m Dying Here: A Life in the Paper,” a personal account about the demise of the print newspaper industry by longtime Long Beach Press-Telegram columnist Tim Grobaty, and “Burdens by Water: An Unintended Memoir,” a book about aging in Southern California by Alan Rifkin, who teaches creative writing at California State University, Long Beach.
Volland said the books give a personal touch to past and present cultural history. Selecting the right books to publish, she said, involves a multi-tiered screening process to see if an author’s work, personality and writing style fit the company’s mission.
While the company’s first three books are nonfiction, Brown Paper Press doesn’t want to become tied to any one specific genre and expects to eventually expand into fiction and graphic novels, among other genres, Volland said.
Russell said the company also doesn’t plan on becoming a regional press or working solely with local writers, although there are many talented authors in Long Beach and they hope to energize the local cultural scene. She said the company is already mining talent from across the nation.
Russell and Volland , who tend to duties as mothers and have other writing projects, said they don’t consider the company a “hobby” but aren’t expecting major growth at first either, adding that they plan to take their time to build a reputation as a quality press.
The future of book publishing, Russell said, is one that not only puts stock in great writing and design but also embraces books in all formats, whether print or online. She said the company prides itself in being environmentally friendly through the use of print-on-demand technology and e-books.
“I’m an avid e-book reader, but print is absolutely not going anywhere anytime soon,” Russell said. “And to be successful right now in publishing you have to go to both.”
Grobaty and Rifkin will be signing copies of their books on April 2 at Barnes & Noble at 6326 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. in Long Beach, and April 18 and 19 at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California.