These are the men and women of the Publishing House….Enterpr… um… INSIDIOUS. Their multi-book mission, to go in directions no one has gone before….this is their story …
Their web page is here INSIDIOUS PUBLICATIONS HOME
Their new book 12:00 AM Live is available at The Horror Mall in trade paperback (which they also make by hand)
BIOS:
“Paul Danda has lived and worked in Atlanta, Georgia his entire life. He eats rainbows and poops butterflies, or so he’s been told. He currently owns and edits Insidious Publications with his partners Chris and D’Ann Hedges.”
Chris Hedges:
When Chris Hedges isn’t working for a high tech company in Austin, TX, he’s publishing books in Kyle, TX, where he owns and runs Insidious Publications alongside his wife, D’Ann, and his business partner, Paul Danda. He enjoys long walks in the park, cuddling stuffed animals and crochet.
To See an in-depth photo-essay on how Chris hand-binds books….well…click HERE…
D’Ann Hedges:
D’Ann Hedges is a full-time mother of two and a full-time owner of two small businesses-Insidious Publications and D’Ann’s Boutique.
Now – On to the Interview!
DNW: Where and when did you acquire your love of books? What books have been important to you, and why?
CHRIS: That’s a tricky one. Books have always been around for me and part of my life. Some of my earliest memories are of my mother taking me to the library with her when I was just barely out of my toddling years. I remember in the second grade, I read every book in the class that our teacher had provided for at-home-reading. I took every one home, read it and reported on it. I won a prize for it…something like a Snickers bar or something like that. I pretty much just continued on that same path.
I believe I was about 10-years-old when I read my first horror novel. It was John Carpenter’s Halloween. My sister left it lying around and I picked it up and started in on it. I remember being completely engulfed by that book. I had, at that point, always loved horror movies—my father took me to see Friday the 13th in the theater when I was about 5—but I believe that was my first foray into horror fiction. I was on the hook, man. It wasn’t long after that before I discovered the likes of Stephen King, Koontz, Matheson and McCammon. It wasn’t until much later that I found the small press. When I did, it was like a cannon shot to my senses, but as fate would have it, before I could really dive in and read everything out there in the small press, I had become part of the small press, which leaves very little time for reading for pleasure.
I don’t just read horror, though. I’ll read pretty much anything. From mystery to suspense to crime. I’ve even been known to read a little Daniel Steele and Jackie Collins (the Lucky series is quite good, really) from time to time. That may surprise some folks.
Books have always been a big part of my life.
D’ANN: When I was 14 my boyfriend introduced to Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice. The movie was coming out soon and he insisted that I read the book first. I remember locking myself up in my room the whole weekend. I was mesmerized by the book front to back. I had never read anything like it before. And to this day, I have not found a book that has touched me as that one did at that point in my life.
PAUL: I fell in love with books at an extremely young age. It wasn’t really the reading part I liked for many years, it was the way they were constructed and laid out that caught my attention; the older the book the better, too. Sniffing an old book was like dope for a young child. Don’t you love that smell? That musty paper and glue heaven? (I swear I’m not drooling right now!)
It wasn’t until much, much later – perhaps my very early teenage years – that reading became ultra important to me. I was a bit of a late-bloomer on reading I must admit. The first couple of books to tickle my pickle were Anne Rice’s “Interview With the Vampire” and Joseph Pistone’s “Donnie Brasco,” bringing me straight into reading voraciously. It then spiraled out of control when I met a book-nerd friend of mine named Travis who had the sickest 80’s horror novels like Skipp & Specter, King, Koontz, Schow, plus other random titles from authors I haven’t read since, leaving nothing more than a splatterific image in my mind for a few hours or so.
My most important book – my prized possession – is Richard Christian Matheson’s “Dystopia.” That book is a work of art, and every story in it is an unforgettable short piece of sledgehammer-to-the-face writing. If you don’t have it, and you can part with the dough, buy a copy and savor the brilliance.
DNW: 1200 AM Live is a gorgeous book. Now that the “buzz” is out and people are snapping it up, tell me the one thing you would like to see come of the next year for Insidious Publications.
CHRIS: Time flies by so fast in this business, the next year will be over by the time I answer this question! But, realistically, we’d like to get another three books out within the next 12 months. We’re pretty critical of our designs, whether it’s layout or construction, so that slows us down from time to time, but that’s what we’re shooting for. We want to keep that “buzz” sounding loud and clear.
I want IP to get to the point where folks will want one of our releases no matter who the author is. I want customers to feel confident that no matter what we put out, it will be a good story, in an attractive package and well worth the pennies they plunk down for it. I want to earn the respect of those in the genre and gain the trust of the authors, artists and readers that make up the whole—I want a lot. Will we achieve that in a year? Probably not. But, I truly think 1200 AM Live was a giant step in the right direction. And I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Sir Brian Knight for approaching us with this novella. Without him, we wouldn’t have been able to design such a pretty book to wrap his words in. He’s a great author to work with and I couldn’t have thought of better author to work with on our first hardcover release. Thanks, Brian. You. Da. Man!
D’ANN: I really hope that, as the months go on, that there continues to be a positive buzz about Chris’ craftsmanship and Paul’s skill at design. I think we bring a lot more to the table with the personalized touch. Not many publishers make books by hand! As time goes on I see Insidious Publications exceeding even our expectations on sales and popularity. The only way to go is up. Because going down just would not be as fun.
PAUL: I would absolutely love to meet some of the people I have come to know over the years being in this business; the authors, my peers, the fans, etc. I want to meet all of you guys and buy you a beer, talk shop, and just get to know everyone I have had the pleasure to work with, and the very people that love our titles.
Otherwise, I’d just love to see our titles get into more and more hands. We love what we do, and we want others to love the fruits of what we do.
DNW: What part of the business do you enjoy the most? The least? What is the one thing about publishing that you wish you’d known before you started? What is the most important thing to keep in the front of your mind to keep yourself on track?
CHRIS: I’m the bookmaker, so I suppose that would be my obvious answer…making the books. That enjoyment doesn’t come without a fair amount of frustration though. It’s a lot of work, man. I construct all of our books by hand whether it be perfect bound softcovers, saddle stitched chapbooks or hardcovers. The end result is where the payoff is. Watching a new book come to life is akin to watching a child being born. I’m able to breathe life into stacks of paper and clumps of glue and strips of cloth and leather. It’s a pretty amazing feeling when I can accomplish that and hold something in my hands that I’m proud of. It’s taken me years to get to the point that I’m at now and folks seem to appreciate the product. That makes me a happy publisher, my friend. Not too shabby for a guy who taught himself how to bind books in his home office, eh? I‘ll just keep picking up new tricks as I go along.
What I like the least? Um, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I always feel like I’m running behind, even if I’m not. We all have full time jobs besides running IP—which has become as much of a lifestyle as it is a business—not to mention our families. It’s a demanding endeavor and the devil is certainly in the details, but the devil keeps on dancin’, so we just grab that bastard by the tail and keep on shakin’ our booties.
Staying on track is a pretty tall hurdle. We have our main track and our sidetrack and they run parallel day and night. We get a few jobs on the side here and there; so it’s a delicate balance to get those done while maintaining our momentum on the main line. We just have to keep our time lines in focus and prioritize as necessary. There are times where I’m surprised we’re able to manage it all, but we do. We’re a pretty good team.
D’ANN: Well, my position in the company is needed, but not necessarily respected. I learned early on that my position, to some, was not nearly as important as the job Chris and Paul have. I have to say the most enjoyable part of being a member of this group is the talent I am surrounded by. We do not say it enough around here, but these guys are amazing. And on some level we are all like family. That makes for a comfortable and less stressful environment. The one thing I think we all wish we had known about the business before starting this venture is the pure exhaustive hours it takes to produce a good product for the consumer. It takes us all away from our families, some times more than we would like to admit.
PAUL: I enjoy the reading the most. I get to read and read and read. And I have to say, designing has become something that I really enjoy doing. Oh, and of course! Working with the authors I love to read is a real treat. Nothing beats signing a contract with an author I love to read. Oh, man! You guys have to try it! ;)
What I dislike the most is seeing titles still for sale in my store. I want all of our books to get into the hands of the fans of this genre. It’s hard to gain that trust with a customer when you’re relatively unknown, but I’ve found that once people do give us that shot, we blow them away every time.
And I can tell you, without a doubt, the one thing I wish I knew then that I know now is that this business takes a LOT of money to run. I knew it took a lot, but the true scale of it is not at all what I imagined it’d be. Trust me folks, it’s not for the faint of heart.
When it comes to keeping on track, when deadlines and seemingly the whole world is out to strip you of your time, is remember what your A1 priorities are. I simply keep all tabs on what I need to do in my head, and I do them in the order that is most logical and most important. One. Thing. At. A. Time. I can’t stress that enough: ONE THING AT A TIME! It keeps the head on straight.
DNW: – FOR CHRIS- What made you want to create the books by hand? Where did it start, and how did it develop for you? What types of books interest you most, and why? And I don’t just mean genre, I mean construction, style, and makeup.
CHRIS: Hey, you never said you wanted me to write a book! With a question like that, it would be easy to write one, that’s for sure. I’ll see if I can answer without blathering on and putting your readers to sleep.
I’ve always been interested in making books. I made a book for my mother somewhere around the third grade. A hardcover, even. She still has it, I think. But I didn’t really start dabbling until about 2004—about the time we started the magazine. We started it as a free online eZine, but I wanted to be able to make hardcopies for all the contributors as keepsakes. It snowballed from there. By the time we got to the point of being ready to work on our first book, it became quite clear, that if we wanted to make the kind of books we envisioned, we were going to have to do them ourselves. There was no way we could afford full color printing and commercial binding and still expect to make a profit. So, with our first book, Mama’s Boy, I got serious about bookbinding. I researched as much as I could and came up with enough info and went through enough trial and error to nail down a technique I was happy with.
I get to hand pick the materials and we can be as creative as we please, since we’re our own printer and bindery. It allows for a lot of freedom that your typical small press publisher doesn’t have. There just aren’t a lot of publishers out there putting out novellas with full color artwork, using top-notch materials. But, we still manage to keep our cover prices relatively low. Considering what you get for the money, I believe we have a leg up on a lot of companies in the market today. And yes, I am tooting my own horn. Sue me.
1200 AM Live was our first hardcover, lettered release. So far, it’s been very well received and keeping with our Insidious nature, I think we again placed a product in the customer’s hands not quite like anything else out there at the moment. We’ll continue that progression as we grow as a company and as our individual skills grow within our specific disciplines. At the very least, I believe we’re following the right path.
My favorite types of books? Old ones, baby! I love antique books. They just don’t make them like that any more; with their beautiful frontispieces, and textured endpapers and and lovely interior papers, gilding, sewn cords and inlaid leather and……you get the picture. There’s a few publishers out there that pay attention to that kind of detail—Bloodletting Press and Centipede Press are a couple that do—we want to follow that same old time tradition. We want to present our customers with square pieces of art made of leather and linen and not just a doorstop that some machine shit out as fast as it could.
DNW: – For Paul: You put a lot of extra effort into the page design for 1200 AM Live – you took chances that could have gone either way by incorporating a larger-than-normal amount of interior embellishment and it worked beautifully. When did you start working with book layout, and where do you take your inspiration for it?
PAUL: Firstly, thank you, David, for the kind words.
I starting book designing when I had to: back in ‘04-’05 when we started the magazine “Insidious Reflections.” It was simple necessity. However, as time went on, I started playing more and more with graphic design, and the next thing I knew I had people calling me a “designer.”
When it came to “1200 AM Live,” I wanted to add a splash of color to each page; a border basically. We had Tom Moran do a couple of them for our magazine’s table of contents page, and I always thought it looked really cool. So I took my “design skills” and went to work. What comes out is always an accident (I’m sure there’s many an artist reading this that knows precisely what I mean by that). When I showed it to Chris I believe I said, “How about something crazy like this?” To which he replied, “Damn right something crazy like that!”
DNW : For D’Ann: What is it like dealing with the publishing business day-to-day, book parts laying about, boxes of paper, printers – mail and keeping it all profitable? How often do you have to crack their heads together to keep it flowing smoothly?
D’ANN: Since the base office is in my home, there tends to be a mess that flows into my workspace from time to time (especially on the floor). I am sure Chris has complaints about my business flowing in his workspace as well. I have been running my personal business from our home for years so I know the ins and outs of shipping, packaging, book keeping and oh yes, taxes. So none of the business side of Insidious Publications was new to me. There are things that I could improve on, but as with any business, it is a work in progress. Profitable? Well, lets just say that is a work in progress as well. I think from time to time we all have to crack a whip at each other to keep the process flowing. In the publishing business you have highs, like the release of a book or a good review and then you have the lows when sales are down and so is the bank account. You just try to keep a level head and look toward the future. Tomorrow is a new day and we may just very well make this work!
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