Writing is an art. But once a writer decides to publish his or her work, writing is also a business: one that is shifting more rapidly than ever before. The right publisher is a personal choice: every writer and every work has particular needs. Most writers want a publisher that can create an environment which supports creativity while simultaneously getting books into the hands of readers. Mercury Retrograde Press strives to do both those things.

Mercury Retrograde Press is first and foremost a house for writers. As writers ourselves, we understand the importance of being able to do one's own art, one's own way--and that one's own art can be surprising at best and uncooperative at worst. We are passionately committed to creating an environment that treats the art and the artist as more important than the product, the book, and to helping writers do their best work. We don't buy books with the intent of changing them around to fit our vision; we take on books we already love and help their authors fine-tune until the works reflect their intent. While this does mean we buy a relatively small number of books, it also means a writer who chooses to work with Mercury Retrograde is bringing on a collaborator, not someone intent on reshaping the work into a commodity.

Once a book is complete, we work with regular press, online SFF outlets, and blogger-reviewers to get the word out--and work with our distribution partners to get the book into bookstores. We help writers book appearances and support them when they appear at cons. If all this seems vague, that's because each step of this process is tailored to each book, and each book has its own potential markets and needs. More information on our distribution partners is available here, and those interested in a taste of the appearances we're booking and supporting can visit individual author pages and our blog.

Whichever imprint a book is published under, whichever formats it's offered in, Mercury Retrograde Press's terms are the same: we offer writers 25% of profits on each book we publish. We don't offer advances; practically all the proceeds we realize from any given book are used to finance the development of the next.

We don't mind that, because we love the work.