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.
Like writing, Publishing is both a business and an art. Writers recognize they need--or at the very least, can benefit greatly from--a publisher to handle the business of publishing: getting books printed and into the hands of distributors, bookstores, and readers; spreading the word about their creations and fostering their reputations; managing the housekeeping tasks of keeping money flowing and handling legal issues. But we find that writers also need to participate in the artistic side of publishing: working with editorial staff to make the story all it can be and to develop the sorts of exterior content readers love; creating beauty in physical books and other media. Mercury Retrograde strives to include writers in as much of the artistic part of the publishing process as possible; we take great pleasure in working with writers on their stories until they have not only achieved but surpassed their original visions.
It should come as little surprise that, once art is allowed into publishing, it must choose to function differently from other businesses that are less rooted in the creative process. This is why we are passionate proponents of Slow Media, and why we extend those principles to our own vision of Slow Publishing.
