Why I am a Guerrilla publisher.

[armoredsuperheavy]

I bind fanfic and other underground writing into real books. I am a Guerrilla publisher.

Why are you doing this?

• To make a demonstrative statement on the validity of “fic” in general (and fanfic within that specifically) as a newborn genre of literature that has really only come into its own in the last 15-20 years.
• To disrupt preconceptions about what is valuable and worthy of being memorialized in print, much less published in a fine edition.
• An act of anti-capitalist resistance. Participation in the traditional gift economy of fandom. Most of my projects are volunteer and gifts.
• Preservation of fandom history and works for future generations. These books won't blip out of existence by politically-motivated, puritanical updates to a corporate terms of service. These books are acid-free, archive ready, made to survive for another century.
• Demonstration against censorship of fiction. Most of the books contain subject matter some people may find objectionable on various grounds. I have begun to deliberately seek out works that authors and artists were persecuted online for creating.
• In summary, it’s a big Fuck You to power structures that silence people. On a positive note, it encourages people to keep creating and I hope reassures them that their work has enduring value. It makes my friends so happy that they cry, so that’s nice too.

Stylistic Choices

My book design is deliberately conservative because I am challenging ideas of what should be inside the book. The more a book looks like something a “real” publishing house would put out, the stronger and more subversive the statement it makes.

I've settled onto a bit of an equilibrium point with regards to my setup, production speed, the amount of labor I put into each book. My goal is not to make the most exquisitely fine objet ever bound. My long-term goal is to capture and preserve in print a broad array of fic and outlaw writing. Therefore, I haven't leveled up my equipment to "fine binding" levels, I economize as much as possible the decorative paper, and don't lavish hours on technical perfection. To me it is a race against time to bind as many works as I can. I am racing against repressive bans of adult content, the chilling force of contemporary purity policing, and my own mortality.

Future Plans

Starting out two years ago I'd set a goal of 100 works, and I'm now on project 90. I am on track to meet that goal by the end of the summer, but have no plans to stop.

In the future I would like to somehow propagate this practice to others, and create a movement of decentralized, anarchistic, hardcopy fic distribution. I believe in the community-building power of fandom as a gift economy, a bit of an oasis from capitalism, and want to perpetuate this practice as much as possible. It may not be possible for many people to get into full-blown bookbinding, but I would like to see old-school zines and other paper goods circulate more.

I have deep concerns about the future of these fragile online communities we continually build, only to lose. Every couple of years, a major purge event causes many people in fandom spaces to precipitously fall out of touch. One way I see to combat this is to "get real", and distribute physical things to your circle of friends.

If we are serious about being connected, if we would like to have each other as a modern-day "found family" in the queer tradition, rather than a bunch of randoms unified only by commercially unsavory thirst-consumerism, then we have to do the work to stay connected in an environment where nobody but us gives a fuck about our community, and none of the monetized structures we exist within online are going to go out of their way to support or enable that.

We have to do it; it's up to us.

And that's why I'm a Guerrilla publisher.

(Pseudo x-post on Tumblr)

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Comments

[tei]

I LOVE THIS <3

[yourlibrarian]

Hmm, interesting! My first thought, perhaps because I've just finished a fan craft exchange and signed up for another, is how this sort of publishing could be considered a form of fanwork medium transformation, not unlike what podficcers do with existing fic. That would be particularly true the more elaborate the presentation is, which book binding certainly could be. (I realize from what you wrote that this is not your goal, but it led me along that path).

It also causes me to think about how fandom simultaneously does and doesn't value the content it produces. For example, the Open Doors project began first with preserving physical content before they were able to start digitally migrating at-risk archives into AO3. They still facilitate donations of zines, video and audio tapes, and more to collections at academic libraries. But the number of people planning for the passing on of their collections has been quite limited, even though some are massive.

This is a good example of what actually ends up happening, assuming documents and documentation of pre-Internet fandom doesn't just get put in a dumpster: https://www.dailyxtra.com/kirk-spock-star-trek-fan-art-collection-169326

[armoredsuperheavy]

I know a number of people sitting on big hordes of zines and other fandom related physical objects. I think we need to be better about wills, estate planning and so forth. I need to create my will too. I've already started reaching out about bequeathing the collection to a university library. If we want to get serious about preservation this is part of it! I wish more of us were thinking long term!

[yourlibrarian]

I know, no one wants to think of it at the best items but this pandemic is a grim reminder that planning needs to be done so there's a guide in place if the worst happens unexpectedly.

I remember back in April I saw reminders going around about the Fannish Next of Kin option at AO3, but many online accounts will remain if inactive. Whereas physical things are going to have to be dealt with somehow.

[seekanddream]

Are you getting the permission of the authors about their works being donated to a library? I can see some people being okay with hard copies for personal use but not wanting them donated.
It bugs me a little that you say no duplication or reproduction of your binding manual is allowed, yet, you're talking about reproducing and distributing other people's works. Especially as you've said elsewhere that you consider orphan works to be fair game. So many people are looking to you for guidance. I'd been planning to orphan my works but I am now considering deleting them.

[armoredsuperheavy]

It hadn't occurred to me that someone would object to their fic becoming part of a library collection one day, honestly. That's a good point, something I'll try to add to permission requests. I wonder, is that better or worse than letting the book just get donated to charity, like most people's books to upon their death, no matter how rare they might be?

The binding manual is still a draft document that I edit at will. I would prefer people not repost it somewhere else. I wouldn't object to someone printing a personal copy of it. I considered creating a print version but it would need extensive rephotographing to be worth doing, and since this is a free document that's already serving its purpose and I'm not planning to turn it into a sellable product, I decided not to invest the time and effort in doign that.

And I'm not distributing other people's works. My copy of the book doesn't leave my house. They're not for sale. The only time a book leaves my house is to go to the author.

I do consider an orphaned work fair game... to print a copy for yourself. Not to pick it up and sell it or cannibalize it somehow.

I hope this clarifies things. Please don't delete your works! Allow your contributions to fan culture to persist even without your name on them.

[seekanddream]

Whether it's better or worse is up to the individual author to decide. I would want mine to be destroyed when you died. If that sounds extreme, I'm a professional archivist and every single one of us I know has a box of things to be burned after our deaths. I have seen too many patrons laughing and joking over very personal things they've come across in personal papers. It's seriously shitty and fic authors should be able to opt out.

The only time a book leaves your house *now* is to go to the author. Leaving your collection to a library is planning on future distribution. I don't think it's okay for you to make that decision for authors of orphaned works.

[stabbedinthenameofscience]

One thing to consider is if something is going into circulation or archives as special collections. I know there is a massive zine and fan work collection at Michigan State University that is available only on request, not on the shelves, and the archivists are really cool people who love the work they do (and love finding fingerprints of the lives of the owners of their collections and keep ephemera with their documents). I’ve been on a few calls with them and consulted with them on photographs for lgbtq historical lectures. So I suppose part of the conversations with archivists would be asking to talk specifically to their own special collections archivists who would be handling the materials. What you observe there might change if you are comfortable with donating to them or not.
I’d love my fan works to end up with people as cool as the MSU folks, even my crappy first fic :)

[shadderstag]

What you do is amazing I was blown away when I learned that you bound fanfic. I remember being a teenager and printing off the sometimes dozens of pages of fanfic online so I could read it at home when I was grounded or one of my siblings was on the computer. I think you're doing extremely important work, and I'm glad to have found you.

[schnikeys]

This is so cool!!!