Going to Press
Libraries typically provide books—not publish them. But eight years ago, Ann Arbor (Mich.) District Library (AADL) had some voices it wanted the world to hear.
“We’ve always had a hardcore group of local writers,” says AADL Librarian Erin Helmrich. The library first launched a program to provide support, learning, and advice for local emerging writers. That program, she says, “started the idea percolating of how else we could support the local writing community.”
And so emerged Fifth Avenue Press, AADL’s publishing imprint, in 2017. Focused on the authors, history, and culture of Michigan’s Washtenaw County, the imprint includes 60 titles spanning literary genres. They range from Light in a Cage (2017), a chronicle of local educator Judy Patterson Wenzel’s experiences teaching in a prison classroom, to Peri Peri Paprika (2024), a sci-fi novel written by Leanne Su, a University of Michigan doctoral student.
In the last decade, several other libraries have started their own publishing operations. Their efforts are designed to expand the audience for local authors and stories that might otherwise go unnoticed.
“The goodwill toward the library for this, for helping people’s dreams come true, has turned out to be a lovely side benefit,” Helmrich adds.
A writers’ community
Fifth Avenue Press publishes the books it selects in digital format for AADL patrons. It also provides its authors with the files containing everything they need—from formatting to illustrations to cover art—to independently create a print book or ebook if they choose. Unlike traditional publishing, authors retain all rights to their work and keep any profits, a perk that intrigued recent Fifth Avenue author Michelle Yang.
In May, the press welcomed Yang, an Ann Arbor resident and established writer whose work has appeared in national outlets including InStyle magazine and NBC News. She published her memoir, Phoenix Girl: How a Fat Asian with Bipolar Found Love, with AADL because of her lifelong love of libraries.
“I immigrated to the US at the age of 9 without speaking any English, and my parents were busy running a take-out restaurant,” Yang explains. “A branch of the Phoenix Public Library was in the same shopping center as my parents’ business. I began spending time there, befriending all the librarians, and the library became my sanctuary—a third parent.”
Through working with the imprint, Yang says she also found an unexpected local writers’ community—something that “couldn’t have happened [with] other presses, whose authors are located all over.”
Across branches and bookstores
Like Fifth Avenue Press, Woodneath Press at Mid-Continent Public Library (MCPL) in Kansas City, Missouri, publishes local authors and grew out of the library writers’ program, the Story Center.
Established in 2014, Woodneath uses the self-publishing company IngramSpark to produce physical books and ebooks, with 16 titles in its catalog. Its latest release—Heart of America: Kansas City–Inspired Short Stories—is a multi-genre fiction anthology featuring eight writers, half of whom attended the Story Center. The stories take place throughout Kansas City, from the 1950s to the present day. “Each one reveals something about Kansas City’s community,” says Kyndall Tiller, Woodneath’s publication manager.
Tiller says building readership is a current Woodneath focus, with copies of Heart of America circulating across 34 MCPL branches and available in seven area bookstores. “In the past, if people wanted to purchase copies, they had to go through Amazon,” Tiller says. “We’re selling to local bookstores at production cost,” to make Heart of America available closer to home.
LA’s Plot Twist
A different path brought Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) into publishing. In 2023, the owners of Angel City Press (ACP), a small publisher of nonfiction print books by regional authors about the area’s history, art, culture, and people, retired and donated the press and its 135-title catalog to LAPL.
John Szabo, city librarian and LAPL executive director, says, “If you were involved in the arts, architecture, and all things quirky and special about Los Angeles, you knew and loved Angel City Press.”
Over the years, ACP and LAPL have collaborated on several titles, starting with Songs in the Key of Los Angeles (2013), a look at music in LA history using the library’s sheet music collection.
When ACP’s owners presented their unusual donation, says Szabo, they said: “‘We’re thinking about retiring, and we’ve been thinking about the mission of the press. We trust you, and we had this idea that we would give our business to the library.’”
Now called Angel City Press at Los Angeles Public Library, ACP has an office at LAPL’s main location, and the five-member library board reviews contracts with new writers before approval. Otherwise, Szabo says, ACP operates similarly to the way it did under its original owners. Longtime staffer Terri Accomazzo remains its executive director, overseeing editorial guidelines, acquisition, production, and distribution.
For public libraries that publish, Fifth Avenue Press’s Helmrich says, “Like many things libraries do, it’s about creating community and providing a service.”
Szabo agrees. “Among many things, the library is here to collect and preserve Los Angeles stories, to ensure that those stories represent the diversity of our amazing city. The press very much helps the library achieve its mission in a beautiful way.”
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