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Clear Cut Press was founded and is run by Richard Jensen, a former executive of Sub Pop Records (Nirvana, Mudhoney) and co-founder of Up Records (Modest Mouse, Built to Spill), and Matthew Stadler, a novelist (Allan Stein) and literary editor of Nest magazine. As a business and artistic venture, Clear Cut is inspired by early 20th-century subscription presses Hours Press and Contact Editions, and by the midcentury paperbacks of New Directions and City Lights. These historical models seem well-suited to the independent economies that emerge every generation or so around the cultural movements and new demands of global youth, whether punk, grunge, hip-hop, hippie, beatnik or flapper. The books are pocket-sized and durable. They are printed in Tokyo by TOPPAN in a standard Japanese format with colorful dust jackets and built-in bookmarks. Our designer, Tae Won Yu, is known for his playful and delicate album designs for many indie rock and pop groups. Inexpensive and sleek, these highly collectible books are offered first as a series to subscribers and then to the general market. This viral, community-based marketing channel amplifies the word-of-mouth enthusiasm of early adopters. Halfway through our first year, news of our venture has captured the imagination of an elite international network of readers hungry for fresh description and contemporary literary perspectives. Among our authors are Charles D'Ambrosio, Lisa Robertson, Bruce Benderson, Lynne Tillman, Stacey Levine, Robert Glueck, Emily White, Matt Briggs, Diana George, and many others. In traditional "punk rock" custom, our books are produced as a nonexclusive joint venture with the authors, in which any profits are split fifty-fifty. Perhaps in the manner of open-source software development, we will not secure prohibitive rights in the 'text.' Our job is simply to place the author's work into an efficient and durable format that fits gracefully into the lives of readers (and never needs batteries or a software upgrade). We think traditional publishers may have lost sight of who reads and why. Finally, we engage booksellers through personal contacts at around 50 stores in the United States and in Europe. We also organize social events in many cities at which our authors and their books appear alongside good music, drink, and invigorating discourse. On these occasions, we introduce ourselves, our press, and the books to local journalists and booksellers we haven't met before. This network of activities and exchanges circles back to our web site (www.clearcutpress.com), where anyone, and any store, can get our books quickly and find out about our authors and events. Editor Matthew Stadler is the author of four novels, including Landscape: Memory, The Sex Offender, and Allan Stein. He is a past contributor to the short-lived Dutch architecture journal Wiederhall, Frieze Magazine, Arcade, The New York Times, and The Stranger. He is the literary editor of Nest magazine and editor and co-founder of Clear Cut Press. Publisher Richard Jensen worked at Olympia, Washington's KAOS radio during the 1980s, leading to a fruitful association with Calvin Johnson's fledgling label K Records. Jensen was later hired by Sub Pop Records to run the business operations of their perennially insolvent company. Unusual market conditions in the early 1990s saved the company from ruin and provided Jensen with nine years of employment as their general manager and president. In 1994, he helped to found Up Records with his roommate and friend Chris Takino, working there until Chris's death from leukemia in 2000. His involvement in Clear Cut follows from conversations with Matthew Stadler about poetry and economy. Contact: Clear Cut Press clearcut@clearcutpress.com |
