Once upon a time — ten years ago today (but really tomorrow, because I’m typing this to publish on 3/1), I sort of accidentally started Exciting Press when I published a collection of stories, essays, and poetry that I gave my own surname as a title but more importantly attributed to Exciting Books.
That was in 2007. The year Kindle was born.
Five years later, Kindle had grown up, and so had I. I had published two novels by then, and was ready to start working with other authors, which meant I was also ready to make Exciting a thing.
But by then I wasn’t reading books anymore. I was reading all digital, all on my Kindle.
So when it came down to put an official name on this entity, “Exciting Books” felt anachronistic; by then it had already been at least months since I’d last held a book in my hands.
So I went a different route. Because what was important so many years ago in connecting readers with stories wasn’t the paper or the ink or the books but the press.
Not long after I published The Prodigal Hour, I started thinking more deeply about the whole writing/publishing thing. The lines, at that point, had begun to blur, and I think now, when we carry our screens in our pockets and get notifications from any app we want and are literally always connected to information unless we turn it off, there basically aren’t any lines anymore.
I’ve now published dozens of books via Exciting Press, and work with the greatest authors I’ve ever known. Authors who aren’t just fine writers but who are also pushing the boundaries of stories and how they’re sharing them with readers.
I have an idea for where I want Exciting Press to go. How I want it to now evolve. This is the start.