Despite a turbulent retail environment and high returns in Canada's publishing industry over the last couple of years, the small Insomniac Press has blossomed into a midsized publisher with increased revenues and distribution across Canada, the U.S., the U.K and Australia.
"Since Insomniac started, all I've known is turbulence," Insomniac Press publisher Mike O'Conner said, laughing. The firm has two full-time and three part-time staff members. This year, O'Conner anticipates Insomniac will break its C$500,000 ($324,600) in revenue mark as it releases 20 new titles. Print runs of 5,000 to 8,000 copies are common for novels and works of nonfiction, while poetry book runs are usually about 1,500 copies.
Some books have seen more than one print run, including Alien Invasion, a spring title about Ontario's conservative government that made the bestseller list, and last year's A Cruel Paradise: Journals of an International Relief Worker by Leanne Olson. The spring title Breakfast with the Devil, an account of L. Wayne Carlson's many escapes from maximum-security prisons, has also done quite well, according to O'Conner.
In an effort to focus more on its U.S. presence, Insomniac bumped up its advertising and attended more trade shows. Formerly distributed by Seven Hills in Cincinnati, IP now handles its own distribution. The press also represents other Canadian houses in the U.S., including Beach Home, NuWest, New Star and Mercury Press, and plans on bringing more on board. In Canada, Insomniac represents Q Press, another Toronto-based publisher; Ellipsis from the U.K.; Windsor-Brooke Books from Georgia; and Spinifex Press from Australia, which it represents in the U.S. as well.
"We understand what it's like to run a small press. It's a special market that needs special attention," O'Conner explained. Insomniac has teamed up with Strauss Consultants in New York to run its U.S. sales force and has contracted a warehouse facility.
Insomniac is expanding its nonfiction line, but it also continues to publish unconventional voices. Some authors nurtured by Insomniac have gone on to become big-hitters in the literary world, including Lynn Crosbie, whose novel Paul's Case, about murderer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo, caused a media sensation.
The lead titles for the fall season include At Last There Is Nothing Left to Say by popular rock musician Matthew Good, This Is Not a Rave by Tara McCall and The New Investment Frontier by Howard J. Atkinson with Donna Green. And harking back to its edgy origins, IP is offering Endless Knot by Mathew Styranka, about a journey through Toronto's underworld of hardcore sadomasochism.
Insomniac's future plan consists of continuing to beef up its presence in the U.S., where it earns about one-third of its revenue. "Unlike what most Canadian publishers think, 'Canadian' isn't a dirty word in the United States."
