Determined to counteract the general negativity carried by the media, former Peace Corps volunteer Theodore Poulis, an economist by training, founded Dreamriver Press in Brooklyn in December 2006. "There is also much violence, or fear/guilt messages, portrayed in movies and books,” Poulis said.
Taking as his goal “creating change through words,” Poulis began publishing in the areas of the environment and spirituality, starting with Dreamriver’s first book, Richard A. Singer Jr.’s Eastern Wisdom for Your Soul (2007). In the press’ most recent release, fourth-generation farmer Eric Herm’s Son of a Farmer, tackles commercial farming and what it does to the land. Altogether Dreamriver has published six works of nonfiction, and will do one or two more in 2011.
Poulis founded Dreamriver after working with a small press in Athens, Greece, Anagnosis Books, which specializes in books for the International Baccalaureate program. “I pretty much did everything,” he said, “other than editing or design.” He sold the press’ list to local bookstores, processed orders, contacted international distributors, and helped Anagnosis become a distributor for other English-speaking publishers in Greece. And he was inspired to think globally by Greek publishers he met like Denise Harvey, whose eponymous press on the island of Euboea does books on modern Greek culture.
Poulis said that he decided to focus his list on environmental and spiritual topics, because he likes the balance. “There are many encouraging steps being taken by people to live environmentally sustainable lives as well as have more harmonious relationships. I feel like actions—for example, changes that transform our agriculture industry by moving it away from the excess use of pesticides—are often coupled with a ‘shift in consciousness,’ where we reevaluate our lives and our goals,” he says.
For its last four releases Dreamriver moved to publishing in paperback on 100% recycled paper; its books are also available as e-books. Since it signed with National Book Network just over a year ago, sales have tripled, said Poulis. The press’ bestselling book to date, Teri Degler’s The Divine Feminine Fire, which has been praised by Marian Woodman as “crucially important for our times,” was the first to benefit from NBN’s sales push. However, publicity for the Herm is just kicking into high gear this week with the author/farmer’s visit to New York City, where he has made several promotional appearances, including one on the Leonard Lopate Show.
