The New Haven Review is the latest literary/cultural journal to dabble in book publishing. Late last year NHR published its first three books, slim paperbacks with deckled-edges and French flaps of Charles Douthat’s poems, Blue for Oceans; Gregory Feeley’s combination essay and novella, Kentauros; and Rudolph Delson’s wooing advice, How to Win Her Love.
Like the review itself, which began in 2007 when Mark Oppenheimer asked his New Haven neighbors to donate an essay for a new zine, NHR Books came about because of a surplus of local New Haven talent. After receiving several strong novella-length pieces, Oppenheimer, author most recently of Wisenheimer and biweekly religion columnist for the New York Times, decided that NHR should go ahead and publish them. “So we did these three books and ran 500 copies of each,” he says. “They’re available on our Web site and Amazon, and we are putting them in local bookstores.”
“The hope is three books a year. We don’t have the manpower or money to do more,” says Oppenheimer, Not that money was ever the point of the four-year-old NHR, which will begin paying its contributors this year thanks to a recent donation. NHR book authors don’t receive an advance, but their royalties are much higher than usual, says Oppenheimer--they split the profit with NHR, once the production costs are paid off.
Next month, NHR will begin extending the reach of its literary critiques, via New Haven NPR affiliate WNPR-FM. “There’s Car Talk but no Book Talk,” says Oppenheimer, who hopes to remedy that in the middle of next month. On Sunday February 13, Oppenheimer and NHR co-editor Brian Slattery, author most recently of Liberation, will emulate Tom and Ray, the Magliozzi brothers, by debuting Paper Trails, an hour-long book show on which they will criticize authors as well as praise them. “We pick the book before we’ve read it and know if we like it,” says Oppenheimer. First up is Jess Row’s short story collection, Nobody Ever Gets Lost, from another new publishing venture, FiveChapters.com.
