Go West, Young Independent Publisher

It’s been said many times, many ways, but it still holds true--the West bends the rules.

So when writer, editor and entrepreneur Mari Florence put on her business suit and pounded the New York City pavement in search of advice about starting up her own publishing concern out in the wilds of Southern California, the plan wasn’t exactly greeted with elated encouragement. But neither was it discouraged with furious thumbs downs.

“I’d say,” begins Florence, considering it all over a recent lunch amid the commuter bustle at L.A.’s historic Union Station, “it was never anything like, ‘You shouldn’t do this because publishing is difficult.’ It was more like: ‘You’re doing what? How can you do this?’ Some people were incredulous. But I think it was almost kind of a mixture of contempt and awe. Like, ‘You can do that?’ They couldn’t fathom it.”

Going “off-trail” has always been the Angeleno standard, the Westerner’s secret reserve--and both Florence and her partner, graphic artist Amy Inouye, are Californians who don’t see the world in rigid terms. (Florence is L.A.-born and -raised; Inouye, currently on a brief leave from the company, is from San Mateo.)

Their company, Really Great Books, which they launched in 1998--pooling their personal resources and calling on the kindness of kin and friends--was their way of trying to broadly define on the page the many L.A.s one can live in a day.

The venture already has four titles under its belt, ranging from photography (“Take My Picture, Gary Leonard,” by Leonard) to fiction (“The Jook” by Gary Phillips), to an eclectic restaurant guide (“Hungry?: A Guide to L.A.’s Greatest Diners, Dives, Cafeterias and Coffee Shops”). To Florence and Inouye’s surprise, their other title, “Plots and Characters: A Screenwriter on Screenwriting,” by Millard Kaufman, debuted on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. At this juncture, Florence and Inouye, with the help of Nina Wiener, who handles the publicity tasks--have found themselves at the end of a whirlwind year that has surpassed even their most optimistic expectations.

With independent book publishers numbering in the thousands (a recent story in the L.A. Business Journal puts the figure at 20,000 in the U.S. alone), the face of publishing has shifted dramatically. What at one time required an office, staff and expensive overhead now can be assembled with a desk, a computer and a fresh idea.

“Independent publishing is thriving,” says Roxane Farmanfarmian, West Coast editor of Publishers Weekly. “And in California, independent publishers are often the hotbed of real creativity. They notice new trends, and often their work is picked up by the big houses--for example, the whole inspirational field generated from out here. The risk is large . . . but a lot of small/medium houses see the advantage. With independence you can be focused more on publishing than on the stockholders.”

Jonathan Kirsch, publishing lawyer and author of “Kirsch’s Handbook of Publishing Law” (and West Words columnist for The Times), was among the first to advise Florence and Inouye in the company’s early stages, and now serves as their attorney. “Mari is a triple threat,” he explains. “An author and a book packager and a publisher. And . . . she illustrates what’s best about this industry--passion. She has a vision and works tirelessly at it. And I think that in the product it shows.”

Florence, 34, has over the years made her living variously as a journalist, editor and author; her first book was aptly titled “The Enterprising Woman” (Warner Books, 1997). But the Really Great Books venture, she admits, simply fell into their laps. “This whole idea started when St. Martin’s Press was doing their Buzz Books imprint,” she recalls. “Nina was working for Buzz. And Amy and I had been working on various projects together and decided that we had all of these great book ideas for Los Angeles. The kind of books we wanted to read. And we noticed that no publisher was doing them. And when we would try to pitch them to New York agents, they would be very polite and say that nobody cares about L.A.”

A Venture Sparked by Serendipity

Buoyed by the prospect of the Buzz venture--dedicated t.A. subjects and an L.A. sensibility-- Florence and Inouye made an appointment with Wiener, who was more than interested. “We had about 20 or so books that were deep in negotiation,” Wiener remembers, “including some of the ones that Amy and Mari brought to us when it happened.” “It” was the sudden demise of Buzz magazine in the spring of ‘98, along with its network of projects from a Web site launch to Buzz Weekly magazine.

“We had put a lot of work into developing these books and ideas,” remembers Florence. “Here was something that we were really excited about and with the pull of the plug, all of these opportunities were gone. So we were sitting at Farmers Market . . . talking about our options and we said: Why don’t we do it ourselves?”

The next step was to explore it: Talk to as many people as possible who could view the business from every angle--agents, writers and attorneys. Booksellers, printers and distributors. “From other small publishers there were some discouraging words,” says Florence, “because it is really a hard way to make a living. The return on your investment, even if you do really well, isn’t very high unless you can find a way to brand a product--or specialize. It’s a difficult industry. People were very honest with us about this. But we still decided to jump in with both feet.”

The deciding factor, she admits, was Wiener. “Really, what pushed us over the edge to do it was the fear of losing her. She had very different skills--her ability to network and her strong ties to the literary community. But we also knew she was actively looking for a job. So we felt like we had a window. It was a bit premature, because we really didn’t have everything in place.”

For a little under $10,000 in start-up funds, Inouye, Wiener and Florence got their home offices in gear and went to work. Putting the word out, taking meetings, beating the proverbial bushes for tips and finds. Their first title, “Take My Picture, Gary Leonard,” appeared in November ‘98, and still managed to be a 1998 bestseller at Skylight Books in Los Feliz. Their second title, Kaufman’s “Plot and Characters,” brought film buffs out to standing-room-only talks and signings.

For Phillips, author of “The Jook” and the Ivan Monk mystery series, working with Really Great Books has offered a refreshingly reframed perspective on the publishing industry. “My agent had sent ‘The Jook’ around to a couple of mainstream houses in New York, who passed on it because the material was ‘dark’ and the character doesn’t get redeemed in the end,” says Phillips. “I’d heard of Mari Florence from a friend. Having had the experience of working with a big press, if you’re a mid-list writer, you don’t get attention. Here, they know the business and [what] it takes to put a book out there. And it’s also about understanding that you don’t create a book to serve a marketplace, but the other way around.”

James Fugate, co-owner of the independent L.A. bookstore Eso Won, has been impressed with their high profile. “I think they may be well-connected to literary groups, but they’ve definitely decided to get involved in the underground campaign in pushing Gary’s book. They have a go-get-’em kind of attitude.”

Cultivating the Art of Niche Promotion

Florence, Inouye and Wiener have taken their involvement to the street. When Barnes & Noble didn’t like the original cover of “The Jook,” they quickly designed a new version and asked people on the street which they preferred. (The new cover won.)

They take that commitment past publishing, hosting readings that function like events, using a book’s content to set the theme and adorn the room. Phillips did readings not only at bookstores but at his longtime barbershop. Leonard’s book was promoted at some stores with a slide show. Skylight Books hosted the launch party for “Hungry?”--already tagged the “Zagat Guide for Gen-X”--with tables brimming with food samples from various eateries cited within.

As well, all of their bush-beating has given birth to something new: a loosely configured network of L.A. publishers who call themselves LA LA (“The town so nice, they should have named it twice,” cracks Florence). It includes Silver Lake Publishing, Angel City Press and Girl Press, and they are looking at ways to work on a more cooperative basis and pool resources to increase their power.

The group is also seeking a sturdy plan for the long haul. “The key for any small publisher is to know and define their niche,” says Publishers Weekly’s Farmanfarmian. “I get the sense that they have a really good idea of the market. They are focusing on L.A. culture, and that will give them a name in L.A. if they keep catering to that.”

Florence now agrees. “When we started, a couple of publishing consultants told us that publishing books on L.A. wasn’t defined enough, but we didn’t listen. But now we’re finding that that is, in fact, the case. Even though we have four really wonderful, very unique books that will do well individually, there is no brand identity for the company yet. That’s OK now, but what we’re going to do is try to create two or three identities within the company.”

For Florence, that prospect makes for yet another hair-raising chapter.

“Up until a few months ago, we’ve been flying by the seat of our pants, wondering how the printer’s going to be paid. But I have to say that at the end of ’99 we don’t owe anybody anything,” says Florence, who is in negotiations with several Internet companies to distribute “Hungry?” (and its upcoming companion, “Thirsty?”) on the World Wide Web. “But if I had listened to people on the East Coast, I would never have started. I just think people on the West Coast encourage entrepreneurial spirit. Sure we make jokes about the fact that we’re all writing a screenplay and reading our mantras. But here, you get that validation that you can explore many things until something fits.”