In this episode we talk with Janaka Stucky and Carrie Olivia Adams: poets, editors, and founders of Black Ocean, an independent publisher based in Boston and Chicago. We inquire about the press’s early success and how they manage to keep such lasting power under the tenuous conditions of the indie book market, sustaining multi-title relationships with authors and making moves that include a recent merger with fellow small press Not A Cult to form the publishing collaborative Chapter House. Janaka and Carrie help with language to articulate the values of their entrepreneurial, mission-driven organization as we gloss the nonprofit-industrial complex, distro headaches, and good old indie hustle. If you ever wondered how to start a small press and then keep it running for 18 good years, this one’s for you. Deadlines and a spiritual practice can help, but be warned: you have to blow up your life.

Some Black Ocean writers who come up in our conversation include Joe Hall, Hussain Ahmed, Anaïs Duplan, Zachary Schomburg, Elisa Gabbert, and you should probably just check out the whole catalog along with Janaka and Carrie’s own books published by Third Man and Tolsun most recently.

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