To answer your question: Why start a new press?

/ Minneopa Valley Press, Inc./
To answer your question: Why start a new press?

We think that we can accomplish something different, do something different from the publishing companies that already exist. We are going to focus on identifying new and fresh voices to provide a more robust and comprehensive picture of rural life, to address the good, the bad, and ugly. We want to connect the authors to the books and connect both to urban areas. No matter our title, historian, archivist, genealogist, publisher, History Writer, editor or author, we are first and foremost readers. Our passion for reading has led us to pursue our passion for expanding the literary world and contributing to it in some small way.
 

Aren’t print books dead?

No, they are not, in fact, dead. The sale of hardcover and other print books has risen in the last couple of years in major markets. In the industry it appears that while there are large firms that seem to dominate the bestseller lists, there are a number of smaller presses that have begun to impact the market and work to bring exceptional literature to the market. Of course, it helps to be in Minnesota where there seems to be a built in market and big portion of the population interested in reading.


Why focus on rural areas?

There doesn’t seem to be much attention given to rural areas and rural topics, except as part of generally negative and sweeping generalizations. While there are few people in rural areas, and urbanization continues inexorably on, there is variety and poignancy and heartbreak and joy and success and failure being experienced in the rural areas—tragedy, comedy, history, politics, belief systems that should not be generalized. There are as many stories as there are people, and we want to give voice to them.  We grew up in rural areas, have spent a good portion of our careers in rural areas, and find ourselves drawn to the fascinating stories to be heard and experienced.


What makes us different than any other press?

In many ways we are not different. We have a passion for telling stories, reading stories, and connecting to people. We want to produce a quality product, and then we want to connect the reader and the writer.  But in many ways we are different, especially on how we emphasize the connection

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Everything has a history, even publishing.

/ Minneopa Valley Press, Inc./
Everything has a history, even publishing.

In the beginning, there was the word. Then Gutenberg invented the printing press, and the rest is history.

It’s hard to imagine life without the printed word and the byproducts of the printing press, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets and journals, and, of course, books. The printing press became a cornerstone for modern civilization, right alongside industrialization and the agricultural revolution. The press allowed growing numbers of people to access ideas and stories, which influenced humanity, allowing theology, civil society, law, poetry, philosophy, analysis of the natural world, and everything in between and beyond to be shared, debated, fought over, and savored. The printed word shaped modern life and continues to shape mine.

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