Steerforth in New England By Vera Gold Featured in BBR March 1995 Founded on idealism and a strong commitment to quality books, Steerforth Press celebrated its second anniversary in Royalton, Vermont in February. The four founding partners-acclaimed novelist Alan Lelchuk, Pultizer-Prize winning journalist Thomas Powers, established editor Michael Moore, and sales and marketing specialist Chip Fleishman-are equal investors in this publishing house and expect to turn a profit within two more years. During the first two years Steerforth published eight titles and devoted time to acquiring books and developing long-range plans. It intends to publish twelve titles in 1995 and in future years-two-thirds of which will be non-fiction. Most of its books have been reviewed, most often favorably, by the New York Times and other major publications. The goal of this small press is to acquire quality books by good writers and to offer a modest advance, but a good royalty contract, and to keep the books in print over a number of years. "It was not a lifelong dream to begin a publishing house," said Alan Lelchuk, who is best known for his successful novel American Mischief, "but we did spend three years in planning discussions before starting up the press. We have been able to build a very interesting environment in which we talk about books and manuscripts. Tom (Thomas Powers) and I have twenty-five years apiece in the industry, and it is still very exciting to come across beautiful writing." Chip Fleishman, who had a very successful marketing career in New York, likes living in small town and doesn't mind in the least doing all the labeling and the grunt work required. He believes with the expertise that all the founders bring to the press will ensure its success. He describes Steerforth as doing the work that many major established publishing houses did years ago. The process of typesetting, printing, storage and distribution is the same as the large publishing houses, but the long-term commitment is very different. "Two of our editors have had very successful careers as writers and they are able to empathize with writers," Fleishman said. "They are able to do the kind of editing work that is a dying art. We are now in a position to have writers choose us before submitting work to another house." The Steerforth mission is to replace some of the qualities of the established publishing houses of years ago when there was more emphasis on small success and more time was afforded to each author and title. All partners, and their managing editor, Stacia Schaefer (the one paid staff member) expect to work long hours and to lose money at a decreasing rate for the next two years. After that they expect to be in the black, but will remain a small press no matter how successful Steerforth becomes. Currently all titles are in print and will remain in print for some time. Steerforth is strongly committed to continued marketing of its books. The 1995 spring titles, all beautifully designed by Louise Fili of Louise Fili Ltd, New York, are The American Journey of Eric Sevareid by Raymond Schroth, The Mystery of Arafat by Danny Rubinstein Freedom and Its Discontents by Peter Marin, In the Tiger by Terry Farish, Commies, Crooks, Gypsies, Spooks & Poets by Jan Novak and Musical Moment by Yeoshua Kenaz. Steerforth Press is located at 105-106 Chelsea Street, P. O. Box 70, South Royalton, VT.05068, (802)-763-2808. Vera Gold is the founder and director of 96 Inc, a not-for-profit literary magazine, resource and artists' collaborative in Boston, MA. She is a Boston Tab Correspondent and a playwright. &copy1995. Boston Book Review. All rights reserved.

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