A Niche Market

I have done a little bit of exploring when it comes to publishing companies. What I have found is that there is no “one” company that I would absolutely “kill” to work for. So, instead of writing about a particular company I think I will write about what kind of company I would like to work for or better yet what kind of company I’d like to help create.

In the spring of 2007 I took a capstone class at Portland State University called, Youth Gender and Sexuality Minorities. I was not new to these topics or the issues that go along with them. I am a gay man myself and so have a certain amount experience and empathy for these issues. Yet, the aspect of this class that I was most taken with were the issues of gender identity. I feel that I am very comfortable in my own gender, but for some reason the issue of gender identity resonated with me a great deal. At the end of the term the instructor asked us all what we would take from the class into our future. After thinking on this a bit my response was—I want to be able to produce books—educational, fiction, poetry, text, manuals, picture books, young adult, etc—which speak to the experience of transsexual and transgendered people, their families, the medical profession, policy makers, and the public in general.

There are several publishers that speak to and print books marketed to the LGBT community, but it seems there is still a lack of books that speak directly to the trans community and individuals. Alyson Books is one of those companies. In the fall of 2007 I took Denis Stovall’s class, Introduction to Publishing. One of the most important aspects of this class is that you and there rest of the members of a small group develop a mock press. One of the first things that must be done is a discussion of what kind of press the group is interested in developing. I saw this as a chance to begin my desire to produce and publishing books for this relatively small and very specific audience. To my surprise my group overwhelmingly supported my idea and so, Open Door Press was conceived. Open Door Books will deliberately help to create and cultivate books and other information which members of the trans community will be able to read about themselves and others like them who much of society is unable to embrace. So, I hope to work for a publishing company like this—or even to create it.