Publishing Genius

From Underground Library

According to the website, Publishing Genius "specializes in short books. They're simple but lovingly crafted, pored over at every step in the process, and affordable. Nothing will ever be published with paper that has rose petals crushed into it. Publishing Genius aspires only to publish work of the highest quality, regardless of genre."

Publishing Genius takes for its own the words of Friedrich Von Hardenburg: " If only one could make people grasp that the case of language is similar to the case of mathematical formulae—they constitute a world for themselves—they play with themselves alone, express nothing other than their wonderful nature, and precisely for that reason they are so expressive—precisely for that reason they mirror in themselves the curious play of relations in things. Only by way of freedom are they members of nature and only in their free movements does the world soul give utterance, making them a delicate standard of measure and blueprint for things. Thus it is with language too—whoever has a subtle sense of its application, its cadence, its musical spirit, whoever perceives in oneself the delicate effects of its inner nature, and moves one’s tongue and hand in accordance with it will be a prophet."

History

Publishing Genius grew out of a project for a class that founding editor Adam Robinson took in the fall of 2006. The project was Baltimore Is Reads (now isReads, which expanded into the current Publishing Genius that we know today. As the project grew, Adam Robinson decided to follow Roberto Harrison's idea to staple stitch chapbooks for Bronze Skull Press, which brought on the This PDF Chapbook series (now Chapbook Genius).

As of 2009, there are four venues within Publishing Genius:

• Paperback Books. These started as staple-stitched chapbooks. Since 2007 the production has expanded into short, perfect bound volumes.
• Chapbook Genius. This series features one story or a chapbook-length collection of poems that are released online. They are also formatted to be printed from home.
• isReads. The outdoor journal, which is also edited by Peter Cole of Keyhole Magazine. This features short poems posted in public spaces in cities across the United States.
• Everyday Genius. This is an online journal that is updated Monday through Friday.

Press

Publishing Genius prints perfect bound books of poetry and fiction. Titles include Stephanie Barber's book/DVD, these here separated to see how they standing alone, David Daniel's collection of stories called Six Off 66, and and Rupert Wondolowski's book of poems, The Origin of Paranoia as a Heated Mole Suit, all released in 2008; and Light Boxes by Shane Jones, released in 2009..