Barbara: (owner of The Poisoned Pen regarding Poisoned Pen Press)

Thanks so much for agreeing to an email interview. Here are the questions--like I said before, you can answer as briefly or as in-depth as you see fit:

1. I think everyone in the mystery field knows about The Poisoned Pen bookstore, so how did your interest in mystery fiction turn into involvement in a publishing venture, especially with regard to putting out new novels as opposed to reprints?

By 1997, we had become more and more aware that good books we wanted to sell had vanished from our shelves. One day my staff said to me that instead of raging about it, why not reprint some? We had already organized to publish two reference works--papers delivered at two mystery seminars conducted by the bookstore, AZ Murder Goes....Classic, a 1998 Edgar Allan Poe Award nominee, and AZ Murder Goes...Artful--so publishing Missing Mysteries as they came to be called followed naturally. We did four titles in the traditional mass market format, printed, and learned that without widespread distribution, there was no good chance to make reprints priced below $8/book work.The exciting technological development that then encouraged us to think we could make a publishing company go was Print on Demand, allowing one to set up a book electronically and then avoid large printing and warehousing bills by doing limited print runs according to need. Ingram was just beginning to be develop its Lightning Print division which offered another advantage: the ability to have its POD books sold as part of its own inventory. Several authors had offered books to us as candidates for Missing Mysteries so it was just a matter of working out the how and where of it. My husband [Rob Rosenwald, president of Poisoned Pen Press] already published software so expanded his company into the corporation we now have, Poisoned Pen Press, which is a completely separate entity from The Poisoned Pen Mystery Bookstore. I am the Editor in chief for the press but I don't make any business decisions for it, partly to avoid any conflict of interest that might arise.

Once we got the model going, the advantages of moving into original fiction became obvious, and more than that, desirable, as it is original fiction that can get reviewed and is eligible for awards and thus becomes what makes a press visible. It's been a challenge to set up an editorial review committee, decide upon submission guidelines, weed through manuscripts, negotiate contracts, edit and produce books, but we have learned as we've gone. The most fortunate thing has been the presence of two dedicated Yale University librarians who, upon retirement, involved themselves in the press and took on the preselection process. The results have been very encouraging: 100% review coverage, by which I mean all the originals have been reviewed in major media and mystery media; sales not only to specialist bookstores but to wholesalers; the acquisition of sales reps; and the interest of authors, publishers, and agents. We have thus not only published original manuscripts but US originals of British publications and, an exciting model for the future, a hardcover license of a mass market original with Berkley Prime Crime. The latter have obvious advantages in terms of selection and editorial process and do mean that US readers (and collectors) have access to more books. I expect we will double our number of original works within the next two years, which may mean hiring an additional editor if I can't handle it. I add that while POD works for some of the reprints, as we grow conventional printing is more economical and is mandatory for the original fiction. What is interesting is the ability to move a book back and forth between technologies according to need.

2. What kinds of things are done to promote PP's books? How does the bookstore play a part?

The bookstore is to date among the Press' largest customers, though buying on equal terms with any other. We are able to give the press books visibility in our newsletter and on our website as well as on our shelves. Our customers are interested, especially in the originals.

We've been lucky to have earned two Edgar nominations (1998, 2000) and very favorable reviews. We have www.poisonedpenpress.com. I write columns for various mystery media and have been able to discuss the project. The press mails out review copies, press releases, and is putting out its second catalogue. It has a presence at mystery conventions and at BEA. We post to e-lists. Most important, our authors play a very active role in promoting their work, less in touring since no one has the budget, but in mailings and e-list postings and other networking. It's been very impressive. Our hope for the new authors is that they eventually go on to bigger and more affluent publishers. We've also worked on cooperative marketing with big publishers whose authors are also on our list: St. Martin's has helped with Ngaio Marsh, William Tapply, and Steven Havill; Scribner with Robert Barnard. I expect to develop this partnership concept much more forcefully.

3. What's ahead for PP? New titles this year and what's up for 2001?

Our originals this year are: Mari Ulmer, Midnight at the Camposanto; Robert Skinner, Blood to Drink (4th Wesley Farrell); Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Two for Joy (sequel to 1999's One for Sorrow); J.M. Hayes, Mad Dog and Englishman. Our US originals of UK works are Catherine Dunbar's False Images, an art mystery; and P.F. Chisholm's Plague of Angels, her 4th Sir Robert Carey Elizabethan romp. In our Missing Mysteries appear the first three Chisholms, the first three Steven Havill's, Sara Hoskinson Frommer's cozy classic Murder in C Major, Nicholas Kilmer's first three Fred Taylor art mysteries, Edward Marston's first Nicholas Bracewell The Queen's Head, Robert Rosenberg's House of Guilt to go with our reprint of his Crimes of the City, and J.M. Hayes' revised first novel, The Grey Pilgrim. We are negotiating for Dick Lochte's classic Sleeping Dog and looking at some other gems for 2001. And I have 8 MS of new works sitting in a pile in my office awaiting verdicts. We will also be publishing Ulmer's second Taos Festival Mystery, Carreta of Death, in 2001, a 5th Wesley Farrell by Skinner, and depending on how it goes for them, a third Byzantine mystery for Reed and Mayer--who we might see move on to a bigger house. As an incubator for new talent, that's a happy prospect.

I see nothing but opportunity ahead as big publishers move mysteries mainstream and focus on breaking out, not building, an author. It gives us a terrific chance to work in the margins, do things they aren't flexible enough to do, and work with authors in ways unimaginable five years ago. This may be a bad time for publishing in the conventional sense, but it is the best of all times to be a small press. Any student of the 18th Century publishing world can see we've come full circle to the sort of entrepreneurial enterprises that got it all started.

4. Anything else you'd like readers to know?

Yes, Poisoned Pen Press is, we hope, developing itself as an imprimatur for good books to read and quality books to own. We'd love to develop a subscription list either for Missing Mysteries, for original fiction, or for both. It's a great way to support our enterprise and has an excellent payoff: books you want to read.

For information, please visit www.poisonedpenpress.com or ask for a catalogue or to be put on the mailing list.

That's it! Pretty painless, I hope. Again, I appreciate your help, and I'm so pleased to be able to put more focus on the Poisoned Pen Press in my column.

Best regards,
Susan