small empire press

The heyday of small press publishing in San Francisco lives again. This memoir that reads like fiction recounts the never-before-told

story of the heyday of small presses in the 1980s and 1990s in San Francisco when Bay Area presses-armed with arrogance and personal computers-took the publishing field. This is the story of one of those presses and its intrepid publisher, Vicki Morgan (DeArmon). At Foghorn Press, Vicki was 25, young, brash, and ambitious. She quixotically built a book publishing company from scratch with her eccentric brother to help with no book publishing experience but fueled by 100-hour work weeks, cheap beer, and irrepressible belly laughs. Over 13 years, they assembled a cast of often preposterous authors and resistant staff while outlasting a drunken ex-husband, a con artist, inscrutable distributors, a fleet of good ol’ boys, terrible cash flow, and their own differing aspirations. Books were brought to market and miraculously sold from their offices in the Boiler Room until Foghorn became a resounding success with sales, media, acclaim. But of course, the story doesn’t end there.

＂DeArmon takes readers on a thrilling, laugh-out-loud adventure as she transforms a humble dream into a powerhouse publishing house. This behind-the-scenes look into the world of independent publishing is both inspiring and deeply human. Packed with heart, humor, and hard-earned wisdom, it’s a story you won’t want to put down-or see end.＂

-Nina Schuyler, award-winning author of Afterword and In This Ravishing World

＂This is so well told and personal that every step along the way is both entertaining and heartfelt. I was mesmerized and deeply engaged. A book not to be missed for many reasons not the least about what it takes to run a publishing company from ground zero.＂

-Sheryl Cotleur, Buyer, Copperfield’s Books