Patterson v. Schiffrin

Some good points, Rachel. I think that if we take a look at James Patterson and Andre Schiffrin as two sides of a weird publishing coin, we get some perspective on what drives people in the independent or small press. Large publishers depend on the likes of James Patterson to create popular works of entertainment and pay the bills. One thing we'll talk about soon in class is how small presses survive, and what concessions, if any, they make to be solvent.

Also, here's The New Press About Us page, which gives some, but not much, information on how it functions (a missing bit of info in the Punk Planet interview). The crucial part, for our interests, is posted below:

How does The New Press work?

While The New Press is guided by its not-for-profit mission and not by the bottom line, it functions in many ways like a commercial trade publisher: it identifies new authors, generally pays standard advances and royalties, and distributes its books nationwide. The difference is that at The New Press, any profit earned on a particular title does not go to owners, but back into the production of other books. Indeed, many commercially successful authors—including Studs Terkel, Marguerite Duras, and John Leonard—have chosen to publish their books with The New Press to support the non-for-profit publishing principle. As a 501C3 organization, The New Press uses foundation support to publish important books whose commercial potential is much less assured.

A wide range of foundations have recognized the need for the kind of broad non-profit publishing program The New Press has undertaken, and since its inception The Press has received support from nearly 40 private foundations.

I have been following the progress of The New Press with pleasure and pride. In these days of declining publishing, it is good to know there are independent editors at work.
— Doris Grumbach

The New Press is affiliated with the Technical, Office, and Professional (TOP) Union, Local 2110 UAW, AFL-CIO.