A look back at Soft Skull press

Often overlooked in the mythology of DIY is its equally important partner-in-ethos “BOTNEASTOAAC,” Be Open To New Experiences And Seek Them Out At All Costs. It’s a two way street; passionate producers need passionate culture receivers who put their livelihoods on the line by leaving themselves completely open and often—as Adam Rathe demonstrates in his history of Soft Skull Press—vulnerable.

“The critical thing with Soft Skull is that we accepted unsolicited submissions,” [former Soft Skull publisher Richard Nash] says. “What is a Soft Skull book isn’t decided, was never decided, by me, and it wasn’t being decided by Denise Oswald, and it won’t be decided by [Counterpoint]. What a Soft Skull book is, is another thing being decided by the readers. And if you’re not out there among them, you can’t find out what they want. Soft Skull’s always been larger than the people in charge of it. And to the extent that the people in charge of it have ever done a good job, it’s because we listened.”

Though it’s no longer novel to hear of a small press with a storied history being downsized and folded into a larger house that doesn’t have room for the idealism amid the increasing pressure of keeping their own lights on, the Soft Skull Press story certainly doesn’t have the traditional cautionary earmarks of these tales. They were willing to adapt, they repeatedly put their trust in new publishers and editors who lived up to the challenge, but most importantly they were willing to look anywhere for the next good read without limiting themselves. What’s funny is that that’s not risk-taking, that’s good business. Rathe laments that, “As DIY publishing is once again experiencing a renaissance, it’s an embarrassment that Soft Skull won’t be around to mentor a new generation of offbeat sensibilities,” but the less offbeat should read up on their history, too.