Author directory
Our authors
Meet our authors: poets, novelists and essayists whose books appeared on the Small Press Distribution bestseller lists between 2006 and 2023. The data covers about 3,069 authors across poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Below you will find the 72 who appeared most often, with their best known titles and the presses that published them.
10 titles in the catalog data. Best known for Ana Patova Crosses a Bridge, Dorothy, a publishing project.
7 titles in the catalog data. Best known for Face, Book Thug.
6 titles in the catalog data. Best known for Ban en Banlieue, Nightboat Books.
Author and title data: Post45 Data Collective Small Press Distribution bestseller dataset, CC BY 4.0.
If you are thinking about writing or publishing your own book, this list shows what independent readers kept buying for years. Use the search box to find a name, a title or a press.
The Most Listed Authors in the Catalog
Each card shows the author's main genre, their most frequent press and up to two titles. A longer run on the bestseller lists means readers kept coming back to the book long after its launch.
- Renee GladmanFiction · Dorothy, a publishing projectThe Activist / Event Factory
- Sherman AlexiePoetry · Hanging Loose PressFace / What I've Stolen, What I've Earned
- Bhanu KapilPoetry · Kelsey Street PressIncubation: A Space for Monsters / Humanimal: A Project for Future Children
- Graham W. FoustPoetry · Flood EditionsNecessary Stranger / A Mouth in California
- Jacob M. AppelFiction · Black Lawrence PressScouting for the Reaper / Miracles and Conundrums of the Secondary Planets
- Garielle LutzFiction · Calamari PressStories in the Worst Way / Divorcer
- Zachary SchomburgPoetry · Black OceanThe Man Suit / Scary, No Scary
- Alice NotleyPoetry · Fonograf EditionsBenediction / Early Works
- Etel AdnanNonfiction · Nightboat BooksSitt Marie Rose: a Novel / Premonition
- Fred MotenPoetry · Letter Machine EditionsAll That Beauty / The Service Porch
- Lyn HejinianNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / The Wide Road
- Ronald JohnsonPoetry · Flood EditionsRadi Os / Ark
- Tao LinPoetry · Action BooksYou Are a Little Bit Happier Than I Am / Selected Tweets
- Jennifer MoxleyPoetry · Flood EditionsClampdown / The Line
- Carla HarrymanNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / The Wide Road
- Gloria AnzaldúaNonfiction · Aunt Lute BooksBorderlands = La Frontera: The New Mestiza / Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza 5th Edition
- Mark LeidnerPoetry · Factory Hollow PressBeauty Was the Case that They Gave Me / Returning the Sword to the Stone
- Ronald SillimanNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / Against Conceptual Poetry: 45° of Universe
- Roque Raquel Salas RiveraPoetry · Timeless, Infinite LightLo terciario / The Tertiary / While They Sleep (Under the Bed is Another Country)
- Suheir HammadPoetry · Cypher BooksBreaking Poems / ZaatarDiva
- Dodie BellamyNonfiction · KrupskayaAcademonia / Cunt Norton
- Kate GreenstreetPoetry · Ahsahta PressCase Sensitive / Young Tambling
- Brandon BrownPoetry · Roof BooksThe Poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus / Flowering Mall
- Daniel BorzutzkyPoetry · Brooklyn Arts PressThe Performance of Becoming Human / The Loose Pearl = La Perla Suelta
- Fanny HoweFiction · Flood EditionsNight Philosophy / What Did I Do Wrong?
- John KeenePoetry · The Song CavePunks: New & Selected Poems / Seismosis
- Kit RobinsonNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / Determination
- R. Zamora LinmarkPoetry · Hanging Loose PressRolling the R's / Drive-By Vigils
- Lisa JarnotPoetry · Flood EditionsNight Scenes / Black Dog Songs
- Lisa RobertsonPoetry · New Star BooksNilling: Prose / Theory, A Sunday
- Simone WhitePoetry · Futurepoem BooksOf Being Dispersed / Dear Angel of Death
- Suzanne BuffamPoetry · Canarium BooksThe Irrationalist / A Pillow Book
- Anne BoyerPoetry · Ahsahta PressGarments Against Women / A Handbook of Disappointed Fate
- Bob PerelmanNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / The Grand Piano: Part 10
- Emily Kendal FreyPoetry · Octopus BooksSorrow Arrow / The Grief Performance
- Nathalie LégerFiction · Dorothy, a publishing projectSuite for Barbara Loden / Exposition
- Dana WardPoetry · Futurepoem BooksThe Crisis of Infinite Worlds / This Can't Be Life
- Frank StanfordPoetry · Lost Roads PublishersThe Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You / Conditions Uncertain and Likely to Pass Away
- Rachel McKibbensPoetry · Cypher BooksPink Elephant / Into the Dark & Emptying Field
- Rae ArmantroutNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / The Grand Piano: Part 10
- Ted PearsonNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / The Grand Piano: Part 10
- Tom MandelNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / To the Cognoscenti
- Barrett WattenNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / The Grand Piano: Part 10
- Cecilia VicuñaPoetry · Kelsey Street PressSaborami / New and Selected Poems of Cecilia Vicuña
- Imīl ḤabībīFiction · IBIS EditionsSaraya, The Ogre's Daughter: a Palestinian Fairy Tale / Saraya, The Ogre's Daughter: a Palestinian Fairy Tale
- John MurilloPoetry · Cypher BooksUp Jump the Boogie: Poems
- Alfred Starr HamiltonPoetry · The Song CaveA Dark Dreambox of Another Kind: The Poems of Alfred Starr Hamilton
- Amiri BarakaPoetry · House of Nehesi PublishersSomebody Blew Up America / Tales of the Out & Gone
- Christian BökPoetry · Coach House PressEunoia
- Heather ChristlePoetry · Octopus BooksThe Trees The Trees / The Difficult Farm
- Jenny BoullyFiction · Tarpaulin Sky Pressnot merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them / The Body: An Essay
- Leslie ScalapinoPoetry · Litmus PressThe Dihedrons Gazelle-Dihedrals Zoom / Floats Horse-Floats or Horse-Flows
- Mathias SvalinaPoetry · Mud Luscious PressI Am a Very Productive Entrepreneur / Destruction Myth
- Mónica de la TorrePoetry · Roof BooksPublic Domain / The Happy End / All Welcome
- Robert FittermanPoetry · Ugly Duckling PresseRob the Plagiarist / Notes on Conceptualisms
- Ronaldo V. WilsonPoetry · Counterpath PressPoems of the Black Object / Farther Traveler: Poetry, Prose, Other
- Steve BensonNonfiction · Mode A ; This PressThe Grand Piano Part 1 / The Grand Piano: Part 10
- Tommy PicoPoetry · Birds, LLCIRL
- Ana BožičevićPoetry · Birds, LLCRise in the Fall / Joy of Missing Out
- Anaïs DuplanPoetry · Brooklyn Arts PressTake This Stallion / Mount Carmel & The Blood Of Parnassus
- Andy FitchPoetry · Ugly Duckling PresseTen Walks/Two Talks / Sixty Morning Talks
- Aram SaroyanPoetry · Ugly Duckling PresseAram Saroyan: Complete Minimal Poems
- David OhleFiction · Calamari PressMotorman / Motorman
- Elisa GabbertNonfiction · Black OceanThe Self Unstable / The Word Pretty
- George ScialabbaNonfiction · Pressed WaferFor the Republic: Political Essays / What Are Intellectuals Good For?
- Barbara Jane ReyesPoetry · Tinfish PressPoeta en San Francisco / For the City That Nearly Broke Me
- Bill BerksonNonfiction · Tuumba PressWhat's Your Idea of a Good Time? Interviews and Letters 1977-1985 / Sudden Address: Selected Lectures 1981-2006
- Jay WrightPoetry · Flood EditionsThe Prime Anniversary / Thirteen Quintets for Lois
- Juliana SpahrPoetry · AtelosThe Transformation / Things of Each Possible Relation Hashing Against One Another
- Khadijah QueenPoetry · YesYes BooksI'm So Fine: A List of Famous Men & What I Had On / Black Peculiar
- Lily K. HoangFiction · Fairy Tale Review PressChanging / A Bestiary
- Noah Eli GordonPoetry · Futurepoem BooksThe Source: An Investigation in Constrained Bibliomancy and Ambient Research / The Year of the Rooster
How This List Was Built
We counted every appearance of every author on the monthly poetry lists and the bimonthly fiction and nonfiction lists, then ranked authors by their total. Names were tidied into first name, last name order, and editors and translators were left out so the list shows the authors themselves. Poetry makes up the largest share of the data, which is why many cards show poetry.
The lists come from the public record of the independent press community. They tell you what sold through small presses, which is useful if you are choosing how to publish. Explore the same data in our book library and our catalog portfolio, or read the full bestseller archive.
Authors We Publish Today
Authors we work with now, including memoirists, founders, novelists and children's writers, appear on profiles of their own when they say yes in writing. Ghostwriting is private by nature, so many books never carry a public profile, and that is the author's choice.
Whatever route you take, you keep 100% ownership of your book. The copyright, the credit and every royalty stay with you, and your ISBNs are registered in your name. Read how it works in our book publishing services, and see the copyright registration guidance from the U.S. Copyright Office. The Authors Guild is a useful resource if you need help reading any contract.
FAQs
Are these authors your clients?
These are authors whose books appeared on the Small Press Distribution bestseller lists between 2006 and 2023. They belong to the catalog heritage of the company. Authors we work with directly today appear on their own profiles once they give written permission.
How were the authors in this list chosen?
They are ranked by how many bestseller lists their books appeared on, which shows lasting reader interest rather than a single good month. The list shows the 72 most frequently listed authors from about 3,500 in the data.
Can I be listed on your authors page?
Yes, if you have published with us and want a profile. Tell your project manager, send a short bio and photo, and we will add you once you approve the wording.
Do you take royalties from your authors?
No. Royalties, copyright and credit stay with the author. You pay the fixed quote for the services you choose and nothing more.
Ready to Join Them?
The next author profile could be yours. Submit your manuscript or get a free consultation, and a real person will reply within one business day.
Source: "Small Press Distribution Bestseller Lists 2006-2023" by Sera-Ann Hargrove and Micah Bateman (editors: Alexander Manshel, J.D. Porter and Melanie Walsh), Post45 Data Collective, DOI 10.18737/857371, CC BY 4.0. We grouped the original rows into unique titles and authors and added list counts. View the dataset.
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