Introduction

For thirty years, I was fortunate to be able to pursue twin vocations professionally: book publishing and the cause of animal rights and veganism. This essay provides a personal account of these histories in order to reflect on the specificity of publishing texts that describe and advocate for veganism, and to consider the various market imperatives that have shaped, and continue to shape, the publication, dissemination, and reception of books that espouse veganism. I consider my own experiences forming Lantern Books, a publisher specializing in veganism, animal advocacy, religion, social justice, and psychology, before exploring the role of BISAC codes (the subject categories and subcategories used by bookstores and libraries to catalog books) to provide an example of the limitations the current publishing industry presents for niche publishers – using Sistah Vegan, a book that Lantern published in 2010, as an example. I conclude with reflections from other independent publishers of books on veganism, who speak to the various challenges and rewards of publishing pro-animal books in the current social, politic, and economic publishing climate.

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It was perhaps foreordained that I’d work with books. I read avidly as a child, and studied English Literature and Language at university. My first job was in a bookshop in my hometown in England, which stirred in me a love of the business of writing and selling books. After university, I was hired as a research assistant to the biographer of T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia). I also compiled catalogs for another bookshop and became the mail-order director for a book distributor in London. In 1991, I moved to New York City and completed a master’s degree. During that time, I volunteered at a bookstore, and after graduation I developed marketing material for a publisher. In 1995, Continuum Publishing Company hired me as promotion manager. Four years later, a colleague, Gene Gollogly, and I left to found Lantern.

My second calling was unexpected. I became a vegetarian on something of a whim in 1991 and a vegan when I moved in with my life-partner two years later. In 1994, I co-founded Satya: A Magazine of Vegetarianism, Environmentalism, Animal Advocacy, and Social Justice, a free monthly I edited until I started Lantern. I carried Satya’s subject interests over to Lantern, and over the course of twenty years published over two hundred titles on these subjects.