I am having a consultation with one on Saturday?I don't know much about small literary presses? Can they sell on books on a national level? Can they do everything that a large literary press can do?What else do I need to know about a small literary press?
What do you mean by 'small?' What's the name of the company? Because there's the type of small that's totally unknown, like...God knows...and then there's the small that's extremely prestigious, like Farrar Straus Giroux...
One major problem is that the bookstore chains like Borders and Barnes Noble will not order books from a POD publisher. They go through two major distributors: Baker Taylor and Ingram and they usually don't take print on demand books. Stick with traditional publishers. Don't pay someone to print your book. If you're book is that well written you'll find a publisher. The important thing is to keep writing and sending stuff out.
I am assuming you are having a consultation with them because they might be publishing a book of yours. Overall, small presses can do really great things. Some *can* and *do* sell books on a national level, but this has to more to do with their distributor than anything else. You should definately ask them if they distribute to the large book chains like Barnes Noble, Borders, etc. They can do most things that large presses can do, as long as it doesn't involve a lot of money. Often writers get more personal attention from small presses in terms of public relations, whereas a large publisher like Random House tends to leave new, small novels to fend for themselves. I can't really tell you any more about what you need to know, because I'm not sure what you need it *for*. Good luck with your meeting.
