Meet an Indie Publisher: Heyday Books

Fourth in a series

I’m finishing up a summer spent mostly around the house by getting to know the place-centered books from Heyday, an independent publisher in faraway Berkeley, California. Thanks to publisher Steve Wasserman for answering my questions, and to acquisitions editor Marthine Satris for bringing Heyday’s great list to my attention.

The series “Meet an Indie Publisher” has previously featured Belt (Ohio), Blair (North Carolina), and Hub City Press (South Carolina). We’ll get to the northeast eventually.

Name/Location: Heyday, Berkeley, California

Year Founded: 1974

Number of Books Published Per Year: 20

First Book Published: East Bay Out: An Unauthorized Guide to Hiking, Camping, Swimming, and Fishing in the East Bay Regional Parks, by Malcolm Margolin

Most Recent Books Published: Deep Oakland: How Geology Shaped a City, by Andrew Alden; California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline, by Rosanna Xia; The Questions that Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom, by Jane Smiley; The Scandal of Cal: Land Grabs, White Supremacy, and Miseducation at UC Berkeley, by Tony Platt

Biggest Seller: Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands, by Linda Ronstadt and Lawrence Downes

Book You Published You Wish More People Knew About: This Bell Still Rings: My Life of Defiance and Song, by Barbara Dane

If people pick up a Heyday book, what are they in for?

A story that turns you inside out and enables you to see the world with new eyes, matched by the tactile pleasures afforded by a beautiful physical object.

What’s most challenging about being an independent publisher?

Since we are an independent nonprofit, the challenge is finding a way to sustain the enterprise while providing everyone with a living wage.

What’s most exciting about being an independent publisher?

No corporate bureaucracy enables a kind of bespoke publishing that honors craft while knitting together a community of authors and readers.

Many thanks to Steve, and if you have an independent press you’d like to see profiled, please leave their name in the comments.