Other Road Press is, for lack of a better word, the Grand Experiment of Bram Stoker-nominated author Daniel G. Keohane, author of the Bram Stoker Award nominated Solomon's Grave, Margaret's Ark and Plague of Darkness. Money should always flow to the writer, but it rarely does. Most authors get paid such a small pittance for royalties, if they ever get paid at all, while bearing the brunt of the responsibility for marketing and sales. Don't get me wrong, there are a ton of terrific small presses out there, but I decided it was worth trying to see what would be involved in taking on the publishing role as well - not to pay ridiculous rates to a self-publisher, either, that is the other extreme of publishing which I don't care to venture into - but to format and distribute a novel myself using the tools out there in this modern age which cost nothing but a serious commitment of time, a commitment we as authors are mostly responsible for, anyway.
Hence, Other Road Press was born. The first book to come out of this project was Margaret's Ark, one of my favorites and which, I feel, epitomizes my recent style of blending themes of faith and suspense. Whereas Margaret's Ark was well-received by many editors over the course of its original marketing, no one could ever decide where to pigeon-hole it genre-wise. Part suspense, part horror, part religious/Christian fiction, it never fit neatly into the secular or religious sectors.
And in many ways, that's what Other Road Press is about. Finding a home for novels where the characters struggle with every day, and supernatural, experiences, while still swearing and spitting and praying and getting disemboweled, depending on the story of the moment. Right now, it's an experiment, a venture. Would I ever consider venturing out as a more global publisher, with additional authors and an expanded title list? Sure, if the right book came along. Something that strikes a nerve, elicits an emotion, but also has a theme in some way around faith and how we grow into, or fall from, it in this world, and others. Religious (doesn't necessarily be Christian, though I would normally slant towards the Judeo-Christian worldview, being a believer myself) horror/suspense is a narrow market, but there is a market.
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