We hustle for publication, we hustle for freelance gigs, we hustle for time and space and energy, in large part because we, like so many artists, have to be our own patrons. Teaching, bartending, real estate, retail, you name it, we’ve done it, we do it, and we’ll keep on doing it until or unless we find a better way.
Yet the coffee here is some of the best I’ve had; plus, Finland leads the world in coffee consumption per capita; some studies claim the average Finn drinks up to a liter and a half a day. That’s a staggering 50 ounces, an amount made more astounding since they’re not consuming it on the go. I set out to determine how, where, and why the Finns manage to drink so much.
The entryway to our apartment in Helsinki has a plaque to the left of the door, which reads:
Why move to Finland? Any American who reveres the blues knows that however dedicated we are to this music, Europeans have proven more dedicated, particularly with their wallets, and particularly when it comes to African-American blues artists. Boyd’s move to Finland in 1971 was in part financial—he could make a living as an artist—but he also said he moved to escape the racism of America. A shameful truth. And while there is audio of Boyd 
The next night? Classic rock karaoke from Tennka, where I listened from my window and played name that tune to a group of guys singing at the top of their lungs. Karaoke is super popular in Finland, not just in bars throughout the country, but even some 
Why Finland? Many friends asked this question when I shared where Emi and I would be for a large part of our summer. Frankly, as soon as I arrived, I only wish I’d thought to come sooner! Finland is fantastic, for reasons I hope this, and future dispatches, will delve into more fully.
Many of you are probably familiar with 
Worldcon is similar, and there’s a lot of overlap, but the focus is intended to be on the art forms–film, graphic novels, literature, games (both board and computer)–that fall under the science fiction/fantasy umbrella. Yeah, that covers a LOT. Game of Thrones, Dungeons and Dragons, the films of Hayao Miyazaki, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr. Who, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, the cheesetastic Supernatural, plus Tolkien, Le Guin, L’Engle, . . . the offerings are wonderfully endless. And yes, costumes are encouraged.
my illiteracy in Finnish took its toll. Buying produce, bread, and cheese is fairly straightforward; what you see is what you get. Walking the aisles of the S-Market, there was a smattering of English, but more often I was relegated to deciphering the pictures on the package or the etymology of the words, with limited success. As my linguist daughter could tell you, this has much to do with the fact that, unlike English, Finnish is neither Germanic nor Latinate so there’s not a lot of overlap. Here’s the start of my market basket:
“Oh, I’m sorry,” the barista said, brilliantly intuiting I spoke no Finnish, “we’re all out of the porridge.” Ah, porridge, I thought, that’s what that was. I pointed to the next special on the list. “Omelette?” she said. “With?” “Ham?” I said, “cheese?” “Both?” she asked, and I panicked. Was it improper to order more than one filling for an omelette in Finland? Was I over the top? “Yes?” I said meekly. “Okay then,” she answered, then took Emi’s order of salmon quiche (quiche is quiche is quiche no matter what language you speak apparently).
UPDATE as of 4/2024: Piscataqua Press is still publishing, but are now known as Holbrook Author Services. From their site:
“We work with authors one-on-one to help them be their own publisher. We offer all levels of editing, as well as design and technical services. No matter where you are in the process, we can help. Your final product won’t say Piscataqua Press on it, but you will have complete control and won’t share rights or royalties with us in any way. We are a strictly ‘for hire’ company.”
Piscataqua Press is a unique publishing project operating out of RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. RiverRun Bookstore, managed by Tom Holbrook, is a hub of the literary community north of Boston, hosting at least a hundred readings and events each year; Piscataqua Press, also managed by Holbrook, utilizes the latest print-on-demand technology to publish a variety of titles.
Along with a small selection of titles that were published via the traditional editorial process, such as Denis Lipman’s Striking Terror, a YA thriller set in the Middle East, and The Unquiet Daughter, a fascinating memoir by Danielle Flood, “a New York journalist, born of the true wartime love triangle that inspired the one in Graham Greene’s novel, The Quiet American,” Piscataqua also publishes a handful of classics, plus “pay to publish” titles that run the gamut from children’s books to poetry to a wide range of fiction and nonfiction. In addition, Piscataqua operates a book prize that changes genre yearly—in 2016 the press accepted entries for novels—with a reading fee of $50.
For Ploughshares, Tom Holbrook shares his motivation for beginning the press, how selections are made, and what he thinks are the editorial responsibilities of working with “pay to publish” titles.
Kate Flaherty: Running an independent bookstore alone is tricky enough financially. What made you decide to begin a press as well? And how do you think print-on-demand technology has changed the financial picture for publishers as well as bookstores?
Tom Holbrook: I think most indie bookstores that are surviving are doing something in addition to selling books. Either they have cafes, or sell a lot of card and gift products, etc. For me, the publishing fit my skill set better (I’m NOT a good gift/card buyer!!). We had a good friend of the store who was familiar with this kind of publishing, turned us onto it, and it has worked out well. It’s particularly nice in the off-season here to have something constructive to work on when you’re not shoveling snow. New technologies make it possible to get into this business with a very low capital investment.
KF: Although there are plenty of success stories regarding self-published authors, there remains a stubborn stigma about the literary quality of “pay to publish” books. What are your thoughts on Piscataqua’s role in this type of publishing?
TH: This stigma exists mostly with literary fiction, and I don’t expect it to go away anytime soon. We are snobs, and we want it to say Knopf on the spine or to be reviewed in the NYT Book Review. But there are a lot of independent authors doing very well in genre fiction and other niche markets. Folks who read heavily in this area have always felt marginalized, and they don’t mind taking a chance on a book that has good Amazon or Goodreads reviews, even if it’s from an unknown publisher. Plus, a lot of what we do is truly what has been called “vanity” publishing—a family memoir or regional cookbook that is never going to be marketable, but is important to the person creating it. We make them a great-looking book without ripping them off. They are grateful, and we make money that we can use to support the bookstore and to publish other things we are excited about.
KF: You have no masthead for the press. What’s the editorial process for selecting manuscripts at Piscataqua? Who screens prize entries? How do you make your final decisions?
TH: Right now it’s all me. As we grow, that will likely change. I have some in-house help with design, and occasionally will hire an outside editor, but all the final decisions are mine. I say “We” a lot because it makes us seem bigger than we are, and it makes me feel not so alone. . .
KF: Along with publishing classics like James Joyce’s Dubliners and Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther, Piscataqua also publishes the local classic Among the Isles of Shoals by Celia Thaxter. Do you see the press publishing more local titles like this? What else should readers expect from Piscataqua in the near future?
TH: We started that originally to keep our hand in the publishing between paid contracts, and recently we’ve been way too busy to get back to it. That said, I’d like to do Sarah Orne Jewett and a few other local greats. I’m also interested in doing more local history and photography if the opportunity is right. This entire endeavor has been unscripted, unplanned, and surprising. Add to that the fact that the technology keeps evolving, and who knows what we will be up to next. That’s part of the fun.
Fact or Fiction 