Upper Access

Early on, we learned that small presses had a hard time competing in the marketplace. We did what we could, providing services to other small publishers. We set up a book fulfillment company, stocking books from over 100 other small presses, to make their books more readily available to the public. For several years we published a mail-order catalo... g called Big Books from Small Presses, with circulation of about 100,000 copies per year. These activities ended as the nature of the book industry changed, other good service providers emerged, and as the Internet made mail order catalogs obsolete. We also developed an industry-specific business software program, now known as Publishers' Assistant, to allow small companies to function professionally. It is still the most affordable software of its type, used by hundreds of publishers. In 2019, we removed ourselves from the software business to concentrate solely on publishing great books. If you are interested in the software, look for the information at its Web site, www.pubassist.com. The founders of Upper Access, Steve and Lisa Carlson, are still the owners, with Steve serving as publisher. Steve has been active in the small-press movement, serving four years on the board of Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and holding various leadership positions with regional groups-Independent Publishers of New England and Publishers North. Small publishers do not compete with each other-we help each other to succeed. Like all successful book publishers, we have constantly adapted to the changing nature of books, and of the book marketplace. We cherish books, but also try to deliver information to readers in the forms they prefer. Of course, we offer e-book versions of all of our newer titles. For several years we even published a commercial blog, written by one of our celebrated authors, Henri de Marne. Our books are distributed to the trade by Midpoint Trade Books, a division of Independent Publishers Group, so if you are ordering books for a store or ...Read More