Tyrant Books
 |
|
| Founded | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Giancarlo DiTrapano |
| Headquarters location | New York City, Rome |
| Official website | nytyrant |
Tyrant Books is an independent book publisher based in Rome, Italy and New York, New York. It was created in 2009 by Giancarlo DiTrapano as an offshoot of NY Tyrant Magazine, also founded by DiTrapano, in 2006.
Tyrant Books was created to publish books worthy of acclaim but less suited to large publishing houses, often because they are incendiary or avant garde. Giancarlo DiTrapano is quoted in the Los Angeles Review of Books as saying, “It would have taken forever for me to do anything I wanted to do [working for a traditional publishing house], but I had a little money, so I started a press.” In 2006 he founded New York Tyrant Magazine, which published “writers the big houses refused to touch,” including Brian Evenson, Noy Holland, Michael Kimball, Gary Lutz, Rachel B. Glaser, Scott McClanahan, Sam Lipsyte, Padgett Powell, Breece D’J Pancake and Gordon Lish and more. The magazine had immediate success and generated a following for the Tyrant brand, which benefitted Tyrant Books when it formed. The magazine is currently on hiatus.
In 2009, 500 copies of the novella “Baby Leg” by Brian Evenson were published, marking the beginning of the transition to book publishing for Tyrant. It was followed by Eugene Marten’s “Firework” (2010), which is scheduled for re-release in 2017, and Michael Kimball’s “Us” (2011).
In 2013 Tyrant Books partnered with Fat Possum Records. The publisher’s most successful book to date is “Preparation for the Next Life” by Atticus Lish, winner of the 2015 PEN/Faulkner Prize for fiction, which had sold 15,000 copies as of January 2015. The publications are distributed through Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.
In 2013 DiTrapano met Matthew Johnson, owner of Fat Possum Records, while interviewing him for Playboy. The profile of Johnson, who was recording the last of the Mississippi Hill Country musicians, did not happen, but Johnson and DiTrapano became friends. Johnson developed an interest in saving the publishing house, which was struggling financially. Johnson became 50% owner and took over the business aspects of Tyrant Books while DiTrapano was freed to exclusively find and develop manuscripts. DiTrapano quotes Johnson in the Wall Street Journal as saying, “You’re a great editor but a terrible businessman”, and he responded, “I know”.
...
Wikipedia