User:Indielitgirl/Dostoyevsky Wannabe

Dostoyevsky Wannabe is an independent small press based in Manchester, United Kingdom. It was founded by Richard Brammer and Victoria Brown in 2014. It consists of three different imprints - Dostoyevsky Wannabe Originals, Dostoyevsky Wannabe Samplers and Dostoyevsky Wannabe Experimental and produces mostly print works which it publishes or 'publishes' by utilising Print On-Demand publishing platforms such as Createspace. It should be noted that 'publishes' here is put in inverted commas as Dostoyevsky Wannabe more accurately utilises and exploits the increasingly blurred-spaces between vanity publishing and traditional publishing (see Self-Publishing) and also see the Dostoyevsky Wannabe Alternative Independent Publishing Model section below.

Dostoyevsky Wannabe Originals
The Dostoyevsky Wannabe Originals imprint has published works by a number of authors including Elizabeth Ellen, Jon Leon, Shane Jesse Christmass and Benjamin DeVos. The full list of titles can be seen on the Dostoyevsky Wannabe website.

Notable Dostoyesky Wannabe Originals
Shane Jesse Christmass's Police Force as a Corrupt Breeze was chosen in The Guardian newspaper as one of the best Australian books of 2016 by author Briohny Doyle.

Jon Leon gave a mention to his own Dostoyevsky Wannabe produced title The Arrivistes when he was featured-writer on The Poetry Foundation's Harriet the Blog.

Writer Brian Alan Ellis reviewed Elizabeth Ellen's Bridget Fonda for Seattle's online literary magazine TheCollapsar.

Benjamin DeVos's Madness has a Moment and Then Returns Again was reviewed by Chuck Harp for online literary magazine Queen Mob's Teahouse.

Dostoyevsky Wannabe Samplers
There have been four 'Cassette' samplers of prose and poetry submitted by various artists to date. Despite the Cassette title the books are not cassettes but retain the printed book form and were initially inspired by the NME's famous free C86 cassette.

Cassette 86
The first sampler was edited by the co-founders of Dostoyevsky Wannabe and featured Juliet Escoria, Kathleen Kathleen, Carabella Sands, Sam Riviere, Elizabeth Ellen and Rachael Lee Nelson.

Cassette 74
The second sampler was the first to feature a guest-editor and was compiled by former contributor Juliet Escoria who pulled together a list of writers including Chelsea Martin, Paul Asta, Sonya Vatomsky, Lucy Tiven, Oscar d'Artois, Romy Durrant and Zachary Cosby.

Cassette 68
Was guest-edited by writer and musician (with the band The Dirty Projectors) Nat Baldwin and featured writers such as Katy Mongeau, Timothy Willis Sanders, Sean Kilpatrick, B.B.P Hosmillo, Julie Reverb, Paul Cunningham, Rita Bullwinkel and Vanessa Angelica Villarreal.

Cassette 89
Was guest-edited by former Cassette 74 contributor Oscar d'Artois and featured writers such as Kristen Felicetti, Radu Nitescu, Jim Walls, Kimmy Walters, Lucy K Shaw, Obe Alkema, Elle Nash, Jonathan Aprea, Matt Bookin, and Ricardo Domeneck.

Dostoyevsky Wannabe Experimental
This imprint appears to be a recent development and has yet to yield much in the way of publication or content. Early indications suggest that this imprint will seek to blur the distinction between print books and online works. It is described on the official site as welcoming work that:"'...can be an artwork, an experimental novel, some conceptual writing, a non-fiction book, a piece of sound/audio art, a field recording, a mixtape series, an artist’s book, an experimental short film, books of photography, whatever we can either embed onto our site or publish into a book or a mixture of elements with the book acting as a catalogue/record of the work/works.'."

Design
Dostoyevsky Wannabe continue a practice amongst 21st Century independent presses of promoting books with video trailers and often add distinctive short-films to help promote their books on social-media. Additionally to this they also often add mixes of music towards the same ends. They are also known for their distinctive covers which are designed by co-founder Victoria Brown and which differ slightly across the different imprints.

Dostoyevsky Wannabe's Alternative Independent Publishing Model
Dostoyevsky Wannabe co-founder Richard Brammer talked to Entropy magazine about how they intentionally set up the press to occupy the increasingly blurred space between vanity publishing and traditional publishing (see self-publishing):"'We were keen to break the taboo of the “vanity press.” We’re based in Manchester, which is the place where The Buzzcocks became the first band to put out their own record, kick-starting the concept of self-releasing and of independent music more generally, so it always struck us as odd and kind of backwards that in publishing that route was blocked off by the “vanity press” taboo. There are maybe a few good reasons to preserve that taboo but we didn’t feel it should be a non-negotiable commandment. Popular music experimented with this like 40 years ago now!'."The complex issue as to whether Dostoyevsky Wannabe actually publish the books that are displayed on their website or just merely help to arrange their coming into being via print-on demand technology is a difficult one to resolve. According to their website (see the FAQ on the Dostoyevsky Wannabe About page), they offer a spectrum between acting as a support network for writers (Option 2) to allowing the writers to control much of the preparation of the book besides working together to design the book sleeve.

On the one hand, self-publishing platforms such as Createspace block buy ISBNs to give away for free to users of their service and are therefore left with their name legally listed as the official publisher whilst at the same time stating in their terms and conditions that in no way should any of these books or publications be said to be 'Published by Createspace'. A venture such as Dostoyevsky Wannabe merely use their own book design skills (interior book design and book sleeve design) and their small capacity to publicise the book (via website promotion, social-media promotion) to help publish authors for seemingly very little in return and it's this approach that makes them distinct from traditional models of vanity publishing and would suggest that they have more in common with the wilfully amateur collectivist aspects often associated with a DIY ethic that is historically seen more often in the worlds of alternative music and alternative media and fanzine publishing. The Dostoyevsky Wannabe About page explains the way in which they operate in more detail.

Swimmers Club
Swimmers Club is a sister-site for Dostoyevsky Wannabe. It features interviews both with authors who have appeared on the press and also with other writers/artists/musicians/independent presses such as Noah Cicero, Kiddiepunk, Spenking, Freschard, Aldous Harding, Jeffrey Lewis, Darren Hayman, Paul Kelly, Michael J Seidlinger, and Scott McClanahan.

Swimmers Club is also notable for an interview ('Dostoyevsky Wannabe meets Dostoyevsky Wannabe') with actor Brecht Andersch who starred as a character named 'Dostoyevsky Wannabe' in Richard Linklater's 1991 film Slacker and from the who the press took its name.