Coffee House Press

From Modern Publishing 2025
Revision as of 17:11, 8 October 2025 by Sarah Personius (talk | contribs)

Coffee House Press (CHP) originally started in 1972 as a small letterpress company, founded by Allan Kornblum. It was inspired by the small publishers movement of the 60s and 70s, and was officially made into a publisher in 1984. Now Coffee House Press is an internationally renowned nonprofit publisher.

Mission

Coffee House Press is more interested in publishing works that are creative and unconventional than works that are mainstream and make a lot of money. They are devoted to expanding the definition of literature and who it belongs to. Their ultimate goal is to be the nation's leading independent literary publisher and to spread their literature to new audiences.

Structure

Ownership

CHP is a nonprofit organization led by a board of directors, in which there is a president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary. The company itself is led by a staff of nine: Linda A. Ewing as Executive Director, Robyn Earhart as Production Editor, Cara Geze as Development Associate, Laura Graveline as Director of Publicity, Mark Haber as Director of Marketing, Ulrika Moats as Director of Operations, Michael Shuldt as Finance Manager, and Ken Chen and Youmna Chlala both as Spatial Species Editors. The head of operations, executive director Linda Ewing, has a long history in managing nonprofits with several different companies before working for Coffee House Press. Most if not all of the staff studied some form of English or education in college and had experience in writing or publishing before joining CHP.

Financials

Being a nonprofit organization, the press receives most of its funding from donations, private foundations, corporate giving programs, and government programs. They gain about $1 million in revenue each year, half of which they spend on staff salaries. Their last tax form from 2023 indicates that the publisher made a negative profit that year, but it appears that this was not a major setback as they most likely had money left over from previous years and/or receive enough donations to keep their mission alive.

Publishing Program

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Community

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