September 14, 2025

TNP273 Introducing 9th House Press with Taraneh Erfan and Thérèse Cator

57 minutes

This is the biggest announcement I’ve ever made, not just on this podcast, but in my life. Bigger than getting a book deal, even.

This is something I’ve been thinking about for the past four years or so, since I was in the midst of the pre-order campaign for my first book, The Spirited Kitchen in 2021. The nudge got even stronger as I was in negotiations for my second book, Spells for the Apocalypse. And now, with both of those works out in the world and doing really well without a lot more help from me, the nudge has felt more like a call, a strong pull forward towards something…pretty scary, honestly, but all good adventures stories begin with accepting some risk, venturing into the unknown, and what makes it a great story is that the protagonists don’t know yet what they don’t know. 😂

It is my great, great pleasure to announce, that along with my colleagues and co-founders, Taraneh Erfan and Thérèse Cator, I am embarking on a new venture to publish world-building books that help readers develop meaningful answers to the question, How then, shall we live in these times?

Our new company, 9th House Press, is a worker cooperative. A worker cooperative is a business that the workers own and democratically control, and it foregrounds two equally important primary purposes: to provide employment and a better quality of work-life for its members, and to provide a community benefit. We see this work of publishing uncompromisingly liberatory books as an important part of the movement for civil rights and protection of intellectual freedom, in a similar vein as libraries and a free press. And we see our taking more control and ownership of the means of production – meaning the ways we access liberatory information – we see that as a critical shift away from an industry that is overflowing with talented women making money for white shareholding men.

10 Things That Excite Me About This:

I’m in business – a worker co-op – with my two dear friends, Taraneh and Thérèse! This is wildly exciting to me! And very healing.

We’re going to publish not only our own books, but also acquire up to 12 titles a year.

We’re publishing works that will tell us stories and give us models for how we’re going to seed the future with the best humanity has to offer: compassion, creativity, and connection.

Our world-building books will each have their own limited edition book bling! Useful and beautiful swag that relates to the content of the book. Maybe sometimes it’s a cloth bag, or stickers, but sometimes it’s seeds! Sometimes it’s t-shirts, and sometimes it’s art! Sometimes it’s a branded multitool! Or, or or…

We already have initial acceptance for a book called Farm Stand News by Marianne Unger, whose pandemic-inspired neighbourhood farm stand and newsletter has become a model for mutual aid sprinkled with a lyrical nostalgia akin to A Prairie Home Companion.

We are actively wooing two other authors that I hope will be a yes for our first catalogue (coming January 2026). We’re eager to see what kinds of submissions we receive by our deadline: November 15, 2025 for Fall/Winter 2026 publication.

We’re gonna have Street Teams! I envision this almost like a “business-in-a-box” for my disabled and employment-challenged friends and followers who’d like to support our work but also make some money selling our catalogue and book bling at festivals, markets, fairs, and concerts. It’s very punk! It’s giving anarchist book fair! I love it so much.

Our net royalties favour the author starting at 50% with increasing escalators.

In a completely new twist for alternative publishing models, after seven years, authors are returned their rights with an option to renew, honouring our value of enthusiastic ongoing consent and collaboration with our fellow authors.

We’re going to publish the books that will help us hold ground on the left against the rising tide of fascism.

How can you support our cause?

Join us! Become an Associate member of our co-op!

It’s an associate membership so you don’t have the same rights and responsibilities as we have as worker-members, but it’s how you can belong to our community, how you can support this anticapitalist business, how you can fund the alternative economy. I had a meeting with the publisher of a small press who has had a long and illustrious career in the literary world at very small to the very largest publishing houses, and she said to me, In 2025, micro is the way to go.

We will give you preview chapters and access to limited edition book bling, but also give you a chance to vote on selected book cover designs and titles. It’s going to be collaborative and fun and, honestly, important work.

We mean it when we say we’re looking to publish the books getting banned before they even get a book deal.

Books by people with marginalized and targeted identities, books by people with disabilities who can’t keep us with the exhausting pace of the author-centered book launch era…we’re going to launch our books together. We’re going to collaborate. It’s going to be real hands-on but really body-friendly, real gentle on the nervous system 💖

And we could really use your support! Please:

• Follow our Instagram @9thhousepress

• Become an associate member of our co-op

It’s $35 CAD per year. And there are other perks too! So check out our website: 9thhousepress.com

I mentioned the right wing imprints that large traditional publishers have begun to profit from - read more about that here.

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By Carmen Spagnola

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