books

"Is there anything better ... than to open a heavy cardboard box, catch a smell of freshly cut paper as the flaps push open, and then reach in to pull out a book that you had a hand in creating?"

It seems fitting to open this story with a quote from the Replacement Press blog, which you can get to from the Replacement Press website, which you can get to from the Replacement Press Facebook page, even if you're not a friend.

This is because Replacement Press, a new literary press in St. Paul, is all about the Internet, even as it is also all about physical books.

Founders Andrew and Sarah De Young launched their small literary press last year with an invitation on the Web. Their goal is to publish one or two books a year of emerging young writers. (They are both 26.) "Capture us from the very first sentence," they wrote, and the submissions began pouring in -- by e-mail, of course.

After about 175 manuscripts, they had a winner: John Jodzio, a writer in Minneapolis. Jodzio, 38, was already a published writer (fittingly, both online and in print), and a recipient of a Loft-McKnight Fellowship.

The result is a short-story collection, "If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home" -- you'll know it by the pinkish picture of a stomach on the cover -- which will be launched at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Uptown.

Jodzio's manuscript stood out right away. "I read the first two stories, and the first thing I was struck by was the quality of the writing," Andrew De Young said last week from their Highland Park apartment/office/book warehouse. (Ten cartons of the book were stacked in a corner.) "I love the way he writes dialogue, and I love the sort of Carveresque sentences. I think it was that combination of desperate situations and loser characters with a bit of irony and some occasional tenderness -- it was something that I responded to immediately."

Jodzio's collection contains some stories that are fully formed, and others that are fragments -- situations that end without resolution. "There's clearly an influence of the Internet 'zine scene," De Young said. "I feel it's changing our notion of what a short story is. Something you're seeing a lot more is stories that aren't really stories, but they're more like vignettes, or portraits of a state of mind. Portraits of paralysis. That was something that felt very current about the book."

Andrew is Replacement Press' editor, and his wife, Sarah, is the art director. (The quirky stomach design is hers.) They both have full-time jobs elsewhere -- Andrew at Augsburg Fortress, and Sarah at Riley Hayes Advertising -- and so reading manuscripts, designing book jackets, flowing in copy, writing the blog, proofing galleys, updating Facebook, soliciting reviews and planning events have consumed their evenings and weekends.

"This is so interesting to me," said Daniel Slager, publisher of Milkweed Editions, a 30-year-old literary press in Minneapolis. "I get excited hearing about people starting a press like this -- I think the more variety the better."

Slager says there are fewer barriers to entry now than there were even five or 10 years ago.

"They're up against less than they would have been, because there's so much more conversation about books, and review attention for books, online," he said. "They don't necessarily need to have massive distribution and a massive reputation in order to reach readers. Advances in print-on-demand enable them to do something like this without investing enormously."

This is exactly the De Youngs' plan -- to create a hybrid business that straddles both print and online.

They had 800 copies of the book printed, mainly for local distribution. It will be available at Micawber's Books and Common Good Books in St. Paul, as well as Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis, and will also be sold at readings and events.

But nationwide, the De Youngs hope that the bulk of their sales will be through print-on-demand: A customer can read about the book online, place an order on the Web or in a store, and a copy will be printed and mailed. This will save on all kinds of expenses that traditional publishers must absorb -- larger print runs, distribution, warehousing and returns.

They also plan to offer it as an e-book, "as well as the iPad format," Andrew said, "if we can figure it out."

While clearly lovers of books and bookstores, the De Youngs are planning promotions in offbeat places -- bars and bowling alleys and theaters. The book has been reviewed on blogs -- Hipster Bookclub, and Small Press Reviews (the one on Wordpress, not the one on Blogspot) and they're hoping for Bookslut.

And while they'd love to turn a profit, they know that's both unlikely and also not the most important thing.

"The whole business about how many do we need to sell to break even, that kind of went out the door," Andrew said. "And it was more about how do we do right by John. Because he's entrusted us with his work, and that's no small thing."

Laurie Hertzel is the Star Tribune books editor. She is at 612-673-7302.