Wicker Park Goes Regional

By Claire Kirch -- Publishers Weekly, 11/6/2007 6:47:00 AM

Eric Miller, a commission sales rep with Miller Trade Book Marketing, is giving a new direction to Chicago-based Wicker Park Press, the small press he launched in 2002, shifting its focus from publishing primarily satire to specializing in regional titles about Chicago landmarks. Wicker Park's first regional title, Water Tanks of Chicago: A Vanishing Urban Legacy, photographs and paintings by Larry W. Green, has just been released, and Miller has shipped 500 copies of a 3,200-copy print run.

“There's a lot of people out there, who identify with Chicago,” Miller explained about his switch in emphasis. “There's a strong market for regional books.” His next title, which doesn’t have a pub date yet, will be on Chicago's celebrated Maxwell Street Market.

While ordering only a few copies of Water Tanks of Chicago for her store, Kris Kleindienst, co-owner of St. Louis's Left Bank Books, believes that Wicker Park's offerings will find their audience. “Regional is a niche that works, no matter what the region,” Kliendienst said. “And [Miller] chooses interesting books on interesting topics.”

Along with the change in publishing direction, Miller has revamped Wicker’s distribution. He is now selling the list to his accounts and has hired Partners Book Distributing to sell to the chains. Wicker Park titles had been distributed by Academy Chicago Press, founded in 1976 by Eric Miller's parents, Jordan and Anita Miller. Academy Chicago releases are in turn distributed by the Chicago Distribution Center.