"I’m talking about getting brutally weird again. I’m talking about doing art that’s beyond cooptation.
I’m talking about forging new myths. I’m talking about creative resistance that scares the shit out of the
rich robots, Sex in the City slaves, stockbrokers, cultural gatekeepers, and pigs in power. I’m talking
about dangerous expression that’ll make Todd and Ashley think long and hard about moving into the ‘hood and
exposing their little banker to the new hip warriors of the American night."
-Jason Flores-Williams, 'A Farewell to CBGB'
It’s depressing: our cultural beacons have been hijacked and transformed and de-valued. Their light is diminished,
their currency is no longer valid.
We live in an inspiring age. The corporate ideology has run its course in book publishing, which spells the
death of print to many. But as evidenced by the bevy of awards (including Nobels, National Book Awards, and Pulitzers), the best-sellers,
and the critical acclaim of the work being done consistently by independent presses, print and literature can
succeed in the digital age on a responsible scale.
Two Dollar Radio was founded in 2005. The original impetus came on the heels of reading Andre Schiffrin’s
The Business of Books.
The name has its origins in a San Diego bar, when the bartender/publisher was ignoring a belligerent old man who blurted out,
“Don’t mind me, I make more noise than a two-dollar radio.” We tacked on the ‘Movement’ part to the name because we didn’t
want to rule out future endeavors into music, film, and the visual arts.
Two Dollar Radio is a boutique publisher who functions on a no-wasted bullets policy. You won’t find jokebooks or
bathroom readers camouflaged in our lists. In the work we publish, we value ambition above all, and believe that none
of our books crimp to convention when it comes to storytelling or voice. Ideally, that contributes to a liberating reading
experience. Our primary interest lies with what we would characterize as bold literary fiction: subversive, original, and
highly creative.
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BRIAN OBENAUF - Senior Rights & Marketing Director
Any questions regarding foreign or translation rights, advertising, book reviews, or would like to schedule an author
for a reading or interview, please contact Brian at brian[at]twodollarradio.com.
ELIZA WOOD - Editor / Art Director
Eliza graduated from New York University with a Fine Arts Education degree. She has taught in the New York City public school
system, and was a literacy tutor with Literacy*AmeriCorps.
EMILY PULLEN - Editor / Outreach Director
Emily grew up in Iowa and attened Grinnell College. She has worked at Wordsworth Books, Porter Square Books,
and Skylight Books in Los Angeles. She is on the American Bookseller Association's Emerging Leaders Council as well
as the Bookseller Advisory Committee.
ERIC OBENAUF - Editor in Chief / Publisher
Eric has received the Venable Herndon Award for Screenwriting. His writing has appeared in
The Brooklyn Rail,
The Rumpus, and on The Huffington Post. Punk Planet described his writing as "insightful, beautiful,
and a little bewildering."
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Times Literary Supplement, 6/15/2007
'Freelance' by Michael Greenberg
"[Their] list of authors is impressive. I marvel at [their] idealism."
Publishers Weekly, 5/5/2008
'50 Under 40'
by Lynn Andriani
Article.
Details, Holiday 2008
'Boutique Publishers'
by Timothy Hodler
"This tiny upstart has already produced an impressive array of subversive fiction."
Article.
Village Voice, 4/22/2009
'The Unlikely Triumph of Two Dollar Radio'
by zach Baron
"A trove of extremely weird fiction... aesthetically consistent, editorially adventurous, and manageably tiny."
Article.
The Longest Chapter, 10/21/2009
'Dark, Gritty Books Too Loud to Ignore'
by Kassie Rose
"Eric and Eliza are young, smart, hard-working and visionary. And their publishing company, that originated in Brooklyn
four years ago, isn't some idealistic lark. No matter the persistent, annoying clamor that print is going away, it's not
going away and it won't go away because of independent publishers like the Obenaufs and Two Dollar Radio."
Article.
Vroman's Blog, 9/24/2009
'Branding: The Future of Publishing?'
by Patrick Brown
"Two Dollar Radio has a very strong brand, publishing adventurous fiction across a spectrum of ideas rather than genres.
They also understand the value of design, creating attractive books that look nice together in a set. Not coincidentally,
they offer subscription packages on their website. They continue to be a model of how to start a small press and publish
great stuff. In short, they don’t compromise."
Article.
Los Angeles Times, 6/1/2009
'BookExpo America reveals an industry in transition'
by David L. Ulin
"But for independent publishers - from the midsized Grove Atlantic to the fiercely iconoclastic Akashic and the
up-and-coming Two Dollar Radio - there was an air of possibility, the belief that the future was very much in play."
Article.
The Stranger, 6/9/2009
'The Slow, Moronic Death of Books (as We Know Them)'
by Paul Constant
"It's easy to imagine that this collapse is a happy ending for publishing: Picture a world of small, good
regional publishers like Two Dollar Radio, Seattle publisher Chin Music Press, and Akashic Books printing
beautiful books with high literary merit and authors making good, honest blue-collar salaries (instead of
grossly overinflated six-figure book deals). Frankly, that sounds like my dream industry."
Article.
The Rumpus, 6/2/2009
'Live From Book Expo America'
by Stephen Elliott
"McSweeney’s seems to be doing fine, along with Graywolf and Two Dollar Radio. People buy books from these
publishers written by authors they’ve never heard of. Just because. When was the last time someone bought
a Random House book because it was published by Random House?"
Article.
Bookslut.com, 7/10/2009
by Michael Schaub
"[An] amazing indie press."
Article.
Art + Culture, 8/10/2009
'Curator's Corner: Two Dollar Radio'
by Benjamin Gottlieb
"The fiction publisher has a great many tremendous titles to its young catalogue."
Article.
Web100.com
'#61, List of Independent Books and Literature Sites'
by Jasmine Chan
"Unabashedly independent and idealistic... Two Dollar Radio claims to publish “Books Too Loud to Ignore.”
It seems Two Dollar Radio cannot be ignored either."
Article.
GalleyCat, 9/18/08
'Can Mom and Pop Operations Rescue Publishing?'
by Jason Boog
Article.
Idiotscreen.com, 4/26/11
'2 Questions & Rant with Two Dollar Radio'
by Mike Lawson
"The obituary for the independent book publisher may have been written years ago, but Eric Obenauf and Two Dollar Radio,
a small independent publishing company in Columbus, Ohio, prove there’s an after-life."
Interview.
Three Guys One Book
'Why We Love What We Do - Eric Obenauf, Two Dollar Radio'
by Jonathan Evison
"We love their editorial voice (authors like Josh Mohr, Rudy Wurlitzer, and Grace Krilanovich), we love how they do
business, we love how they get behind their authors, and we love love love that they’re a family run shop."
Article.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/21/11
'Independent Presses: Saving Jobs and Literature?'
by Elise Blackwell
"As would be expected from a press whose philosophy is to publish books of literary merit that are “too loud to ignore,”
Two Dollar Radio’s fiction list tends toward the young and gritty."
Article.
Largehearted Boy, 7/17/11
by David Gutowski
"A handful of publishers consistently amaze me, and one of those is Two Dollar Radio."
Article.
The Columbus Dispatch, 11/13/11
'Too Loud to Ignore'
Husband-and-wife team find following going against mainstream publishers
by Jeffrey Sheban
"Columbus is home to a small book publisher with grand ambitions... With an eclectic stable of
first-time novelists as well as more-established writers, Two Dollar Radio (slogan: “Books too
loud to ignore”) is gaining traction in publishing circles."
Article.
USA Today, 11/25/11
'Best from indie publishers in 2011'
by Bob Minzesheimer
Article.
TheMillions.com, 11/29/11
by Edan Lepucki
"Whether it be larger independents like Algonquin and Graywolf, or small gems like Featherproof
and Two Dollar Radio, or university presses like Lookout Books... independent presses offer
diversity to readers... These presses are run and curated by well-read, talented people,
and they provide readers with the same services that a large press provides: namely, a vote
of confidence in a writer the public might have never heard of. Smaller presses, too, enjoy
a specificity of brand and identity that too often eludes a larger house."
Article.
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“If I meet a reader and they say, ‘I buy all your books through Amazon,’ I often say to them, ‘That’s great for Amazon,
that’s great for the shipper. It does nothing for me, and it doesn’t do much for the author.’”
-Gavin Grant, Publisher of the fantastic Small Beer Press
Boston Review,
'Books After Amazon,' by Onnesha Roychoudhuri
At this point it's almost trendy to rag on Amazon. They are horrible, and they've played a major role in eroding our
culture and our communities since their inception. If you value the work done by our authors and by us, you won't order
our titles through them. Enough said.
Having gotten that out of the way with, there are a significant number of indie bookstores that have supported our books,
and deserve a lot of the credit for keeping us afloat. We'd prefer you buy our books from them. To find a bookstore
in your area,
Indiebound has a valuable resource of listings.
You can also
order any of our titles directly through our website for shelf-price, or
annual subscription packages for a tidy $50.
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