Q+A: Christina Ward on Running Feral House, a 36-Year-Old Indie Book Company
Interview with a prolific publisher and author!
Christina Ward (illustration by Alex Murd)
Today, we’re excited to share our interview with Christina Ward, the Vice President and Editor of Feral House!
Tamara Palmer/Music Book Club: Can you talk about all the hats that you must wear as an independent publisher? What do you enjoy most?
Christina Ward: Independent publishing requires that folks wear ALL the hats. Feral House began in 1989 with Adam Parfrey doing everything and bringing in expert friends to assist. As we grew, a big reason for our longevity is that punk-DIY aesthetic. For example, I need to have an understanding of data analysis, marketing, promotions, editorial (both development and line-editing), print operations, and so on. I don't need to be an expert in all of them, but I need to understand them enough to know when to bring in help! For example, I'm not a graphic or book designer, so I have a great group of book designers aligned with the Feral House aesthetic to contribute to making our books look as great as the authors' content.
Jessica —Adam's sister and my business partner— has more experience in the 'back room' operations and enjoys the process of working with printers. I'm more forward-facing and enjoy the editorial, marketing, and promotional side. I'm also a whiz with data and spreadsheets, so I'm the one who does the macro and micro analysis.
My favorite part of the process is working with authors to develop and refine their manuscripts then guiding their book through every step of production. It's a very intimate process. An author may have put years, sometimes decades, into researching and writing a manuscript, and sharing it with the editor is fraught with emotion. Anyone who has worked with me will hear this phrase echoing in their head: 'I advocate for the book.' I want the book to be the best possible expression of the author's ideas as it can be.
How would you describe the evolution of Feral House since its founding in 1989? In what ways are you carrying on Adam Parfey's legacy and also forging new ground?
Adam died in May of 2018. It was unexpected and not just a loss to us as a publisher, but a family loss. Feral House, as I mentioned, was Adam, Jessica Parfrey, and I, aided by long-time freelance copy editors and designers. We're a tight group. Feral House didn't just lose its founder, but our friend, and in Jessica's case, her brother. Surprisingly, Jessica and I made the decision to continue onward, firstly as duty to the authors that had books slated for release as well as books in production.
I talk about the nature of transgressive art and literature a lot when talking about Feral. I think that people forget that the nature of transgressive art is temporal...the writing is a reaction, a challenge to a status quo. And in the early days of Feral House, the books reflected that push back against mainstream culture. So when we publish a book about an early trans icon like Holly Woodlawn in the midst of governmental oppression against trans folks... that is knowingly informed by Feral's transgressive mindset.
I find it interesting and frustrating that there is a small subset of people who want us to publish books that only hew to their Nineties-era worldview. Feral House is 36-years-old! I promise you, Adam evolved over his thirty years of running Feral House and the Feral House of today reflects both Adam's worldview and incorporates Jessica's and my own. The Tramp Lit Series was Jessica's idea...following in the vein of Feral House classic, You Can't Win by Jack Black. The culture, high-weirdness, and music books are all me. My book, Holy Food, about how cults and similar groups influenced American food, was an idea Adam loved... it only took me five years to finish!
What types of music do you love?
I like to think I'm a good listener across the board but of course, I've got genres I like more than others! I think my ears have aged out of modern pop music. I tend to like individual artists more than their entire genre...I will listen to everything Alasdair Roberts releases! Growing up on Tommy Makem & The Clancy Brothers' Hearty & Hellish record made me see the genius of the Pogues when I first heard them in 1984.
I've been a Kinks loyalist since I first heard them as a kid. I love seeing messy garage bands and young punk bands. Because of our recent release Cold Glitter: The Untold Story of Canadian Glam, I've been going deep into glam of all types. I've been enjoying lots of the Cherry Red themed compilations as I've been introduced to classics I never knew about. I also like political bands (raised on IRA songs... so bred in the bone), Fela Kuti (and now Seun Kuti), the Mekons, Phil Ochs, Pansy Division, Billy Bragg.... Marianne Faithfull's interpretation of the Brecht/Weil catalog and other songs of that era, as captured on 20th Century Blues and The Seven Deadly Sins are masterworks. So, where does that leave us? I gravitate toward punk, folk, glam, garage, and cabaret!
What is the book commissioning process like for Feral House?
Independent publishing is truly a labor of love, especially in the current political-economic environment. I seek out projects that are unique and have something new to say. For music books, it can be a compendium/collection that upends what we know about a genre or topic. Hit Girls: Women in Punk in the USA, 1975-1983 profiles these incredible, women-led regional bands that were actively recording and playing.
Author Jen Larson had the idea to research and interview these women, and lo and behold, the result shows that women were far more involved in the punk scene than canonical punk scholars had said. The book also teased-out common experiences among the women — like facing sexist attitudes and being underestimated by male peers and the industry. A happy result is that many of the women profiled have embraced their legacy and, in a few cases, have returned to the stage. And it was named as a 2023 NPR book of the year.
For Hit Girls, the author introduced herself at an event I was at and gave me her elevator pitch. I then arranged a meeting to talk it through. Call it instinct or experience, I knew that Jen was on to something important and encouraged her to keep going and that if she could get it 80% done, then I would publish it. I worked with her on development, connecting her to bands and artists, then the editing and image acquisition process, marketing, and promotion. This relates to your earlier question of 'all the hats' — I see it as my responsibility that if I've decided to work with a writer, then I need to be as 100% committed as I can be.
There is definitely a disconnect in American publishing between what a publisher — especially an independent one — can pay and what the big five can. I love that the Connie Converse bio was published by PRH and I hope Howard Fishman earned something from it. But PRH has thousands of books across multiple genres that can balance a book like To Anyone Who Ever Asks, selling a few thousand copies. In the independent publishing world, my goal is to break even, so I can keep making more books! That means I need to be careful about choosing books that thread the needle between 'necessary' for the small market of buyers and earning enough so we can live another day.
I encourage folks to reach out to me with their projects because I'm always willing to listen and let folks know if I think their book is something I can make work for Feral. I will say this, though: while I've published musician memoirs, I am very selective. Just because you got onstage, doesn't mean it's worth a memoir. Is your experience so rarefied that the story needs to be told? Harley Flanagan's life is and why we did his 2016 memoir...his life has totally transformed since then, and I'm excited for folks to see the new documentary about him, Wired for Chaos. Or, in the case of Eugene Robinson's recent memoir, A Walk Across Dirty Water, his life and worldview are so singular AND he can write!
So shoot me an email. But for the love of dogs, if your memoir is a recitation of the drugs you took and the people you fucked... just don't. No one wants to read that, I promise. Save it for a letter to Penthouse.
Do you have any favorite music books (current or classic) from other publishers that you would like to recommend to us?
Unsurprisingly, I am a book collector! I have favorites for many reasons. The books that Todd at Hozac has released over the past few years are so good and important. I encourage folks to check out All Over the Place about the Bangles and that LA scene by Eric Shade. And the memoir Four Strings, Phony Proof, etc, by the recently passed Sal Maida.
Third Man Books is a bit of a sleeper, but Chet Weise is putting out incredible books like the new Hollywood Dream: The Thunderclap Newman Story. Audrey Golden's recent book for White Rabbit, I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women at Factory Records is fantastic. I'm looking forward to her The Raincoats book. I loved Marc Masters' deep dive into the history of the cassette tape, High Bias. Greil Marcus' Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island opened my eyes as a kid about how one can write about music. That's not to say I want to read every Lester Bangs wannabe, but writers who can bring their voice and point of view into the writing.
For all the wrong reasons, I loved reading Morrissey's autobiography. It's so delightfully erudite and myopic that the book is a parody of itself. I'm a fan of stylized writing, so when a petulant musician adopts Edwardian-era novelist Ronald Firbank as his lodestone, I am all in. His recitation of grievances is transformed into a near-liturgical litany of faults of the other. (Morrissey's novel, on the other hand, is unreadable.)
Ultimately, I think what continues to make Feral House work, (aside from my husband's good job with health insurance that gives me the financial freedom not to rely on Feral for my livelihood), is that I am a fan of music and books about music. I'm curious and always want to know more. When a writer brings me a project about a musician or band I know little about, I want to learn more. I hope other readers do too.
Previously in our Q+A series:
Ali Smith on Speedball Baby and Telling Stories Without Shame
Arusa Qureshi on Her Love Letter to Women in UK Hip-Hop
Lily Moayeri on Her Favorite Music Books and Writing from a Personal Place
Megan Volpert on Why Alanis Morissette Matters and Writing 15 Books in 18 Years
Mark Swartz on Biggie + Yoko Ono as a Crime-Fighting Duo and Other Fictional Ideas
Annie Zaleski on Cher, Stevie Nicks and Pushing Past Writing Fears
Nelson George on His Next Book and Making Mixtapes in Paper Form
Michaelangelo Matos on Writing and Editing Music Books
