New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
-based independent publishing house founded by John Oakes and Colin Robinson in 2009. The company sells digital and
print-on-demand
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...
books directly to the customer and focuses on creative promotion through traditional media and the Internet. On its site, OR Books states that it "embraces progressive change in politics, culture and the way we do business."
Not long after its founding in 2009, OR Books became known for publishing ''
Going Rouge
''Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare'' is a collection of essays about Sarah Palin with a spoof title and book cover design intended to lampoon Palin's memoir '' Going Rogue: An American Life''. It was released on November 17, 2009. ...
:
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 ...
, An American Nightmare'', a parody of Palin's autobiography ''
Going Rogue
''Going Rogue: An American Life'' (2009) is a personal and political memoir by politician Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican candidate for U.S. Vice President on the ticket with Senator John McCain. She wrote it with Lyn ...
: An American Life''. ''Going Rouge'' became a best-seller as per ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Since then the company has published books by
Julian Assange
Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army i ...
Simon Critchley
Simon Critchley (born 27 February 1960) is an English philosopher and the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, USA.
Challenging the ancient tradition that philosophy begins in wonder, Critchle ...
Gordon Lish
Gordon Lish (born February 11, 1934 in Hewlett, New York) is an American writer. As a literary editor, he championed many American authors, particularly Raymond Carver, Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, Rick Bass, and Richard Ford. He is the father ...
,
Bill McKibben
William Ernest McKibben (born December 8, 1960)"Bill Ernest McKibben." ''Environmental Encyclopedia''. Edited by Deirdre S. Blanchfield. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, December 31, 2017. is a ...
,
Eileen Myles
Eileen Myles (born December 9, 1949) is a LAMBDA Literary Award-winning American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. No ...
,
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New ...
, and others.
Founders
According to OR's website, John Oakes co-founded the publishing company
Four Walls Eight Windows
Four Walls Eight Windows was an American independent book publisher in New York City. Known as 4W8W or Four Walls, the company was notable for its dual commitment to progressive politics and adventurous, edgy literary fiction.
History
Four W ...
Nation Books
Type Media Center (formerly The Nation Institute) is a nonprofit media organization that was previously associated with ''The Nation'' magazine. It sponsors fellows, hosts forums, publishes books and investigative reporting, and awards several an ...
. He is publisher of the '' Evergreen Review''. Colin Robinson, a former senior editor at
Scribner Scribner may refer to:
Media
* Charles Scribner's Sons, also known as Scribner or Scribner's, New York City publisher
* ''Scribner's Magazine'', pictorial published from 1887–1939 by Charles Scribner's Sons, then merged with the ''Commentator ...
, was previously managing director of
Verso Books
Verso Books (formerly New Left Books) is a left-wing publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of ''New Left Review''.
Renaming, new brand and logo
Verso Books was originally known as New Left Books. The ...
and publisher of
The New Press
The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by André SchiffrinDale Peck, Lisa Dierbeck, Joshua Furst, DW Gibson, and
Choire Sicha
Choire Sicha ( , born November 19, 1971) is an American writer and blogger. In June 2021, he became an editor-at-large at ''New York''; he had been the editor of '' The New York Times'' Style section since September 2017. Previously, he served as ...
.
In what the industry newsblog
Shelf Awareness
Shelf Awareness is an American publishing company that produces two electronic publications/newsletters focused on bookselling, books and book reviews.
Overview
With offices in Seattle, Washington, and Montclair, New Jersey, ''Shelf Awareness ...
termed a "very significant...move," St. Mark’s Bookshop and OR Books announced a joint venture to enable the store’s customers to buy select books on OR’s list from the bookstore’s website.
In April 2016, OR Books acquired UK publishing company Serif, following the death in 2015 of its founder Stephen Hayward, a former associate of Robinson's.
In May 2016, OR Books and Counterpoint Press announced a partnership whereby Counterpoint would put several OR titles into stores."Counterpoint, OR Books Partner on New Fall List" ''Publishers Weekly'', May 5, 2016.