Small Press Maestro: Jeffrey Lependorf and the Ecosystem of Independent Publishing
By Kate Travers
In 1967 a motley crew of magazine editors including George Plimpton (The Paris Review), Robie Macauley (The Kenyon Review) and Russell Banks (Lillabulero) created the CCLM: Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines. The original mission statement was to support individual magazines and publishing cooperative by organizing regional conferences and offering grant support. Today, that same organization is known by a different name: CLMP, the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and its mission goes well beyond running conferences and finding sources of funding.
Jeffrey Lependorf, CLMP’s current Executive Director, has been with the organization for almost a decade. In 2001, when CLMP hired Lependorf, the organization was beginning to face the new realities of publishing. It was a time when the Internet had created new challenges and opportunities, while for independent publishers was at a perilous standstill. Many independent publishers it did not have non-profit status and therefore were not receiving any public funding. They were working in a vacuum, unaware of a larger community of support. Lependorf came in and reinvigorated the organization at one of the most critical moments in its history.
Despite CLMP’s immense progress, the organization can always use more help. Next Tuesday, October 26th, CLMP will be holding its annual “WHAT THE SPELL?!” benefit, a celebrity spelling bee to raise awareness and money for CLMP. Last year’s event (covered here by Publishing Perspectives)proved to be quite the spelling battle of the year; this year looks to be no different, with contestants including Francine Prose, Sloane Crosley, James Frey and current champion Ben Greenman.
[ click to read full article at PublishingPerspectives.com ]