We recently had the chance to connect with Catherine Lundoff and have shared our conversation below.
Catherine, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
I’m the publisher at a small press that specializes in science fiction, fantasy and horror with LGBTQ+ protagonists. I’ve been doing this for over 8 years now and we have added new titles and new authors to our catalogue each year. I think a lot of people, even within the publishing industry in our genre, don’t get how challenging it is to run a traditional small press in a niche market. Most advice is written for larger operations with more cash on hand and it’s not uncommon for writers and agent who are only accustomed to working with the large presses in New York to get frustrated if you aren’t following all aspects of that model. Even when that advice really isn’t scalable. There’s a lot of education that needs to happen to help both the writing and reading audiences to understand what small presses have to offer (flexibility, new voices, riskier work, etc.)
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Catherine Lundoff and I’m the publisher at Queen of Swords Press, a small publishing company based in Minneapolis and specializing in fantasy, science fiction and horror with LGBTQ+ protagonists. We’re one of a small number of presses that specializes in these stories and what makes us unique is that our books are fast-paced, exciting and sometimes even funny, reads. Queen of Swords Press is 8.5 years old and all the publishing work is done by me with the able assistance of my publishing assistant and some great folks who do our cover art, book design and assist with marketing. And, of course, our authors, who are amazing.
My background is in both writing and bookselling so it seemed pretty natural to try my hand at book publishing next. I founded the press in 2017 and started off with new editions of my previous books before I began adding new authors in 2018. Since then, we’ve put out 25 titles and have more in the works. I’m planning out books to be released later on this year as well as next. I’m looking to broaden out catalogue – for instance, queer horror is very popular right now, so I’m looking to add more to keep our readers engaged.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My late wife, bookbinder and book artist Jana Pullman ,first saw me as someone who could write fiction as well as nonfiction. When she met me, I had never written any fiction before and was attempting to run a small independent bookstore in Iowa. After it closed, I went on to a semester in law school and took her advice. Law school didn’t suit me very well, but my first short stories sold to editors and began being published. I quit law school after that and she encouraged me to write in different genres, send my work for consideration to publishers and helped my fine-tune my story drafts. She passed away earlier this year after a long illness and while I still see myself as a writer as well as a publisher, I’m having to rework my writing process as I get back into it.
When you were sad or scared as a child, what helped?
Reading. I used to lose myself in fiction for hours and it helped me get through the rough times. I read well above my grade level and I enjoyed everything from fairytales to historical adventures to biographies of famous people. Alexandre Dumas, Sir Walter Scott and Jane Austen were big influences on how I learned to view the world, particularly other people and how they behaved. Each of these writers have a focus on different aspects of justice and striving to do what their characters believe to be right. Their work has shaped a lot of my worldview and helped me make some of the choices that have gotten me to this point in my career.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes and no. It’s aspects of me, certainly. I had to work pretty hard to overcome some shyness and lack of confidence to be able to do better readings and to learn both from other authors and my own mistakes. I practiced a lot to improve my public readings and then I applied a lot of that knowledge and skill to getting better at talking to people about our books. We do a lot of event tables and I spend a lot of time selling our books directly to readers at festivals, conventions and other gatherings. Handselling books works best if you know what to say about the book and believe in what you’re saying and that takes confidence. If I hadn’t started with learning to do better fiction readings, this would be more of an uphill struggle. Am I natural performer or salesperson? No. But I’ve able to grow and improve those skills over time. I’m more relaxed with my friends…but then, I’m generally not trying to sell them anything!
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope that they’ll say that I left the world some good books, both my own and those that I’ve published. I hope that people enjoy reading those stories over and over again and that they help my authors to find success after I’m gone. I want very much for our books, as well as my own, to be part of our legacy. I’m thrilled, for example, that we are now being collected by a university library archive and that both I and one of my authors have won awards this year. I think that kind of recognition, along with word of mouth and increased visibility of our books and authors, will help cement the press’s legacy as well as my own.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://queenofswordspress.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qospress/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/queen-of-swords-press
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/queenofswordspress/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgs2GPj1cvDtlu0pVvS0i_Q
- Other: Bluesky – https://bsky.app/profile/qospress.bsky.social
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@queenofswordspress
Image Credits
Photos were taken at events either by me or by other participants. No specific credit needed.
