Page 40 - AVN Intimate Fall 2019

INTERVIEW
BY THE BOOKS
Polyamory icon Janet Hardy retires from Greenery Press
≥ BY SHERRI L. SHAULIS
In 1992, Hardy opened Greenery Press and
sales justify it. Hardy said as she approaches
began publishing her own works. And, she
her 65th birthday, and since she recently had a
said, as with any other life venture, there were
positive change in personal finances, she now
successes and challenges along the way, forcing
has the opportunity to work on projects near
her to make adjustments.
and dear to her heart.
“A couple of big changes … The first was
“On a more global basis, we’re in the middle
when I took on our first book by an outside
of a global sex panic, as evidenced by SESTA/
author, Miss Abernathy’s Concise Slave Training
FOSTA here in the U.S.,” she added. “Our usual
Manual, which is still in print in an omnibus
venues for publicizing our work are running
edition called Erotic Slavehood,” she said. “The
scared right now and I don’t blame them. But it
next was when I incorporated the business,
makes it very difficult to get the word out to the
sought outside shareholders and hired
people who would like to read our books, and
employees—which happened at the peak of the
also more difficult than it’s been in decades to
dot-com boom, and which became a financial
find shelf space in bookstores.”
and personal disaster when the economy
And while Greenery Press will no longer be
tanked. I salvaged the company by asking for
actively publishing new voices or first-time
donations, letting go of all but one employee,
authors, Hardy isn’t ready to stop giving advice
kinksters, polyamorists and other sexual
Janet Hardy has not only been a voice for
and moving both my business and my home
to those looking to punish, or even open their
into an inexpensive loft.”
own publishing house.
“outliers,” she’s also worked to amplify
But running a successful business isn’t
“Start cheap,” she said. “Digital printing
the voices of writers, sex educators and
always easy, Hardy noted. “There was never
(or even quick-printing) these days makes
more through the decades. But now, after 27
a year of running Greenery in which I wasn’t
it possible for you to publish only as many
years, she is stepping away from publishing
terrified about money,” she said. Those concerns
books as you know you can sell. Of course, it’s
and her company Greenery Press, a division of
prompted her to sell the company in 2010 to
better if you’re sure you can sell a thousand
Aaron Blake Publishing.
SCB Distributors—the distribution company for
books—if you can get your book onto an offset
Hardy—who has also been published as
Greenery Press. “With them running the money
press, you’ll be able to sell it much cheaper.
Catherine A. List and Lady Green—is perhaps
stuff, I was free to focus on acquiring new
But if you at least start out digitally, you won’t
best known for authoring The Ethical Slut. In
books, which suited me better.
wind up with a garage full of unsellable books,
all, Hardy has authored or co-authored almost
and you’ll also be able to correct any errors or
a dozen books, and is a frequent collaborator
’We’re in the middle of
omissions right away, instead of having to sell
of Dossie Easton. Hardy’s Greenery Press is
known for specializing in publishing books on
BDSM and polyamory and has more than 50
titles available.
a global sex panic. Our usual venues are running scared and I don’t blame
out a whole press run first.”
And despite Greenery Press closing, Hardy
won’t leave writing and publishing altogether.
“I intend to write, draw and teach for as long
While it’s all led to Hardy being recognized
as an icon in the field, it’s not what she ever set
them.’
as anybody’s interested in what I have to say,” she
said. “I’m working right now on an essay about
out to do, let alone expected to happen.
“The main goal, though, stayed the same: to
my father’s death, with the intention of perhaps
“I started my writing career working in
shine light on aspects of human sexuality that
developing an anthology of essays by people who
advertising, writing ad copy mostly for high-
nobody had written about before, and to treat
have been involved in a loved one’s death with
tech clients,” Hardy told AVN. “When I lost
our readers responsibly and with respect,” she
dignity. (Sex and death are not as far-fetched a
my last job in advertising—I believe they
added.
combination as one might at first suppose.)
were listening in on my personal phone calls,
Her dream book to publish would have
“And my new memoir, Impervious: Confessions
and then manufactured a reason to get rid of
been a how-to book on a topic no one had
of a (semi)Retired Deviant, came out last month
me—I found myself in a new city (I’d moved
addressed before, and utilized a distinct and
from SinCyr Press,” Hardy added. “I have a
from Sacramento to the Bay Area to take the
conversational voice, Hardy said. But despite
couple more hot book ideas on the back burner,
job), with no contacts and no assets. I wrote
experiments with fiction, anthologies and
but it’s a bit too soon to talk about those.”
the material that evolved into my first book,
other genres, she found any deviation from the
And Greenery still has one more book
The Sexually Dominant Woman: A Workbook for
company’s core formula would lose money.
to promote: Alton Fulmen’s The Dominance
Nervous Beginners, in a desperate try to stave off
She was lucky, she said, that the alt-sex scene is
Playbook: Ways to Play With Power in Scenes and
bankruptcy. (It’s worth noting that a completely
filled with talented writers.
Relationships. The book, which addresses the
new graphic version of this book came out
“I’m very proud of the writers whose first
D/s lifestyle and how to bring those principles
last year, called The Sexually Dominant Woman:
book I published, many of whom have gone on
into practice, is part of the legacy Hardy
An Illustrated Guide for Nervous Beginners.) My
to mainstream success—Charlie Jane Anders,
developed through Greenery Press: making
then-partner Jay Wiseman had recently finished
Hanne Blank, Midori, Dossie Easton, etc.,”
it known there is a market “for intelligent,
his book SM 101: A Realistic Introduction. We
Hardy said.
responsible nonfiction about alternative
quick-printed some copies of each book, started
But now, she said, the time has come to stop
sexualities and relationships,” she said.
selling them in sex shops around San Francisco,
publishing new works, though the company
For more on the titles available from the
and it all grew from there.”
will keep its existing list in print for as long as
publishing house, visit GreeneryPress.com.40 | INTIMATE | FALL 2019