It’s been a big year for small presses. Bellevue Press published Paul Harding’s Tinkers, and it won the Pulitzer. Two books on the Booker shortlist were from small presses, as were two Orange Prize finalists. The naming of Johanna Scribsrud’s The Sentimentalists as the Giller prize winner had Gaspereau Press, which initially printed just 800 copies of the book, scrambling to meet newfound demand. Jaimy Gordon’s Lord of Misrule from McPherson & Co. just won the National Book Award, and Karen Tei Yamashita’s I Hotel from Coffee House Press was a finalist.      

It’s been a big year for new voices. Three of them made the Shelf Unbound Top 10 Books of 2010 list: Grace Krilanovich (Orange Eats Creeps, Two Dollar Radio), Kira Henehan (Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles, Milkweed Editions), and John Jodzio (If You Lived Here You’d Already Be Home, Permanent Press).   

It’s been a big year for book lovers. The conversation has been not just about what we’re reading but how. Print or digital? Kindle? Nook? iPad? The digital revolution is changing publishing, but we think for the better, allowing a wider range of writers to reach a global audience of readers.

And that’s why we launched Shelf Unbound magazine. To celebrate small presses, university presses, and self-published authors. To explore new voices and varied voices and singular voices. Because we, like you, are book lovers. It’s been a big year, and we are thankful.