John Hunt Publishing is a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

publishing company founded in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 2001, initially named O Books. The publisher has 24 active autonomous

imprints Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

, with the largest of these being the Zero Books imprint (styled Zer0 Books) founded in 2009.John Hunt Publishing – Reviewed
The Independent Publishing Magazine, February 26, 2014. The Zero Books imprint was founded with the objective being to combat what they viewed as a trend of anti-intellectualism in contemporary culture.

History

John Hunt Publishing was founded in the

in 2001, originally named O Books, a name which it continues to use as one of its

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

s, in the "mind, body, and spirit" market.Suzanne Ruthven, ''Compass Points - The Pagan Writers' Guide: Writing for the Pagan and MB&S Markets'' (2013), p. 25, Its Zero Books imprint was founded by

Tariq Goddard Tariq Goddard (born 1975) is a British novelist and publisher. He has written six novels, the first of which ''Homage to a Firing Squad'', was short-listed for the Whitbread Book Award for First Novel. His first three novels were published by Scep ...

and

Mark Fisher Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 – 13 January 2017), also known under his blogging alias k-punk, was an English writer, music critic, political and cultural theorist, philosopher, and teacher based in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsm ...

in 2009. John Hunt Publishing then underwent a major reorganization in 2010. In 2014, Goddard and Fisher left Zero Books to found another publishing house,

Repeater Books Repeater Books is a publishing imprint based in London, founded in 2014 by Tariq Goddard and Mark Fisher, formerly the founders of radical publishers Zero Books, along with Etan Ilfeld, Tamar Shlaim, Alex Niven and Matteo Mandarini. Formation I ...

. Since 2014 the imprint has been run by

Douglas Lain Douglas Lain () is a writer whose books include the post-singularity novel ''Bash Bash Revolution'' from Night Shade Books, the magical realist novel ''Billy Moon'' from Tor Books, and the Philip K. Dick Award nominated novel ''After the Sauce ...

along with Ashley Frawley and C Derick Varn and has published critically acclaimed books such as ''Kill All Normies'' and ''Zen City''. The imprint began publishing a series called ''Neglected or Misunderstood'' in 2017 with the aim of covering "neglected or misunderstood" left-wing theorists such as

Shulamith Firestone Shulamith Bath Shmuel Ben Ari Firestone (born Feuerstein; January 7, 1945 – August 28, 2012) was a Canadian-American radical feminist writer and activist. Firestone was a central figure in the early development of radical feminism and second-w ...

and

Theodor Adorno Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blueger, ...

. Zero Books states that their goal is to utilize

critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...

to "publish books that make our readers uncomfortable" in order to "reinvent the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

". John Hunt Publishing "deals directly with authors" and does not require they have an agent. However, in the mid-2010s it was stated that "because they are a small publisher, they are unable to pay advances, so uthorshave to wait for the royalties to roll in". Imprints of John Hunt Publishing offer four “levels” of publishing based on the likely popularity of the book,Susie Kearley, ''Freelance Writing On Health, Food and Gardens'' (2014), p. 121 with both “traditional publishing deals and what it describes as co-operative publishing for authors,” with about a quarter of books, most prevalently those in fiction, being published “under co-operative terms,” though this will vary by imprint. The company also says that "every title gets treated the same. No bookshop or reviewer is going to know if one title or another has had a subsidy." As with other imprints operations are controlled by authors themselves, who "have gravitated to being involved in publishing, whether coming up through editing, design or marketing." This multiple-imprint author-centric style has been described as, "It can’t work. It shouldn’t work. Yet, somehow, John Hunt Publishing is making it work." A central corporate office continues to manage sales, accounts, and royalties for all imprints. As of 2014, the company was publishing "approximately 300 titles per year with global sales and a focus on physical stores." On October 23, 2021, Repeater Books announced that they had bought the Zero Books imprint from John Hunt Publishing. Then, two days later on October 25, 2021, it was announced that

Watkins Books Watkins Books is London's oldest esoteric bookshop. It specialises in esotericism, mysticism, occultism, oriental religion and contemporary spirituality. The book store was established by John M. Watkins, a friend of Madame Blavatsky, in 1897 ...

owner

Etan Ilfeld Etan Ilfeld is a London-based entrepreneur and the founder of Tenderbooks, Tenderpixel gallery, Watkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine, Watkins Wisdom Academy, PlayStrategy.org, co-founder of Repeater Books, and the owner and managing director of Wat ...

had purchased John Hunt Publishing from John Hunt.

Imprints

As of 2018, the active imprints of John Hunt Publishing are described as: :6th Books -- ALL THINGS PARANORMALSuzanne Ruthven, ''Compass Points - The Pagan Writers' Guide: Writing for the Pagan and MB&S Markets'' (2013), p. 44, :Axis Mundi Books -- EXPLORING THE WORLD OF HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE :AYNI BOOKS -- ALTERNATIVE HEALTH & HEALING :Business Books -- FRESH THINKING FOR THE BUSINESS WORLD :Changemakers Books -- TRANSFORMATION :Compass Books -- PRACTICAL BOOKS FOR AUTHORS :Chronos Books -- HISTORY :Christian Alternative -- THE NEW OPEN SPACES :Circle Books -- CHRISTIAN FAITH :Cosmic Egg Books -- FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION & HORROR :Dodona Books -- ASTROLOGY, NUMEROLOGY AND GENERAL DIVINATION :Earth Books -- ENVIRONMENT :Iff Books -- ACADEMIC AND SPECIALIST :Liberalis -- LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION & STORYTELLING :Lodestone Books -- YOUNG ADULT FICTION :MANTRA BOOKS -- EASTERN RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY :Moon Books -- PAGANISM & SHAMANISM :O-BOOKS -- SPIRITUALITY :Our Street Books -- JUVENILE FICTION, NON-FICTION, PARENTING :PSYCHE BOOKS -- PSYCHOLOGY :Roundfire -- FICTION :Soul Rocks -- NEW GENERATION :Top Hat Books -- HISTORICAL FICTION :Zero Books -- CULTURE, SOCIETY & POLITICS Former or inactive imprints are: :Perfect Edge -- "Fiction for those who know fiction matters" (noted on the website as "no longer receiving submissions") :Bedroom Books -- ROMANCE AND SEXY-TIME :Gaming Books -- CARD AND BOARD GAMES :Sassy Books -- BADASS BOOKS FOR GO-FOR-IT GIRLS

Authors

Some notable authors published through John Hunt Publishing include:

Andrez Bergen Andrez Simon Bergen is an Australian musician and writer. , Bergen lived in Tokyo, Japan with his wife, Yoko Umehara, and their daughter Cocoa. He has performed and released electronic music as Little Nobody. Biography Andrez Simon Bergen, ...

Frithjof Bergmann Frithjof Harold Bergmann (24 December 1930 – 23 May 2021) was a German professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, where he taught courses on existentialism, continental philosophy, Hegel, and Marx. He was known for the concept of N ...

Danielle Collobert Danielle Collobert was a French author, poet and journalist. Biography Danielle Collobert was born in Rostrenen, Côtes-d'Armor on 23 July 1940. Her mother, a teacher, was obliged to live in a neighbouring village, and Collobert thus grew up a ...

David Fontana David G. J. Fontana FBPsS (1 November 1934 – 18 October 2010) was a British psychologist, parapsychologist and author. He was Professor of Psychology at Cardiff University. He was also visiting professor at Liverpool John Moores University and ...

Nicholas Hagger Nicholas Hagger (born 1939, London) is a British people, British poet, man of letters, cultural historian and commentator, and philosopher. He has been a proponent of philosophical Universalism. Hagger was educated at Oaklands School in Loughton, E ...

Leslie Scalapino Leslie Scalapino (July 25, 1944 – May 28, 2010) was an American poet, experimental prose writer, playwright, essayist, and editor, sometimes grouped in with the Language poets, though she felt closely tied to the Beat poets. Writes Hejinian: ...

David W. Berner David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and

Steve Taylor Roland Stephen Taylor (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, music executive, film maker, assistant professor, and actor. A figure in what has come to be known as Christian alternative rock, Taylor enjoyed ...

. Authors published through the Zero Books imprint include:

Angela Nagle Angela Nagle (born 1984) is an American-born Irish academic and non-fiction writer who has written for ''The Baffler'', ''Jacobin (magazine), Jacobin'', and others. She is the author of the book ''Kill All Normies'', published by Zero Books in 20 ...

David Stubbs David Stubbs (born 13 September 1962 in London) is a British music journalist. He grew up in Leeds and in the early Eighties was a student at the University of Oxford where he was a close friend of Simon Reynolds. The two were part of the Oxfor ...

Guy Mankowski Guy Mankowski (born 6 January 1983) is an English writer. He is the great grandson of the author and broadcaster Harry Mortimer Batten. He was educated at St John's College, Portsmouth and Ampleforth College. He read Applied Psychology at Dur ...

Adam Kotsko Adam Kotsko (born 1980) is an American theologian, religious scholar, culture critic, and translator, working in the field of political theology. He served as an Assistant Professor of Humanities at Shimer College in Chicago, which was absorbed in ...

Owen Hatherley Owen Hatherley (born 24 July 1981 in Southampton, England) is a British writer and journalist based in London who writes primarily on architecture, politics and culture. Early life Hatherley was born in Southampton in 1981, growing up in a 1930s ...

Cliff Slaughter Cliff Slaughter (October 1928 – 3 May 2021) was a British socialist activist, sociologist and author. His best-known works are ''Coal is Our Life'' (written with Norman Dennis and Fernando Henriques) and ''Marxism, Ideology and Literature''. I ...

Anselm Jappe Anselm Jappe (born 3 May 1962, Bonn) is a German professor of philosophy. Biography He grew up in Cologne and in the Périgord. He studied in Paris and Rome where he obtained, respectively, a master's and then a doctorate degree in philosophy. ...

Laurie Penny Laurie Penny (born Laura Barnett, 28 September 1986) is a British journalist and writer. Penny has written articles for publications including ''The Guardian,'' ''The New York Times'' and ''Salon''. Penny is a contributing editor at the ''New ...

Nina Power Nina Power is an English writer and philosopher. She is a senior editor of and columnist for the online magazine ''Compact''. Power received her PhD in philosophy from Middlesex University on the topic of humanism and antihumanism in postwar ...

Eugene Thacker Eugene Thacker is an American philosopher, poet, and author. He is Professor of Media Studies at The New School in New York City. His writing is often associated with the philosophy of nihilism and pessimism. Thacker's books include ''In the Dus ...

Gilad Atzmon Gilad Atzmon ( he, גלעד עצמון, ; born 9 June 1963) is a British jazz saxophonist, novelist, political activist, and writer. As a musician, he is best known as a saxophonist and bandleader. His instruments include the saxophone, acco ...

David Cromwell David Cromwell (born 1962) is a British media campaigner and oceanographer. With David Edwards (journalist), David Edwards, he is a co-editor of the Media Lens website. Cromwell was born in Glasgow. His mother was a practicing Catholic. He spent ...

References

External links

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{{Authority control Political book publishing companies British companies established in 2001

History

Imprints

Authors

See also

References

External links