McSweeney's Publishing is an American

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

publishing house Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

founded by

Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. His 2000 memoir, '' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'', became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is a ...

in 1998 and headquartered in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. The executive director is Amanda Uhle. McSweeney's first publication was the literary journal''

Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'' is an American literary journal, founded in 1998, typically containing short stories, reportage, and illustrations. Some issues also include poetry, comic strips, and novellas. ''The Quarterly Concern'' ...

'' in 1998. Since then, the company has published novels, books of poetry, and other periodicals.

Company history

McSweeney's distributor was Publishers Group West (PGW) from 2002 until the end of 2006, when its parent company, Advanced Marketing Services, filed for bankruptcy. At the time of the filing, PGW owed McSweeney's about $600,000. To recover the funds, McSweeney's accepted a deal from the publishing group and distributor,

Perseus Books Group Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in year 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. In 2005, Perseus acquired ...

, that offered payment of 70 cents on the dollar owed by PGW. In June 2007, McSweeney's held a successful sale and

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

auction to help make up the difference. Since 2013, McSweeney's archives have been held in the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

. They include material from the company's founding and early history. From 2013 to 2022, Brian Christian served as Director of Technology at McSweeney's, overseeing the development of the company's digital infrastructure and the successful launch of a new version of ''McSweeney's Internet Tendency'' in 2016 and its first audio issue, in collaboration with

Radiotopia Radiotopia is a podcast network founded by Roman Mars (host of '' 99% Invisible'') and run by the Public Radio Exchange. The network is organized as a collective of some two dozen shows whose producers have complete artistic control over their wo ...

, in 2021. In October 2014,

announced that McSweeney's would become a nonprofit publishing house and asked readers for donations for several projects. Eggers cited declining sales and more fundraising opportunities as the reasons for McSweeney's long-discussed change. In 2015, McSweeney's expanded into brand copywriting, working in partnership with marketers at Converse, Warby Parker, and

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...

. In 2019, McSweeney's began publishing ''Illustoria'' magazine, founded by Joanne Meiyi Chan.

Company name

In 2004, Eggers said that when he was a child his family received letters from someone named Timothy McSweeney, who claimed to be a relative of his mother. The letters arrived as a result of the coincidence that his grandfather, who delivered Timothy at birth, and the family who adopted Timothy had the same last name: McSweeney.

Publications

In addition to a book list of approximately ten titles a year, McSweeney's publishes the quarterly literary journal ''

'', the daily-updated humor site ''McSweeney's Internet Tendency'', and ''Illustoria'', an art and storytelling magazine for children aged 6 to 11. McSweeney's also published the bimonthly magazine '' The Believer'', the quarterly food journal ''Lucky Peach,'' and the sports journal ''Grantland Quarterly'', in association with sports and pop culture website

Grantland ''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed ...

. McSweeney's occasionally runs additional imprints, including the children's book department McSweeney's McMullens, McSweeney's Poetry Series, and the

Collins Library The Collins Library is an imprint of McSweeney's Books that publishes unusual out-of-print books. The imprint is named for its editor, Paul Collins. Publications # ''English as She Is Spoke , commonly known by the name ''English as She Is Spok ...

, which reprints unusual titles. The Organist, a podcast produced by the editors of ''The Believer'' and

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

, launched in 2012. A quarterly DVD magazine, '' Wholphin'', ran from 2005 to 2012.

Authors

Emerging writers involved with McSweeney's include

Rebecca Curtis Rebecca Curtis (born January 10, 1974) is an American writer. She is the author of ''Twenty Grand and Other Tales of Love & Money'' (HarperCollins, 2007) and has been published in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's, NOON, N+1, and other mag ...

Paul Legault Paul Legault ( ; born June 25, 1985) is a Canadian-American poet. Life Legault was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and raised in Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Southern California, where he obtained a BFA in screenwriting, and the Univ ...

Philipp Meyer Philipp Meyer (born May 3, 1974) is an American fiction writer, and is the author of the novels '' American Rust'' and '' The Son'', as well as short stories published in ''The New Yorker'' and other places. Meyer also created and produced the A ...

, and

Wells Tower Wells Tower (born April 14, 1973) is an American writer of short stories, non-fiction, feature films and television. In 2009 he published his first short story collection, ''Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) to m ...

. Other contributors include

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born Grace Ngozi Adichie; 15 September 1977) is a Nigerians, Nigerian writer of novels, short stories, poem, and children's books; she is also a book reviewer and literary critic. Her most famous works include ''Purple ...

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, ...

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who published novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for his 1996 novel ''Infinite Jest'', which ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine ...

George Saunders George Saunders (born December 2, 1958) is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels. His writing has appeared in ''The New Yorker'', ''Harper's'', ''McSweeney's'', and '' GQ''. He also contributed a we ...

Michael Ian Black Michael Ian Black ( né Schwartz; August 12, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He has starred in several TV comedy series, including ''The State'', '' Viva Variety'', '' Stella'', '' Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp'', ...

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer. He is best known for his memoir '' Fever Pitch'' (1992) and novels ''High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequen ...

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

Hilton Als Hilton Als (born 1960) is an American writer and theater critic. He is a teaching professor at the University of California, Berkeley, an associate professor of writing at Columbia University and a staff writer and theater critic for ''The New Yo ...

, and Rachel Z. Arndt. McSweeney's has also published the work of musicians, critics and artists including

David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

and

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

. The band One Ring Zero performed at early McSweeney's events in New York and solicited lyric-writing assistance from McSweeney's contributors for their 2004 album, ''As Smart As We Are.'' McSweeney's was the subject of the

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...

song "The Ballad of Timothy McSweeney."

Non-McSweeney's collections

These titles are compilations of McSweeney's works either from print or online sources. The publisher of the works is listed at the end. *''McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales'' by

(2003,

Vintage In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...

) *''Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans'' by

(2004,

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

) *''McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories'' by Michael Chabon (2004, Vintage) *''Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans'' by Dave Eggers (2005, Vintage) *''The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes'' (2008, Vintage) *''Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney's Book of Lists'' (2006, Vintage) *''Greetings from the Ocean's Sweaty Face: 100 McSweeney's Postcards'' (2009,

Chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

)

Reception

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

'' ranked McSweeney's #7 on their list of the most innovative media companies in the US in 2012. McSweeney's literary journal is a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award for Fiction, and an 8-time finalist. In 2001, the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' was less flattering when it noted "The McSweeneyites may be the current emperors of cool, but they're starting to need some new clothes." In 2019, Vida hailed ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'' as the magazine that publishes the highest percentage of women and trans writers (71%) compared to peer publications. In 2021, Axios reported that readership tripled across McSweeney's web and print publications.

826 Valencia publications

These titles are releases of/by non-profit organization

826 Valencia 826 Valencia is a non-profit organization in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, United States, dedicated to helping children and young adults develop writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. It was ...

, published by McSweeney's/826. *''826 Quarterly Vol. 1'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia 2003/05/01 *''826 Quarterly Vol. 2'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia 2003/09/01 *''826 Quarterly Vol. 3'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia 2004/09/01 *''826 Quarterly Vol. 4'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia 2005/05/01 *''826 Quarterly Vol. 5'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia 2005/10/28 *''826 Quarterly Vol. 6'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia 2006/10/01 *''826 Quarterly Vol. 7'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia 2007/10/28 *''826 Quarterly Vol. 8'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia 2007/11/28 *''826nyc Review: Issue One'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia / Seeley, Scott / Potts, Sam 2005/08/01 *''826nyc Review: Issue Two'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia / Seeley, Scott / Potts, Sam 2006/06/01 *''826nyc Review: Issue Three'' Students in Conjunction With 826 Valencia / Seeley, Scott / Potts, Sam 2008/09/28 *''826NYC Art Show: A Limited Edition Catalog of 23 Original Pieces by Prominent Contemporary Artists'' 826NYC (EDT) 2007/08/28

McSweeney's Internet Tendency

McSweeney's website has published short humor daily or multiple times daily since 1998. Published compilations of its short humor include ''The Best of McSweeney's Internet Tendency'' (2014) and ''Keep Scrolling Till You Feel Something: 21 Years of Humor from McSweeney's Internet Tendency'' (2019). The site is edited by Chris Monks and assistant edited by Lucy Huber.

References

External links

Official website
* Judith Shulevitz

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', May 6, 2001 * A. O. Scott
"Among the Believers"
''New York Times'', September 11, 2005, on McSweeney's and '' n+1'' * Stephen Amidon,
Their Master's Voice: The Rise and Rise of Brand McSweeney's"
''Sunday Times'', February 3, 2008 * Amy Armstrong
Keep Austin Weird: McSweeney’s McMullens and everything else

McSweeney's: An Inventory of Its Records at the Harry Ransom Center
at

{{authority control 1998 establishments in California American satirical websites Book publishing companies based in San Francisco Magazine publishing companies of the United States McSweeney's Publishing companies established in 1998