Associate Publisher at Thich Nhat Hanh's Parallax Press Jacob Surpin
Jacob Surpin is currently senior editor and associate publisher at Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Parallax Press, which is distributed by Penguin Random House and is based in Berkeley, California. A Brooklyn native, he has also worked at Unnamed Press and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He was exposed to Buddhist thought in high school and it has been a presence in his life ever since. He first heard of Thich Nhat Hanh in college, when one of his classes read Thay’s response to the beating of Rodney King, printed in the Los Angeles Times in 1991. As an editor, Jacob is most interested in projects that have the potential to change and challenge the way we think and live. When he’s not editing, he enjoys getting outside with his family, friends, and dog, and being unabashedly hopeful (there’s always next year) about the New York Mets.
Martin Luther King, Jr. with Thích Nhất Hạnh, a Buddhist monk, peace activist and founder of Parallax Press.
Parallax Press is a nonprofit publisher founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, publishing books and media on the art of mindful living and Engaged Buddhism. Does this mean the authors need to be Buddhist, or that the books must at least, in some way, draw upon some of the tenets of Buddhism and mindfulness?
We get this question all of the time! The answer is a little bit nuanced—something like yes, but with an asterisk. We think of the books we publish in three rings. The bulk of our books are either authored by Thich Nhat Hanh, or other teachers in the Plum Village tradition, which includes monastics and laypeople. Those are our core books. A step further, the second ring would be books and authors from other traditions or that are mindfulness based, not necessarily Buddhist. Beyond that, we also are very interested in publishing on themes that are central to Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings, even if the author or the content isn’t centered around mindfulness: our connection to nature, the importance of the climate crisis, and engaging in issues of social justice and reconciliation come to mind.
I understand that you previously worked at Unnamed Press during its earlier publishing days. How did you get your start in book publishing and what has it been like to see publishing go through so many transitions in recent years?
Thích Nhất Hạnh with the Dalai Lama and Dr. Modi.
Yes, I got my start in publishing at Unnamed, as an intern while I was still in college. They had literally just gotten started. I remember I had an informal interview with Chris Heiser and Olivia Taylor Smith, the co-founders. Later, Chris told me that they had a few different applicants and they chose me because I responded to emails the fastest. After I graduated, I worked at the Los Angeles Review of Books and also continued working at Unnamed, both part-time. It seems like almost everyone in publishing in Los Angeles was involved with LARB at some point. With Unnamed, it was a great opportunity to be involved with a press that was so new and to have a chance to work in such a small team. I was able to learn everything from what an ISBN was, to how distribution worked. And we had a lot of fun. I feel very grateful to Chris and Olivia for that chance and I’ve been really happy and proud to see their books getting acclaim in recent years. I remember when The Border of Paradise, Esmé Weijun Wang’s first book, got a great review from NPR, and thinking back to when we were reviewing the submission together. That seemed like a breakthrough moment, and they’ve had many books like that since then.
What's your editing style like? Any special rituals or practices?
I always do my first round on a printed out copy, and just note my general reactions—where am I most interested, where am I starting to tune out, what do I find compelling, etc. When I've finished that read through, on the printed version I write out my general thoughts. Then I take the printed copy and use it to go back through in Word and leave comments, make changes, etc. throughout. I find that doing it in two stages like that allows my thoughts to coalesce a little bit before I actually get to the point of writing comments to the author.
Every author is different. Some authors appreciate a more direct, blunt commenting style, and some really need to hear a few pieces of praise for every critical comment. Of course, every author (and person!) appreciates praise, and I think a big part of my job as an editor is finding the pieces in a manuscript that are emblematic of how the rest can eventually read, and making sure the author knows that we can get there, because they've already done it.
Thích Nhất Hạnh with Oprah Winfrey.
“…the mindfulness and meditation zeitgeist has just continued to grow.”
I don’t know if I’m the best person to assess the changes in publishing over the last several years, as it’s all been new to me! One thing that comes to mind is in my five years at Parallax, the mindfulness and meditation zeitgeist has just continued to grow. When I joined in 2016, we were really one of the few publishers in the space. Now, and for the last few years, everyone is here. Of course readership has gone up in the category as well, but it’s harder than ever to have individual titles stand out. For us, that has meant consciously going back to our roots a little bit and making sure that what we’re publishing is really making a genuine contribution. Mindfulness is an ancient practice—right mindfulness is part of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path. Its validity and power goes beyond the current moment and the scientific studies that quantify the benefits—though, of course, those are good, too. But we try not to publish books that act as if mindfulness is a recent invention.
What do you see as the benefit in going with a smaller independent publisher, such as Parallax Press, over a big five publisher? Can PP punch above their weight?
We publish twelve to fifteen books a year, so to us, every book is important. We’re going to try to know you and your book inside out, and we are able to be really collaborative in everything, from building out schedules, to the editing process.
Parallax Press is distributed by Penguin Random House. What do you see as the major benefits of having one of the best distributors in book publishing?
This is the answer to the other part of your question—we can punch above our weight, because we work with Penguin Random House’s distribution team. They are models of professionalism and as the largest publisher in the world, they have a reach with their sales team that is a huge benefit to us.
What was it like for smaller independent publishers, such as Parallax Press, in having to cope with the aftermath of the recent COVID-19 pandemic?
It was difficult. The second half of March was full of fast adjustments (like working from home), but sales were staying somewhat steady. Then in April, there were three weeks where Amazon basically de-prioritized book shipments, in favor of household items. So, books were showing as taking four or five weeks to ship to consumers. Our income was down 70% in April. But once things started to return to normal, we stabilized. We actually had an amazing June 2020. And then there were the PPP loans—that was very chaotic, but we did receive one, and I think most other small publishers did as well. Once that came though, I think we felt confident that we would make it.
Jaimal Yogis and Matthew Allen’s Mop Rides the Waves of Life and Mop Rides the Waves of Change (Parallax Press)
“…it’s more important than ever for books that we acquire to have originality and a clear target reader.”
It is clear that you acquire mostly in the mindfulness areas of nonfiction and children’s books. What types of books are working well in this publishing space?
With the market saturation that I mentioned earlier, I think it’s more important than ever for books that we acquire to have originality and a clear target reader. We always hear from Penguin Random House that they never want to see us list a “General” BISAC code (codes used for shelving books). They want it to be as specific as possible. And I think that extends all the way up to acquisitions—we’re looking for books that have appeal to the general reader, but that more importantly have a real specific target reader.
For Parallax Press, you recently published City of Dragons author Jaimal Yogis’s Mop Rides the Waves of Life, about a child who, after being told to surf life, learns that falling is the best way to learn—and to ride the good waves, while letting the bad ones cruise by, with illustrations by Matthew Allen. What was it like in working with Jaimal and Matthew in publishing this children’s picture book about mindfulness and surfing?
Yeah, we love the Mop Rides series! Book 2, Mop Rides the Waves of Change, comes out July 20. I was actually aware of Jaimal as an author, I had read a piece or two in one of the Buddhist magazines like Tricycle or Lion’s Roar, and I had thought it would be fun to work with him. And then he emailed, out of the blue, with this awesome story that he had illustrated himself with stick figures. It was so funny and charming that I wrote back right away, even though I was in the car on a road trip.
Jaimal and Matt have been great to work with, and I just think Mop is in a niche that’s pure gold: mindfulness/social-emotional learning and surfing. Surfing is one of those things that even if you don’t do it, you think it’s cool.
Do you have any advice you could share for hopeful writers eager to become published authors?
I think the main thing that comes up for me when I get asked this question recently is to be really thoughtful and honest about who is going to read your book. Most authors like to think that everyone is going to read their book. And that’s just not true, at least in the nonfiction space. It’s important to have general appeal, but it’s even more important to have targeted appeal.
Can you finish this sentence? I love reading because...
It’s the best way I’ve found to engage with the mysteries, sorrows, joys, and wonders of life.
