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Broken Watch Press was founded to publish and promote the work of Hayes
Brown, an emerging author with little interest in being packaged by
a multinational corporation. In July 1999, we issued our first title,
Carhood: A Southern Memoir by Hayes Brown and illustrated by
André Carley. The book was available by mail order and through
gift shops and car museums in the southeastern United States. With sales
lagging in the hundreds, Hayes purchased dozens of copies and sent them
to prisoners mostly serving mandatory sentences for drug offenses. This
random act of kindness resulted in a steady stream of fan mail from
prisoners around the country who wanted us to know that Carhood
was being circulated throughout entire prison populations. As a small
operation with limited resources, Broken Watch Press encountered many
of the obstacles that prevent independent press titles from reaching
a broader audience, including lack of a major distributor. As a result,
the press went into hibernation in 2001.
In 2003, Hayes completed a rewrite of his manuscript, Booga, a novel in which he put his fifteen-year struggle with suicidal depression in the crosshairs. After examining several options for publication, Broken Watch Press entered into an agreement with the Xlibris Corporation, a print-on-demand company, for the printing, distribution, and fulfillment of Booga. The quality of print-on-demand books has reached a point where they are almost indistinguishable from other books. The agreement with Xlibris provides us with distribution by Amazon.com and other online retailers, phone orders via Xlibris' toll-free number, and orders through traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores. The downside of this agreement is that Xlibris sets the retail prices of the books it prints. Consequently, the retail price of the Booga is similar to those charged by university and independent presses rather than those charged by major publishing houses. We recommend purchasing Booga at a discounted price by mail order from us, which also includes free shipping.
Currently, we are negotiating with two other authors to
acquire new titles for our 2006 and 2007 lists. Thank you for your interest
in and support of Broken Watch Press.