Small presses versus commercial presses

I'm often, well, occasionally, asked about the difference between small presses and commercial publishers. That is hard to answer, but just as a duck is hard to describe but you know one when you see one, so is a small press. Even though our production values are often higher than big publishers, and even though we often publish the same writers.

But what is the difference? Here's a clue. On my wedding day one of our regular writers, a witness at the wedding, brought along his next manuscript. Indeed, the day after the wedding Five Leaves had a book launch... Another clue. A couple of us from Five Leaves recently met up with a writer we may be publishing at dusk outside Cathcart Jewish cemetery. It felt more like something out of The Sopranos than the Frankfurt Book Fair. Small press and proud of it.