About

OR Books was founded by John Oakes and Colin Robinson in 2009.

Colin Robinson, publisher. Robinson worked as a senior editor at Scribner and was previously managing director of Verso Books and publisher of The New Press. Among the authors he has published are Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Alexander Cockburn, Mike Davis, Norman Finkelstein, Eduardo Galeano, Eric Hobsbawm, Lewis Lapham, Mike Marqusee, Rigoberta Menchú, Matt Taibbi and Jann Wenner. He has written for publications including The New York Times, The London Review of Books, The Sunday Times (London) and The Guardian (London),and has appeared on broadcast media including NPR (“On the Media”), CNN, MSNBC, CBC and CSPN.

John Oakes, editor-at-large. Oakes co-founded the book publisher Four Walls Eight Windows, which was purchased by the Avalon Publishing Group. Among the authors he has published are Andrei Codrescu, Sue Coe, R. Crumb, Cory Doctorow, Andrea Dworkin, Abbie Hoffman, Gordon Lish, Harvey Pekar, Rudy Rucker, John Waters and Edmund White. Oakes is a former board member of PEN America. He has written for the Associated Press, the International Herald Tribune, and the Review of Contemporary Fiction. He is publisher of The Evergreen Review and the author of The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster).

“OR Books has firmly established itself as the go-to source for titles that challenge the status quo and suggest options for moving beyond our current ruts.” —Ben Terrall, CounterPunch

“A great, exciting project!” —Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing

“Over the last five years, Oakes and co-founder Colin Robinson have turned OR into one of the most original publishers in the Us.” —Jonathon Sturgeon, Flavorwire

“... how imaginative and creative the New York-based independent publishing house, OR Books, has become since its foundation in 2009.” –Matthew d’Ancona, Tortoise Media

In a voyage abundant in metaphors (and blessed with sunshine) publishing veterans John Oakes and Colin Robinson literally launched their new venture OR Books on an old fireboat from a pier eight blocks south of the Javits center on Sunday afternoon. The boat chugged leisurely around the south end of Manhattan, past the Statue of Liberty and right past the giant Queen Mary 2 in Red Hook. From a megaphone on the top deck they hailed their “politically progressive and culturally adventurous” content paired with a “revolutionary approach to business.”

In other words, they aim to sell non-returnable only and print only on-demand (or not at all via e-books). And they pledge to spend the money saved on inventory on marketing instead. Oakes said they want to “affirm the partnership between publishers and authors.” Robinson added that a publisher’s “first obligation is to find readers for the books they’re publishing” and commented, “we know the existing system doesn’t work. We’re going to try something new.” Oakes added, “If the boat goes down, there goes the future of publishing.”

OR Books’ office is located at the rear of the Francis Kite Club, a bar and event space on Avenue C in the East Village, New York City. OR hosts regular events in the space and livestreams many of them. Find out what’s coming up here.