Mission Statement

Parvati Press Mission


The mission of Parvati Press is to publish quality fiction and non-fiction in print, eBook, and audiobook format, and to support Parvati Press authors in their writing, marketing, and promotional efforts. The focus in fiction is on strong story-telling and distinctive voices; the focus in non-fiction is on photograph-rich art books, poetry, historical, spiritual, and cultural books. These books will enhance and enrich readers’ lives. The art books will educate readers about the values, philosophy, and history of visual art, which has been somewhat lost in the confusion and immediacy of modernism; we take an especial interest in classical art. We wish to bring humanism and humanity back into our everyday lives: to bring the human back into humanity.

The Press intends to educate the public, including prospective independent authors, in the new ePublishing and print-on-demand publishing opportunities. Currently, traditional publishing houses are foundering and merging to try to survive. They are increasingly interested only in the “onesie-twosie” books on top of the New York Times bestseller list; as the film industry has done, traditional publishing is becoming ever more wedded to branded, franchise entertainment that fits within specific, established genres. Because of this narrow focus on specific kinds of commercial fiction, a great richness and diversity and the distinctness of literary voices have been lost. Traditional publishers are often afraid to take financial risks on new authors, and real literary innovation is viewed with suspicion.

However, the new eBook and print-on-demand publishing technologies offer new and radical opportunities for prospective authors and for readers hungry for new voices. Literature can develop and thrive from the grassroots level, with burgeoning accessibility, similar to what happened during the Renaissance when Dante Alighieri wrote and published The Divine Comedy in the common tongue, rather than in Latin, knowledge of which was restricted to the educated elite.

Unfortunately, many of the new technologies remain opaque to the public, outside of commercial author services companies who charge steep prices and retain the author’s rights. It can be daunting for talented new authors to take on the myriad often confusing tasks of print-on-demand and ePublishing for themselves. With books, articles, webinars, and podcasts, Parvati Press will demystify the process of independent publishing.

Parvati Press will also espouse global literacy causes, especially the worldwide literacy of women. We aim to donate to charities such as the World Literacy Foundation, Reading is Fundamental, and ProLiteracy.


Parvati Press would like to expand by publishing talented poets, novelists, and art essayists, especially those who fall outside the ken of the traditional publishers, who, as noted above, take increasingly fewer risks. The publishing industry is in the midst of the biggest sea change since the invention of the Gutenberg Press. There are vast, hitherto undreamt-of opportunities for small, independent publishers to make a difference in the cultural and intellectual milieu of the country, and of the world. Through education, outreach, and publishing ventures, Parvati Press intends to make a difference.