So, at today’s Serendib meeting, we broke the three hours into three parts — teaching the staff how to make curry powder, teaching them how to cut interfacing and fabric for masks, and reviewing Vegan Serendib’s manuscript as a group. My goal is to get all the part-time employees and interns experience in all aspects of what I do, mostly so I can pass some of the grunt work on to them. 
One of my longer-term goals with Serendib Press has always been to publish work by OTHER people. I think we’ll be ready to start doing that in 2022. I want to get them familiar with digital and POD and small print run publishing first with my books (and I have a fair bit of backlist that I’d like to make available again), but by next year, I hope to be a well-oiled machine on that front, and ready to do a good job with other people’s books.
But that begs the question — which books? And I realized I don’t really know. Originally, I’d thought I’d specialize in books from Sri Lankan authors, but I think I want more freedom than that. It’s good if a press has a coherence to it — makes marketing easier, etc. But what if I find a really brilliant set of food essays I want to publish? Or an exciting SF novel by a white trans writer?
I don’t think I want to restrict myself to just Sri Lankans. What about the tearjerker SF anthology I thought about doing? What about the moms-in-space book? Or the South Asian eco-fiction?
Welcome to Serendib Press — we publish stuff that interests us!
I think we’ll end up deluged in submissions if we try that. Maybe we should have a couple ‘lines’ with distinct identities? Hm. HM. This is going to take some pondering.
Pictured here: Ethan stirs the cumin seeds that are slowly toasting on the stove for curry powder; Darius cuts filter fabric for masks. Um, the interfacing may end up a little curry powder scented, but I’ll try to air them out well before sewing. Occupational hazard in Serendib House, I’m afraid….
