In 2010 poet Nate Pritts founded H_NGM_N BKS (www.h-ngm-n.com/h_ngm_n-books) as a small-press extension of H_NGM_N, an online journal of poetry and prose he had launched eight years earlier. So far the Syracuse, New York–based press has released six full-length collections by emerging poets and reissued out-of-print books by William Heyen and Paul Violi, but according to Pritts, there’s still more work to be done. 
“Running a small press is a balancing act,” he says, “but it’s clear that the way we’ve always done things is breaking down, or is already broken—or, at the least, is not as effective as it needs to be for getting words into all the hearts they could be getting into.” In an effort to make the press’s books more accessible, Pritts recently released all of the titles in multiformat e-book versions, which are now available for the Kindle, Nook, and other e-readers. In addition to its primary line of books, the press offers a PDF chapbook series; titles can be downloaded for free on the website. H_NGM_N accepts full-length poetry manuscripts annually from November 1 to March 10, and poetry and prose submissions for the chapbook series year-round. Pritts, whose latest poetry collection is Sweet Nothing (Lowbrow Press, 2011), is hopeful that H_NGM_N will continue to help keep poetry relevant. “In our culture, where writing is being reduced to a transaction delivered in online bursts, I think poetry is all that can save us,” he says. “It’s a style of language, a mode of empathy that can provide unadulterated access to our souls.”
