Press Run
Image: Limited Run Games

Physical game publisher Limited Run Games has announced that it is launching a book imprint called Press Run, which will be overseen by esteemed games journalists Jeremy Parish and Jared Petty.

Limited Run has already dabbled in this field, having produced books to accompany its physical releases for the likes of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Monkey Island Anthology and Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1, but Press Run will be in the business of producing stand-alone books aimed at gamers.

Explaining the naming, Parish says:

Why “Press Run” and not “Limited Run Books”? Well, despite their similarities, books aren’t games, and we don’t intend to approach them the same way that we do games. We’ve learned a lot with the books we’ve shipped over the past year or two, and perhaps the most important thing is that they need to be presented and delivered on their own terms. That means no limited printings outside of special one-time collector’s editions; our plan for the standard editions of our books is to keep them in print for as long as demand exists. If a book sells out, we’ll reprint it; in fact, two of the three publications we’re launching today along with the Press Run imprint (Super NES Works 1991 and Virtual Boy Works) are second editions of books that debuted a year ago and promptly sold out. Those books’ deluxe slipcover editions won’t be reprinted, but we plan to keep the standard editions of these books on sale for as long as you want to read them.

Press Run will also be unique in that it won't take the route of opening up pre-orders early and essentially 'crowd funding' a book before it is put into production; instead, it will only begin taking orders when a book is in its warehouse and ready for shipping.

Parish adds that the label's remit will focus not just on the medium's history but also "collecting, personal memoirs, and even a novelization. Oh, and you can expect to see a quarterly magazine kick off soon, too."

He also adds that Press Run will be working with established writers as well as "aspiring authors" and that "although Jared and I will certainly continue writing and publishing our own projects through Press Run, the bulk of our efforts for the imprint centers around reviewing, editing, designing, and printing other authors’ work."