Nash to Leave Counterpoint, Soft Skull

by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 2/25/2009 7:49:00 AM

Richard Nash will step down as editorial director of Soft Skull Press and executive editor of parent company Counterpoint March 10. Nash joined Counterpoint approximately 18 months ago when he sold the financially struggling but highly regarded Soft Skull to Charlie Winton’s Counterpoint. The purchase gave the Berkeley, Calif.-based Counterpoint a New York office and in a release Winton said he intends to keep an editorial office in New York and to maintain the Soft Skull imprint.

Both Winton and Nash said Soft Skull is now on sound financial footing, with Nash calling 2008 Soft Skull’s “best financial year ever.” He said he was grateful for the reprieve Counterpoint gave to Soft Skull’s writers and readers, but said, “It is time to let Soft Skull move onto the next phase of its existence, and to allow me to take on the new challenges our industry is facing.” The departure of Nash does not come as a surprise to many in the indie press world who have been speculating for several months that Nash was looking to getting back to try something new.

Nash told PW, "This is about the future of publishing. I really want to be engaged in helping figure out a new model for independents. And I am enormously optimistic. I'm not going to do consulting or freelancing, in the sense of euphemisms for 'I don't have a clue' or 'I'm getting the hell out of publishing,' but as a way of doubling down, betting it all on the future of publishing, and it's easier to bet if you have a clean slate rather than a legacy project." Nash also indicated he looks forward to having time to "play with others," after working "70-hour weeks for eight years inside the Soft Skull pod."