Earlier this month, the volunteer staff behind Archway Editions announced their departure from the literary imprint of Brooklyn-based publisher PowerHouse Books. In an interview with PW, they cited poor working conditions as the reason they’re stepping away.

The former staff spoke out after Publishers Lunch ran a statement from PowerHouse publisher Daniel Power in which he alleged that Archway went “on hiatus” in May partly because “money was tight” at the 30 year-old art book publisher, which also runs a local bookstore chain. The individuals PW spoke with claim that portions of Power’s statement were factually incorrect, including the part about the hiatus.

“This wasn’t a small project for us," said Naomi Falk, who did volunteer work for Archway and worked at PowerHouse Books as a paid employee until this July. “This was the foundation of our lives and the formation of us as editors and publishing professionals.” For the Archway team, the imprint had been a passion project up until their recent departure, a decision they did not take lightly, Falk said.

Since its founding in 2019 by then-PowerHouse booksellers Chris Molnar and Nicodemus Nicoludis, Archway has been run on a volunteer basis, with Molnar and Nicoludis often using their personal funds for events, publicity, and other operations. In 2020, the pair were joined by Falk, who volunteered at Archway both before and after being hired by PowerHouse’s flagship imprint in summer 2023. Mia Risher, who started doing publicity for PowerHouse in fall 2023, also started volunteering for Archway in January 2024.

Falk, Molnar, and Risher are no longer employed at the PowerHouse bookstores or imprint, saying that they resigned earlier this summer. Nicoludis resigned in 2022 to pursue a full-time professorship.

Falk noted that she was the only person ever paid to do work for Archway, because producing Archway’s books was a function of her role at PowerHouse, though she continued doing events and editorial work for the imprint on her own time. Power confirmed in an email to PW that “no one at the imprint was paid, it was all volunteer, including me.”

The staff clarified that they did not depart Archway due to the volunteer nature of the work, which they took on willingly, but because of what they described as compounding negative experiences in the workplace and Power’s alleged failure to pay author royalties, an issue which the staffers said is still ongoing. (In his PL statement, Powers said, “I am struggling, but am not stiffing anyone, just taking a little bit longer than usual in some cases.”)

“We loved everything we did,” Falk said. “Even on PowerHouse’s side, I really believe in the books that Daniel [Power] publishes. They’re a necessary antidote to contemporary life, and it's obviously heartbreaking what’s happened.”

Molnar said that the decision to publicly quit was logistical, as a way to flag the change to the Archway community.

Falk also emphasized the professionalism of her colleagues and noted the combined expertise of the team, including Nicoludis, who started working as a PowerHouse bookseller in 2016. Nicoludis said that he did not step away from his role as managing editor when he started his PhD in 2023, a claim Power made in PL.

One of Archway’s most successful titles was Blake Butler’s memoir Molly (2023), which according to Circana Bookscan has sold around 14,500 copies. This summer, the imprint put out a book-length interview with Lynne Tillman titled Mystery of Perception (June), a reissue of Christopher Coe’s Such Times (July), and Olivia Kan-Sperling’s Little Pink Book (August). The former Archway staff said that the imprint’s titles consistently made a profit.

The staff also mentioned that in 2022, two former workers filed a suit with the National Labor Relations Board against PowerHouse, claiming that Power had fired them for union-organizing activities. The charges against Power were cleared, though the judge noted that he had “unlawfully interrogated employees regarding their union activity and unlawfully informed employees that organizing was futile.”

Power confirmed to PW that he plans to keep Archway operational, but did not provide details.