A letter to our customers

I hope this new year finds you all well. I want to take a few minutes to thank our loyal customers. In the four years that Zittaw Press has been around I have enjoyed, not only your support, but your understanding and sometimes even patience. My goal for Zittaw Press is simple: to resurrect forgotten Gothic novels. I don't claim to be an expert on publishing, I just think it is important to see these novel in print after 200 years. I don't have fancy equipment to typeset these books, an army of proofreaders or money for book designers. I am a professor full time with mounds of papers to correct, lectures to prepare and most importantly a family to support.



Recently Zittaw Press has been criticized for being well intentioned, but an unprofessional publisher, creating poor books. These remarks have appeared on Amazon and other websites. The criticism, while perhaps initially well intended, has become mean, pointing out Zittaw's mistakes, shortcomings and generally expressing dislike about how we do everything. We are not perfect nor have we ever claimed we are. I am a professor who wants to keep the Gothic alive, affordable and accecsible for students and scholars, not conquer the publishing world.

It is important to remember that historically Gothic novels were published fast and as cheaply as possible. If you read the originals you will see countless mistakes in typset, spelling, pagination and often even keeping characters names straight. We do try to fix these, but if we are off the mark at least we are in keeping with history.