PROFILE: Michelle Lyn King's Joyland Editions
The newest publisher of novellas launches with Information Age, out now
Founded in 2025 by Michelle Lyn King and Maddie Crum, Joyland Editions is a Brooklyn-based small press with a singular focus: the novella. Emerging from the long-running online literary magazine Joyland, the press is a bold, carefully considered response to the frustrations—and possibilities—of contemporary publishing.
Michelle Lyn King first joined Joyland Magazine as a reader in 2016, shortly after her own fiction debut was published on the site. In 2019, after more than a decade of running the magazine, founders Emily Schultz and Brian J Davis offered to hand her the reins. "There wasn't a sale made," Michelle recalls, "but they made it clear I could really do whatever I wanted with the magazine." A redesign and new editorial team followed in 2020, but by 2024, her interests had started to shift.
‘I still loved editing stories and working with writers, but I wasn’t thinking about how to grow the magazine in the way I once had. I thought that maybe we would do an annual print issue, but that didn’t really excite me either. There are already a lot of great print journals out there, and I wasn’t really sure what we could add to the landscape. Eventually I had the idea that maybe each print issue would feature a novella. Some more time passed and I found that the novella part was the only thing really holding my attention.’
As the focus narrowed, the energy returned. She reached out to Maddie Crum, a fellow graduate of the Brooklyn College MFA program, and the pair agreed to launch Joyland Editions, bringing in assistant editor Jo Barchi to complete the team. The press is built not only on shared aesthetics— ‘we all care most about voice,’ Michelle tells me— but on a shared dissatisfaction with the industry at large.
‘I often feel frustrated by which books get published and which ones don’t. There’s a lot about the publishing industry that makes me pretty angry, and a lot of the decisions we’ve made with Joyland Editions are a reflection of the frustrations we share.’
She has learned some positives though, from her professional experience in and around publishing.
‘My first role in the industry was as an intern at Black Balloon Publishing, which would later become Catapult. Andy Hunter, the former publisher of Catapult, hired me as an editorial assistant. At that time, Catapult was five people in a shared WeWork office, so I got to see how an indie press functioned. Something Andy said during that time that’s really stayed with me was “The goal isn’t to be a household name. The goal is to be a name in the right households.” He didn’t mean this in a snobby way. He was saying that if you’re publishing for everyone, you’re publishing for no one. For a long time, I felt very disillusioned by the publishing industry. I wanted to quit Joyland and stop writing, and enter a totally different field. The other side of that disillusionment is what motivates me now. I’m not saying that I think we’re going to save the publishing industry but I do take what we’re doing very seriously.’
Michelle also has experience working in publicity, a valuable tool for a small press working with a small budget.
‘I worked as an assistant at Broadside PR when I was in graduate school, and learned so much during my time there. There are some practical strategies I learned, but, for the most part, the most important thing I learned during my time at Broadside PR is the importance of authenticity. The people who work there are genuine in their enthusiasm when it comes to the books they work on.’
And this is true for Michelle too. Joyland Editions’ model reflects this by being deliberately selective: publishing two novellas per year. Their debuts are Information Age by Cora Lewis (out now) and All Girls Be Mine Alone by Sophie Strohmeier, coming this fall. The books are distributed by Asterism and hopefully soon available from your local indie bookstore.
‘I was very excited when the order from McNally Jackson came in,’ Michelle says, ‘and I saw that they’d purchased Information Age for all five of their stores. McNally is a store that has really helped to inform my taste as a reader. In general, the positive feedback from indie booksellers has been a highlight.’
Submissions for manuscripts will open again later this year, and the team are currently finalising their 2026 catalog.
What’s the most surprising thing about being an indie publisher?
‘A good surprise has been how eager people have been to support a small press, and a bad surprise has been how that excitement doesn't always translate into making a sale.’
And their advice for other people who want to try it?
‘Done is better than perfect, and work with people who you want to impress.’
With its clear vision, sharp focus, and deep commitment to the shortish form, Joyland Editions is quietly building the kind of publishing future it wants to see—one novella at a time.
