McSweeney's first publication was the literary journalTimothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern in 1998. Since then, the company has published novels, books of poetry, and other periodicals.
McSweeney's distributor was Publishers Group West (PGW) from 2002 until the end of 2006, when its parent company, Advanced Marketing Services, filed for bankruptcy. At the time of the filing, PGW owed McSweeney's about $600,000.[2] To recover the funds, McSweeney's accepted a deal from the publishing group and distributor, Perseus Books Group, that offered payment of 70 cents on the dollar owed by PGW.[3] In June 2007, McSweeney's held a successful sale and eBay auction to help make up the difference.[4]
Since 2013, McSweeney's archives have been held in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.[5] They include rare material from the company's founding and early history.
On the company website in October 2014, Dave Eggers announced that McSweeney's would become a nonprofit publisher and asked readers for donations for several projects. Eggers cited declining sales and more fundraising opportunities as the reasons for McSweeney's long-discussed change to a nonprofit publishing house.[6]
In 2015, McSweeney's expanded into brand copywriting, working in partnership with marketers at Converse, Warby Parker, and Airbnb.[7]
In 2019, McSweeney's began publishing Illustoria magazine, founded by Joanne Meiyi Chan.[8]
In 2004, Eggers said that when he was a child his family received letters from someone named Timothy McSweeney, who claimed to be a relative of his mother. Eggers says that the letters arrived as a result of the coincidence that his grandfather, who delivered Timothy at birth, and the family who adopted Timothy had the same last name: McSweeney.[9][10]
In addition to a book list of approximately ten titles a year, McSweeney's publishes the quarterly literary journal, Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the daily-updated humor site McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and Illustoria, an art and storytelling magazine for children ages 6 to 11.
McSweeney's also established and incubated the bimonthly magazine The Believer, the quarterly food journal Lucky Peach, and the sports journal Grantland Quarterly, in association with sports and pop culture website Grantland.
McSweeney's runs additional imprints occasionally, including McSweeney's McMullens, a children's book department; McSweeney's Poetry Series; and the Collins Library, which reprints unusual titles.
The Organist, a podcast produced by the editors of The Believer and KCRW, launched in 2012.[11]
A quarterly DVD magazine, Wholphin, was decommissioned in 2012.
McSweeney's has also published the work of musicians, critics and artists including David Byrne and Beck. The band One Ring Zero gained popularity by performing at early McSweeney's events in New York and solicited lyric-writing assistance from McSweeney's contributors for the 2004 album, As Smart As We Are.
McSweeney's was the subject of the They Might Be Giants song, "The Ballad of Timothy McSweeney."
Fast Company ranked McSweeney's #7 on their list of the most innovative media companies in the US in 2012.[12][13] McSweeney's literary journal is a 3-time winner of the National Magazine Award for Fiction, and an 8-time finalist.[14] In 2001, the New York Times was less flattering when it noted "The McSweeneyites may be the current emperors of cool, but they're starting to need some new clothes."[15]
In 2019, Vida hailed Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern as the magazine that publishes the highest percentage of women and trans writers (71%) compared to peer publications.[16]
In 2021, Axios reported that readership tripled across McSweeney's web and print publications.[17]
