Ammo books: publishing in small, medium, and large.(Indie Publishing)(Company overview)

For an indie publisher to launch its first line with a $300 art book takes guts and vision, but that's what Ammo Books' founders Paul Norton and Steve Crist did in 2006 when they published 3,000 copies of Gonzo by Hunter S. Thompson and sold out in less than a year.

Ammo, an abbreviation of the term American Modern, now has 42 art and architecture titles in print, including a line of children's books that accounts for 50% of its sales. "We started with the goal of one book, and now we have a staff of seven and warehouses in both the U.K. and Germany," said Crist, a photographer whose publishing background includes jobs with Judith Regan at HarperCollins as creative director, …