#small publishing

[therainbowfishy]

Small Press Roundup!

As I was making my silly little 2022 book gift guide, I thought I’d round up some (teeny tiny, small, and medium) indie presses to go support this season and beyond. Small press books make especially great gifts since your book-loving friends and family are less likely to already have read them.

Enchanted Lion Books - Beautiful, unique, and translated picture books for kids and adults with more experimental sensibilities. I recommend the Chirri & Chirra books and Sato the Rabbit, A Sea of Tea.

Candlewick Press - If you’re a fan of Jon Klassen and the hat books (or Mac Barnett or Carson Ellis--the group behind the Picture Book Manifesto), you’ve already heard of this publisher, but they do make outstanding children’s books.

Small Beer Press - Speculative fiction fans, run over to Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant’s incredible, weird, magic book factory. I recommend In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan for the fantasy fans or anything by Elizabeth Hand.

Two Dollar Radio - Their books are cute in trim size and weird in content--the ideal combination. You can also join their tattoo club and get 10 free books. Their lobby/HQ/bookshop/cafe seems like a dream.

Hub City Press - Poetry, fiction, and nonfiction with a focus on promoting diverse stories and underrepresented voices in the South. Novels are more conventional and historical. Good, bleak poetry and thoughtful, specific nonfiction.

Night Boat Books - A bit more on the esoteric side. Their books would be great for academics and poets and anyone interested in queer studies or works in translation.

Wave Books - A poetry press with gorgeous books and lit crit. I recommend Bluets by Maggie Nelson (her other books are published by Graywolf, keep scrolling).

Dorothy - A tiny feminist publisher of fiction or about fiction founded by author Danielle Dutton (check out Wild Milk by Sabrina Orah Mark or The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington for some surreal, dreamlike times).

Feminist Press - Books with a focus on gender, sexuality, and marginalized voices. (Margot Atwell, publisher/editor, has a newletter On the Books, for publishing nerds out there who want to hear a fresh perspective on what’s up with this convoluted industry.)

Tin House - Eclectic--both literary and commercial. I recommend Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett.

Milkweed Editions - Nature lovers, these books are for you. Milkweed is also Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s publisher. I recommend Bright Dead Things and her newest collection, The Hurting Kind.

Graywolf Press - Want more Maggie Nelson? Or Carmen Maria Machado? Or experimental printing like Telephone by Percival Everett with its 3 versions? It’s all happening in the Minnesota literary world (I’m serious).

Coffee House Press - Also part of the Minnesota book group. Their books are on the experimental and readable side.

Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull - These presses are sisters. You’ve definitely seen these books around--they do hit the bestseller list and are stacked in neat piles at all the best indie bookshops. Danielle Dutton’s (founder of Dorothy, mentioned above) book Margaret the First is published by Catapult.

50 Watts Books - Surreal reprints of older books in stunning colors; the curation of their bookshop is also impeccable and unique.

McSweeney’s - If you have a lowbrow/highbrow sense of humor and enjoy satire, these books are for you. They also publish the creative magazine for creative kids, Illustoria.

Nobrow Press/Flying Eye Books - UK based press for comic and bright color lovers of all ages. I recommend the Hilda series by Luke Pearson and Hicotea by Lorena Alvarez. Katie Harnett’s and Simona Ciraolo’s picture books are also wonderful.

Pioneer Works - This is the book intersection for art, tech, design, music, and science. I recommend Notes on My Dunce Cap by Jesse Ball for (arts) teachers or anyone interested in pedagogy.

#small press #independent press #books #publishing #small publishing #indie publishing #indie presses #reading #bibliophile #book recs #book gift guide #shop small #decentralize publishing #picture books #fiction #experimental fiction #speculative fiction #independent publisher #independent publishing

[clambatch]

putting my store in vacation mode for the first 2 weeks of september, so if u want something now's the time to grab it! i have so many fun and silly wares for u go check it out 😳

#print shop #small business #witch hat atelier #trigun #the sandman #small publishing #indie zines #indie comics #look at all my funny guys #arent they silly #u should buy them #if u want ofc

[bc-johnson]

Deadgirl Mentioned in Offbeat-YA's "Tell Me Something Tuesday"

Roberta from Offbeat-YA is awesome, and she picked me/the Deadgirl books for the Tell Me Something Tuesday topic, "What Are Some of Your Favourite Indie/Small Pub Authors/Books?" Check out the full article.

Roberta from Offbeat-YA is awesome, and she picked me/the Deadgirl books for the Tell Me Something Tuesday topic, “What Are Some of Your Favourite Indie/Small Pub Authors/Books?” Check out the full article by clicking right here: View Article

#bc johnson #blog #books #deadgirl #indie publishing #offbeat ya #roberta r #self publishing #small publishing

[prometheuspress]

Prometheus Press is proud to announce ‘Edges’, a poetry collection from Beth Sumner-Wichmann, is now live on Kindle.

We worked with Beth to curate a collection of her poetry from the last several years to make available for purchase through Kindle, and look forward to working with her again in the future.

This is Beth’s first publication.

#poetry #poems #poet #author #independent author #small publishing #kdp #kindle publising #poetry collection

[radioactive-earthshine]

NGL I have STRONG opinions about digital releases omitting the letters to the editor section of older comics. I feel like the letters are a part of comic history and should be aggressively preserved.

#look i was a weirdo and loved the letters so much #so much #so fucking damn much #i still to this day mourn that we don't have them #sometimes the editors would publish blatant aggressive criticism and promise to do better on some things #it was rare but it did happen in a handful of things involving stereotypes #also there is queer history in them such as in superboy and the ravers where people wrote in about hero #asking WHY he was not interested in women and this editor had to so professionally explain that he was GAY and where they stood on it #you also got to read queer readers writing in about these queer characters and the JOY in their words is priceless #also sorry but geoff's letters are fun and stupid at the same time and are a huge insight to what his hcs were #he LOVED tiny krypto so much it likely inspired him making dex starr bc he loved the idea of a small overly powered animal #not saying that was the main reason why ofc but it is interesting that he created dex after praising that mean little mutt #i say with the most love #my venting #my rambles

[seabrrd]

IT IS FINISHED. anchiornis huxleyi dinosaur of all time

#paleoart #paleontology #anchiornis #dinosaur #my art #painting #one of my favorite dinosaurs of all time fr #rushed submission for a small magazine my uni helps publish idk. its midterms season #seabrrd.png

[michaela-o]

Merry Christmas everyone😭😭

( SOUND ON PLS ) Have dirty dancing Rodimus😳❤️

#transformers #transformers headcanons #transformers x reader #mtmte #tf mtmte #transformers mtmte #maccadam #idw mtmte #mtmte rodimus #idw rodimus #rodimus prime #lost light #mtmte drift #mtmte ratchet #idw publishing #digital art #small artist #art #procreate app

[trans-axolotl]

Image description: [Black text on lined paper. Text reads: Share your story with the Psych Survivor Archive. Hold the psychiatric system accountable for the violence and coercion we've survived. Make space for our anger. Grieve together. Celebrate our resistance. The Psych Survivor Archive is a forum for psych survivors to share about their experiences and be believed. You can share as much or as little as you want. Your story will be anonymously published on the website with writing from other psych survivors. The archive is open to anyone who identifies as a psych survivor, including people who survived inpatient hospitalization, rehab, troubled teen industry, partial hospitalization, outpatient programs, ABA, and any other form of coercion psych treatment. Check out the prompts, participant rights, and content guidelines. Share your story now: www.psychsurvivorarchive.com/submit-your-story]

Hey everyone. I wanted to share this here as well. The Psych Survivor Archive is looking for anyone who wants to share their story and have it anonymously published on the website, in order to create a collection of our experiences navigating the psych system. Your responses will be anonymous and can be as detailed or vague as you want. On the website, there are prompts, but you can feel free to share in whatever format makes sense to you.

This is a more informal way to participate in the Psych Survivor Archive if you are not interested in creating art for the zine, but still want your story to be heard and validated.

For me, it has felt very cathartic to write out my story, on my terms, in the way that I want to be known. I hope that the archive can offer that space to other psych survivors as well, and I can't wait to keep developing this project and offering even more. In the next couple weeks, submissions will open up for the second edition of the zine, so if you're interested in submitting creative art or writing keep an eye out!

love and solidarity always <3

#personal #psych survivor #antipsych #survivingpsych #mad liberation #mad pride #madpunk #neurodivergent #mental illness #psych abolition #antipsychiatry #thank you SO much to everyone who's submitted stories so far. they are now live on the website #for me i process through writing. it means a lot to feel seen #and this is a small thing that i would like. to do with other people as well. idk #i know writing and sharing is really not everyone's thing and that's totally okay. as always there's #no pressure to participate. just an option #hopefully will be publishing some more zines soon about basic antipsych topics which would be lovely

[emry-stars-art]

Whalemack!

He’s a gray/grey whale, very nice and VERY big (though about half the size of a blue whale). He’s been mostly solitary for a while, sometimes joining other whales on their migrations, but then he starts collecting little mer children that make travel hard. I’ll probably add some scars from boats/etc to this design. And we need to figure out if mers have tattoos 🧐

#hello half dolphin/half whale Kevin #ahem #yeah the little unmarked thing at the top of the size comparison chart is me figuring out exactly how small a basking shark pup should be #there is a certain little lost basking shark baby that Wymack finds floating dangerously in the middle of the ocean #so he takes him and carries him while he sleeps #and after that the shark kind of swims in and out of his care #little thing’s got a habit of slipping away from him #(until he can’t) #but this is for another post that I’m publishing in like three seconds #or like three minutes #ANYWAY #whalemack can carry all his kids at once #big strong dad #fan art #my art #aftg #all for the game #david wymack #mer au #oops all mers au #whalemack #mer research notes

[nanowrimo]

When Is a Small Press a Good Fit?

When it comes to publishing, many writers will think about big publishers first. However, there are a lot of different publishing options out there to explore. NaNo participant and author, Clara Ward, talks about their experience publishing with a small press and gives you questions to consider while you think through your publishing options!

NaNoWriMo inspired me to write. Signing with a small press gave me the support I needed to publish a book I love. 

I’d published books before—starting with NaNoWriMo sponsor deals in the early days of online publishing—but I never had the right skill set to promote those books. As a result, they never truly found their audience. 

In November of 2020, I poured my heart into a genre-blurring near-future tale of sailing across the Pacific and building a neurodiverse, queer, and possibly magical chosen family. In 2021, I titled it Be the Sea and asked myself: What am I going to do with that?

1. Are you looking for fame or family?

Small presses are as varied as the people who form them. If you read widely, you may already have a treasured book on your shelf from your publisher-to-be. Try asking NaNoWriMo friends who share your interests if they’ve discovered any surprising or emerging sources for great reads. (At the very least, you may find books you’ll love in unexpected places!)

Admittedly, a small press doesn’t have a fortune to spend on paving your path to fame. But I have never felt as seen as when my soon-to-be publisher, E.D.E. Bell at Atthis Arts, wrote back, “I’m really in love with what you are doing and would like to talk about it.” 

2. Do you have the bandwidth for working with others?

Even with the most supportive small press, you may have to push outside your comfort zone. I know authors who love the absolute control and freedom of self-publishing. For a time, I felt very comfortable just posting my NaNoWriMo fanfiction novels on Archive of Our Own. At most, I had one or two beta readers to offer feedback on those works. Whereas E.D.E. told me in one of our earliest conversations that in addition to our three rounds of editing we’d need “a good number of betas” to cover the range of topics we were working on together.

I was delighted! I knew what I’d written was ambitious, and I welcomed all the feedback I could get. But it turns out, each extra person in a process adds new challenges and delays. I had to stretch my empathy as well as my publishing timeline because, to quote E.D.E. again: “It’s a lot of emotion (as well as brain cycles) to go through...” Outside perspectives will only improve your writing if you are willing to work with them, to truly listen and learn.

3. Can you handle the two-way commitment?

No form of publishing is easy. The myth that authors write while others handle business and promotion is not true at the top, and certainly not with small presses. In my experience, working with Atthis Arts was like joining a team or chosen family. Beyond certain paid tasks, such as editing and sensitivity reading, I discovered a community of authors who freely offered coaching before my first public reading, social media boosting, tips for author webpages, and an extra pair of eyes on letters requesting bookshop readings or other events. While not all small presses work the same way, this supportive culture proved to be an excellent fit for me. Naturally, I wanted to give back whenever possible.

Small presses can only succeed with community. This month, as I promote the launch of Be the Sea at bookshops in Mountain View, Davis, and Sacramento, I will be introducing many Californians to my Michigan-based small publisher, Atthis Arts. When I stand up as a panelist at Norwescon in Washington state or at various science, library, or Pride events later in the year, I’ll be promoting more than Be the Sea by Clara Ward. I’ll give back by sharing my appreciation for small presses, the supportive and inclusive practices they can normalize, and the opportunities they open up for future writers and readers. 

Clara Ward lives in Silicon Valley on the border between reality and speculative fiction. Their latest novel, Be the Sea, features a near-future ocean voyage, chosen family, and sea creature perspectives, while delving into our oceans, our selves, and how all futures intertwine. Their short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Decoded Pride, Small Wonders, and as a postcard from Thinking Ink Press. When not using words to teach or tell stories, Clara uses wood, fiber, and glass to make practical or completely impractical objects. More of their words along with crafted creations can be found at: https://clarawardauthor.wordpress.com

Photo by Hümâ H. Yardım on Unsplash

#nanowrimo #now what #writing #publishing #small press publishing #by nano guest #clara ward

[columboscreens]

#columbo #season 3 #publish or perish #columbo publishes extremely meticulous detective noir paperbacks and has amassed a small cult following #he sits unbuttoned at his typewriter with a stogie smoking from his lips #hammering out his newest caper about a 1940s private eye who's Just A Little Unorthodox #he needs a synonym for ''ponder'' so he just says it out loud and his wife reading on the couch responds with ''ruminate'' #but he doesn't expect to be a great writer

[tgsparks]

SELF PUBLISHED AND SMALL PRESS AUTHORS: CHECK YOUR AMAZON PAGES

Recently I found out that my book was just gone. Completely wiped from Amazon. My author page said I never published anything. I got word from my publisher that this was a glitch with Amazon and they were working on fixing it. That was three days ago, and my book is not back up.

According to my publisher, small presses (between 200 to 1000 books) randomly had several titles “dropped” from Amazon.

My worry is that this may have also affected self published books that are only sold through Amazon. Please go check and make sure your work is still up. Even if just to make sure.

#writing #writeblr #writer #amazon #small press #small publishers #publishing #publishing industry #reading #bookblr #writers life #writers struggle #psa #online #online shopping

[unstablebill]

For Pride as a Special Treat™ I'm buying a BLAZE of my queer murder mystery novel! 🤩 PLEASE LOOK UPON IT!

I love cozy mysteries but there is a distinct lack of them in queer/furry spaces, so I wrote one 😌 You can find it on lovely indy press Furplanet at the link below! 4 illustrations and covers by @jayfitzmaurice

A Summer Vacation to Die For

Dr. Ino Reamer has a lot of plans for his summer vacation — relaxing, working out, trying to conquer the crushing ennui of his 30s. Solving a murder was not part of these plans. But when a colleague's grim demise very nearly ends Ino's tenure, the hyena can't help but apply the scientific method to his search for the truth. When a few suspicious characters take note of Ino's investigation, the case takes on a new urgency, and now Ino must crack the case before Finals Week becomes his final week! 😱

386 pages, rated R (murder off screen)

https://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1202

(you CAN get it on Amazon but please support my independent publisher!!)

"Enthralling murder mystery? Check. Loveable furry characters? Check. Adorable/cheesy romance? Double-check. If you share any of these interests, I highly recommend picking up this book, you won't regret it!" - review

This is part 1 of a planned 4 part series so please watch me for updates on my upcoming books. I am a small author so I appreciate the support - please follow and reblog and like and share and subscribe and whatever else we do these days!

Thank you for reading! 😁

#murder mystery #cozy mystery #furry #hyena #novel #independent publisher #small author #anthro

[night-market-if]

Chapter Two Public Release

Chapter Two is now live for everyone! Head on over to itch.io or the next chapter. Go and see your RO's. Explore more of Artisan Alley. And unfold more of the mystery of the MC.

Read now here

Also, remember all post chapter two stories are available on my Patreon. Join now for extra Night Market content.

🪷✨🪷✨ If you want to support me 🪷 ✨🪷✨ 

🌿 Free Demo 🌿Book 1 Steam🌿Book 1 Itch.io🌿🌿 Patreon 🌿Discord🌿FAQS🌿

#the night market #interactive fiction #book 2 #twine wip #twine if #angst #romance #lgbtq #poly #writers of tumblr #self published #support small authors

[ninawolv3rina]

✨Books✨

The beginning of a trilogy about a god of death and the world who has to put up with him

Book 1: A disaster bisexual convicted of stabbing a politician gets chosen to be Prophet of Death. The priesthood is… not thrilled. Get it here

Book 2: A retired assassin gets hired to find a cure for a young lord’s poisoned daughter. Along the way he meets a nonbinary bard with the power to change people’s emotions by touching them. Maybe they fall in love? :3 Get it here

You can read them out of order, as long as you read both before book 3 (which will come out 2025)!

Read the reviews here

Trigger warnings are listed in amazon descriptions.

#queer fantasy #dark fantasy #fantasy novels #indie author #author #indie #self published #independent author #queer author #the unwanted prophet #the forgotten lyric #my characters #my shit #the creed of gethin #books #booklr #book #small author #writer #fantasy series

[carronpatrick]

Haven't found this here yet, so I wanted to share it with some links for education.

Found it from-

Twitter post by OmarSShakir

IG Post by visualizing_palestine

Created by-

AAANY (Arab American Association of New York)

Gaza Is Palestine

#2023 #Important #Palestine #Gaza #free palestine #this is genocide #*EDIT it is now November 20 so these numbers are sadly small in comparison to the actual losses #*Please don't stop talking about Gaza and Palestine! They are being forcibly removed from their homes #*Or just brutally attacked and murdered when not removed #*and I say 'removed' but it's really the only word I can think of besides 'fucking bombed and harassed and terrorized into fleeing' #*BUT don't stop talking about them! Israel is commiting genocide and the world powers are ALLOWING it #*This has been going on for 75 years! It must end now! #*Also keep doing your own research - DO NOT rely on western media or even large organizations for both sides #*This is a genocide built on greed and racism and Israel has lots of money and political ties to buy their 'truth' to be published