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Indie publisher Dead Ink has launched a Patreon scheme to grow the press further as it announced its 2020 list and a submissions window for BAME and LGBTQ+ authors.
The Liverpool-based company unveiled its Patreon scheme on 13th February, aiming to amass 1,000 patrons and build it into a “publishing contender”.
Publishing director Nathan Connolly explained: “We‚Äôve done subscriptions in past but they‚Äôve all been one year at a time and with payment up front. We wanted to create an ongoing, rolling one that would build over time.
“It‚Äôs all aimed at plans we have for growth and making sure we‚Äôre self-sufficient rather than reliant on funding and we can stand on our own two feet.”
The scheme would see patrons rewarded with exclusive bonus content from authors and video chats with the publisher, all helping to build a friendly and open connection with its customers. People signing up can opt for an e-book subscription, signed paperbacks sent to their door or international deliveries.
“It‚Äôs very ambitious,” Connolly admitted of Dead Ink‚Äôs aim to reach 1,000. “We‚Äôre not intending to hit that all at once. We want it to build up and attract new readers to the press who can commit to us.”
The publisher is releasing five books this year, beginning with Cat Step by Alison Irvine in April, billed as a “lyrically sparse novel about judgement, intergenerational relationships, community, class, and the expectations that we place on mothers”.
That will be followed by Harriet Mercer’s Gargoyles in June, Exit Management by Naomi Booth in September and London Incognita by Gary Budden the following month. A fifth, yet to be announced, book will also be published in July.
With the help of patrons, Dead Ink hopes to publish nine titles in 2021, and is aiming for around 12 after that. It also has plans for Northern Classics and Northern Crime imprints and to start publishing titles from US indies.
Connolly said it was vital to build a core stream of income. He said the “precarious and risky” nature of indie publishing had been illustrated by Galley Beggar Press‚Äô experience last year when, despite having the Booker-listed Ducks, Newburyport on its list, the firm faced a £40,000 financial blackhole from The Book People‚Äôs administration.
He said of the Patreon drive: “It‚Äôs just a way for us to hopefully build a core income stream based on people who want to directly support us and be part of what we do.
“We‚Äôre very much at the whim of cashflow issues currently.”
Alongside the Patreon campaign, the firm has also just launched an open submissions window for both BAME and LGBTQ+ authors as it tries to ensure it is not “perpetuating and reinforcing the structural inequalities of the industry”. Authors can send in their manuscripts for novels, novellas and creative non-fiction until 1st April 2020.