Dodo Ink: Why I Started a Publishing Imprint

Last year, I decided to set up an independent publishing company, Dodo Ink, with the author Sam Mills and Alex Spears, a digital marketing expert. We had all been at events where we had heard people talking about how ‘risk averse’ the publishing industry was becoming, and how writers were struggling to find homes for novels which didn’t fit into marketing categories. Talking about the books we had read and admired in recent years, we found that the majority came from independent presses. We were struck by the energy of the independent publishing scene, and were inspired. As literary addicts ourselves, we thought about how we could support the type of bold and challenging fiction we love – and what better way than starting our own small press?

We’ve taken inspiration from publishers we admire, but I think that Dodo Ink gives us the opportunity to do something new. This is the first time that an author and blogger will have come together to run a publishing imprint. It might be a case of the lunatics taking over the asylum, but it also gives us a fresh perspective. We want to publish books the way we would want our own to be published, and we want to talk to readers the way that we would want to be spoken to. More than anything, we want to champion the sort of exciting, daring novels which we love, but which seem to be slipping through the cracks of the mainstream publishing industry.

A few years ago, on this blog, Dan Holloway wrote a provocative and inspiring piece on the rise of digital publishing, and the role it could shape in the next great literary movement. One section in particular stayed with me:

It’s going back to punk. And the '70s. Most punk music was dreadful. Really dreadful. First up, that didn’t matter. Punk wasn’t about being good. In fact, once the bands started caring what they sounded like, punk was pretty much dead. And second up, without the 99% of rubbish, the 1% of mind bending brilliance wouldn’t have existed. And it’s the same with literature.

The next great voice, the next Big Movement that comes along, will come out of the mire of slush swilling unfiltered around the internet. It will come from people who haven’t been taught How Not To Be Creative. It may well come from someone who can’t spell for toffee and doesn’t know an adverb from their arsehole. But it sure as anything won’t come from the “I want my manuscript to be so polished it sings into the ear of potential agents” school of writing.

Dan’s point about punk resonated with me. As much as the music, the excitement of punk comes from the DIY energy that surrounded the bands. The attitude that made people say ‘the mainstream music magazines aren’t covering my favourite bands – so I’ll start my own’. The big record labels seemed safe and out of touch, so people stared their own, with amazing success. The bands that defined generations came from independent record labels – Joy Division and later the Happy Mondays on Factory, The Smiths on Rough Trade. Indie record labels Fire and Food kept Blur and Pulp going in the years before Britpop, nurturing their talents and helping them to hone their sound until the time was right for them to break through commercially.

I believe that the time is right for independent publishers to make a similar impact. Independent publishing should be a place for hungry authors who have something new to say and a new way of saying it. Our job is to identify that handful of writers who can create the mind-bendingly brilliant books and help them get that message to as many people as possible without smoothing out the rough edges or toning down the uncomfortable truths. We have the tools now to be able to speak directly to readers, to build up communities and share stories. In twenty years, we should be looking back at publishers like Galley Beggar and And Other Stories with the reverence that music fans have for Rough Trade and Factory.

The success of novels like A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing shows that there is a reading public who want to be challenged by new fiction, despite what received wisdom might say. Publishing any novel is a risk, but there are bloggers and readers out there who can and will champion quality books, wherever they come from, and make a huge difference. In four years of writing this blog, I’ve come across some stunning novels published by small presses, and the excitement of discovering a book like Zone, Here Are The Young Men or Lightning Rods is the most rewarding part of the whole experience. I look forward to publishing novels which can provoke the same reaction in our readers.

The Dodo Ink team

I’m incredibly proud of the first three novels which we’ve signed up. They are all very different in terms of style - Seraphina Madsen’s Dodge and Burn is an exhilarating psychedelic rush, Tom Tomaszewki’s The Eleventh Letter is subtle and mysterious, while Wood Green by Sean Rabin is darkly comic – but all ask questions of the reader, demand attention, and have a spirit of independence running through them. They don’t fit into easy categories, and we haven’t tried to force them to.

We’re running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for our launch, which is now in its final stages. We’ve been delighted and overwhelmed by all the support and positivity, not least from other small publishers, who understand that a strong independent scene is beneficial for all of us. The decision to run a Kickstarter partly comes from necessity - none of us are high earners, or from wealthy backgrounds – but it also gives us a chance to talk directly to our readers, and share some of the experience of getting started in publishing with them. We’re looking forward to keeping you all up to date.

As a pledge of my own, I’ve said that I will have the Dodo Ink logo tattooed on my arm if we hit our target (we’re 75% of the way there as I write). Anyone who knows me will be aware of how terrified I am of needles, and how much I am regretting this rash decision, but at least the Dodo is a handsome looking beast, so the end result will be good.

To find out more about the Grand Dodo Ink Kickstarter, and our list of rewards, click here

For more information on Dodo Ink, and to read extracts from our first three novels, visit the Dodo Ink website.