Help Bone & Ink Press keep pressin' on!

I'm Jessie Lynn McMains , owner and editor of Bone & Ink Press , a small publishing house dedicated to publishing great indie lit and to boosting the voices of marginalized writers. Up until this point, I have run Bone & Ink Press pretty much single-handedly, and kept it going financially through a combination of money from sales of previous titles + some of my own money. Due to the CoViD-19 pandemic and some other things, the way I've been running the press is no longer feasible, and the press is in danger of closing due to both personal burnout and lack of money.

I used to fund the first print run of an upcoming title primarily with money made from preorders, plus a little of my own money thrown in if necessary, which I then recouped from later sales. This is no longer working, for two reasons: 1. People just aren't preordering as much as they used to. 2. Due to CoViD, my primary sources of income (doing spoken word performances, tabling at zine and book fairs, and teaching writing workshops) are not happening this year; therefore, I have none of my own money to put towards print costs. On top of that, there are the other costs of running a press (website fees, book design software fees, etc.), which I am still currently funding with my own money, but don't know how much longer I can continue to do so.

The other factor is that I can no longer run the press singlehandedly. I was already on the verge of burnout, and then CoViD happened. Now, my children are home 24/7, I have no outside source of childcare, and therefore I have less time to devote to the press. In order to keep Bone & Ink going, I need to outsource some of the work I am currently responsible for.

Here is a detailed breakdown of what I plan to use the funds for:

-Print costs for our upcoming titles (whatever preorders don't cover)
-Website, software, and other monthly costs
-Continuing to pay Vanessa Maki (our social media/promotions manager)
-Hiring other outside help, primarily: someone to do the book layouts, and two people to help me read through/make decisions on the submissions that are currently coming in.

The sooner I can raise these funds, the better, as I can not give any of our upcoming titles a firm release date until I know I have the printing costs covered.

Donating to this campaign is a direct way to support the literary arts in a time when we need them more than ever, and a direct way to help support writers and other creators from vulnerable/marginalized communities.

I know I, and all the Bone & Ink Press authors, would be so incredibly grateful for any help you are able to provide. As a small thank you, anyone who donates $5 or more will receive a free digital copy of the currently available Bone & Ink Press title of their choice.