Pictured: The mothers of America’s Sufferage Movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

Photo by Napoleon Sarony, National Woman’s Party Records, Library of Congress (See also the Ken Burns /PBS film Not for Ourselves Alone to learn more about these amazing women…)

Did you know that all but one of Ink & Paper Group’s authors are women? What better way to acknowledge them and their achievements—as well as their gender’s lineage—than by hosting a sale this month in honor of women everywhere?

With this in mind, you can buy ANY (or ALL) of the following titles for 50% off (+ $2.50/copy for first-class shipping). Just contact linda.meyer@inkandpapergroup.com or call 503.232.0103 to order (major credit cards accepted).

BOWLER HAT COMICS

• Visibility, by Sarah Neufeld = $7.50 (reg. $15.00)

DAME ROCKET PRESS

• Give My Love to Everybody, edited by Jennifer Weaver-Neist = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)
• Hate Mail, by m. m. garcia = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)
• Magic Gardens, by Viva Las Vegas = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)

THREE MUSES PRESS

• Duet with Hummingbird, by Ana Callan = $8.98 (reg. $17.95)
• Keeper of Secrets, by Anjuelle Floyd = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)
• nothing but squares, by t. litwinchuk = $6.48 (reg. $12.95)

CLICK HERE for more information on Women’s History Month.

Did you know that the Pacific Northwest is home to a thriving small press community? Join Ink & Paper Group and its imprints—Bowler Hat Comics, Dame Rocket Press, and Three Muses Press—in celebrating the compelling, diverse, and newsworthy literary voices being brought to you by small presses in our neck of the woods and across the nation. Small Press Month, sponsored by the New York Center for Independent Publishing (formerly the Small Press Center) and held annually in March, raises awareness about the work of independent presses across the United States.

Want to learn more about some small presses in our area? Check out the links in the list below.
Beyond Words Publishing, Inc. (Hillsboro, OR): www.beyondword.com
Bowler Hat Comics (Portland, OR): www.bowlerhatcomics.com
Cellar Door Publishing (Portland, OR): www.cellardoorpublishing.com
CoreWay Media (Portland, OR): www.coreway.com
Dame Rocket Press (Portland, OR): www.damerocketpress.com
Dancing Moon Press (Newport, OR): www.dancingmoonpress.com
Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR): www.darkhorse.com
Eberhardt Press (Portland, OR): www.eberhardtpress.org
Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts (Portland, OR): www.hawthornebooks.com
Hot Off the Press (Canby, OR): www.b2b.hotp.com
Ink & Paper Group, LLC (Portland, OR): www.inkandpapergroup.com
Microcosm Publishing (Portland, OR): www.microcosmpublishing.com
Nestucca Spit Press (Pacific City, OR): www.nestuccaspitpress.com
New Sage Press (Troutdale, OR): www.newsagepress.com
Oni Press, Inc. (Portland, OR): www.onipress.com
Ooligan Press (Portland, OR): www.ooliganpress.pdx.edu
Pinball Publishing (Portland, OR): www.pinballpublishing.com
Ringing Bell Press (Portland, OR) www.ringingbellpress.com
So New Media (Eugene, OR): www.sonewpublishing.com
Three Muses Press (Portland, OR): www.threemusespress.com
Timber Press (Portland, OR): www.timberpress.com
Top Shelf Productions (Portland, OR): www.topshelfcomix.com
Virtual Tales (Vancouver, WA): www.virtualtales.com
Wordcraft of Oregon (La Grande, OR): www.wordcraftoforegon.com

Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland made its way to the printer this week! Here’s some early buzz:

With Kid Beowulf, cartoonist Alexis E. Fajardo combines a wonderful sense of whimsy and high adventure into a totally captivating and enjoyable series. Great fun for young and old readers!
~ Jeff Lemire, Essex County

This book actually made me interested in Beowulf, and even J. R. R. Tolkien couldn’t do that! With a breezy cartoon style, idiosyncratic character designs, and crystal clear storytelling, Kid Beowulf is a fine addition to any comic collection or library.
~Jimmy Gownley, Amelia Rules

Middle Age adventure meets all ages fun. Alexis Fajardo mixes history with folklore to create a wonderful tale.
~Frank Cammuso, Knights of the Lunch Table

Do you know that special someone who would love the adventures of Kid Beowulf or Natalie Irving for Christmas? Give the gift of books, and give the gift that keeps on giving!

For every five copies of KID BEOWULF, by Alexis E. Fajardo, and VISIBILITY, by Sarah Neufeld, sold during the month of December, Bowler Hat Comics will donate one to a school, library, or charity of our choice. ALL sales during the month of December will be tallied. The more you buy, the more we give! Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.

In the past few weeks, Bowler Hat Comics has expanded our cyber presence by leaps and bounds. In addition to our website, we now have a presence on Facebook with fan pages for Bowler Hat Comics and Kid Beowulf.

In addition to Facebook, Bowler Hat is also now on Twitter; follow us if you please!

Special updates and promotions will often be announced via Facebook or Twitter before they’re announced on our site, so it’s worth subscribing if you want to stay in the know. It’s also an easy way to be notified of new posts on the Bowler Hat blog. See what your friends and others are saying about our books. Come! Join the fun!

As part of a tactical reorganization, this summer Ink & Paper Group said a fond good-bye to our house on SE 7th and set up a high-tech network of home offices. (Our phone number, website addresses, and e-mail addresses remain the same.) Our book distribution has undergone a change as well, and we are pleased that our books are now available through Partners West (wholesale) at 800.563.2385 or orders@partners-west.com.

While regrouping and temporarily redirecting our energies, Three Muses Press has postponed the release of two titles until 2010. Bowler Hat Comics adjusted the release date for Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland—now Spring 2010—and we are thrilled by the early response to galleys for this, the second book in the Kid Beowulf graphic novel series. (Watch the Bowler Hat site for an announcement regarding the all-ages Kid Beowulf series). Dame Rocket Press has been the focus of our attention this summer, with the release of Give My Love to Everybody: Letters from a World War II Soldier and Magic Gardens: The Memoirs of Viva Las Vegas, each of which is exceeding our expectations.

As with books, revision can tighten and energize a company. We are both excited and optimistic about Ink & Paper Group’s future, and we hope you will enjoy the changes we have in store. More soon…

Onward!

Bowler Hat’s Fall ’09 internship will see an emphasis on website development. Interns will leave their mark on the Bowler Hat website and lay the foundation for future online publishing. This particular internship has the potential to continue through the Winter ’10 term if the intern can demonstrate capability and dedication to the tasks at hand and a desire to continue. If interested, please send a cover letter to Bo Johnson.

Interns will be responsible for:

• term project – determined based on the current needs of Bowler Hat and skill set of the intern. The ’09 Fall Internship will focus on the development of our website with an eye toward online publishing.
• generating weekly content for the website in the form of:
  • timely news (1 article per week)
  • book reviews (1 review per week)
• general publishing assistance – various tasks on an as needed basis, but most often marketing centric

Ideal interns will have:

• an interest in comics and young adult lit
• familiarity with HTML and Wordpress
• interest in online publishing
• access to their own equipment, software (Word is a must, Adobe Creative Suite is a bonus), and reliable internet service

Interns can expect to work 10–12 hours per week over the course of three months. Most work will be done from home. A minimum of biweekly meetings will be held at locations to be determined. The position is unpaid.

Bowler Hat internships roughly follow Portland State University’s quarter schedule. Upcoming Internship Schedule (actual start and end dates are flexible):

’09 Fall, Oct–Dec
’10 Winter, Jan–Mar
’10 Spring, Apr–June
’10 Summer, July–Sept

*Bowler Hat is also interested in exploring long-term internships attached directly to specific titles, overseeing all aspects of the books development from acquisition to publication to post-pub marketing. If this type of internship interests you, please contact us, but please be aware that we will be looking for a very strong skill set for these internships.

Crazy economy. Spring fever. Feeling up, down, or a little bit sideways?

Publishers, editors, designers, artists, videographers, marketers, writers, and a stray cat or two… We need to get together and talk about business, life, and maybe a bit about how we can help each other through these tough times. No big agenda. No presentation.

This is an open house event brought to you by Ink & Paper Group and our friends at PubWest. Join us for a few cool ones, snack on some delicious Mexican food (hey, Cinco de Mayo is only a few days away), and reconnect with friends and colleagues. Or make some new connections.

Watch your e-mailbox for an evite. We hope to see you May 1st! We’ll save a seat on the veranda for you. Really.

Sign up for this event on Ink & Paper’s Classes page or pay at the door. Five bucks!

Date: Friday, May 1, 2009

Time: 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Location: Ink & Paper Group

1825 SE 7th Avenue, Portland OR 97214

Event fee: $5 includes refreshments and smart talk

Welcome to the new and (hopefully) improved format of Ink & Paper Group’s monthly newsletter, Inside Ink. Based on your feedback from our recent survey and from other outlets, we’re going to try and keep our monthly news short but sweet. Now you’ll find brief bursts of information based on our three main areas of focus: traditional publishing, custom publishing, and classes/events. And if there are any larger articles or commentaries to share, we’ll link to them in our Misc. section. “Stet Says…” will also continue to be a regular feature.

We hope you’ll enjoy this new format, but we welcome your feedback either way. Please feel free to send your thoughts to jen.weaver-neist@inkandpapergroup.com, and thanks, as always, for your continued support of our business and its mission.

Sincerely yours,
The Ink & Paper Team

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING (a.k.a. Our Books)
We’re looking forward to the May release of three upcoming books at Ink & Paper Group, the first two being young adult fiction from Three Muses Press, and the third being a 10-year nonfiction project that’s finally come to fruition for Dame Rocket Press publisher (and editor/author), Jen Weaver-Neist. You can learn more via the following links:

• Desiderata, by Judy Ferro
  
• Morgan’s Pasture, by Wallace J. Swenson
  
• Give My Love to Everybody: Letters from a World War II Soldier, edited by Jennifer Weaver-Neist

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CUSTOM PUBLISHING (a.k.a. Your Books)
It was our sincerest pleasure to be involved with the production of two recent projects by two local authors, one being poetry and the other fiction. Keep an eye out for these self-published writers and their lovingly created pieces, which will be available for orders soon!

• Far From the Edge, by Lynn Thompson: “Thompson has chosen poems for Far from the Edge that extend the reader’s sense of his playfulness, poems that feel like friendly conversations, words meant to be shared, spoken out loud, or considered over a cup of coffee. The subject matter tweaks the seemingly mundane: daydreaming in bed, standing in line, gardening, grocery shopping, reminiscing about childhood, reflecting on growing older—the usual subjects.”
  
• Summer Snow, by Amy Warwick: “Four women. Different lives bound in ways even they cannot imagine…. There is a storm brewing in Glendale—a storm that will chill the hearts of many, a storm that will change things forever.”

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IMPORTANT NEWSFLASH: Starting in April 2009, Ink & Paper Group will be offering a $100 appreciation gift to anyone who refers a custom publishing client to us that later turns into a SIGNED contract. The gift can either be a $100 certificate to Powell’s or the cash equivalent, and it’s all yours as long as a custom book comes from the connection. Help us to help each other during these financially difficult times by passing on the word when:

• you have a freelance client who loved your editing and is now looking for a means of publishing,
• you come across a friend or colleague who works for a nonprofit that is looking for new ways of promoting its mission and/or fostering donations,
• you hear about a photography project or family story that deserves to be shared but may not have the mainstream appeal necessary to warrant a larger print run,
• you know about someone who’s given up on publishing and thinks there is no room for their book in the current economic climate,
• you know of anyone who wants to take publishing matters into their own hands but still wants a quality, professional product out of the deal.

You get the idea. We invite you to CLICK HERE to learn more about how this referral program works.

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CLASSES/EVENTS Consider signing up to benefit from these upcoming classes at the Ink & Paper Group house, and please keep our unique space in mind for your own upcoming events and/or classes. Again, we’re here to be a resource to you (and vice versa) during a time when sticking together and sharing resources couldn’t be more important.

• This Wednesday, April 8, 2009, $20 (6:30-8:00 p.m.): “Manuscript Formatting: A Quick Guide to Manuscript Preparation and Clean-up” (or “What to Know Before you Submit Your Work to a Publisher”), instructed by Linda M. Meyer
• Next Saturday, April 18, 2009, $100 (1:00-5:00 p.m.): From Write to Read: A Book Marketing and Promotion Guide for Authors, instructed by Lake Boggan
• Friday, May 1, 2009: Local Creatives Networking Event (Further details TBA)
• Saturday, May 9, 2009: Duet with Hummingbird Mother’s Day Tea (Details TBA)

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MISC. Mark your calendars for Portland’s annual Stumptown Comics Fest (April 18 & 19, 2009), where Bowler Hat Comics will have a table again this year.

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STET SAYS… This month features a quote from Morgan’s Pasture, the young adult novel due for release from Three Muses Press next month.

“What sets this title apart is that it works from a level “one up” from the bulk of its contemporaries..” – EN/SANE World

Read the full review here.