Ink & Magick is a small, independent publishing company that was born out of sheer frustration. D. Lieber, an urban fantasy author, was signed with a small press shortly after beginning to query her first novel. All seemed well at first, she was riding that high of self-confidence.

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Not long after, Lieber began to realize promises made were not going to be fulfilled. Any protest on her part was met with the threat of contract dissolution. But what was to be done? Three books later, and Lieber crossed the line called Enough.

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In those few years, Lieber had learned a lot about the publishing industry and had made several contacts in graphics and editing. She was ready to take the leap.

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So why start a publishing company? Why not just self-publish?

A few reasons. When Lieber was earning her degree in English, people would always ask her what she wanted to do with that (said people obviously feeling English wasn't a very marketable degree). She would always answer she wanted to be an acquisitions editor. At the time, she never considered becoming a writer (oh, Fate, you are so silly sometimes). She loved to read, especially books that were a bit different. She wanted to help those authors bring their dreams into reality.

 

Her other reason was stigma. This is a well-known perception that is oft whispered about in the publishing industry: self-published books have a bad rep. It is perceived that most self-published books are not given their due diligence. They are not properly edited by professionals, and authors often cut costs by trying to play graphic artist. It is a sad situation. Because authors often self-publish for a variety of reasons: more control over content, because publishers see them as "too different" to be "marketable," to make more royalties, and to save readers money as well, to name a few. Some of these authors go to great personal expense to ensure their books are done right with professional contractors every step of the way. However, there are those who do feed this perception, which is why it exists. So, to mitigate this perception, Lieber went though the grueling process of establishing a small press (including creating an LLC).