404Ink
404Ink is an independent publishing company based in Edinburgh, run by two women. So far, they have published multiple literary magazines, as well as a few anthologies, one which you may well have heard of: Nasty Women.
Nasty Women is a compilation of short essays by women of various ages, races, sexual orientations, and classes, writing about what it means to them to be a woman in the 21st century – especially given the current political climate. The book has been a phenomenal success so far, earning acclaim from even the literary great, Margaret Atwood (author of The Handmaiden’s Tale). If you haven’t yet picked it up, now is the time.
The idea for 404Ink came from a desire to see more literary magazines being produced in Scotland and took off from there. The two women behind 404Ink, Heather McDaid and Laura Jones, have also managed to make a huge success from crowdfunding their projects through Kickstarter. In fact, that is exactly how Nasty Women first started. Both women have backgrounds in publishing, writing, and freelancing, meaning that they had enough of an idea of how to develop their projects from idea to finished product. However, the company is still so young (not quite two years old), so there is still much to see from this independent publisher.
404Ink are a great example of women striving to achieve, and in this case, outdoing expectations. They even made it to The List’s number one spot of their top 100 in 2017. So far, they have given a voice to many who are somewhat overlooked in the traditional publishing model and they show signs of continuing to achieve much more. Keep an eye out, because 404Ink don’t show signs of stopping any time soon.
All images: Google images