A book cover of "The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters", a science fiction anthology. Background is stylized art of an astronaut meeting an alien in outer space. Art by Barbara Candiotti.

Our Kickstarter is now live for The Neurodiversiverse

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Why are we running a Kickstarter campaign for The Neurodiversiverse?

We believe that creators should be paid like professionals for their work.

Thinking Ink Press is a small publisher, and we want to increase the amount we’re paying the authors and artists of The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters for their work from “semi-pro” to “SFWA” professional rates. To make that happen, we’re running a Kickstarter campaign!

Backing the Kickstarter campaign at any reward tier will help us a ton, and you’ll be able to get great rewards like a copy of the book (of course!), a vinyl sticker or enamel pin of the snazzy logo designed by Kimchi Kreative, a tote bag, and more!

Books and swag with the Neurodiversiverse logo, designed by Kimchi Kreative.
Books and swag with the Neurodiversiverse logo, designed by Kimchi Kreative.

The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters is is a hopeful, empowering sci-fi anthology of short stories, poetry, and art. It’s an #OwnVoices extravaganza with neurodivergent editors, authors, and artists. The anthology offers many different answers to the question: Would neurodiversity be an advantage in an encounter with aliens?

Back the Kickstarter campaign!

Backing now helps our Kickstarter campaign be more visible, enabling us to reach more supporters. We’re a small press, and need your help to reach our ideal readers.

Coming soon: A neurodiversity-themed sci-fi anthology

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Thinking Ink Press is excited to announce The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters, a science fiction anthology to be released August 2024.

The Neurodiversiverse is a book for anyone who loves science fiction, who cares about neurodiversity, or who wants to see optimistic visions of the future. It’s an #OwnVoices extravaganza with neurodivergent editors, authors, and artists.

The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters is a hopeful, empowering sci-fi collection of short stories, poetry, and art. This anthology offers many different answers to the question: Would neurodiversity be an advantage in an encounter with aliens?

Featuring short stories by:

Edited by Anthony Francis and Liza Olmsted.

With stories, poetry, and art by 44 creators about:

  • Autism
  • ADHD
  • PTSD
  • OCD
  • Synesthesia
  • Anxiety of various flavors
  • Avoidant attachment disorder
  • Dissociative disorder
  • And more.
Cover not yet final

Heartbroken starships.
Human-sized hamster balls.
Superpowers unleashed by anxiety.
And finally we find out why aliens abduct cows.

Be the first to hear when it’s available for purchase

The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters will be available where books are sold. Sign up for our mailing list so we can let you know when it’s available for everyone to purchase! You’ll be subscribed to our general mailing list, which includes news about other books we publish.

 

Sneak peek at inspiring quote tote bags and stickers

News,

We will be developing three more original postcard designs for our Inspiring Quote Kickstarter campaign rewards. In the meantime, the sample tote bag and sticker arrived. Here’s a picture of them with a copy of Keiko’s book Your Writing Matters so you can get a sense of scale.  

To read the full update, visit the Kickstarter campaign.

Our Inspiring Postcards for Writers Kickstarter succeeded!

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Three-quarter view of a white card propped on a little easel. The card has quilling of flowers and curls in a rainbow of colors around the outside, and in hand-written calligraphy the text "You deserve to create what's in you to create", with the attribution "Keiko O'Leary". In the lower left corner are the artist's initials "JM". This is the image on the first of the four postcards.
The original quilling & calligraphy art for the first quote postcard, by Julia Macek. Isn’t it beautiful?

Thanks to everyone who backed our campaign and helped us reach our funding goal and even a stretch goal!

Because the Kickstarter campaign succeeded, we are developing a set of four postcards with inspiring quotes for writers from the book Your Writing Matters by Keiko O’Leary. The postcards feature new original quilled art and calligraphy by award-winning artist Julia Macek, with art photography by visual designer Caroline Sanney. The campaign unlocked a stretch goal, to create bonus 3 x 4 inch vinyl stickers.

Once the campaign rewards are finished and sent out, we’ll announce when the postcards and stickers are available for everyone to buy.

The four quotes are:

  • You deserve to create what’s in you to create
  • Your writing matters. Your life matters. Your stories matter.
  • What you create could change someone’s life
  • Have faith that what you create could touch someone

We love sending postcards in the mail, and we’re so excited that these beautiful images are going to be available to inspire writers and creatives alike!

Be the first to hear when the postcards are available for everyone to purchase

If you’re not already on our mailing list, sign up so we can let you know when they’re available for everyone to purchase! You’ll be subscribed to our general mailing list, which includes news about other books we publish.



Our Kickstarter is now live for beautiful inspiring postcards

News

We want to create a set of beautiful postcards with inspiring quotes from the book Your Writing Matters by Keiko O’Leary. 

Each postcard will feature a quote in calligraphy combined with custom quilling artwork created by award-winning artist Julia Macek. The set of postcards will include two copies each of four postcards, with the possibility of unlocking more rewards. 

If our campaign doesn’t fund, these postcards will never exist. Help us create them by backing at the level that works for you! 😃

Go to the Postcard Kickstarter.

Kickstarter campaigns are all or nothing, so backers won’t get charged anything unless we reach our funding goal to cover the costs of creating new original art and producing the postcards. 

We were selected for the Innovative Voices program

News

We are honored to be chosen for the first year of the IBPA Innovative Voices program.

Along with four other publishers, we will receive year-long mentoring and a host of other benefits sponsored by the Independent Book Publishers Association and IngramSpark.

From IBPA’s announcement

“These publishers are giving voices to writers who otherwise may not be heard, and readers the opportunity to see themselves in the pages of their books,” said IBPA CEO Andrea Fleck-Nisbet. “IBPA’s board-approved DEI commitment aims to mitigate the legacy of bias in the publishing industry, and we hope that the Innovative Voices program will help to reshape our industry for the future.”

Read the announcement


We’re excited to be part of this program, and we can’t wait to get to know the other publishers in our cohort!

We Are a Finalist for Innovative Voices

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Wow! We are one of the twenty finalists who have been shortlisted for the IBPA Innovative Voices program, sponsored by IngramSpark.

We are honored to be among this group of independent publishers who are doing such amazing work. 

If selected, we would receive funding, mentoring, and networking opportunities to help us become a better publisher.

See details and learn about the other finalists.

The Neurodiversiverse Anthology Call for Submissions

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The Neurodiversiverse Anthology Call for submissions An alien in a bubble starship. A human brain glowing with ideas. A galaxy filled with spreading thoughts. Edited by Anthony Francis and Liza Olmsted

Thinking Ink Press is excited to be publishing a science fiction anthology edited by Anthony Francis and Liza Olmsted called The Neurodiversiverse Anthology.

Submission Deadline: December 31st, 2023⁠

Submit your stories at www.neurodiversiverse.com.

The universe is filled with aliens—creatures with different histories, cultures, and even biologies—who may seem strange to us. But our world is filled with a diversity of people, many of whom find each other strange. One particular group finds the rest of humanity especially strange: neurodivergent people.⁠

Would neurodivergent folks find themselves at an advantage in dealing with aliens?⁠

Let’s find out.⁠

We want to publish your short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and art exploring encounters between neurodivergent people and neurodivergent aliens. We are looking for:⁠

  • Short stories up to 6k words⁠
  • Flash fiction up to 1k words⁠
  • Poetry up to 100 lines⁠
  • Black-and-white line art illustrations⁠

We are paying $100 per short story, $50 for flash fiction, $50 for poems, and $50-100 for illustrations. 

Check out our full guidelines at www.neurodiversiverse.com, and feel free to share them with your friends who write (or read) science fiction!

The Neurodiversiverse call for submissions imagery uses, with modifications, the Wikimedia Commons images Octopus Eye, Water Drop Single, Cuttlefish and Return to the Veil Nebula under the CC BY 2.0 license, the Brain image under the CC BY 3.0 license, and the M31 the Andromeda Galaxy Killarney Provincial Park Observatory image under the CC BY 4.0 license.