At Paperfields Press, we believe that poetry is a form of art—inexplicable in its ability to communicate, resonate, and provoke.
2014
http://www.biancabowers.com
I established Paperfields Press in 2014, because I was disillusioned with the unprogressive and elitist publishing establishment, as well as the idea that poetry was a niche market.
At that stage, the traditional publishing poetry landscape was dominated by academia. Poets who wanted to prove their worth, and were serious about publication, were expected to amass publication credits by submitting their work, piecemeal, to the plethora of online poetry journals before publishers would take them seriously.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a follower, but my unwillingness to follow that particular trend had more to do with the fact that I saw it as a fruitless exercise (in the long run). In my mind, writing is a craft that can only be improved and mastered with practice and patience. The appreciation of writing is also highly subjective. What some readers (and by extension editors) deem fodder, others regard as fruit.
So, after giving it much thought, I decided to forge a new path (for me and other poets) and co-founded Paperfields Press with a graphic designer/poet whom I met online and greatly respected. We signed our first author in late 2014, but three months in the partnership broke up. Having made financial and legal commitments, I decided to continue and published my second book, Passage, as well as Clockwork, by our first signed author. Once those commitments were complete, I tentatively signed a second author.
I say tentatively, because the prospect of assuming responsibility for another author’s precious work as well as my own was daunting. As a 40 something, unemployed, full-time mother, who had put her writing dream on hold long enough, not to mention the fact that I felt inadequate in my experience and skills, I chose to close submissions and focus on building my own portfolio of work as well as improving my publishing and graphic design skills.
2023
A decade later, I know that I made the right choice. When I started, I knew nothing of graphic design, design packages, typesetting, and publishing. It has all been a very steep learning curve, and I have used my own books as guinea pigs to learn, through trial and error, how to design book covers, typeset book interiors, write book cover blurbs and elevator pitches, publish and distribute via Ingramspark, and market via social media. There were times when I wanted to give up, and times when I did give up on a psychological level, but I kept putting one foot in front of the next until I started to make progress, hone my skills, and build momentum. At this stage, I would feel far more comfortable in my ability to publish another author, but I have no plans to go down that route just yet. Perhaps, at a future date. For now, Paperfields Press is a beautiful endeavour that I’m glad I never gave up on.
Book Cover Design Skills
then and now
