Founding an Imprint

School is just around the corner as the second and final semester at Brookes approaches. Sure there is a lot of work to be done between the months of June and September; and I’ll need all that time to achieve the major project before me. It feels kind of strange in a way, but I’ve done it, I’ve founded an imprint. In the jargon for publishers that’s a rough term for a subsidary or subdivision of a major publishing company. Tor, a major press for science fiction and fantasy is an imprint for Tom Doherty Publishing LLC. DasWyrd as its not very large is its own imprint and publishing house withoutu any subdivisions as of right now.

In the founding of DasWyrd I’ve considered a lot and thought about the direction the company is going to take. Right now, we are controlled by a paternership between myself and my friend, Jordan Varjassy. Our staff member, Andrea Khoo, acts as a the third voice of consensus in our discussions. I’m the leading decision maker in situations, but I try my best to work with everyone on the staff to maintain a level of balance. In the creation of this imprint I wanted to found a company that seeks to encourage and invigorate rather than trample people.

Now I will not lie, there will be disagreements and bad decisions down the road. We can’t avoid making a series of moves that may not always be in our best interest. However, we as an LLC can strive to always in the end seek a middle way and to strive always for excellence in what we do. “One step, one punch,” to quote Rocky Balboa from Creed.

What we want to do

There’s already an entire page on our company, but I thought about discussing hte idea more at length. Our mission statement says:

DasWyrd takes a proactive approach in broad communication and collaboration. We are a Publishing House that promotes diversity of ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, and religious identity. Humanity is a vast sea of potential, and we will use that potential to produce not only quality, but help our authors to pen truly engaging stories.

By being proactive in broadening communication and collaboration we want to do more than just talk. We want to bring in a new generation of authors and content creators who see diversity as a means of increasing possibilities. Why not explore more new and interesting settings. Open up stories from cultures hidden by the mainstream, and that are often ignored because they are seen as “third world” or as “too exotic”. Really, we want to introduce people to new tastes and give greater access to new fresh content to our fans.

Part of what we hope to produce is not only novels, but graphic novels and RPG content. Our main focus for now will be digital and later physical material. We would like to eventually produce a full tabletop or Pen-and Paper line with our own system and design. But not only do we want to create products from existing franchises, we want to produce thte work of others. Our aim is to create a platform for others and support system to further their Intellectual Properties as they see fit.

We’ll Star Niche and Expand

We realize from the get go that we are not going to be a mass media company. Our primary interest so far has been in advocating something which many may say is a bit too “politically correct”. To be honest, we really aren’t worried about tha segment of the population right now. One thing we do know is that from the high sales from Force Awakens, Big Hero Six and much more that diversity sells. It may be politicaly charged now, and we’ll begin with a strong base where we know we’ll have a following. Initial plans are already underway to participate in conventions and seminars if possible. We’ll tap into the already existent geek side of the world and grow our frandom from there.

Part of our imprint was created by people from the LGBTIA community and others who come from many different backgrounds. We were founded on community projects where tolerance and acceptance were a key notion. So now as we move forward into becoming our own imprint we are ready to face whatever life has to throw at us.

I mean that’s why I named our company “DasWyrd” it does mean “The Fate”.

-Cheers!