Dead Ink receives £65k grant from ACE

Dead Ink has received a "significant" grant of £65,359 from Arts Council England.

The grant will enable the publisher to "ambitiously expand" its Publishing the Underground project which seeks to bring new writers to publication by connecting them with readers who will acts as literary patrons. The project was trialled in 2015 with support from Arts Council England.

This funding will "significantly increase" Dead Ink’s publishing schedule and provide the press with "considerable" organisational development, the publisher said. The funding will see the press undergo a complete branding overhaul accompanied by a new website with a bespoke crowdfunding platform.

As part of the activity the press will be hosting a special authors’ boot camp aimed at providing new authors with "invaluable training, guidance and practical skills to assist them in establishing their emerging careers".

As well as debut authors, the project will publish SJ Bradley’s second novel, Guest. Her debut, Brick Mother, was published by Dead Ink in 2014. The press will also be publishing Harry Gallon’s second novel, Every Fox is a Rabid Fox. His debut, The Shapes of Dogs’ Eyes, was published during 2015's Publishing the Underground pilot.

This funding is in addition to the support received for the Northern Fiction Alliance, a cohort assembled to showcase the output of northern indie presses to the international market.

Nathan Connolly, director of Dead Ink, said: “This grant comes at an important time for Dead Ink; it gives us the ability to advance with our long-term plans and support more emerging authors. We’re a growing and ambitious press and, along with the Northern Fiction Alliance, we hope to be able to show that this is a great time for independent publishers. We’re very excited about the future.”