Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to work with fancreators to publish their original work. We are particularly dedicated to working with queer authors and artists to publish stories featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. We were founded in January 2021.
Currently, we are developing our business and developing collaborative relationships with fancreators. We’re also growing our ability to distribute and disseminate the works we publish. We’ll be aiming to publish two anthologies in 2023 and as many as five in 2024, and we are growing our catalog of short stories and novels. You can see our exact status – what we’re working on right now, by visiting our Trello!
Long term, we’re aiming will operate as a cooperative multi-genre publisher. Members of the cooperative will provide services such as editing, copy-editing, formatting, and art to other members of the cooperative. Operating as a cooperative will enable us to leverage our diverse skills, publish high-quality books at a low cost, and maximize the percentage of each sale that we can pay forward directly to authors.
Learn More About Duck Prints Press
- A Message From Our Founders
- Testimonials from Duck Prints Press Contributors
- A History of Success
- History
- Press Kit
- FAQ
- Creators We Work With
- Management Team
- Get to Know Dux
- Upcoming Events
- Our Supporters
- Contact, Support, and Follow Us
- Accessibility Statement
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
A Message From Our Founders
The goal of this Press has always been to find a bunch of fandom folks who write fanfiction (and who make fanart and create other types of fanmedia, but the original vision was fanfiction-specific), and who, like us, want to publish original work too. For me personally, the reason I wanted to go a small press route was mental health – I knew running the gauntlet of traditional publishing rejection letters would absolutely destroy my clinically depressed brain, and I hated that it was considered a rite of passage/necessary hazing to do that, and to be able to do that, in order to be a successful author. I wanted to create a place where people who, like me, want to write original fiction, and who, like me, have existing followings for our fanfiction – a place where we could leverage our existing skills and followings to help make all of our dreams a reality. That’s the core goal: to get us to a point where a lot of Press management matters are handled collaboratively/through barter. Obviously, there’ll never be a point where everything can be bartered (for example, I anticipate the Press will pay for cover art for a long time to come), but the core idea is that we do a lot as exchange – I edit for you, you type set for me, we all market for each other, etc.
The plan has always been to do a few anthologies to develop a group of people interested to work with us, then spread out from there. Implementation/company development-wise, that’s where we are right now: we have our first 4 anthologies and a few short stories published, the Press has garnered some attention and momentum, and now is the time to spread out and do other projects and also start relying more on the collaborative aspect.
The key to keep in mind about where Duck Prints Press is going long-term is: publishing is never going to be something we’ll be able to just “do for you.” We can’t implement a “if we build it, folks will come for your stuff” model, at least not now, but probably not long-term either. It’s better to think of Duck Prints Press as a bunch of people who might, otherwise, be doing self-pub, instead banding together to use all our skills and all our resources and all our personal readerships to try to build us up as a group.
We hope you’ll consider joining us for this journey as Duck Prints Press grows!
Testimonials from Duck Prints Press Contributors
We asked contributors to the Press to offer testimonials about their experiences. This was voluntary and we offered no consideration in exchange. They are presented unedited and unabridged, and contributors had the option to submit anonymously. Read what they said!
The press has enabled me to get my original work out there for the first time in years. It’s a delight to work with fellow fan creators.
–Vee Sloane, author contributor to “He Bears the Cape of Stars” and “And Seek (Not) to Alter Me“
Being part of a Press which prioritizes and uplifts queer voices, like mine, is a liberating experience. It’s a privilege to work with my fellow authors and editors to bring great stories to life and to share them with our readers.
–boneturtle, Press editor and author of five short stories, a novelette, and a contributor to “She Wears the Midnight Crown“
Working with Duck Prints Press has been so helpful in making the shift from writing fanworks to writing original fiction. The editors are familiar with the differences in audience expectations in both realms and really help an author work on bridging that gap. The community fostered among the writers, editors, artists, et al. is incredibly supportive as well. 10/10 would recommend!
–D. V. Morse, author of two short stories and contributor to “Aim For The Heart”
Duck Prints Press helped me achieve my life goal of becoming a published author. The leadership team is friendly, the authors behind-the-scenes are great to bounce ideas off of, and there are a TON of opportunities to get involved. If you’re a fan creator who has an original fic idea, be sure not to miss them!
-anonymous
Working with DPP has been a deeply rewarding experience. Their expectations and rules are clear, and they solve every problem with understanding and empathy. The DPP editors have taught me so much: grammar and punctuation rules I didn’t know about, how to better add tension to action scenes, and especially the sheer amount of work needed to polish a story to a professional standard. It has been a challenge at times, but I feel this has made me grow as a writer and I’m definitely planning to keep working with DPP in the future.
-D. A. Hernández, author contributor to “She Wears the Midnight Crown,” “Aim For The Heart,” and “Aether Beyond the Binary.”
I love working with the staff at Duck Prints Press. Quick responses from real people – no form letters or genericized responses, but approachable members of the team. Being able to talk with other writers makes me feel like I’m not just a cog in a publishing machine but part of the press and a genuine community for creating diverse and queer stories. The editing is top-notch, clear, and the editors take time to explain what the issues are if I have questions; if there’s anything causing a delay (on their end or on mine), we’ve always been able to resolve it with clear communication. Duck Prints isn’t just a press – it’s the people in it, too.
–Dei Walker, author of three short stories
A History of Success
We have a proven track record for successfully funding our projects, completing fulfillment within our stated timeline, and delivering the high-quality books and merchandise we say we will. Here is an overview of our past projects; you can read about each more in depth at the links provided. They are listed in reverse chronological order.
Projects pending fulfillment
Hockey Bois by A. L. Heard
Status: funding open until December 10th, 2023
Many Drops Make a Stream by Adrian Harley
Status: project funded, will be fulfilled December 2023
To Drive the Hundred Miles by Alec J. Marsh
Launch Date: October 5, 2023
End Date: October 20, 2023
Funding Raised: $2,098
Fulfillment Date: December, 2023
Abbreviated Description: Author Alec J. Marsh describes his novel To Drive the Hundred Miles as a Hallmark movie made queer. With a trans male protagonist and an immersive first-person point of view, this novella will draw you in and hold your attention from start to finish. Join Will as he struggles with his family’s acceptance of him, and as he struggles with his own acceptance of the potentially bright future offered to him by the cute barista Bea. Ringing in the season with lows and highs, a whole lot of coffee and pancakes, and a modest dollop of spicy f/m content, you won’t want to miss your chance to get this touching book—now available as a gorgeous trade paperback for the first time ever!
Links: this campaign on dpp.com
Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers
Launch Date: June 15, 2023
End Date: July 15, 2023
Funding Raised: $10,299
Fulfillment Date: November, 2023
Abbreviated Description: You’ve heard “All For One!”; now get ready for “One For All!” Duck Prints Press is thrilled to bring a whole new meaning to the Musketeers’ famous slogan in one inclusive book with a little bit of something for everyone: Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers.” For this collection, we recruited 20 authors and 16 artists who love Athos, Porthos, Aramis, d’Artagnan, Milady, Madame Bonacieux, and the whole gang from Dumas’s wonderful historical melodrama. These creators’ mission was simple: take this long-adored story and make it queer! The result is an amazing collection of works exploring the nuances of these characters, delving into issues of identity, gender, and sexuality—telling and retelling a story we all know and love.
Links: this campaign on Kickstarter | dpp.com project webpage
Eerie Animal Enamel Pins by Aceriee
Launch Date: October 28, 2022
End Date: November 27, 2022
Funding Raised: $2,377
Fulfillment Date: March, 2023
Abbreviated Description: Fall is the season of spook. Get your Autumn on—literally!—by donning one (or more!) of our eerie animal enamel pins! These realistically rendered, gorgeous pins feature different animals indigenous to northern areas of North America and Europe surrounded by elements of their natural habitats.
Links: this campaign on Kickstarter | eerie animal pins for sale on dpp.com
He Bears the Cape of Stars and She Wears the Midnight Crown
Launch Date: June 15, 2022
End Date: July 15, 2022
Funding Raised: $13,748
Fulfillment Date: January, 2023
Abbreviated Description: Welcome to Duck Prints Press’s newest project: two anthologies, entitled She Wears the Midnight Crown and He Bears the Cape of Stars, that explore wlw and mlm relationships developing, growing, and changing while the characters attend or participate in masquerades!
Links: this campaign on Seed & Spark | dpp.com project webpage | HBCS and SWMC as e-books on dpp.com | HBCS and SWMC print books on dpp.com | all merch listings related to HBCS and SWMC
And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing
Launch Date: March 15, 2022
End Date: April 14, 2022
Funding Raised: $14,914
Fulfillment Date: August, 2022
Abbreviated Description: In And Seek (Not) to Alter Me, 16 authors and 16 artists have come together to create an exquisite, full-color collection of artwork and stories inspired by William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing. We encouraged contributors to stretch their imaginations, think outside the box, and put their own unique—and queer—twist on Benedick, Beatrice, Hero, Claudio, Don Pedro, and the whole gang! In true Shakespearean fashion, our creators utilize gender, sexuality, romanticism, and a host of costume changes to tell unique stories—some featuring original characters, some characters from the play—that show Shakespeare’s work in a whole new light.
Links: this campaign on Kickstarter | dpp.com project webpage | e-book on DPP.com | print book on DPP.com | all merch listings related to this project on DPP.com
Add Magic to Taste: A Spellbinding (and Scrumptious!) Collection of Heartwarming Queer Stories
Launch Date: July 15, 2021
End Date: August 14, 2021
Funding Raised: $25,808
Fulfillment Date: October 2021
Abbreviated Description: For Add Magic to Taste, 20 authors have come together to produce new, original short stories uniting four of our absolute favorite themes: queer relationships, fluff, magic, and coffee shops! Our diverse writers have created an even more diverse collection of stories guaranteed to sweeten your coffee and warm your tart.
Links: this campaign on Kickstarter | dpp.com project webpage | this book’s shop listing on DPP.com | all merch listings related to this project on DPP.com
A Glimmer of Hope by Nina Waters
Launch Date: October 1, 2016
End Date: October 31, 2016
Funding Raised: $2,531
Status: Successfully Funded
Fulfillment Date: December 2016
Abbreviated Description: My name is Claire Houck, pen name Nina Waters, and I write online under the username unforth. I have extensive experience writing stories, completing projects, and working to deadlines. What I do NOT have…is a published book! The purpose of this Kickstarter is to change that! A Glimmer of Hope is a completely new, original work of fiction by yours truly!
This is the first Kickstarter that I ran, on my personal Kickstarter account, before the Press formed.
Links: this campaign on Kickstarter | this book’s shop listing on DPP.com
History
Duck Prints Press started as a brainstorm between Claire Houck (the owner) and her friend Burdock during the summer of 2015. Claire reflected on how many skilled authors she’d met in fandom circles and how they could be an excellent audience for approaching to work with on original publications. Before then, Burdock had edited a couple anthologies independently, aiming specifically to find new and/or young and/or unknown authors and incorporate them into projects; Claire wrote for three of those anthologies. That summer, Burdock mentioned to Claire that they wanted to found a small press eventually, and Claire grabbed that ball and ran like crazy with it. However, life went a bit sideways after that, and by the time Claire and Burdock both came back up for air, Burdock had moved, gotten a new relationship and a new job, changed their gender and pronouns, and a few other things, and Claire also changed jobs, Kickstarted a stand-alone novel, had two kids, etc. By then, Burdock was no longer as interested and had moved to other stuff (they sell soap and have a lovely hobby farm and an equally lovely husband now!). Meanwhile, Claire still really really wanted to do launch a Press.
For Claire’s stand-alone novel A Glimmer of Hope, which Kickstarted in fall, 2016, Claire wanted an imprint to place on the spine, and that’s when Duck Prints Press was born. The name is an in-joke with Burdock and Claire; when in college together c. 2001, they would prank each other with jokes for Reasons, and so Claire knew the name had to involve ducks, and the pronunciation between Prince and Prints and the potential for a duck print as an icon solidified the concept into Duck Prints Press.
Around 2019, after several years of Press-related inactivity, Claire started moving more seriously to make the idea of a small Press into a reality. Claire asked around in my online social circles to see who would be most interested in helping, and ended up with the initial core team – Alessa, A. L. Heard, P. J. Claremore, and Adaille.
The management team did some serious planning right in August, 2019, but come that September it became clear the team wasn’t going to be able to make it happen quite yet (too many young children between us being one of the primary obstacles), and so the team put their planning on hiatus for a bit longer, blew the dust off everything in December, 2020, and Claire officially incorporated Duck Prints Press in January, 2021.
Since then, Duck Prints Press has expanded the management team as needed to do so – for example, when we decided to do And Seek (Not) to Alter Me, an anthology that included a large art component, we approached Pallas Perilous to see if they would be willing to help (and were very excited when they said yes), and when we felt we needed another “main member” and editor, we approached Lacey Hays, who we first met as a contributor to Add Magic to Taste.
We’ve been working very hard, and we look forward to growing this business over the years to come!