Introducing Blue Poppy Publishing.
So, last year, 2016, I finally finished my first full novel. I set up a crowdfunding campaign to pay for a professional edit, cover design, and printing. When the money hit my account I went a bit crazy and spent it all and then some trying to produce a really good product. I hope the seventy-plus backers were very pleased with it. I know I was.
Part of publishing that book ended up with me creating an imprint; Blue Poppy Publishing. I say imprint because it could certainly not lay any claim to being a company. It still isn’t; but more of that in future posts.
Why “Blue Poppy”?
I asked my online friends for name suggestions, but it was my son Morton, who suggested the name. It relates to my grandfather, Frank Kingdon-Ward, who was an explorer and botanist. “The Last of the Great Plant Hunters” was the first person to bring back viable seed of Meconopsis betonicifolia, the Himalayan Blue Poppy.
Hence the name.
So what is Blue Poppy Publishing then?
Can we call it BPP for brevity?
It is a very small publisher with absolutely no money, but a big heart and a growing wealth of understanding about the world of self publishing.
We (yes, I can call it “we” now because with the addition of Ben Blake it is no longer just me) are not pretending we know everything, but we are continually learning, and looking for ways to put that experience to good use for ourselves, and others.
We still don’t have any money, but 2017 is the year we will start to change that, in very small ways at first, but building on it.