Ark Press Sets Sail

Editor D.J. Butler hosted an X Space recently to explain the launch.

News broke earlier this week that Ark Press had inked a few deals with sci-fi powerhouses Larry Correia and Travis Corcoran, which immediately prompted the question: who the heck is Ark Press?

You could be forgiven for asking because they’re very new and are just starting to make their presence known online. Unlike a lot of Internet sensations, it seems they’ve done more of the behind-the-scenes work first, including the securement of investors, hiring experienced talent, and drafting a business model. According to Correia’s Facebook page, Butler even left his post at Baen to spearhead this new operation.

Butler’s X Space, which ran for a little over an hour, was a nice casual rundown of what the press is after and what they’re looking to accomplish in their first year. You can replay the Space through this link, provided it stays up. In the event that it disappears, here are a few particulars to note, though some may be subject to change:

Main Interest

Ark Press is aiming at the largely underserved male audience, so that’ll be their main focus for protagonists and readers. Butler emphasized sci-fi, fantasy, historical, and thrillers, among other genres. The press isn’t worried about publishing romance, that sector has plenty of attention.

There’s also a special interest in westerns. This is a tricky genre to get right, as there are fewer readers in it, and it’s primarily dominated today by William Johnstone. Western readers of yesteryear are notoriously picky about accurate historical details, so it’ll be interesting to see what Ark wants to publish there for the 21st century.

Ark’s tagline right now is “The Humans Win In The End.” Personally I appreciated Butler specifically calling out grimdark during the X Space, saying he has no interest in it or what it has to say.

Word Count/Book Length

It sounds like on the low end they’re looking for 90k or so, and they’re not huge fans of the “deforestation fantasy” books that have become a meme in the genre. (Or in the case of Brandon Sanderson, a suicide pact.)

Nevertheless, with the right project and creator—again, Butler highlighted an example on the call—they’ll consider an exception, like a 230k-word historical piece.

Agented/Independent?

They’ll take both types of authors, which is great for all of us!

Previously Published

If it was with another press and the rights reverted, that’s one thing. If you self-pubbed it and you want to republish it with Ark, that’s a different animal, and the answer is probably no.

Kindle Unlimited?

Ryan English asked whether Ark had plans to publish via Kindle Unlimited, which has a unique business model, and Butler said they haven’t made a decision one way or the other just yet, but they will soon.

Further Updates

If you’re on X, following D.J. Butler seems like the most obvious place to start, though Ark Press also has their own handle. The website has a signup for their newsletter if you don’t want to use yet another social media account.

This is exciting for writers and readers alike. 2024 was heavy with articles and videos from indie writers and spec-fic readers who stressed the lack of books aimed at The Boys. It’s nice to see interested parties collaborating to pursue this audience and give us what we’re after.

As for submissions, they want proposals in the range of 1500 to 2500 words, and you can email him at the address he posted here. Butler also provided a link to his Discord server for those interested.

I’ll post more information as it becomes relevant. See you soon.