about

WHAT WE DO

  • We provide women who are self-publishing books with feminist value with free ISBNs
  • We facilitate networking between feminist authors/editors/illustrators, including those who wish to remain anonymous
  • We assist in promoting self-published feminist books using our social media pages
  • We will try to use our experience with self-publishing to help you find solutions to problems you encounter while self-publishing


WHAT WE DON'T DO
  • We don't charge you anything
  • We don't cover your printing costs
  • We don't handle distribution
WHO WE HELP
  • We give ISBNs to completed projects that we feel have feminist value.
WHY ISBNS?
  • ISBNs allow bookstores and public libraries to stock books. Buying a single ISBN costs $125. Each edition requires its own. You can save money by buying a bulk amount, but every ISBN is tied to a publisher. This can be a more conventional publisher, a publishing presence you come up with yourself (self-publishing), or a facilitated self-publisher. Facilitated self-publishers work with self-publishers on a paid or unpaid (in this case, it’s free!) basis to assist with some aspects of the process.
  • By operating as a facilitated self-publishing collective, we can offer free ISBNs to selected projects. This will make self-published books with feminist value easier to distribute and cut costs for women seeking to print and distribute their work. In addition, we are opening a registry that facilitates working with feminist artists and editors, and are happy to do our best to answer any questions feminist writers have about self-publishing their work.
  • Our hope is that free ISBNs will help to promote contemporary feminist book projects, make them easier to purchase from a store or check out of a library, and serve to connect the women who create them.
Get involved
  • Follow and share from our social media pages, where we’ll be promoting feminist book projects.
  • There is not a need for financial support at this time. With assistance, we were able to purchase a pack of 100 ISBNs, which we anticipate will last a long time.
  • Do you illustrate covers, fiction books, etc? You can join our illustrator registry so that self-publishing feminists can work with a feminist illustrator. Indicate what type of graphic design/illustration/etc and some kind of price structure so that women reaching out to you have an idea of cost and of what you do. If you want to do so anonymously, that’s fine, but please submit a contact email where you can be reached and a couple examples of your work.
  • Do you edit? You can join our editor registry so that self-publishing feminists can work with a feminist editor. Indicate what type of work you edit and some kind of price structure so that women reaching out to you have an idea of cost and of what you do. If you want to do so anonymously, that’s fine, but please submit a contact email where you can be reached and be ready to send out a couple examples of your work if someone contacts you to ask about your services.
  • Neither registries will be available publicly, given privacy concerns. They will consist of the contact information illustrators and editors provide (all are welcome to provide non-identifying contact information, such as an email address made specifically for this purpose). This information will be shared at our discretion with self-publishing writers who have already shared an original manuscript with Ugly Truths, have expressed an interest in your services, and have agreed not to share information from the registry. This will present a significant barrier to bad actors accessing it. We cannot guarantee that no bad actors will access it, though- which is why we encourage those with privacy concerns to provide non-identifying contact information.
Guidelines
  • We provide ISBNs for projects with feminist value, ie, those that advance the interests of women as a class. This can include political theory, nonfiction, comics, fiction, poetry, art books, and anything else you can think of. Our networking and marketing channels are varying iterations of radical/lesbian feminist. We view a broad range of work as compatible with this mission, not just the obvious (although the obvious is also welcome). If you aren’t sure whether your project fits this criteria, please show us!
  • If you’d like access to our feminist editor and artist lists but your project isn’t 100% complete, that’s totally fine! We still need to see a manuscript first so that we can confirm it fits with our mission and that you have a legitimate reason to look for artists and editors.
  • We provide ISBNs for completed projects, so when you send it to requesting an ISBN, it should be ready to publish. Unusual spelling, grammar, and structure are awesome if they’re a stylistic choice serving a function! If they don’t appear to serve a function, we might ask you to work with an editor before we give you an ISBN.