The driving force behind this venture is storytelling. Micah and Newbear have wrapped countless
long days in the 9-to-5 grind dimming the lights to dig into story time with their respective
children—and then sneaking away to burn the midnight oil or getting up at some insane hour to
bang out a few hundred words of one of their own.
Bishop Bear is built on exploring and learning and sharing.
Exploring: a publishing world where you look at what’s behind door No. 2—or 200—and see what
other avenues exist to help writers find whitespace to break through. More than The Big Four or the
favored digital outlet du jour. Recognizing that “better” will forever be in the eye of the beholder,
Bishop Bear stands for different, for sure.
Learning: a fresh set of eyes on everything from thinking about writing to the writing itself to
editing manuscripts to publishing across mediums and then marketing your work. Applying
principles about building brands and selling products specifically to the stories of emerging
storytellers.
Sharing: an honest, unfiltered look at what we all learn (and can learn from!) as we explore
together—plus a peek behind the Wizard of Oz curtain from the authors whose books you fall in
love as they become enabled by the Bishop Bear platform. And not just the wins—we’ve already
learned a ton along every step of the way with our very first title.
Running parallel to all the feel-good fun from exploring, learning, and sharing: a healthy dose of
hunting for data, that, at the risk of oversimplifying everything, will allow writers to not have to just
give away large swaths of their earning potential. Or at least give them the perspective to make the
choice about exactly how much ownership they desire over the various steps of the process toward
becoming successful.
And that word—successful—is at the heart of everything we’re chasing. Its definition is as intimate
as the myriad stories out there to dissect and devour. As wildly different as the authors themselves.
And as wide open as the emerging storytellers who drive the emerging platforms we all interact
with to varying degrees from the comfort of the phones in our pockets.
By definition, Marketing is the actions taken to promote and sell products or services—includingeverything from conducting market research in the upfront stages
The inspiration for Braxton Barrett’s Beautiful Mind big board formally called out as such on page 141 of Heroin Highway—and the, “Thumbtacked mugshots neatly pressed into cork and all-caps dry erase marker in myriad colors intersected with a connecting yarn rainbow from top to bottom and left to right. Or right to left. Or both. Or all of the above.” observed in brain-hurting fashion by Tomas Trevino on the preceding pages—mandated a shoutout to Russell Crowe’s John Nash. It was also absolutely inspired by Jack Ryan—either Tom Clancy’s illuminating techno buildup on the page or Amazon Prime’s incisive interpretation on whatever screen you prefer. [Physical manifestation of your favorite title character’s case-building rabbit holed psychosis goes here.]
