Award winning Edinburgh book publisher 404 Ink announces it is closing down

404 Ink announced on their website that they will close in summer 2026 as “over the years the costs and obstacles in independent publishing have increased significantly.”

The publisher is run by Laura Jones-Rivera and Heather McDaid who started their venture in 2016 fresh out of university.

404 Ink duo Heather McDaid (left) and Laura Jones (right) | contributed

404 Ink is known for publishing alternative literary works. Some notable publications are Hings by Chris McQueer, the Inklings series and Nasty Women, a collection of feminist essays which Margaret Atwood called "Essential".

In the statement published to the website the team say 404 Ink was and is “a labour of love” and both Laura and Heather were not making much profit from the business: “mostly unpaid to the two of us, who are no longer the scrappy upstart graduates, and have different, bigger responsibilities than our younger selves.”

They go on to say that this is becoming a common issue in the publishing industry: “We have also seen many publishers come and go over this time - some burning out in these conditions until they can no longer continue, others stepping back not-so-ethically and leaving their authors in the lurch. We felt the best service we could do, to ourselves, our authors, and the legacy of 404 Ink, is to go out while on top, following our biggest year ever, and on our own terms.”

For fans of the Inklings list independent publisher Saraband will be taking a significant portion forward and will continue to distribute a small selection of 404 Inks main titles.

The duo have said they will continue to be involved in the publishing industry as Laura will be starting a PhD in Publishing Studies at the University of Stirling this October and Heather will continue her role as Publishing and Campaigns Manager for the Terry Pratchett Estate.