Laura Jones-Rivera is remembering a moment where she had to interrupt her business partner’s maternity leave. Heather McDaid, who co-founded small publishing house 404 Ink with Jones-Rivera in 2016, had given birth a few days earlier. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t checking her emails. But a message arrived from Scottish actors Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson. ‘They wanted us to publish their book,’ recalls Jones-Rivera. ‘I thought maybe it was a troll, some kind of hoax or spam. I said to Heather “you really need to read this.”’

The email led to 404 Ink publishing Victor & Barry’s Kelvinside Compendium: A Meander Down Memory Close about their treasured 1980s comedy duo. ‘It’s so different from anything we’ve published before, but when that opportunity lands, you take it,’ says Jones-Rivera. ‘Some people associate us with social-justice publications, or maybe feminist books because of our first book [the essay collection] Nasty Women. Actually, the decision is made on the book alone. We don’t see ourselves as activist publishers. We’re conscious of not repeating ourselves. We were a tad nervous about working with a Hollywood celebrity, but no, we’re not selling out. It was one of the hardest projects, but Forbes and Alan were consummate professionals. They know how to bow to expertise; the whole experience was so refreshing.’

That book created a career highlight for McDaid and Jones-Rivera. ‘Doing a launch event for the book in the Royal Concert Hall last year was a pinch me moment: Heather and I introducing Kirsty Wark and Alan and Forbes, in front of a sold out 2000-seater audience. Bearing in mind we had an audience of maybe 20 at our first event at the Bongo Club in Edinburgh, this was definitely an awesome moment of “oh! We made this happen!”’ 

In the eight years that 404 Ink have been operating, they’ve published books on music (see Arusa Qureshi’s Flip The Script: How Women Came To Rule Hip Hop) and pop culture (Casci Ritchie wrote about Prince’s fashion and Emily Garside explored Schitt’s Creek’s impact on queer culture) as well as poetry, fiction and memoir. Their hard toil was rewarded when named Scottish Small Press Of The Year at the 2024 British Book Awards. Jones-Rivera explains their selection process: ‘we go by vibes. In the first few pages, we know. Take Genevieve Jagger’s Fragile Animals. Heather and I read it separately, both loved it and went “let’s put in an offer.” But sometimes it’s not quite right, or we feel we’ve covered it already. As much as we love doing zeitgeisty, relevant, important issues like BLM or trans justice, we don’t have a checklist. And while some publishers only take on authors with a big social-media following, for us that doesn’t matter.’

On the 2025 roster is queer anthology Fierce Salvage, featuring the likes of Mae Diansangu, Colin Herd, Ely Percy, and Hannah Nicholson. That book is the result of the Queer Words mentoring project to support emerging writers. In March, Carrie Marshall follows her 2023 memoir Carrie Kills with Small Town Joy: From Glam Rock To Hyperpop – How Queer Music Changed The Sound Of Scotland.

But Jones-Rivera and McDaid’s year kicks off with an event chaired by Saltire-shortlisted author Heather Parry during Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Winter Words (a festival now run by a certain Mr A Cumming), where the pair will be in conversation with Edwin Morgan Prize-winning author Titilayo Farukuoye. They’ll discuss the ‘blessing and curse’ of running a small publishing house in 2025. ‘Cash flow in publishing is a nightmare,’ says Jones-Rivera. ‘Funding issues for Scottish publishing are also coming to a head. It’s a labour of love; sometimes the love comes and goes,’ she deadpans. ‘We’ll talk about all that, but also it’s a celebration. Even in the face of all these difficulties, we still make art.’

Laura Jones-Rivera and Heather McDaid appear at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Friday 21 February, as part of Winter Words; main picture: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.