Let's talk about our relationship.

You're an independent author with a passion, trying to bring your book to life. We're a small group of passionate book nerds in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and we want readers to love your work. 

There are about 1,000 different ways to publish a book, and you just want someone to help you figure it out. We've published over 1,000 books since 1998, and we're very good at helping authors find the right path.

You need someone to listen, grasp what you're trying to achieve, and be clear about what it takes to do this right. You're not looking for razzle-dazzle, empty hype, gushing bots, or fake momentum. We run on human interaction, judgment calls, tough love, and hard truth. You'll find no glamour shots on our website because this company is not about us, it's about the books. (Remember, we're nerds. But if you want to assume we're all smoking hot, that's okay.) We're just here to do the work we love.

That much we know for sure. The rest of it is a beautiful mystery, because if we've learned anything in the past umpteen years, it's that no two authors and no two books are the same. That's what makes this work so interesting. That's why we can't wait to get to know YOU.

Why Beaver's Pond Press?

 (If our tony St. Paul, Minnesota location isn't reason enough.)

  • You found us.

    We did not find you.


    We did not spam you, send you a mailing, or blare bogus get-rich-quick propaganda in a TV commercial while you watched the news. We didn't trick you onto our site with clickbait or fake paid search results. We don't advertise.


    We let our reputation do the talking.

  • We are relationship focused.

    We’re choosy about the quality and the number of projects we take on, meaning we care about our authors, and that makes all the difference. At Beaver’s Pond Press, you’re more than an ISBN number and you aren’t shuffled from department to department. You’re paired with a project manager who stays by your side from beginning to end serving as your general contractor, your midwife, your story’s biggest fan.


    We know that the best books are created when all parties are invested in its success. Our relationship matters.

  • We provide a dignified process.

    Maybe you’ve waited months or years for a reply to your query when scaling the brick wall of traditional publishing. Maybe you’re done with wading through the vast swamplands of self-publishing advice and services. Maybe you’re weary of sorting through Craigslist freelancers with your fingers crossed. Maybe you just know exactly what you want and are ready to make it happen.


    We’re something different. We care about books, authors, and our publishing community, and even if we’re not the right fit, we’ll recommend decent solutions for your project. Reach out and we’ll reply promptly and respectfully.

  • Our books are high quality.

    Your book bears your name and can live on long after you’re gone, and we want you to be proud of your creation. Your book also bears our name and we want everyone who reads it to know that we are obsessed with quality. That’s why there are no formulas or templates here. Your book gets as much—or as little—editing as we mutually decide that it requires. You collaborate with our designers to produce a customized design from front to back. Every person that works on your book is both an artist and a professional, and our printers are outstanding.


    After over twenty years in business and more than 1,000 books, we know what we’re doing.

  • Our process is heart-centered, but business-minded.

    Writing is a creative endeavor, but publishing means turning your art into a small business. We offer experienced mentorship to transform you into an authorpreneur and we provide infrastructure for your book to ultimately sustain itself. You pay us for guidance and production. The creative control, profits, and copyright are fully yours.


    Our fulfillment includes traditional distribution channels like Ingram, Brodart, Follett, and Mackin, as well as Amazon and other specialty wholesalers, making your book available to a broad mix of individual buyers, libraries, schools, online retailers, and brick-and-mortar stores. You may also keep any quantity of books you need for your personal distribution purposes—maybe some, maybe all, depending on your readership.

  • We provide realistic pricing.

    You didn’t come here for a formula-based solution. You came for the services you need for the best book possible. Your book is unique, and your pricing will be, too. We first need to see your manuscript to ascertain whether it’s in alignment with our company’s vocation and can fit into our schedule. If so, we meet with you to explain our process and to learn about your journey and goals. We then create a personalized cost estimate. We pride ourselves in sticking to those numbers so there are no surprises halfway through the project. You’ll be fully (and freely) educated about your options, pricing, and timeline before we start working together.

  • We promise an enjoyable experience.

    We should mention that you’re going to love this. As an independent author, you’re the captain and we’re here to navigate your journey. Our collaborative process and TLC makes for a wonderful publishing experience and a splendid book. Our authors typically stay connected long after their first printing, and we look forward to developing a long-lasting relationship with you!

  • This is our vocation.

    Our calling is to help you follow yours.


    Our hybrid publishing company was founded with the belief that quality manuscripts deserve to be on bookshelves, and passionate authors belong in a place that feels like home.


    At Beaver’s Pond Press, we support a diversity of voices and have been turning interesting people into independent authors since 1998. We’re choosy about the projects we take on because we’re a small company and put a lot of care into our work. If you’ve created something that will bring joy, ease suffering, shine a light in the darkness—or will in some way be useful, hopeful, cathartic, beautiful, or all of the above—we want to publish it.

  • We are human beings.

    This is no small thing. 


    Your book was written by a human, it will be read by humans, and it should be published by humans. We're not anti-tech, we’re just pro-human. Here, you will interact with human beings using human artistry, human craft, and human sense. We will converse together (sometimes with Minnesota accents) and we will share ideas with each other. We may even do this in the same room if it's handy for you to come to our office in St. Paul. 


    In this Pond we prefer wabi-sabi to uncanny valley. If you know, you know. If you don’t know, ask us—we love these conversations! (And we don’t hate em dashes. But that’s a whole other convo.)


  • You'll never hear from us again.

    If you contact us and we like your project, we'll reach out to set up a meeting. After our meeting, we'll put together an estimate for you to ponder.


    If you aren't interested, that's the end of it.


    We will not call you. We will not spam or harass you. We don't put on the hard sell, the upsell, the soft sell—any sell. We aren't interested in that kind of relationship because it is hinky, icky, and smarmy. We can't stand it when other businesses do that to us, and we have a strong Golden Rule vibe here.

Milt "Beaver" Adams just couldn't retire.

He was a people person with lots of energy and ideas, and relaxing didn't come naturally, which is why everybody called him Beaver. Busy, busy, busy, he loved to be useful. Plus, the teeth. So when a friend of his complained about struggling to get published, Beaver came up with a plan. Always very connected, Beaver tapped his network for printers, editors, proofreaders, illustrators, and designers and put together a new kind of publishing company, which he dubbed "the mentoring press."

His hybrid of royalty and vanity models meant that the authors would fully own their books, and the books would be actually worth owning. Beaver spent the rest of his life perfecting this vision, and worked right up to his final months, getting more done in his "retirement" than most people achieve in a lifetime.

Beaver liked to say that acid rain could destroy his tombstone, but not his books—his books would go on forever. Whenever he said that (oh, once a week) we'd get a mental image of books being left out in acid rain. They wouldn't last two minutes! But we know what he meant, because we feel it, too. Mentoring authors and publishing books is the best kind of work there is, and it's making us all live longer and better, just to be a part of it.

Beaver left The Pond November 18, 2012, and we miss him every day. But we're all very sure that wherever he is now, he's busy, busy, busy doing something absolutely awesome.