Sidekick Press

Sidekick Press Guiding authors through their publishing journey.

👉TONIGHT!Two women. One book. A thousand reasons to hope.Join Martha Bray & Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy for an intimate con...
09/12/2025

👉TONIGHT!
Two women. One book. A thousand reasons to hope.
Join Martha Bray & Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy for an intimate conversation about loss, love, and starting over. Fri, Sept 12 • 6PM • Village Books (Readings Gallery).
Free, limited seating. Come early; bring tissues and your best friend. 💛

Sometimes the heart breaks open so the light can get in. 💔➡️❤️👉Save the Date!This Friday (Sept 12) at 6PM, meet Martha B...
09/08/2025

Sometimes the heart breaks open so the light can get in. 💔➡️❤️
👉Save the Date!
This Friday (Sept 12) at 6PM, meet Martha Bray & Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy in the Readings Gallery at Village Books as they share Tragedy to Triumph: Rebuilding a Traumatized Heart.
✨ Free event — limited seating • 📍 Bellingham
RSVP, bring a friend, come early.

✨📚 NEW BOOK RELEASE! 📚✨Bellingham’s own Kevin Murphy has been delighting audiences with his poetry of subversive whimsy ...
09/05/2025

✨📚 NEW BOOK RELEASE! 📚✨

Bellingham’s own Kevin Murphy has been delighting audiences with his poetry of subversive whimsy for over 45 years. Whether performing with guitar, percussion, or simply the music of his words, Kevin has built a legacy as one of our region’s most beloved poets.

He’s the author of A Beautiful Chaos Demands Energy (2007), and has released two CDs of poetry: Between Onions and Oxygen (2002) and The Bird of Pure Midnight (2015). He’s poet-in-residence at the Chuckanut Radio Hour, and a proud winner of the Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award.

And now… his newest collection is here:
🌟 The Last Normal Year 🌟
A book that captures the humor, heartbreak, and hard-won wisdom of our changing times.

Kevin was born in Germany, raised in upstate New York, and has called Bellingham home since 1979, where he lives with his wife, Jeannie Gray.

👉 Help us celebrate this incredible new release! Pick up your copy of The Last Normal Year at your favorite indie bookstore (Village Books has you covered!) and join in honoring a poet who continues to make the Northwest sing with wit, wonder, and truth.

💔➡️❤️ From Tragedy to Triumph.Join us in the Readings Gallery as Martha Bray and Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy share their ne...
09/02/2025

💔➡️❤️ From Tragedy to Triumph.

Join us in the Readings Gallery as Martha Bray and Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy share their newest book, Tragedy to Triumph: Rebuilding a Traumatized Heart.

📅 Friday, September 12, 2025
🕕 6:00–7:00 PM
📍 Village Books | 1200 11th St, Bellingham

Martha’s story begins in the wreckage of devastating loss, but moves through humor, resilience, and even pickleball into a new chapter of life and love. With Cheryl’s expert storytelling, the journey is raw, funny, and deeply inspiring.

✨ Don’t miss this evening of truth, healing, and hope.
👉 Reserve your seat at www.villagebooks.com

✨ Tonight’s the night! ✨We’re excited to welcome local author S.W. Lawrence to Village Books for the launch of Cloud Dra...
08/30/2025

✨ Tonight’s the night! ✨

We’re excited to welcome local author S.W. Lawrence to Village Books for the launch of Cloud Dragon: Conspiracy, Contagion, and Catastrophe.

📅 Saturday, August 30, 2025
🕕 6:00–7:00 PM
📍 Village Books, Readings Gallery – Bellingham, WA

A gripping climate-fiction story of energy systems, mysterious infections, and resilience in the face of threats both human and natural.

👋 Grab a seat and join us for an evening of conversation, community, and storytelling. See you there!

🌎✨ Author Event at Village Books! ✨🌎Join us in the Readings Gallery as we welcome local writer S.W. Lawrence for the lau...
08/28/2025

🌎✨ Author Event at Village Books! ✨🌎

Join us in the Readings Gallery as we welcome local writer S.W. Lawrence for the launch of his newest climate-fiction novel, Cloud Dragon: Conspiracy, Contagion, and Catastrophe.

📅 Saturday, August 30, 2025
🕕 6:00–7:00 PM
📍 Village Books | 1200 11th St, Bellingham

This page-turning eco-thriller follows an engineering professor and an infectious disease specialist as they uncover threats to the electric grid and strange new infections—while raising their daughter at the Dragonfly Inn.

📖 Reserve your seat at www.villagebooks.com
Don’t miss an evening of conversation, community, and a story that feels closer to reality than fiction.

"Every author you admire once sat there thinking, ‘This is terrible.’ And then? They kept going. Keep going." 💪✏️
08/16/2025

"Every author you admire once sat there thinking, ‘This is terrible.’ And then? They kept going. Keep going." 💪✏️

✍🏻Why We Do This"Stories are how we leave footprints that outlast us. What will yours say?" 🌿📖
08/14/2025

✍🏻Why We Do This
"Stories are how we leave footprints that outlast us. What will yours say?" 🌿📖

The Publisher:Hi there! I’m Lisa 👋Originally from Montana, I now live by the ocean in Bellingham, Washington, but I retu...
08/12/2025

The Publisher:
Hi there! I’m Lisa 👋
Originally from Montana, I now live by the ocean in Bellingham, Washington, but I return to the mountains every summer for my annual Big Sky fix.
The Press:
Sidekick Press is a hybrid publishing company dedicated to guiding authors through their publishing journey. We work with you in every phase—editing, production, marketing, and promotion.

Your voice is a creative force.It doesn’t have to be perfect.It just has to be yours.📣 At Sidekick Press, we publish aut...
08/10/2025

Your voice is a creative force.
It doesn’t have to be perfect.
It just has to be yours.

📣 At Sidekick Press, we publish authors who create with courage and clarity—on their terms.
Let’s make something the world hasn’t heard before.
🎯 https://www.sidekickpress.com/

🐱 It’s  , and we just want to say:Writers, be like cats.✨ Nap unapologetically.✨ Stare out windows for inspiration.✨ Kno...
08/08/2025

🐱 It’s , and we just want to say:

Writers, be like cats.
✨ Nap unapologetically.
✨ Stare out windows for inspiration.
✨ Knock perfectionism off the table.
✨ Create with quiet confidence.

At Sidekick Press, we celebrate bold stories, soft paws, and sharp claws.
Got a book idea that's clawing to get out?
Let’s make it happen.
https://www.sidekickpress.com/

Feeling stuck? Blocked? Discouraged?Here’s your nudge:✨ Make art anyway.Write the thing.Paint the mess.Plot the story yo...
08/06/2025

Feeling stuck? Blocked? Discouraged?

Here’s your nudge:
✨ Make art anyway.
Write the thing.
Paint the mess.
Plot the story you’re scared of.

Sidekick Press believes in creativity without compromise.
We’ll meet you on the other side—with a publishing plan that honors your voice and vision.
https://www.sidekickpress.com/

Address

2950 Newmarket Street, Suite 101/329
Bellingham, WA

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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Taking the Long Way Around

My journey into publishing started more than twenty years ago when I was a technical writer for database report writing software. My company blossomed during the dot com boom from four to more than fifty employees. We had teams translators who converted our words into French, German, Portuguese, and Japanese.

When it came to printing, however, Japanese took the longest time as each word had to be manually typeset. Digital files were simply too large due to the complexity of Japanese characters. But through trial and error, I found a way to compress the files and reduce the printing time by four months and print Japanese directly from digital files—something that had never been done before. I flew from Bellingham to Toronto to oversee the production where I fell even more in love with process of creating a book.

Though I’ve been a lifelong writer and reader, I always knew that someday I’d write books. When that opportunity arrived, I was astounded at the myriad of choices authors have when it comes to publishing. I also noticed that many authors struggled to find representation and were turning to independent publishing, which presented a whole new learning curve—which not all authors want to do.

I worked for an independent publisher for several months learning about best practices for helping authors reach their publishing dreams before taking over the company in 2020. And I’m happy to report, I love the return to being a part of the publishing process.