09/03/2026
Good Morning Gardeners,
I don’t post a lot online, truthfully I don’t speak much. Unless you manage to catch me in person at an event or I’m writing a few words in our newsletter. I’m more of an observer, it’s my job as an editor to do so. I’ve noticed some questions coming up more as our community grows, which makes sense. With that in mind, I want to have an open and honest conversation. Transparency builds loyalty. We attempt to be fair, honest, and nonjudgemental in all of our spaces. The topic at hand? Regenerative AI. Midnight Garden Publishing, our KC writing and art communities, and regarding some of the marketing and branding that Midnight Garden Publishing has been using. We have received a few emails in regards to regenerative Ai Art in our business marketing and to ensure transparency, I would like to address the ai elephant in the room.
When we decided to start this company it was with the intention of helping our author community as well as our own families. We are a women owned business with chronic illness and disabilities. We were at an impasse in our lives when we started the company, but knew if we didn’t begin this journey, the small amount of hope we had would wither and die. I was incredibly ill and looking at becoming jobless, increasing the possibility of worsening symptoms of that chronic illness. I was ready to look for work wherever it might exist. Instead, Mindy evoked courage in me, and we doubled down and planted seeds of hope during a dark time in our own lives as well as in our broken industry.
We began this company with a small investment from Mindy selling a couple of commercial scripts to a local business and rolled it into the license and start up costs. We are a boot strapped, grass roots company that has just made it through its first year and we, the owners, have invested what little money we have to keep showing up for our community to help provide resources, services, and bring authors and local artists together to create art. We keep our prices affordable to help fellow starving artists and authors afford their dreams of becoming published. All of the small percentage that the company gets off each contract goes to basic business expenses to keep the lights on. Mindy McVay has never taken a profit from this company and has worked diligently and consistently this last year to show up for the sub-contractors she has hired, myself being one of them, and to keep costs low for the clients she has been working alongside by offering small monthly editorial contracts that are easier to afford. We would like to assure you that we have a strong stance against ai in regards to our authors and the works that artists do for our authors. We want to remain hyper local to Kansas City authors and Artists and never use AI editing or illustrations for our authors or artists' works. As well, any of our local, for profit projects have only ever utilized real local artistry. Our editing house is also made up of real individuals that never utilize AI as a part of their process, from the beginning stages of the assessment to the end. Any dollar earned is earned by a real person for a real person.
We knew from the beginning that our current branding and marketing art would need a rebranding to custom art, but a business in the first year does not have access to capital loans and we currently can’t afford to pay a real artist what they are worth to replace our crap marketing and branding, yet. We didn’t feel it fair to request local talent without being able to pay for their services, time, and artistry. We are still strategizing on how to afford to pay an artist to rebrand our company and to get graphics that work for our company. We are working on learning how to ask for help from our community. So, we are turning to you, our community and asking if any of you have any creative suggestions or ideas on how we can shuck off our old branding on a zero dollar budget. If anyone has any questions, suggestions, or concerns we do welcome constructive feedback from our community. We seek honest conversation, with nonjudgmental intention, and fairness. You may message us here or email [email protected] . Thank you for all of your time and attention, and as I always say, keep looking for that silver lining. We will do our best to do the same as we continue to look for a way to dissolve AI in our branding and marketing.
Patricia L. Hartman, Editor in Chief with Midnight Garden Publishing
