Frequently asked questions
(For questions about our products and store, please visit our shipping and refund page.)
What Is This?
Penny Magic Press is a small press focusing on delightful stories of literary and speculative fiction. We publish original and classic books, short stories, and other bite-sized tales. We also house a small (but growing) collection of free stories on our website. Oh, and there’s a podcast too.
WHO ARE YOU?
Penny Magic Press is the pet project of Matt and Natalie Mills, a husband and wife who live and work in Chicago, but spend many of their imaginative hours elsewhere.
WHAT DOES YOUR NAME MEAN?
Mostly nothing, but we like it because it reminds us of the “penny dreadfuls” of eras gone by, the pulp novels of adventure and horror that people could buy for only a penny each. In a similar way, we hope that our stories can also be a small dose of magic, accessible to everyone, helping people escape and read for just a little while each week.
HOW DID PENNY MAGIC BEGIN?
Penny Magic began as a “short story anthology website.” The goal was the publish “mixtapes” of ten stories, all revolving around a particular theme. In 2018, we released our first anthology, entitled Fairytales for Grown-Ups. In 2019, we ran a Kickstarter campaign for a small print run of Fairytales for Grown-Ups. Since then, we have expanded into all sorts of different ways of telling delightful stories, including original print books, bite-sized mini-stories, and must-read classics.
WHAT ARE YOUR STORIES LIKE?
Our favorite stories are the ones that make us remember why we love reading, that sweep us up in adventure, terror, sadness, and wonder. We like stories that delight. We specialize in literary and speculative fiction, and many (but not all!) of our original stories have elements of magic.
ARE YOUR STORIES WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN?
If it’s good enough for children, it’s good enough for us. That said, our stories are not written with children in mind, but for anyone who wants to expand the map of their imagination. Not all topics will be suitable for children.
How dO you choose which classic stories to publish?
Like our original stories, we select delightful, gripping, and thought-provoking classics that we believe everyone should read (and that everyone can read!). Because we are a small press, we focus exclusively on public domain works that we particularly enjoy and that have influenced our own writing.
WHERE HAVE I HEARD OF YOU BEFORE?
In 2019, Penny Magic was a finalist for a Digital Book World award in Best Publishing Technology. We were also profiled by Futurebook on thebookseller.com.