The Balsam Spring Publishing Story
Where It All Began
Once upon a time, there lived two writers. Their names were Trent and Anne. Though they lived in distant villages, they unknowingly shared a dream: that their words might stretch beyond the village boundaries to wrap themselves around the world.
Simultaneously, but not yet together, they set their sights on that ephemeral vision called ‘traditional publishing.’
Now, it’s important to know, Trent and Anne were made to live on the fringes of their villages, and they yearned for somewhere new where they and their words might be celebrated. They knew there was something more for them than existing on the edges of the firelight; there must be a place where they could dwell at the center.
They each set out on a journey through the wilderness, carving words into the trees they passed. This way, they would know their way back, even if they had no plans to return.
Their words carried them through the forest, giving them soft places to land along the way, until finally they arrived at the foot of the mountain – that peak which stretched high above the canopy, upon which their words might be broadcast across the land.
Still unbeknownst to one another, they began the trek. They climbed. They grew stronger. Their words etched themselves into stone, their voices now sharp enough to leave a mark even here. And at last they reached the top. They were given the chance to live their dream. They signed their names on the dotted line, bled their stories onto pages for the world to read, and made their home atop the mountain.
They soon found, however, that the peak was windblown. Desolate. The few mountain cabins that had been built weren’t created to accommodate them. Once again, they existed on the fringe, tucked into the shelter of stones with only their words for company.
This wasn’t what the dream was supposed to look like.
They continued writing, continued bleeding, and before they knew it, they were buried beneath rubble and rockslide, their words peaking out from the stones they had etched, but they themselves nowhere to be seen. Except perhaps, in the friendship they forged with one another.
Trent and Anne, betrayed by their villages, realized: history was repeating itself. They were being once more betrayed by the very mountain encampment which had promised them something new.
Faced with a choice, Trent and Anne refused to continue hemorrhaging pages for the sake of those who refused to make space for their bodies and wellbeing. Instead, they began to construct a new cabin.​
They didn’t even find a new mountain. They used the rubble underneath which they’d almost been buried as the foundation for the kind of community they’d hoped to find. They broke ties with those who had “given them a chance” and decided to take their own chance.
Balsam Spring Publishing is the cabin that Anne and Trent wish had been awaiting them atop the mountain when they first arrived. It is a place that welcomes and celebrates those who are weary of the village fringes and who dare to imagine something better.
They choose to remain atop the mountain because they believe in the power of their original ephemeral visions. ‘Traditional publishing’ isn’t the problem. The systems bringing those dreams into reality are.
Anne and Trent continue to forge a new path, and they are excited to make space for others to dwell atop this windswept mountainside in ways that feel creative, brave, successful, and sustainable.
Whether you need advice for the wilderness journey or you’re ready to join us at the Balsam Spring Publishing mountaintop cabin, we hope that this is a place where you feel seen, valued, and celebrated. This is a place where there’s room for all, right at the center.