It’s been five years since Walnut Street Publishing began, though it didn’t start with a name or a business plan. It started with a conversation. In the middle of a pandemic, Aaron Quinn sat down with Steve Redenbaugh and Emily Jetton to talk about building something different—something artist-centered, community-rooted, and intentionally small.
From day one, the goal wasn’t to build an empire. It was to make publishing easier, kinder, and more accessible. That’s why we chose traditional publishing, where authors don’t pay out of pocket, and why we sign artists with MOUs—agreements that let them retain their rights and leave at any time if it’s no longer a good fit. We don’t believe in locking artists down. We believe in showing up with honesty, flexibility, and care.
That approach has carried us through five years of learning, experimenting, collaborating, and trying to do right by the people who trust us with their work.
In the early days, our publishing work was powered in part by another venture—our medical logistics company. Yep, the same three people who run Walnut Street Publishing also run a business shipping medical products. That company helped fund the dreams of this one in those fragile first years. The balance hasn’t always been easy, but it’s been worth it. Every book on our shelves, every launch party, every art night and open mic—it’s all been worth it.
Aaron, who directs both companies, also volunteers several days a week as a basketball coach for Reach One Teach One, something he’s done since around 2020. That kind of community engagement—showing up for people, even when it’s hard, even when you’re tired—shapes everything we do.
Over the past five years, we’ve published dozens of books, hosted community events, celebrated local art, and created space for people to share their stories in their own voices. We’ve made plenty of mistakes. We’ve changed our minds, changed our processes, and kept listening. And through it all, we’ve stayed rooted in the belief that community has to be at the heart of it all.
Not the shiny, Instagram version of community, but the real kind. The kind that includes disagreement, slow progress, hard conversations, quiet wins. The kind that changes you.
We don’t have everything figured out, but we know this: the artists, writers, and neighbors we’ve worked with these past five years have shaped us in ways we’re still beginning to understand. You’ve made this more than a job. You’ve made it meaningful.
Thanks for sticking with us. We’re still here, still learning, still trying to build something worth being part of.
—The Walnut Street Publishing Team
