Editing The Pen Addict 253/transcript (section)

== Pocket Notebooks ==


'''Jeff:''' Yeah. I mean, we started out, obviously, a love of the products themselves. I mean, I've used pocket notebooks and other notebooks like everyone else in this room. I have drawers and drawers and closets full of them, like people in this room. So I was kind of in a place where I started binding them on my own. And I was just playing around with some ideas. And I started thinking, I want to make some of these. But I was also very conscious of there are a lot of people making some of these. So initially, you know, we wanted to make something. We wanted fountain pen-friendly paper. We wanted certain things that I thought were missing in the market. But I still wasn't convinced, you know, why does the world need another notebook? At the time, I was also, I teach creative writing at a college. And I was also teaching youth creative writing courses and that sort of thing. I mean, it occurred to me, you know, young people often, they're very creative, but they don't quite, nobody ever asks, you know, what do you want to write about or what do you want to do? So I had that experience over time. So I started thinking, well, maybe if we could find a way that the product could support organizations that I was interested in initially, things like 826 Valencia and San Francisco and those sorts of things, sorry. So we decided, well, let's see if we can do some kind of one-for-one model where the purchase of the notebooks would somehow support some of these organizations and help young people, especially in underrepresented communities, you know, find their own voice. Since notebooks have played such a large role in my own sort of development as a creative person.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Can you tell me a little bit more about what you guys do with this? So if I'm right, whenever somebody buys a pack, you donate something, right? How does that work? So I had to learn how to use spreadsheets.

'''Jeff:''' And I'm not quite good at it. It's a very sort of rudimentary, I get, you know, the count of the notebooks that we've been selling. So I do it usually quarterly. I punch numbers in. Somebody showed me how you can connect spreadsheets. It's amazing. And it shows you here's what you sold. Here's what you have on hand. Here's what you've given. And so, I mean, it's that. And then reaching out to the organizations that we work with and just saying, hey, are you ready? Do you need some? So right now we give to five of the A26. So it's Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, D.C., and Boston. And then we started working with local organizations in our own community. And it's just a hustle. And packing boxes and trying to get them out there. And then, you know, the best part is getting pictures back and seeing how the kids are using them. And they decorate and make them their own thing, which at one point I had posted pictures on our own blog, on the Stories of Plyco blog, of my original composition, Mead composition notebook. It was very heavily, like, grunge-inspired. So there's, you know, like, black marker all over it. And that was a big – that was my space. And it's cool to kind of see other young people adapting and using that in their own lives.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I know the product started to expand. It was the notebooks and pencils in the beginning. And then one of the first cool things I saw come across was Myke Hawthorne's work and your collaboration with him. And I know Anna had Myke on her podcast, Art Supply Posse.

'''Myke Hurley:''' How did you hook up with Myke to do the sketchbook?

'''Jeff:''' So we live – so York, Pensylvania is sort of this little city rammed between Harrisburg and Baltimore. And strangely enough, I had worked on a literary magazine through the college. And Myke lives in York. He's kind of – he's not quite a hermit. But he doesn't come out much because he works and works. And if anybody follows him on social media knows, the guy is just sketching all day long. Yeah. And – I mean, sketching. And so he had done a cover for the magazine. And just through that, at one point, we realized that he and I both had a – I'm going to say somewhat substantial interest in stationary objects. And we started having coffee. And it just became – I'd bring in pencils and he'd bring me a notebook. And, you know, and it was just that. And then one day the conversation started. Well, we should make a thing. You know, and he volunteered. He also – he graduated from York City Schools, which is – it's in pretty rough shape, especially their arts program. And his story, which is kind of, you know, part of why we did this thing in the beginning, is, you know, he was extremely poor, living in a bad part of town. And his art teachers had just supplied him with sketchbooks. And that was it. And they supported him. And now he's, you know, the lead artist at Marvel for Deadpool, which is pretty cool. So that project specifically was those sketchbooks would donate directly to the school. And it was cool. We got to go in and hang out with the students. Myke talked to them. And then, you know, they just – the deal is we gave them at the time about 500 sketchbooks. When they're full, they just – they call us and we're going to keep giving them more.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, he emailed me right after you guys dropped them off. And he was just – in the email, he's like, I practically cried, like, giving them the sketchbooks. He was, like, so excited about it. But, yeah, if the interview that we did on Art Supply Posse, he, like, apologized profusely because you can hear him going through his sketches. You can hear him scrambling the paper in the interview. And afterwards, I guess he went back and listened to it. And he's like, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you could hear me moving the paper around. And I'm like, it's okay. It's all real life. Right. Like, that's how frenetic he is.

'''Jeff:''' And he has a sketchbook in his hand all day long.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, all the time.

'''Myke Hurley:''' He draws all the time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. You were actually so moved by that response that you got from him that I remember you, like, you, like, I got to tell you this story.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think I called Brad and I'm like, I got to tell you this story. Like, he was so amazing. Yeah, I totally. I just think he's amazing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, so seeing what you do, like, to affect people, that, like, really means a lot. And that's such a cool thing to hear those stories. And it's through stationery. These are very simple objects, right? And we all, you know, sometimes put them up on a higher platform. But, like, getting these kids involved and giving them the tools to, you know, broaden their horizons a little bit and think is really, really cool. So that's awesome that you do that. So we have, since I've been following you at least, you have expanded the product lineup. You've started to come out. You emailed me before the DC show last year. And, like, I think we're going to be at the DC show. And I was like, wow, like, that's cool. So what made you want to go to, like, a pen show and bring Story Supply out there to tell your story?

'''Jeff:''' I mean, initially I just wanted to go to pen shows. And, you know, the cool thing is coming home with actual money justifies it, you know. Makes it easier to leave for three, four days at a time and leave the family home when it's my job, which is strange to say because it's so much fun. But, you know, we knew that, you know, we were already in part of the community online and interacting with people online. But, you know, we just wanted to get out and start meeting people. DC is, strangely, you know, the biggest one is the closest one or one of the closest ones. So we're like, well, let's give it a shot. It was kind of scary. And that's why I emailed you because I was like, you know, at least we'll have, are you going to be there? And is there somebody that can kind of hold our hand through this? You know, it was just good to have one person that, you know, knew the ropes. And it was awesome.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, and apparently it wasn't, it wasn't, it didn't turn you off. So you didn't like say, hey, let's do this again.

'''Jeff:''' No, it was, it was amazing. Yeah, just meeting people, you know, just get so many new faces, people that, you know, I mean, you guys know, you run into people and introduce yourselves as you're like Instagram or Twitter handles, you know. It was cool just to start putting, putting faces to those names. And, and we sold a lot. So, yeah, this is cool.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's super cool. So what's, what's next for you? You've like, you've ramped it up like really quickly. Like the Kickstarter, you know, that was a process and a project. And then like all of a sudden it's like the, like the light bulb switched on and it's like been full go. I've been watching you recently and it's just like been crazy, crazy hopping. So what's, what's the plan?

'''Jeff:''' Um, well, kind of going in line with, you know, there are plenty of pocket notebooks. We, and we're going to keep releasing those, but we've been playing around with some other ideas. Um, more, most specifically, I'd like to make a larger, closer to a five-ish, I'll say notebook, um, that's stitch bound, either cloth or some, you know, not necessarily a hard bound book, but maybe like semi hard book. And I, I originally started making stitch bound books. Um, I probably, I'm going to embarrass myself by saying this, but my initial run at like hand sewing signatures ended with a needle stuck through my finger and blood. And there was lightheadedness special edition. Um, yeah. So if anybody wants a bloody notebook, um, so yeah, so that was my initial run. So then after that I was like, well, let's slow down a little bit and, uh, let's see some, what staples look like. Cause that's a little safer than needles. And so, you know, and, but I, I started doing it again and we have, you know, I posted a picture of a prototype I think last week and the response was enough to say, okay, maybe we should try it. So now it's just a matter of figuring out the logistics, um, as Anna knows now and Brad, you know, when it comes to manufacturing and trying to manufacture things in the United States, it gets difficult quickly. So just trying to work through some of those obstacles, trying to bring some of the process in house. Um, I'm getting better at sewing signatures, you know, so, um, so I mean, I'd like to make as much of that process hands on and handmade as possible. Yeah. Kind of, yeah. So that'll be hopefully, my goal is DC to have some on the table.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Wow.

'''Jeff:''' That's a, maybe not a lot, but have some on the table. Yeah. There'll be one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' One that's not bloody. Right. Right. So yeah, go over, go over to the story supply table. He's got it hidden in the back. I let him bring it out so I could see it and I love it. Cool. Um, it's this great, great style, great design. That's a wonderful notebook. And so go tell him that you love it. So he'll make a bunch of them. Yeah.

'''Jeff:''' Not the bloody one. Not the bloody one. Just to be clear.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Just so we're clear.

'''Ana Reinert:''' So Vito, tell, uh, the Panact audience where they can find your products and find out more. Okay.

'''Jeff:''' So we are at storiesupplyco.com. Um, and we're also available at JetPens and a couple other smaller retailers, but probably JetPens is the easiest person other than ourselves to buy it from. I mean, they have most of the lineup. They started carrying the Myke Hawthorne sketchbooks. They've recently got the, uh, the leather covers. Um, so yeah, that's some places. And I can be reached at. That's what you wanted me to say next, right? I listened to the show. I should know how this goes. Um, so, uh, we are the storiesupplyco on Instagram and storiesupply on Twitter because there's somebody holding onto that name and not doing anything with it as that goes. Um, and also I'm available at, uh, Vito Groupie on Twitter and Instagram.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Big round of applause, Vito. Thank you so much for coming.

'''Jeff:''' Thanks guys.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Thank you. All right. Now we're also super excited today to be joined by one more guest. But before we do, let me just thank our second sponsor for this week's show. And that is Mack Weldon. They make the most comfortable underwear, socks, shirts, undershirts, hoodies, and sweatpants that you're ever going to wear. Mack Weldon is better than whatever you're wearing right now. And they are so confident of this. They have no questions after return policy. Mack Weldon are sure that you're going to be super comfortable in whatever you buy from them. But if for any reason you don't like your first pair, just keep them and they'll refund you. No questions asked. By pairing premium fabrics with meticulous attention to detail and a simple shopping experience, Mack Weldon delivers a new level of daily comfort straight to your door. Mack Weldon make undershirts that stay tucked, socks that stay up, and waistbands that do not roll. I'm wearing Mack Weldon stuff today. Mack Weldon. I showed Brad this morning as we were getting ready.

'''Ana Reinert:''' So I wanted to... So that's a thing. I showed Brad because I wanted him to be able to prove because I don't want to show you.

'''Myke Hurley:''' This explains why you guys wouldn't come down for breakfast. Yeah, we take a while.

'''Ana Reinert:''' We were Mack Weldon-ing up in the room, so we were late. Because I was like, you know, it's a big day today. I want to feel nice and comfortable. Yeah. So...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Just for the record, everything was still in his hands. He's like, I'm putting it all on now. Yeah.

'''Ana Reinert:''' We have a whole routine, you know. We roll over in the morning. He's like, good morning, buddy. And it's like, hey, sweet.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I will say the pants you rave about, I did pick up Myke from the airport and out bouncing from the international terminal. We're talking about the sweatpants now, not underpants.

'''Ana Reinert:''' I was wearing more than my underpants when I came off the plane. But yeah, I was wearing those sweatpants. Nine and a half hour flight. Like, that is all I need. And I am super comfortable. So, anyway. Mack Weldon's underwear, socks, and shirts look good and perform well. Listeners of this show can get 20% off at MackWeldon.com. That's M-A-C-K-W-E-L-D-O-N.com. Just use the code PENADDICT and you will get that 20% off at checkout. Thank you so much to Mack Weldon for their support of this show and Relay FM. So, please welcome to the stage Mr. Jonathan Brooks from the Carolina Pen Company.

'''Ana Reinert:''' You're a real star around these parts.

'''Speaker 01:''' It sounds like it, yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, this is big time, guys. Seriously. This is serious business right now.

'''Ana Reinert:''' So, I think the first time that at least I came into contact with you was last year, right? At Atlanta. Right, yes. When I bought the Sky at Night, right? That's the product name. Yes, the famous Sky at Night. Famous Sky at Night.