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Ink & Imprint Studio launches in
Lincoln
Companion Company to Ink & Imprint Books Offers Custom
Communications and Publishing Services for Businesses, Organizations
and Individuals
[July 17, 2026]
LINCOLN, ILLINOIS — A new
business recently opened in Lincoln that offers a range of exciting
services for residents of central Illinois and beyond. Ink & Imprint
Studio is a boutique, full-service custom communications and
publishing agency that offers writing, editing and publishing
services for businesses, organizations and individuals. It operates
alongside Ink & Imprint Books, an independent bookstore located at
125 N. Kickapoo St. in Lincoln.
Ink & Imprint Studio provides services including content writing and
copywriting, grant research and writing, technical writing, editing,
and custom publishing for businesses and organizations. In addition,
Ink & Imprint Studio provides individuals who are seeking to publish
fiction or nonfiction books a suite of options to assist them with
both traditional and independent publishing. This includes
ghostwriting, developmental editing, line editing, copy editing,
proofreading, guidance for pitching books to agents and publishers,
book and cover design, and book marketing.
“Although Ink & Imprint Studio services are available to anyone
interested in working with us, I’m particularly excited about the
opportunity to work directly with central Illinois authors,
organizations and businesses to help them fulfill their
communications and publishing goals,” said Ink & Imprint Studio
owner Julie Collins Bates.
Bates is a professional writer, editor and bookstore owner with more
than 20 years of publishing experience. She spent nearly a decade as
an assistant and then associate professor of professional writing,
publishing and editing at Millikin University before creating Ink &
Imprint Studio and returning to a full-time practitioner role. Even
while working full-time at Millikin, she regularly took on freelance
writing, editing and consulting clients.
After opening Ink & Imprint Books in downtown Lincoln in November
2024, Bates realized just how many independent authors had the
passion to write books but were looking for editing, design and
publishing assistance to ensure their books stood out in a crowded
publishing marketplace. As she began to collaborate with more local
businesses in Lincoln, she also realized how many small businesses
and organizations had great ideas for connecting with customers,
securing grant funding and more, but their time and capacity to turn
their ideas into reality were limited.
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“I realized I could bring together the bookstore, teaching and
publishing parts of my life, and Ink & Imprint Studio was born,”
Bates said.
Bates began her career in publishing after she earned an
undergraduate degree in magazine journalism and English writing
from Drake University. She was hired as an assistant editor and
then became managing editor for Lexicon Custom Media in Des
Moines, Iowa. With Lexicon, she created custom book and magazine
projects for local and national brands. She then started her own
writing and editing business, which she continued to run while
obtaining a master’s degree in communication and environmental
studies at the University of Illinois-Springfield; working as
Green Center manager at Lincoln Land Community College; teaching
as an adjunct faculty member at multiple central Illinois
colleges; and then obtaining a doctorate in rhetoric,
composition, and technical communication from Illinois State
University.
A full list of the books and magazines Bates has edited as well
as her the corporate and nonprofit clients she has worked with
is available at inkandimprintbooks.com/clients.
Learn more about Ink & Imprint Studio at inkandimprintbooks.com/studio.
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