The Silence of the Elves

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Underdog Anthology Ten has sixteen stories from ten authors, and now has a title and a cover image. More on that later.

This volume introduces three writers new to the Underdog Anthologies. Someone new in every release is becoming something of a tradition – there is already a new author for UA11 and submissions haven’t officially opened yet!

This one is at the stage of circulating a PDF of the interior among the authors for final checks. All author contracts are signed and all those who elected to be paid in cash are paid. The cover is under construction and we are looking at publication later this week. It will be available in time for Christmas.

Since it’s full of Christmas stories, that’s as it should be.

Up Next – Marsha Webb

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If you have read the last four Underdog Anthologies (6 to 9) you will be familiar with Marsha’s style. She has also written a novel and it’s due to go to print/eBook this weekend.

It’s the story of Phil, a man who only ever wanted a quiet life, a steady routine, a happy family… but you know it’s not going to stay that way.

More details will appear on publication but in the meantime, here’s a taster of the wraparound cover –

The cover will of course include spine text and information on the back. It’ll be done by the weekend. One for the Christmas stockings, maybe?

Underdog Anthology 10 open for submissions

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We already have one story submitted, and there’s time for many more. Close on the heels of the Halloween anthology comes the Christmas one. This has to be fast so it will close for submissions at midnight on November 30th.

Stories should be set at Christmas time and can be anything from the gentle, happy ending to the destruction of the entire universe. As long as Christmas is the central theme. Rules are available under Contact > Submissions > Underdog Anthologies from the drop down menu, and rules are somewhat negotiable. Payment is twelve fine British pounds per story, or the equivalent in your local currency (PayPal is easiest if you have it). UK authors can elect to be paid in copies of the book. For very short stories (less than 1000 words), we can negotiate payment.

If you have a Christmas tale and like the idea of being published and paid for it, let us know. We’re always on the lookout for new talent.

Title block

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Everyone gets writer’s block once in a while but this time the book is finished, it just needs a title.

The cover art is ready, completed by Gary V. Foss, but this book needs a name. Suggestions are welcome, along the lines of Halloween and underground water, wells, springs, and so on.

Here is the cover –

All suggestions welcome. This has to be completed within a week.

UPDATE: The double meaning in Mark Ellott’s suggestion for the title works very well. Here’s the first (but probably not the final) draft cover –

The border is there to allow for trim in printing. So that the main artwork is not lost. There will of course be a huge blot on the landscape due to the barcode but that can’t be helped. The Leg Iron Books logo will likely be smaller than usual for this one.

Amazon review anomaly

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If someone writes a review on Amazon.com, the US site, this is referenced on all the other sites. However, it appears the reciprocal arrangement is not in place.

Es-tu la, Allah, by Dirk Vleugels, has a review on the Canadian Amazon site which is not referenced on the other sites. It’s only visible there. It’s in French, as is the book.

So if a book is reviewed on a non-US Amazon site, ie. anything other than Amazon.com, there is no guarantee that review will be visible from any other Amazon site.

If one of the Leg Iron Books authors, or anyone else, spots a review on a non-US Amazon variant, please do let us know. We can link to it from the book’s page here.

Think of it as a game of Bookemon. Gotta catch ’em all!

Underdog Anthology 9 now open for submissions.

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The 2019 Halloween anthology is open for submissions. The closing date will be midnight (GMT) October 1st. No set title yet, but the cover will feature a haunted well so any stories linked to that theme will be most welcome. Of course, all Halloween stories of any kind are welcome, it’s just that this year’s overall theme will be the haunted well.

Stories should be Halloween themed and around 1500-2000 words.

The story length is not set in stone. They can be longer, the price is the same (£12 per story). If they are much shorter than 1000 words we’ll have to discuss payment, since someone who sends in 3000 words or more is going to be a bit annoyed if they find someone else got the same pay for 500 words.

The end of August also sees the quarterly payments to novel/story collection authors. These are paid on recorded sales up to midnight on August 31st, whether or not the money actually arrives at Leg Iron Books. Sometimes it takes a little while to arrive but we don’t indulge in fancy or complex accounting here. If the book sold in the last quarter, the author gets paid. Then we at Leg Iron Books wait for the seller to pay up. They always do, it can just take a while.

There are still two books in the works, a novel that’s just awaiting a cover image and a short story collection. These should be completed through September and we should be all clear for new things at the start of October.

Onwards!

Author payment time

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It’ll soon be that time again and unfortunately it looks like being another ‘meh, not much’ but at least it’s not zero.

Leg Iron Books is a tiny publisher, a minnow in a shark pond. Our purpose is to get authors taken up by the sharks so nobody makes much money here.

Even so, we do seem to sell books. In this world of information overload that’s not too bad, really.

One thing is for sure. We’re not going away.