Here’s a link to a free sample story from ‘The Gallows Stone’, Underdog Anthology 6. There will be more of these as the anthologies progress.
Norman’s House
Norman’s House has now been loaded for publication on Amazon as print and Kindle, and on Smashwords as eBooks in any format you want.
Finally, after all these years, those who have read Jessica’s Trap can find out what happened to the trapped creature when it is, at last, released.
Marketing novice
Well, marketing is a whole different game to publishing. The first thing to do is to grab space on a much better known site, like Facebook.
It will take time to load all the books on to that new page but it’s begun. The page banner and profile pic weill need some adjustment too.
We’re on our way up that learning curve at last!
Norman’s House due for February release
The book that ties together ‘Jessica’s Trap’ and ‘Samuel’s Girl’ is finally in final draft form. A few print copies are ordered for editing and proofreading and then it’s all set to go. H. K. Hillman finally sobered up enough to finish this one and is now working on the next one – ‘Demdike’s Revival’.
This book sees a host of demons locked in a house with Romulus Crowe, and they aren’t happy to see him.
Running repairs
There were a couple of issues with Underdog Anthology 7. A couple of typos in two of the H. K. Hillman stories and far, far worse – one author’s name misspelled on the back cover!
This is what happens when you try to publish two books in three months, both with very tight deadlines. Next year’s Halloween and Christmas anthologies (9 and 10) will have earlier deadlines so there’ll be time to check very carefully before publication.
Fortunately it is possible to redo both the interior and cover after publication so these issues have now been fixed. The eBook versions only needed the typos addressed, they don’t have back covers.
This does mean that, if ever Leg Iron Books becomes famous, those first paperbacks with the errors will become very rare indeed. If you have one, look after it. You never know.
Throughout January, all the books will gain extra links to other eBook sellers. They are already on sale on most online outlets, they just need the extra links added. Print books are, so far, only on Amazon but there are plans to make them available elsewhere.
January should be quiet here, although there are several books in process. However it does not seem likely that we’ll publish any of them in January – no promises of course – mainly because we need a rest after the pre-Christmas frenzy!
It does seem that at least one book will be ready to go in early February, just before submissions open for Underdog Anthology 8. Watch this space…
Underdog Anthology 8
The next Underdog Anthology will open for short story submissions on February 1st, 2019, and close on March 14th at midnight GMT. This spring anthology is not themed. Any subject you like as long as it’s well written and entertaining.
Please read the guidelines under contact/submissions before sending in stories. There are very few subjects we don’t accept, so avoid those and your chances of acceptance go up exponentially.
Updating is progressing
The Underdog Anthology pages now have the list of stories and authors in each volume added, with links to the author pages. The process of adding author bios is under way but progress will depend on the author responses – and as it’s nearly Christmas many of them will not be looking at email, and I know one or two are likely to be insensible by now. It’s a writer thing.
Some are already in, there will be more to follow.
Working on it
The process of cross-linking authors and books is underway. The contents pages of the anthologies will be added soon, as will the author bios of those anthology authors who agree to it.
Yes, technically, those author bios are already published in the books so might be considered public domain – but someone who once sent in one short story might not want that bio available outside the confines of the book. As in, they might not want it searchable as a web page on the Internet.
In the absence of an agreement, the anthology author pages will contain links to other anthologies they have appeared in. When (if) they agree to the incusion of a bio, it will be added.
Those pages are not yet up so don’t waste time hunting. The novel author cross links are still in process.
This kind of site is never finished. There are always new books and new authors to add. For now, we are just catching up with the backlog.
Why so serious?
Finally, Leg Iron Books has reached the point where we have to take things a little more seriously. It’s no longer a ‘hobby business’, it’s now become actual, full time work.
Here’s hoping it stays that way for a very long time.