Aryamati Prize judge announcement and come behind the scenes...
Plus meet the Modern Gothic authors!
Well hello Scribblers,
We’re over halfway through the year and I don’t know how it happened. Since our last newsletter, I’ve also turned 27! So you can have a cheeky 27% off my Indigo Dreams pamphlet, Growing Pains, with code GROWING27 here.
A little newsletter pick and mix:
Submissions! Calling novelists
Meet the Modern Gothic writers! Our 2024 spine-tingling anthology announced
Prize judge announcement: the Aryamati Poetry Prize just got a very special revamp
A week in the life: come behind the scenes with me!
We are now reading novel and novella samples! If you think you have a novel which sheds light on the world around us, perhaps in a quirky or thought-provoking way, you can send it my way now.
A few examples of novel genres and focuses from 2023! ‘The Unpicking’ by Donna Moore is her 3rd novel, out with us in October 2023. What I love is that though this is set in Victorian Stirling and Glasgow, the focus on corruption of the police force and violence against ‘hysterical women’ is still very much topical today. Pre-orders here.
Announced in Book Brunch today, and released in September, Liam Bell’s fourth novel is a thriller, emerging out of COVID-19s ‘alternative facts’. Here a commune in Scotland believe sleep is a social construct, designed to keep us docile… How do they keep their followers awake? How will they achieve nirvana, on the twelfth day? Torture, scribblers. I love how this novel explores flawed characters and group think! Four TV Scouts interested in this one - wish us luck… Pre-orders here.
Meet the Modern Gothic Authors! From writers new to the scene, to those who have been writing since the 80s, we're delighted to welcome these internationally-acclaimed authors to the Fly on the Wall Press family. You can read all about the Modern Gothic anthology (October 2024) here.
Now for a prize judge exclusive! Dr Maura Dooley is our first ever guest judge for the Aryamati Prize 2023. Now with two categories, full collection and chapbook, on our annual theme of social change and peace, Dooley will judge the shortlist in both categories, to select a winner from each. Read more about Dooley and the prize, which opens next week, here!
A week in the life….
This week has been quite PR-heavy! I’ve been sending emails to journalists for The Sleepless - a press release on the story of acquiring the books, and requests to review or feature. I’ve been planning some features for The Unpicking with author Donna Moore to draw parallels between police corruption now and today, and articles which will revolve around juggling fact and fiction, when writing historical fiction. In two weeks I’ll be pitching to my book reps to convince them that our October 2023 - March 2024 books are worth prioritising to bookshops, over their other publishers! So I’ve been creating cover drafts and key selling points for each. I’m in the process of moving our ebooks over to Faber Factory so i’ve been sending that metadata off slowly (spreadsheet columns for 60+ titles is not the most fun). I’ve been checking in with booksellers to convince them to place orders for our titles after they’ve had a read of a proof and doing various editing bits and bobs to our December novel ‘New Gillion Street’, and some typesetting (proofs of The Unpicking have gone to print and november short story collection, The Naming of Moths, will be on their way to proof stage next month!) Apart from that, much admin - contracts for Modern Gothic, reading of novel subs and book post runs! We were rejected by Arts Council England for the 3rd year running last week, so there’s that also - but they can’t keep a good press down! :)
Talk soon scribblers,
Isabelle