Guess what was just delivered? Good news, Bubble Off Plumb will be available in all formats by Friday, December 14th, 2018!
We’re very pleased with the end result.
Bubble Off Plumb – Availability
As an update, Bubble Off Plumb will be fully available by December 14th 2018. The ebook versions should be in most marketplaces as of this afternoon.
We’re cutting a few corners on the print versions, in that only one source will have gotten a proof to us before the actual launch date. We have two sources for print versions and, since we felt it unlikely both would be flawed, considered it unnecessary to delay any further.
We’ll post a sample story here in the next few days!
Bubble Off Plumb: Pre-Orders
Bubble Off Plumb ebooks will be available for pre-orders on Amazon and Barnes & Noble no later than 11/30/2018. Release date is scheduled for 12/14/2018, which is when we expect to have paperback versions generally available.
We will be covering the balance of the ebook distribution channels no later than 12/14/2018.
A preview of the Table of Contents follows:
Keep in mind the manuscript page numbers are meaningless, it will change upon formatting for print. But this is the line-up and we’re really excited about the finished product.
Bubble Off Plumb – Formatting
Our Bubble Off Plumb anthology has completed the editing process and is being formatted for print. We are targeting availability no later than the end of December.
Draft back cover text reads as follows (and will likely form the description for eBooks):
“What do stories about ephemeral Martian settlers, fascinating dimensional rifts, Spanish-speaking hummingbirds, Loki’s children, WWII twins, hitchhiking swamp cats, a steam-punk octopus, Arkham card-games, using bad luck for fun and profit, demon home security systems, alternative criminal justice, workplace time travel, marketing to body-snatchers, alien attraction, and way too many barns all have in common? Simple: in one way or another they are all Bubble Off Plumb.
This genre-busting collection is meant for readers who prefer an odd story with their tea and biscuits. So sit back and let these tales delight, confuse, and surprise you!
Featuring original stories by Marie Brennan, David Tallerman, E.E. King, Art Weil, Sarah M. Lewis, Pepper Hume, Karen Ovér, Liz Schriftsteller, Mariah Southworth, Mickey Kulp, Robert Millet, Valerie Manwill, Beth Winokur, Simone LW Mounsamy, Buzz Dixon, James Campbell, Frank Kozusko, Ellen Denton, Jill Hand, Veronica Brush, and Tim Jeffreys. Joining this stellar group are in-house authors KG Finfrock, Sarah Kalin, and Dan M. Kalin.”
There may also be some illustrations, if the artist can render something exciting to enhance the stories in time. Stay tuned!
BoP Selections Complete!
Short story selections for the Bubble Off Plumb anthology have been completed! We will be notifying authors no later than 10/16/2018.
We selected 27 stories, of the 921 submitted. The response was hugely gratifying and we’re shifting gears to produce the final version for publication.
The stories submitted were at a very high level of quality, in our opinion. Below is an illustration of the ranking distribution. On this scale, a 5 means a workmanlike effort without the intangibles like a compelling concept or complete story. A 10 is something we would be able to publish with only token changes. Lower ratings could have any number of failings, but usually it meant a lack of coherence or facility with language. There weren’t many in that category.
In short, we chose 27 of a perfectly suitable 150 stories (9s and 10s). Not a terrible result!
We will be reaching out to every author over the next few days. We appreciate the response received and want to thank every author who resonated bubble off plumb.
BoP Submissions Closed
Bubble Off Plumb story submissions were accepted through midnight September 30, 2018. Some initial metrics for the call are in hand, as follows.
Authors submitted 921 stories, comprising more than 2.5 million words, which is a great response by any standard. Authors from more than 15 countries participated. 13 stories, so far, have been withdrawn due to the authors successfully placing them elsewhere.
The editors are working to finish reading everything and will be making their selections no later than October 16, 2018. All submissions will receive a response.
BoP Deadline is Today!
Submissions for the Bubble Off Plumb anthology will be accepted through the end of today, September 30, 2018. The deciding qualification metric will be the email date-stamp our server assigns upon receipt, so please do not wait until the last minute.
The BoP editorial team will make their story selections by 10/15/2018. Notices will be coming out as soon as possible thereafter.
The response has been very gratifying and we’re looking forward to the homestretch to publication.
BoP – Two Million Words
Submissions for the Bubble Off Plumb anthology have reached another milestone; two million words, distributed over more than 700 short stories. The quality has been overwhelmingly good, and we’re seeing many talented authors out there.
The editorial team is reading as fast as we can, and the end-zone keeps moving. We’re gratified but too tired to reflect much upon it.
Only twelve more days to submit the strange story rattling about in your cupboards. You know the one we’re talking about!
BoP Submissions – BTInternet Emails
It has come to our attention BT Internet rejects emails from the mail server we use (shared with many other hosting clients of 1and1 Internet), without error code. This affects authors who have submitted stories using a contact email address from BT Internet.
While sympathetic, we do not plan on spending the time chasing down whether the emails are being accepted, if there is no response within a reasonable time, we’ll simply move to the next story on the list.
It is the author’s responsibility to ensure we have an email which works. We send an acknowledgment-of-receipt email for each submission. If that email from us wasn’t received, you should check whether or not your provider unilaterally filters email traffic.
Please feel free to contact me with any changes to email addresses, should it be necessary.
M. McNulty
Updated BoP Call for Submissions
We’ve received multiple questions on the topics of simultaneous submissions and stories which exceed the word count limit, so we’ve updated the rules on details page.
Regarding simultaneous submissions, we consider it only fair authors be able to do so. The inconvenience we experience with such a withdrawal, is more than offset by the knowledge the author has found paid work, which is a good thing in and of itself.
Word count winds up being a bit more complicated in practice. It is a judgment call as to whether the story absolutely needs the extra words. A great story will trump the rules. We’ve limited the advance to $150, which corresponds to the 5K word count limit, however the downstream royalty calculation would take into account the actual word count for larger stories.
As an example, a selected story of 6,000 words would generate a $150 advance plus a pro rata authors’ share of downstream royalties. Assuming a total word count of 75,000; the story would be accorded an 8% share of the Contributor’s Pool (6000/75000). Details contained within the model contract.
If there are additional questions, please feel free to contact us.