How we came to publish this one
This is our 2020 annual anthology. We always like to take a Christmas theme and ask our writers to subvert it. They did that very nicely.
The title
The Christmas prompt was “mull” as in “mulled wine”. Naturally mulled wine features in many of the stories – as does the Island of Mull and of course “mulling it over”. We discovered also that a “mull” is a type of stony outcrop and also an implement in making books.
Some notes about the process
The stories in this book all went through one or two stage of editing and had the normal three proof reads. Authors are invited to proof read, we conduct a technical proof read and we ask another editor, to proof read. The latter is one who hasn’t been involved in the initial editing.
The cover
As we often do, we based our cover on a picture we found on pixabay. These are both copyright free and free to use. We do a search on the title or something similar. “Thinking” found the picture of the young man who is sitting pensively on what could easily be a part of the Island of Mull. We normally shy away from real life figures – readers prefer to decide for themselves what characters look like. But this figure represents everyman and anyway he has his back to us. We prefer wraparound pictures like this to having the back cover plain. The sky here allows plenty of space for title and burb.
Some notes about style
A review on Amazon says it all:
‘I have enjoyed reading many of the stories in this book - they are really fun to read and they do trigger your mind. Quirky, funny, and unique, as different writers carry different voices to their stories. I am familiar with several of the writers in this collection, and I am also pleased to get to know new writers in this collection. 'The Island of Mull' is a great concept - we all have had plenty to mull over in 2020. It's a great collection of stories. Very well done!'
Who we think the reader is
As the subtitle says, this collection contains “tales to make you think”. Generally in these annual theologies we are neither womag nor too literary. We are somewhere in between. This is no exception.
Finances
This book has some way to go to cover all of its costs but it continues to sell steadily. Our monthly statement gives a slightly false impression, however. It was edited and designed in-house. In other words the partners did the work for no fee or wage but take a share of the net sales revenue as it arrives. It has in fact covered it upfront costs.
What else
We have published a record number of books in the last twelve months. We are pleased to have this within our collection. Because of the several lockdowns more books have been produced generally and more people have read books.
Review copies
It’s always great if you can buy the book and give us a review. Just click on the link to be taken to our on-line bookshop. If you would like to review and you are strapped for cash, just get in touch for a free PDF or mobi-file.
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