Doll Face by Dianne Stadhams

 

How we came to publish this one

Author Dianne Stadhams is a regular contributor to our annual anthologies and we encourage people we have published to submit more of their work to us. We were delighted to find that Doll Face fits in really well with what our visions for The Red Telephone.     

 

The title

The reason for this title soon becomes evident as the reader gets into the story.

 

Some notes about the process

We went through the normal three stages of editing with this, followed by three proof-reads. Dianne was on our Red Telephone mentorship scheme and we worked on this book with her before it went through the normal editorial process. However, this meant that there was slightly less to do when we came to editing.   

 

The cover

Dianne designed the cover herself though we had to make a few technical tweaks.  

Some notes about style

The style is spot on for the older young adult. It’s not always an easy read, There are several different voices in the story but that of the protagonist and her doll shine out clearly.  

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Who we think the reader is

This is suitable for the adults and older young adults. Fourteen-year-old Tilly Henderson-Smythe is articulate with attitude, and was born with Mosaic Down's Syndrome. But she's not sleeping. Her parents and school are worried. She is sent for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) assessment after being taken hostage on holiday by a local group disgruntled over land rights and tourism development. With a secret passion for dodgy websites, and an appetite for just retribution, Tilly's view of complex issues goes viral.

What else

This book will make you think. It is a demanding read.  

Review copies

It’s always great if you can buy the book, or download it if you have a plan, and give us a review. Just click here to be taken to our online bookshop. If you would like to review and you are strapped for cash, just get in touch for a free review copy.       

 

 

 

See in our online bookshop

The Fortune Teller of Philippi

 

How we came to publish this one

This is one of our Red Telephone books. Author Jenny Robertson is already in our author network. We have published her before and she has been in our community of writers for quite a while.   

 

The title

This so aptly identifies the story. This is a total no-brainer.  

 

Some notes about the process

We went through the normal three stages of editing with this, followed by three proof-reads. This was a very smooth process; Jenny is a total professional.

 

The cover

It took a little while to find the right concept. It may have been reasonably easy to get one designed with the figure of a young girl on it as the protagonist is female. However, we shy away from having representations of characters in our fiction. We are a little unusual in this. We prefer that the reader decides what people look like. We do have “every person” figures on some of our books.    

 

Some notes about style

The style is spot on for the young adult / teen reader. It is quite pragmatic and uses plain English.  

Who we think the reader is

This is suitable for the younger end of YA. There is romance but no overt sexual scenes. There is a strong Christian message here. This includes miracles and some supernatural evil both of which raise the stakes a little.

 

What else

Jenny is well established in her world and has been quite influential with the marketing.  

 

Review copies

It’s always great if you can buy the book, or download it if you have a plan, and give us a review. Just click here to be taken to our online bookshop. If you would like to review and you are strapped for cash, just get in touch for a free review copy.      

  

Some Thoughts on the Legal Deposit Libraries

It is a legal requirement that we deposit one copy of every book we publish with the British Library. The other five Legal Deposit Libraries may then request copies.  This is usually done by the agent for the Legal Deposit Libraries who requests them on behalf of all five libraries. We deposit the one to the British Library as matter of course, within a few days of the book’s release. We wait for the request from the Legal Deposit libraries as they are always at least six months behind in their processing and if we deposit before they ask they have a tendency to lose books.

At the beginning of the pandemic it as impossible to deliver to the British Library and we had several books returned. So we put our practice on hold. They have now requested the books we didn’t send; we have now sent them and so we are up to date. This week I received a receipt for a book we deposited eight months ago.

A visit to one of the Legal Deposit Libraries will shock you. You will see stock-piled books.  Will anyone actually ever access those copies?

We’re in queue for being allowed to submit electronically.  This will save us money and will save the planet paper and transport costs.

However, there is one thing to consider. Maybe it’s important to still have hard copies even if they are stock-piled in a way that makes it difficult to access them. At least you can always read a hard copy. If we have digital copies only we may run out of the technology to read them. Remember what happened with the BBC Doomsday Project. In one of my own works a far future civilisation cannot access a recording on audio cassette.     

And here's  funny thing,  The British Library chased  a book we had already deposited. I sent them proof, they replied that they were behind with their cataloguing. Why chases if it's their own fault?