To Be … To become

How we came to publish this one

We were privileged to be asked to run the Waterloo Festival Wring Competition 2018 . We put out a call for short stories and pieces of creative non-fiction and we had a pleasing number of very good entries, making it quite difficult to pick the winners.    

The title

This was the theme for the festival so the title was really there before we began.  

Some notes about the process

Two of us judged the entries. We allotted each piece points for story / structure, quality of the writing, how well the piece corresponded to the theme and professionalism. When we had selected the stories. They went through one or two edits. There is usually little need for a structural edit on stories selected this way. They have already been selected for their good story and / or structure. Often the copy edit and first proof read blends into one.

The cover

We asked contributors to find pictures on pixabay that evoked the theme for them.  We then shortlisted the ones that would work technically and commercially and contributors were invited to vote for their favourite.   

Some notes about style

There is quite a literary voice in most of them They are otherwise very varied in their style.

Who we think the reader is

The readers will include friends, family, fans and follows of the individual writers and of the festival. There will also be some of our own loyal readers. Does the fact that this was part of the Waterloo Festival attract a few other readers?

What else

Two more e-books were published in connection with the festivals in 2019 and 2020. In 2020 all three collections were also published in one volume as a paperback.    

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 Amazon. If you would like to review and you are strapped for cash, just get in touch for a free PDF or Kindle file.         

 

Talks offered:

 

This book is a compilation of the winning entries of the Waterloo Festival's Writing Competitions of 2018, 2019 and 2020.    

What does it take to win in a competition?

How can you craft a compelling short story? 

How can you interpret a theme?

 

How would you like a workshop for your writers' group?  

Free:  

• if you are within a twenty mile radius of BL9 
• you have evidence of having bought and read the book
• if you are further afield, on Zoom.

Us the contact form to get in touch

Buy the book here.        

 

 

Transformations

 

see in our online store 

How we came to publish this one

This is the culmination of three years’ work. This volume contains the winning entries of the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Waterloo Festival Writing Competition. Each year the winning entries were published as an e-book. We have now put all of these entries into one paperback volume.      

The title

This pulls together the titles of the other three volumes which were:

2018 To be …. To become

2019 Transforming Being

2020 Transforming Communities   

Some notes about the process

The stories in this book were all edited as they were prepared for the individual volumes. They were given three final proof reads: by the authors themselves and by an independent proof-reader who had not been involved in previous edits. We also pass all of our book though a technical proof-read. The latter, computer-aided, looks for things lie extra spaces, repeated words and inconsistencies in punctuation and spelling.    

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. Naturally this time the word we searched on was, as you might expect,  “transformations”.  

Some notes about style

There many interpretations of the theme for each of the titles. We tended to choose stories that were clever with the theme. Many of the contributions are quite literary in style.    

Who we think the reader is

These stories are for the reader who likes to be challenged to think.

   

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 its 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.      

Transforming Being

This is the second e-book we have produced for the Waterloo Festival. 

"Transforming Being" is the theme of the 2019 Waterloo Festival Writing Competition. It is also the title of the e-book, which contains the fifteen winning entries. We chose these because they tell a good story, have a strong voice, and are imaginative in their interpretation of the theme. The writers present us with characters that are believable and rounded. The stories all contain a pleasing narrative balance.

Entrants were asked to produce a short story or a monologue. Style is diverse and each story is completely different from the others.  

We had  a few hundred entries to choose from and it was difficult. We awarded points for how well the stories adhered to the theme, how dynamic the story was and how strong the writing was.  The theme was interpreted in many different ways. Just focussing on these three criteria didn't create enough clear winners so we carried on and looked further at narrative balance, characterization and presentation.     

This is the second year of the competition and the second year of producing an e-book. Next year there will be a third e-book and the winning entries form all three years will be published as a paperback as well.     

See more here.