book « Robin Writes

Some of you may have heard, via social media, that RHP is expanding. Yay, us! We just brought out two new imprints, and added staff!

First, we will now be listing all of our literary fiction under the imprint Equidae. Oh, it’s still Rocking Horse Publishing, never fear, but we’re at the point now where we can specialize a bit. The release of The Fires of Waterland gives us two lit-fic titles, as Danny’s Grace will be moved to Equidae as well.

What the heck does that even mean? Glad you asked. “Equidae” is the Latin term, as in taxonomy, for “a family of perissodactyl ungulate mammals including the horses, asses, zebras, and various extinct related mammals,” as per Webster’s.

Second, since we have had such success with Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories, we’ve opened up a new division/imprint for anthologies.

Our intent is to publish four books per year, beginning in 2015, under Harness Anthologies. Shannon Yarbrough, author extraordinaire, will be the director.

Here are the details:

Harness Anthologies 2015 Season 1

Publication Date: January 2015

Payment: Two Copies

Solstice: A Winter Anthology

Winter vacation, snow cream, snow days from school, building snowmen, snowball fights, snow storms, the first time you or your child saw snow. Give us your best white memory! All things winter and snow related. Fiction or nonfiction accepted. Also accepting original winter poems and winter recipes.

Stories should be 750 to 2500 words.

Poems and recipes should be limited to one page.

Open to Submissions: September 2014

Publication Date: April 2015

Payment: Two Copies

Empty Nests: Parents, Old and New

Springtime is the time of year when birds start building nests and laying their eggs. It’s a time of rebirth, now that winter is over. The snow has melted and flowers are sprouting. Life is anew. Empty Nests is an anthology for parents and about parents. Whether you are building your nest for your newborn baby, or you are finding yourself in an empty nest now that your teens have gone off to college or moved out.

Stories can be fiction or nonfiction, but should focus on adults either preparing to be parents or finding their own children turning into adults and moving out. What makes your nest, now full or empty, a home? Inspire the parents around you.

Stories should be 750 to 2500 words.

Open to Submissions: January 2015

Publication Date: July 2015

Payment: Two Copies

The American Dream: Then and Now

Seeking short nonfiction essays from teens to baby boomers. Teens: What is your American dream? For the older generation, what was your American dream?

It is said that society has killed the American dream just in the last decade. If that is true, what killed your American dream? Tell us in 500 words or less about what your American dream is now or what it was for you when you were growing up. Include your real age.

Real names and ages will be published unless you wish to remain anonymous.

Essays should be 25 to 500 words.

Open to Submissions: April 2015

Publication Date: October 2015

Payment: Two Copies

Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories Volume II

Rocking Horse Publishing is proud to present Volume II of its bestselling anthology. The paranormal has deep-rooted history on the banks of the Mississippi, and Missouri is well known for its haunted past. In this volume, we focus just on St. Louis ghost stories. Under the Arch, on the Delmar Loop, in the Central West End, near the Soulard district, around every corner you turn there might just be a ghost waiting. Stories can be fiction or nonfiction.

Stories should be 750 to 2500 words.

Open to Submissions: July 2015

What makes a “bestselling” author? In my book—heh—it would be making the NYT bestseller list. Of course, you could have a “Top 100 Amazon Bestseller,” or a “local bestseller.” There are quite a few variations possible.

Some are defined by time, such as “2013 AOTSP Bestseller.” We had a list every year, in our store, of the top ten bestsellers by local authors. Yes, my books were on the list, and yes, I’ve said I was a bestselling author—WITH THESE QUALIFICATIONS. In fact, it’s on my website—WITH THESE QUALIFICATIONS.

See, that’s the important part: qualifying. Otherwise, you’re just yanking someone’s chain. At best, it’s false advertising; at worst, it’s fraud.

When I see “bestselling author,” I don’t expect a book written as though the author barely passed third grade; I don’t expect that author to have a dim grasp on English, so that something reads like captions in a bad foreign film.

Neither do I expect to see an Amazon ranking of over 1 million . . .

What’s especially irritating to me are those “writers” who toss up a “book” every month—many of these are more like blog posts; many come it at around 30 pages. Or sometimes less. And believe it or not, some people pay $4 for that. SMH. Don’t even get me started on “fan fiction.” Sheesh.

A novel is 80K words. Thereabouts. Use YOUR imagination and write a story. Beginning, middle, end. Not a high school paper, a BOOK. That may not take you ten years to write, or even one year, but it takes a lot more than throwing 20K words together and hitting the publish button, week after week.

THIS is why self-publishing still has a bad reputation in many bookstores.