Publishing the underground

The Future of Publishing

Last year Dead Ink released New Voices 2014, where we published three novels from emerging authors: From this we achieved two nominations for the reader’s choice in The Guardian’s First Book Award, two listings for the Not The Booker Prize, a shortlisting for The Saboteur Awards and another for The Gladstone Writers in Residency Award. We know our readers love our books, and now we’ve found three more. At https://elitewritings.com/buy-a-letter-of-recommendation.html you may buy letter of recommendation to make sure your assignments are finished in time.

This year we’re doing something different. We’re crowdfunding for New Voices 2015, another three brilliant novels from three extraordinary new authors. If we can raise £3,000 then the books will go to print. This is your chance to be not just a reader, but a maker!

All you have to do to take part is place an order and you’ll be supporting the future of three great new writers.

New Voices

How it works

— Dead Ink want to publish three great new novels for you to read. We need your help to fund them.

— We need your support to help us raise £3,000 by the end of Dec 1.

— Every book that you support right now will bring it closer to being printed. You’re not just a reader, you’re a maker.

— As an acknowledgement of this, each book you support will have your name printed inside as someone who helped create it.

— Each book is a beautiful hardback signed by the author.

— With your book you will also get a Dead Ink tote bag to show our appreciation.

— We’ve also made Dead Ink T-shirts. If you want one of these, then buy the three books together.

— You’ll also get Dead Ink membership, giving you 15% off everything on the Dead Ink web store, forever.

— There are no shipping costs.

— So how do you support? Just click “Pre-order”

The Plan

Over the next six months Dead Ink will be publishing three novels from three emerging authors. We invite you, the readers, to support us and to support the authors. You are welcome to support one author or all three, but any contribution that you make will be invaluable to developing exciting new literature and independent publishing.

Your purchase will help bring new literature to publication and support the authors’ careers at a pivotal point. Every book that you support will feature within it your name as a contributor, without whom publication would have been impossible. As well as receiving a high quality hardback copy of every book you support, you will receive free lifetime membership to Dead Ink, a limited edition tote bag, an invitation to exclusive author events and free postage. If you support all three novels you will also receive a limited edition Dead Ink T-shirt. And we’ve consulted several experts on this who all confirm the T-shirt is amazing.

And, because we love our readers, each book has already been discounted so you get all this for less than the cover price! Plus did we mention how cool we think our new T-shirt is?

Dead Ink Membership

We believe that the best new writing takes time, commitment and passion to nurture. To publish challenging and provocative books we need to look beyond the traditional modes of the publishing industry. Dead Ink is convinced that the best supporters of brilliant new writing and authors are you, the readers.

We’re inviting you to play an integral part in the development of the new books and the new authors that are emerging today. We’re inviting you to become a member of the Dead Ink team.

We aim to bring our readers closer to Dead Ink and give them a say in how the press develops. When you pre-order any book of these books you will receive a Dead Ink membership card that will entitle you to a lifetime 15% discount from the Dead Ink website, free or discounted entry to all of our future events, exclusive online content, special offers, and invitations to special members-only readings and author Q&As. Being a Dead Ink member means that you support an ambitious independent press dedicated to discovering new talent.

The Books

01.

The Shapes of Dogs' Eyes

By Harry Gallon

Harry Gallon

Convinced that London’s young-professionals are being controlled by their dogs, a homeless bartender embarks on a drunken campaign to rescue his peers from domesticity. Sofa-hopping across a Hackney overrun with hungover musicians, craft brewers and their canine masters, he slips further into fantasy the more obsessed he becomes with setting everyone free.

Set in a modern London as brittle and unmoored as the characters that move through it, The Shapes of Dogs’ Eyes explores the philosophies of love and homelessness with a restless sense of uncertainty.

Harry Gallon is an author and freelance reader from the South of England. His short fiction and poetry have featured in numerous publications, including The London Magazine and Forward Poetry. In 2013 he was a winner of the first annual Storgy Short Story Competition, and was shortlisted for the Jane Martin Poetry Prize in 2014. He lives in London.

£12. Ships December 2015.

Order now.

02.

The Wave

By Lochlan Bloom

Lochlan Bloom

Just how far is it from London to Gotham City? Or from Paul Auster to Pierre Menard, for that matter?

Three intertwined narratives play out as the stories of μ, an isolated loner, DOWN, a depressed publisher, and David Bohm, a real-life quantum theoretician in post-war São Paulo, become entangled.

The closer each of these trails leads to the dark centre of the world, the more reality disintegrates. Dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and fear, and reason and nonsense drag each of the characters struggling into an absurd, labyrinthine world of seemingly infinite regress.

Lochlan Bloom is a London based writer who has written for BBC Radio, Litro Magazine, Porcelain Film, IronBox Films, EIU, H+ Magazine and Palladium Magazine, amongst others.

£12. Ships January 2016.

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03.

When Lights Are Bright

By Wes Brown

Wes Brown

“Maybe the protest is against the future?”

“Is that what protest is?”

A day in Leeds. The English Defence League and anti-globalisation protesters are clashing in the streets. A schoolgirl is missing from a council estate and her parents are on the television. Contrarian journalist, James Oisin, is haunted by her face on the missing posters. He suspects the mother is behind it.

In a story about class, identity and capitalism, James’ search for the missing schoolgirl leads him to confront the truth of his past, the white working class and the consequences of his contrarianism.

For James, anonymity may be the most radical act of all.

Wes Brown is a 29 year old writer and his debut novel, Shark, was published by Valley Press. He is the young writers’ co-ordinator at the National Association of Writers in Education and Editorial Assistant at Magma Poetry. He has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme and is a visiting lecturer in creative writing at the University of East London.

£12. Ships February 2016.

Order now.

FAQs


What do I do?

To take part all you have to do is pre-order one book, or all three, and Dead Ink will handle the rest. As each book is published it will be delivered to you along with everything else we have promised. Pre-ordering a book is no more hassle than any other book purchase but the difference it will make to Dead Ink and our authors is huge. If you want to keep literature independent, exciting and just a little bit fearless then this is how to do it.

I don't live in the UK, can I still take part?

Yes but unfortunately we can't offer you free postage. You'll have to send us an email and we'll sort out a postage quote for you and handle everything from there.


Where are my books?

They’re not published yet. The publication dates are listed alongside each title, and as they are released they will posted to you. This way, you can enjoy each one individually before the next arrives.

What happens when the books are published, can I buy them then?

Absolutely. Although once the book is published it will no longer be available with the pre-order bonuses. You will still be able to buy it from the Dead Ink Books website as well as most major retailers. But obviously that is less cool than buying them right now.

I've got a question that isn't here and it is very important.

Send an email to Nathan and hopefully he will be able to answer it for you.

Can I place a trade order?

Of course you can! All Dead Ink titles are available to the trade through the normal wholesalers and we are represented by Inpress Books. If you would like to place an order with us directly just contact our sales team.

This is brilliant, how do I keep up with the authors?

You’ll be automatically added to our members-only subscription where you will receive updates on the authors, their forthcoming events and anything particularly spectacular that they get up to. We’ll also keep you informed on Publishing the Underground as it develops as well as any good news that we think you might like to hear. If you’re really keen to know what is going on then don’t forget to check the Dead Ink Books website where we regularly feature writing and updates from our authors too.

Help Dead Ink Spread the Word

Dead Ink is all about team work – we need the help of our readers to get the word out that Publishing the Underground is here. Of course, we wouldn't ask you to do this without rewarding you, would we? If you use the button on the right to share on Facebook or Twitter then you'll automatically get access to eBook versions of all three novels from last year's New Voices 2014 absolutely free! So if you post about this little experiment you will get SJ Bradley's kitchen sink thriller, Brick Mother, Richard Smyth's dark satire, Wild Ink, and Sally Ashton's painful and erotic novella, Controller without paying a penny. You will also receive all three in three formats: Mobi, ePub and PDF. All because we love you and to make this work we need your help!