These days, regardless of which store we deliver to, we find that our invoices are paid on time and when books are ordered for specific events, the booksellers promote them well and keep a couple of copies after the event to keep the writer in stock. We have been lucky to have several of our authors on at the Royal Festival Hall and the branch there is exemplary: the communication prior to events is timely, the displays during and after the events are splendid and all signings are well managed. I know no one is asking, but occasionally a good word is just deserved. Well done Foyles!

I do still have my gripes, well, one gripe – the cost of organising readings at the Charing Cross store is exorbitant. A fail-safe killer for small presses – especially ones like flipped eye that love to read!

lifemarks

Janett Plummer is the author of lifemarks, a poetry pamphlet under our mouthmark series.

HERITAGE OF SECRETS:

The paperback is now out and for the next few weeks  is available direct from the publisher at the discounted price of only four pounds. Just click here –

http://www.flippedeye.net/store/product_info.php?products_id=65

Only a week left for voting on the People’s Book Prize.  I’m currently in second place so just need a few votes to win – please help!  Click here –

http://www.peoplesbookprize.com/book.php?id=90

All you have to do is register with your email then they send you a password and you can vote.  Thanks a million J

LONDON LIMING: where spoken word meets carnival

presenting poetry, fiction, song and a new poetry anthology

6 September 2009 at 5.15pm

KINGS PLACE, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG

Tickets £4.50                        Bookings via www.kingsplace.co.uk

LONDON LIMING mixes poetry, music and audience participation to bring a carnival flavour to London.

Featuring performances by MELLOW BAKU, CHARLIE DARK, JOHN HEGLEY, MICHAEL HOROVITZ and AOIFE MANNIX, plus a taster of a new POETRY Anthology (Poetry Olympics Enlightenment) of poets, fiction writers and wordsmiths, edited by Michael Horovitz, John Hegley, Melanie Abrahams and Adam Horovitz. Hosted by Melanie Abrahams.

LIT UP:  Aoife Mannix and Janie Armour present Different Words For Snow

Creating Live Literature Showcase & Conference

Thursday September 24th 2009 – The Albany, Deptford, London

Click here for more info http://www.litup.org/prog2009b.htm

In the early days of flipped eye publishing I saw every submission as a chance to enhance the experience that most aspiring writers have when they submit work to a publisher. I responded to every submission, telling each writer what I liked and didn’t like about their work, what could be improved easily, who I thought they should read, and what magazines to submit to. It was a tall order, but we were new and I was only editing three writers so I was able to keep up with it. Besides, I had been the submitting writer so many times and was so incensed when editors/agents/magazines who asked you NOT to make simultaneous submissions did not respond. I actually got several writers writing back to thank me – and, of course, submissions ballooned because that was effectively a FREE reading service.

Seven years on, I find myself editing twenty two writers, working with two extra editors and – yes – with no time to respond to all submissions. Admittedly, it crept up on me, so I didn’t actually take steps to let writers know of the changes (I do believe clear communication is the foundation of the contract, regardless of how transient, between editor and writer/aspiring writer), but we have ALWAYS said that we accept simultaneous submissions – after all, if an editor likes your work, they should step up and say so! And we don’t require SAEs, which I maintain are a waste of time – in fact, we prefer initial queries by e-mail.

What we have done now, though (a few years late), is create an auto-response that lets writers know EXACTLY what is likely to happen to their submission – where it goes. And the text reads something like this:

Your submission has been received by flipped eye publishing and will now go through a number of stages. You may or may not get a response depending, primarily, on whether or not your submission makes it beyond our initial readers. During low submission periods we endeavour to respond to all submissions, but we cannot promise this.

The stages are as follows:

1. Your submission is read by our initial readers, who will pick work that is well-structured, edited and presented and forward what they choose to our selection readers. LIKELIHOOD OF RESPONSE IF YOU DON’T MAKE IT PAST THE INITIAL READERS – 12%
2. Your submission is perused by our selection readers who will select work based on originality, style and the priorities of our three editors, sending the chosen work on to specific editors according to their assessment of the work. All fiction submissions will go to Nii Ayikwei Parkes. LIKELIHOOD OF RESPONSE IF YOU DON’T MAKE IT PAST THE SELECTION READERS – 30%
3. Your work is read by one of our three editors who then pick the work they like and share it with the other editors at our editorial meetings (held every six weeks). LIKELIHOOD OF RESPONSE IF YOU DON’T MAKE IT PAST AN EDITOR – 62%
4. Your work is championed by an editor at an editorial meeting. If it is approved, the editor who chose your work will contact you to discuss the possibility of publishing you. LIKELIHOOD OF RESPONSE IF YOU DON’T MAKE IT PAST THE EDITORIAL MEETING – 99%

So, we still love bits of your work – but we can’t always tell you which. We live in crunchy times…

»»

The paperback of ‘Heritage of Secrets’ is now available on Amazon http://tr.im/rmlc.  More info on the book below.

BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE FLIPPED EYE PARTY
Monday, July 27th, 7pm – 11:30pm FREE ENTRY
Dick’s Bar ‘The Green Fingernail’, 23 Romilly Street, Soho
featuring Aoife Mannix, Niall O’Sullivan, Niki Aguirre and Nii Ayikwei Parkes

LATITUDE  JULY 16TH -19TH
I’m performing at Latitude http://tr.im/rm4Z

STANDON CALLING JULY 31ST – AUGUST 2ND
I’m performing at Standing Calling with the Book Club Boutique http://tr.im/rmbO

BIG CHILL AUGUST 6TH – 9TH
I’m performing at the Big Chill http://tr.im/rm8K

HERITAGE OF SECRETS has echoes of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd in more than just the name of the American sailor, Troy and spans the days of ‘The Troubles’ to the present, a time when marijuana has begun to filter into the bathrooms of convent schools in Ireland and issues of sexuality have come to the fore.

Order it on Amazon http://tr.im/rmlc or direct from the publisher http://tr.im/qLCh.

“Heritage of Secrets is unputdownable; the writing is beautiful, and the epic scale of the story is compelling. This is a novel that embraces love, loss and destiny with compassion and clarity. Aoife Mannix is a writer to watch.” Nick Drake, author of Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead and winner of the Forward prize for best first collection, The Man in the White Suit

‘Aoife Mannix has a poet’s way with words, and a natural gift for storytelling. ‘Heritage of Secrets’ is a hugely satisfying read’. Paul Burston, author of ‘The Gay Divorcee’

‘Aoife Mannix’s book is a real page-turner, and incredibly difficult to put down.  She has painted her characters with consumate skill, drawing on finely honed observational skills, with the true story teller’s ease. I found myself sympathising with the main characters even when they were doing appalling things with and to each other. A really great read.’  Agnes Meadows, author of This One Is For You

The paperback’s just been released so you can buy it on Amazon http://tr.im/nL5Y at a special discount for the next few weeks. We’re having a party to celebrate at the Book Club Boutique on July 27th – hope you can make it ☺

FICTIONS at the Book Club Boutique
Monday, July 27th, 7pm – 11:30pm FREE ENTRY
Dick’s Bar ‘The Green Fingernail’, 23 Romilly Street, Soho
featuring Aoife Mannix, Niall O’Sullivan, Niki Aguirre and Nii Ayikwei Parkes

The other good news is that the paperback of my novel ‘Heritage of Secrets’ is coming out in July.  If you pre-order it from Foyles the postage is free ☺   Here’s the link

http://www.foyles.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781905233243&sf_01=kword_index&st_01=heritage+of+secrets+Aoife+Mannix&sort=eh_nbd_rank%2Fd&x=0&y=0&m=2&dc=2

I’ll be reading from the novel on May 20th at the Royal Festival hall.  Here’s the link and further details are below.

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/literature-spoken-word/productions/f8-roger-robinson-niall-o-su-45708

F8: A LITERARY GALA EVENING AT THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Wednesday, May 20, 2009
7:45pm – 10:45pm
Spirit Level, Royal Festival Hall
Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
Start time: 7.45pm
Door: £7.50
Complimentary refreshments available

To mark their eighth year of operation, flipped eye publishing is hosting a special gala night featuring, for the first time ever, their own live band, the l’8 quartet alongside some of their most celebrated writers, including Agnes Meadows, Charlotte Ansell, Inua Ellams, Jacob Sam-La Rose, Niall O’Sullivan, Nick Makoha, Niki Aguirre, Roger Robinson PLUS Aoife Mannix, Zena Edwards and Malika Booker.  There is an auction of special editions of their eight best-selling titles with covers illustrated by the authors in pen, and previously unreleased audio recordings as giveaways.

The event marks the launch of an eight-month long series of readings – the f8 tour – by flipped eye authors across the UK, including events at Borders and partner libraries such as the Westminster Reference Library

PHRASED AND CONFUSED TOUR
Phrased and Confused heads off on a national tour next week.  Check it out here: www.phrasedandconfused.co.uk.

On the tour bus will be gorgeous Canadian folk collective Woodpigeon, darkly funny satirist Murray Lachlan Young, poet Aoife Mannix, accordionist Janie Armour and The Dead Poets.

Below is a full list of all of our tour dates:

9 May, Phrased & Confused, Southill Park, BRACKNELL (Tickets: 01344 484
123 / http://www.southhillpark.org.uk)
10 May, Phrased & Confused, Cross Kings, LONDON (Tickets:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/45343)

11 May, Phrased & Confused, Norwich Arts Centre, NORWICH (Tickets: 01603
660352 / htp://www.norwichartscentre.co.uk)
12 May, Phrased & Confused, Arc, STOCKTON ON TEES (Tickets: 01642
525199 / http://www.arconline.co.uk)
13 May, Phrased & Confused, Assembly Rooms, DERBY (Tickets: 01332
255800 / http://www.derbylive.co.uk)
14 May, Phrased & Confused, Exeter Phoenix, EXETER (Tickets: 01392
667080 / http://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk)