Sunday, January 27, 2019

#FunAtWorkDay: How Exactly Does Altrix Work?


The Internet is amazing, isn't it? Bit by bit, it makes the world around us a little more accessible. Within our own lifetimes, our reach has increased exponentially, enabling us to meet, befriend, and collaborate with people anywhere in the world.

That's a big part of why Altrix exists, why it functions... and, occasionally, why we have to get a bit creative with how we do our business.

First, a little setup for those of you who haven't known us very long. "We" are Paul Driscoll and Kara Dennison, two writers who collaborated on a charity novel and created an imprint under which to release it. Once the book was done, we fancied doing more... and so Altrix Books became more permanent. We hire and collaborate with other writers, printers, artists, and designers to get our work done, of course. But, at the core, Altrix is Paul and Kara.

The two of us met online, and were introduced mainly for the purposes of writing the book. We don't live near each other at all; Paul is in the northern UK, and Kara is on the East Coast of the US. We have been in the same room before, but for most of the time, we're an ocean and a bit apart making things happen.


At present, Paul handles things that involve numbers—sales, orders, shipping, and the like—and Kara handles social media and online presence. In the future, though, we're hoping to ship out of both the US and UK, to make sure readers have a variety of options when it comes to getting their books.

As for editorial work, we divide that up, too! Both of us handle editing, a pitch to Altrix (as opposed to an anthology overseen by one of us) requires the all-clear from us both, and we divide up editing duties on major projects.

Interested in learning more about us? We'll have more information on our 2019 slate soon, including what each of us has on our personal to-do lists!

Sunday, January 13, 2019

UNEARTHED Update: Buried Treasures


Unearthed, our soon-to-be first release of 2019, is moving into its final stages before publication! We're looking forward to offering small samples of what's to come on our social media once orders open. For now, here's a look at where we stand:

The Stories

Save for one author with special dispensation due to extenuating circumstances, all stories are now in. Kara has been editing them and placing them in the full manuscript as they arrive, with a little shuffling around each other here and there as the completed anthology takes place.

Formatting and editing have been a very fluid process, meaning that once the final story is in, it can join the rest as soon as it's edited and formatted.


The Illustrations

As we've mentioned, Monica Marier and Sophie Iles will be creating illustrations for Unearthed, helping us cover the broad range of subject matter with their unique styles. They each have copies of the manuscript and are divvying up the stories. We've gotten in a couple of works-in-progress so far, and they're looking great!


The Cover

Ginger Hoesly will be handling our cover. She's been given the manuscript as well, and we're looking forward to hashing out something with her.


Getting It to You

Since we have readers on both sides of the Atlantic, we're looking for ways to make acquiring this book (and our others going forward) as simple, reliable, and affordable as possible. We'll be offering information as soon as we're ready to open orders!


Keep your eyes on our Facebook and Twitter for a taste of what's in store in the coming weeks!

Sunday, January 6, 2019

A Quick Thank-You to Our Readers


We like being able to touch base with all of you every week, but sometimes there's not particularly exciting news to give. At the moment, we're at a sort of mid-point with most of our projects. Things are happening, but they're either basic deadlines being met or decisions being made that we can't reveal until a later date. Suffice to say, things are happening under the surface that you'll be hearing about before long.

That said, it's a good time to stop and, again, say "thank you" to Altrix's early adopters.

As many of you know, we originally started as a vanity imprint simply so that Seasons of War: Gallifrey would have a home. But the more the two of us talked, the more we realized there was more we could be doing. We're both writers with things we want to put out there—whether it's ideas for anthologies, new universes, or essays.

We were lucky to already have Altrix in play when we decided to let the Chronosmiths keep going in their own universe, but there was more that we could do. We aren't a major group (we're two people working out of home offices an ocean apart), so you won't see dozens and dozens of books pouring out each year. We know that, at our size, we have to choose everything very carefully; we'd rather promise a small number and see it through (with potential surprises) than promise the moon and under-deliver.

The other part of small-size projects like this is just how acutely our personal lives can affect them. Kara knows this full well via her collaboration with Ginger on Owl's Flower: if one person is sick, burned out, or on a day-job deadline, things cam get stalled. Yet another reason we work with care: to set up a venture that we can tackle and help each other with even when the unexpected happens.

Watching Unearthed come together story by story is a treat: it feels that much more real every time a set of edits is done. As Kara works away on that, Paul is working away on our summer release, with much the same result. And, of course, the Chronosmiths are brewing. We've had an exciting development there that we can't wait to announce... a truly magical addition to their first series of adventures ahead.

Knowing we have both writers and readers excited about what's ahead keeps us motivated. And having people pitching in with resources and assists as we find our way is going to make us better than we would have been at the start.

So again, thank you for all your support. The best is yet to come. And hopefully, before long and once a few things have been filed and signed, some news is to come.