Umwelt House

Followed me on Twitter last night. Doesn't seem to have much of an online footprint, not yet launched, seeking authors.

When I go to the website I get this:

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Umwelt House

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There's a reason why I don't let strange sites run Javascript. It's also accessibility-hostile, and I'm sometimes dependent on Dragon, so I'm not interested as either reader or writer, quite apart from the usual "brand new publisher" issues. However, the Googlecache of the front page says they're launching late 2014 and gives a mock-up of the covers, the Googlecache of the submission page indicates they're looking for speculative fiction novellas and short novels, 15,000 to 70,000 words (recently increased from 40,000 according to the Twitter feed).

Insert usual comments about new publishers here...

I liked the Old-School-Penguin inspired cover design and the colour switching concept. But even ignoring the "disabled and security-conscious users not welcome" design aesthetic, when I compare this with Tor.com's announcement this week of their new digital novella imprint for specfic, there's a lot more hard information about what writers get out of it from Tor.com.

The address is in the UK, which could make it of interest to those who'd rather not do battle with the US IRS. Assuming there is anything to pay tax on, of course.

How very interesting. I went Googling to see whether there's any mention of payments elsenet. I didn't find that, but I did find the founder's entry on CreativePool:
http://creativepool.com/craighitchings/projects/umwelt-house-for-umwelt-house

And right now that entry says:

Date created: January 2014

Last updated: 10 February 2014 10:57

Setting up and managing a publishing house focusing exclusively on autobiographical novellas in print and digital formats; reviewing, developing and editing submitted manuscripts; responsible for all aspects of the business, including accounting, invoicing, digital/print rights, contract negotiation and distribution; attracting over 2,000 Twitter followers in first few months; building an attractive eCommerce website; launching in 2014. http://umwelthouse.com

Click to expand...

Note the genre... He could be referring to an earlier project, but every reference to a specific project is to Umwelt House.