It’s very hot in Sacramento, and the air-conditioning in our office is not impressive. Nonetheless, we’ve been spending more time together than usual, brainstorming and budgeting and writing endless copy for the new site and various press releases. We’ve been marking up our calendar feverishly and refusing to look at it for at least an hour afterwards in order to avoid panic. And if Hall & Oates comes on the radio, we all have to stop what we’re doing and listen, also in order to avoid panic. We have been sustaining ourselves mostly on Diet Coke and peanut M&M’s, and are very tired of looking at each others’ sweaty faces.

Why, you might wonder, have we been subjecting ourselves to this?

So many reasons. We were going to wait until we launched the new site to reveal our secrets. Like a pious bride-to-be a month before the big day, we have tried to abstain. But we can’t wait any longer. We’re too excited. Or maybe it’s just the heat. Either way, we’ve had enough with being coy. Flatmancrooked is pleased to announce the first of the highly innovative projects we’re undertaking with our new website.

It’s called LAUNCH. The idea behind it is that Flatmancrooked takes a writer we’ve published, whom we believe has a tremendous amount of talent, but, given the current circumstances of publishing, hasn’t received due attention. We set up a profile page on our site that features proof of the author’s talent-in the form of short stories we’ve published previously in our anthologies, along with an excerpt of a new piece that we’d like to print as a stand-alone book.

If our readers like what they read and are interested in seeing more of from the author, they can “invest” in said author and help “launch” his or her career by purchasing any number of the available shares. Each $5 share will go towards turning the excerpted story into a little book. Quite literally, a little book. Pocket-sized, if you will. A mini-novel, which is sometimes called a novella, or a novelette. Either way, it’ll be a satisfying piece of literature that you can handily read in an afternoon.

Throughout the investment period, we’ll update the LAUNCH page with the number of shares still available and all working drafts of the book design. For every share purchased, the investor receives a signed and numbered copy of the book (a book that becomes dearer and dearer as the writer flourishes). Not only will these generous Patrons of the Arts be demonstrating exceptional fiscal savvy (as the list price of the book will be equal to or more than the cost of a share), they will be responsible in part for securing the writer’s future. After production costs are covered, the author receives a 50% royalty of all investments and sales. That’s right. Fifty percent. Thus, not only will the book be produced out of a democratic, merit-based support of good literature, but our writers will also get to eat some food.

Based on the idea that LAUNCH authors will be writers we’ve worked with in the past who have shown tremendous potential, after a little discussion (talent, marketability, Facebook networks) we came to a unanimous decision: Flatmancrooked is very proud to present our first LAUNCH author, Emma Straub.

Emma received an MFA from the University of Madison Wisconsin where she was the Jay C. and Ruth Halls Emerging Artist Fellow. She is also the co-editor of Avery: An Anthology of New Fiction and is the E of M + E (www.m-plus-e.com). Her first story with us, “Hot Springs Eternal,” appeared in First Winter, and came to us as a cold submission. It’s a love story, and there are hot springs involved, and the smell of sulfur. We liked it so much that we nominated it for Pushcart Prize. When the time came to put the second anthology together, we immediately asked Emma for another story. “Snowbirds” is a story about vacationers, Floridians, and the way those things can mix unhappily. It appears in our Anthology of Great New Writing Done During an Economic Depression. Her stories are terrifically funny and subtle, and we think she’s one of the most promising young writers in the country.

Beginning with Emma, LAUNCH will feature a new author every four months. It’s our intention that in a time when traditional publishing is less and less able to provide writers with a way to earn a living, readers can become a direct influence on the careers of the authors they like to read-by investing in future works. A serious writer will write to write, but what’s a greater secondary impetus than the public demanding to see more work? Good faith begets a good product. LAUNCH is designed to facilitate that very idea.

In early August we will begin republishing Emma’s stories in our Features section. We will also unveil Emma’s LAUNCH page, with cover artwork, excerpts, and maybe even a little film. Just wait and see.

By Deena Drewis