Bleeding Heart Publications To Launch on November 30, 2014; Hosts Open Submissions for Fiction & Creative Non-Fiction

BleedingHeart Publications, a new literary publishing house looking for “new voices” in full-length and short creative non-fiction and fiction, is launching in the United States and globally from its home base in Southeast Asia on November 30, 2014. A small, dedicated group of British and American ex-patriots—led by co-founders Gordon Ross, director, and Cali Dawson, managing director—have four books scheduled for publication in all formats in 2015 and are aggressively seeking manuscripts and short stories from new and previously published authors.  Bleeding Heart Publications also will publish Transfusion, a twice-yearly literary journal featuring short stories of 5,000 words or less. The company is registered in Singapore with editorial offices in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Gordon Ross, Bleeding Heart Publications

“There are so many gifted writers out there today who cannot get a publishing deal,” says Gordon Ross, a Scottish businessman and entrepreneur who has lived and worked in Asia since 2008 and is the director of Bleeding Heart Publications. “The business model has changed for the major publishing houses. They are far less inclined to take a chance on an up-and-coming writer these days, no matter how promising. Their focus is on established, best-selling authors and that’s where they are putting their marketing money. Also, self-publishing is exploding in the States, but many creative writers simply cannot afford it, and even if they could, they would face built-in reviewer bias against self-published fiction.

We are offering a different approach. We are a traditional, ‘old school’ publisher that values and supports and nurtures good writers while taking full advantages of modern technologies and marketing platforms. We also believe there is great opportunity for success in the mid-range, for authors who can sell between 10 and 40 thousand books. Another thing that sets us apart—we’re not going to be shy about using state-of-the-art advertising and marketing and PR to promote our authors and books.”

Cali Dawson

Cali Dawson, who grew up in the Midwest and is an author herself, co-founded Bleeding Heart Publications with Ross in 2013 and is the company’s managing director. “Many people are intrigued by the idea of having an English-language press in Thailand—and maybe a little skeptical,” she says. “Certainly the Internet and social media have opened the door for a more global publishing industry, and made it easier for small independent presses like ours to flourish, but I don’t think New York and London are in any danger of losing their leadership status in the publishing world. 

What has changed, though, is how many writers are being treated by the big corporate publishing entities. It’s not pretty. I’m a writer and I get it. New writers want publishers and editors who understand that they’ve poured their hearts and souls into their work, who care about them personally, who can offer editorial guidance and are transparent about the business side of publishing. That’s who we are at Bleeding Heart. We’re very hands on with our writers. We like being in the trenches with them.”

Bleeding Heart Publication will publish its first book, The Job Pirate by Brandon Christopher, on February 19, 2015. Christopher, who lives in Portland, Oregon, writes with wit, irreverence and honesty about some of the 80 obscure jobs he has “collected” on his rebellious journey through the American marketplace. Often hilarious and constantly thought-provoking, Christopher’s stories take us through the corporate offices, department stores and kiosks of the West Coast. We ride along with him as he chauffeurs the famous, the dead and sometimes just their furniture.  The Job Pirate strips off the façade of the American Dream and gives us a raw, funny and ultimately compassionate look into the work lives of everyday Americans who are just trying to survive, and whom we encounter anonymously every day.

Bleeding Heart Publications is partnering with Greenleaf Books in Austin, Texas, to provide book and cover design, production and distribution services, and marketing across all formats and platforms in the U.S.

For more information about Bleeding Heart Publications, its authors and submission policies, please visit the website.  For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with BHP’s principals or authors, contact Scott Busby at The Busby Group at scottb@thebusbygroup.com or 310.475.2914.