Ron Earl Phillips
Shotgun Honey
Created in 2011, Shotgun Honey challenged writers to tell a story in 700 words or less. Specifically, those stories that lived in the crime, hardboiled, and noir genres. As ambitious as the word count, the webzine creator Kent Gowran, and his co-editors, Sabrina Ogden and Ron Earl Phillips, aimed to serve three stories a week to Shotgun Honey’s consumptive readers.
DOSSIER: How do you feel about acquiring strong books that have a poor starting off point with a tough first chapter? Do you get past that first chapter and see the potential, or do you stop once you get turned off with something you’re not happy with?
PHILLIPS: Thirty pages. That’s the amount of manuscript an author has to sell their book. I don’t think I’m particularly unique in my role as a small press/indie publisher where I wear many hats, including acquisition. My approach may be unique though in that I read potential manuscripts as a reader and not for salability. So all the books in the Shotgun Honey catalog are books I’d read and put on my own shelf. The 30 page restriction allows me to DNF without regret. Rarely, when I second guess myself, and I request that full manuscript do I find poor starts lead to strong books. Sometimes, that thing that turned you off is all that is needed. I trust my gut, but I always wish the author well and that they find a good home.
DOSSIER: Since editors work for publishers who are focused on sales and the bottom line, how important is it for you to be able to convince them that a particular writer has a strong social media presence or a personal vehicle to generate sales right away?
PHILLIPS: Again, as a small press/indie publisher… many, many hats. An author’s social media presence and platform are a very important cog in the publishing machine, but it’s not something that we look for in accepting an author’s novel or collection. Marketing a book, even in the NYC publishing arena, has become reliant on the author’s reach. I don’t know whether it’s the nature of social media that has shifted that burden, but it’s an advantage when the author has a built-in audience. It’s also unfair, especially at our level of publishing, to discount a book or author for not having a platform. Being small allows for some latitude to be open to complete unknowns. And who knows, maybe being published will be the confidence boost needed for the author to find their voice and their platform.
DOSSIER: What do you focus on most—developmental editing and pulling the strings from behind the curtain or directing scenes, themes, and plot lines with a guiding hand?
PHILLIPS: Neither, to be honest. Part of the acquisition process after reading those initial thirty pages is reading the full manuscript and understanding the authors intent and direction. If the manuscript is messy, meanders, or has mile-wide holes, its not going to get accepted. I have to trust the authors vision. That isn’t to say the submitted manuscript is perfect, but the editors (myself included) who do work with the manuscripts mostly focus on line edits, grammatical errors, and any continuity issues. I would love the chance to commit more resources to developing the authors vision and voice, but it does come down to resource and a good editor is worth their weight in gold. I would recommend to any author who thinks they are ready for the query process, whether to an agent or a small publisher, find yourself a good editor. There are a lot of good ones out there. Top on my list, when I finish my novel, would be Sara J. Henry, Jim Thomsen, and Elizabeth A. White.
DOSSIER: Bonus question: Is there anything you’ve been dying to tell the writing community?
PHILLIPS: Currently, I’m sitting on announcing Shotgun Honey’s 2025-26 catalog. Bobby Mathews already announced his Magic City Blues follow-ups Magic City Mayhem (2025), Magic City Monster (2026). Russell W. Johnson will conclude his Mountain Mystery trilogy with The Miner’s Myth (2025). And we’ll see the next Declan Shaw mystery Catch Me on a Blue Day by M.E. Proctor. Those four titles are part of the 12 titles scheduled for 2025-26. If you are familiar with our recent catalog output, you may notice that is down by half. I’m not dying to tell the writing community, potential authors wanting to home their novel or collection, more so reluctant to say that we will be providing less opportunities to publish with Shotgun Honey. However, these hats do get heavy and I need to trade them out more.
To reading community, we’ve published some amazing books these last few years. Just because they’re not shiny and new, if you haven’t read them, they’re new to you. We’d love your support.
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