Publish your anthology Part 2

Now available world-wide in every format

by Bernie Dowling

Our first thrilling episode on how your group can produce your own anthology ended with the cliffhanger of your being on the threshold of publishing.

As with those ancient pre-movie serials we quickly replay the action from the first episode. Our Writers Anthology Group (WAG) of the Arts Alliance Pine Rivers decided to do an anthology. We set up an editorial committee and found a sponsor, the late Peter Campbell.

We drew up a leaflet inviting writers to enter a short story and/or one or two poems. A  payment of $20 would buy one copy of the anthology if the story was accepted. If it was rejected the $20 would be returned.

We distributed the leaflets in libraries, our local art gallery and among writers’ groups.

(Anyone who buys a copy of either of our anthologies Serendipity (2013) or Alpha and Omega (2014) will have access to all out support material. Email bentbananabooks@gmail.com)

In the first instance, we requested the unpublished story as a print copy.

In earlier anthologies we asked for the phrase which was the book title to be included in the story.

For Sweet and Sour we asked for a comic story and/or a drama/ thriller. Each writer had only one story published.

The past two anthologies had broad options asking only that story in some way relate to the book title.

Our editorial committee edited the hard copy with two editors assigned to each story. Suggestions were sent to the submitters. Further edits were done through email.

After the initial run of the anthology, copyright reverted to the authors with Bent Banana Books and WAG retaining publishing rights for reprints with no further royalties paid.

Authors could pre-order further copies, last year at $15 each.

We had enough money in the kitty to order one copy for each author, 10 copies for our sponsor, the pre-order copies and copies for sale and giveaways to our local libraries and sometimes to our illustrators.

The editorial committee worked without pay as did out illustrations editor/ cover designer, Ken Armstrong. Not-for-profit WAG holds excess funds on behalf of writers. Last year we invested in trophies and prizes for senior high school writers.

Out editorial committee for at least the past two volumes has been Myself, Vera Murray, David MacLaughlin, Anne Olsson, Lorraine Noscov and Ronald Holt.

We send out our call for submissions in November and December and have the book launch 10-11 months later. It gives us plenty of time to get it right.

So how did we physically publish the anthology? That’s where we leave you on the edge of your chair, eagerly awaiting Part 3.

Here is our song about the contest for meaning.

Publish your short story

Your writers create an anthology

Available world-wide

Part 1

Alpha and Omega is the fifth annual anthology by writers from my area of Australia.

We have more than 20 writers each year contribute short stories and poetry.

As a  journalist, I am the only professional writer in our group but we have produced a good-looking   product with some cracking yarns and thoughtful poetry.

Billionaires bewail the eBook

I HAVE been pondering the real agenda behind the big publishers’ constant whingeing about eBooks eroding the literary standard.

The Big Publishers – there is only a half-dozen throughout the world – go by other names such as legacy publishers or heritage publishers which makes you think they belong in a museum.

I’ve decided the BPs have a short-term objective of retaining reader loyalty to their brands as the literary world goes digital.

The BPs are making a killing from the very eBooks they are raising hysteria over. They receive more than 52% of  eBook cover price and their authors receive less than 18%.

(Speaking to one author, I found there is confusion out there because some writers think their cut is 25% of eBook cover price. It is actually 25% of the 70% publishers receive from eBook retailers such as Google and Amazon.)

If the BPs can convince readers to pay $15 to $25 for an eBook to reward literary talent (which receives less than $3-5 of the purchase price) the money will keep rolling in during the short term before Amazon develops a winning strategy to drive down prices.

I believe the median-term strategy is for the BPs to retain their best-selling A-List writers.

The A-listers could be getting the full 70% royalty from Amazon.

Sure they would have to pay for their own editing, layout, cover design and promotions. But 52% of a best-seller can buy top quality in those services.

The authors would then broker a print-only deal with a mid-range publishers to ensure book-shop distribution..

All of this is a bad scenario for the BPs.

Rumours abound the BPs are cutting loose or are about to cut loose their mid-list authors.

No doubt they will tell their A-listers it will allow the publishers to devote more resources to them.

But what if they A-listers bail anyway? Where are the mid-listers to take their place?

Such interesting times ahead while the humble self-publishers go about their toil.