Would you allow your 75 stories to be published in a collection

[TheEndIsNigh]

It has to be asked of those that contribute to the 75 word stories. So if you are a contributor, would you allow it's publication in an anthology.

We would need to drill down into the nitty gritty detail at some stage.

Who would decide what was published

where would it be published.

Who would get a share (lol) of any profits.

Who would be asked to contribute.

Would the contributors (and I suggest this would be a good idea given some were pretty obscure) be allowed some explanation text.

What would be the format. - I was thinking one entry per page with 50 words of explanation - Hey early days it might never happen.

Thoughts and opinions please.

 

[ctg]

I would allow my entries to be published in a anthalogy if that's what you want to do. The thing with the competition is that at the moment I have so limited time in the library that I cannot fully put myself in them.

 

[Boneman]

I would imagine we'd all say yes... Presumably just the winners? (Would give added impetus to the competition if there was a 'reward' involved, therefore).

Hmm, explanation text... could open a can of worms there - if the story has to be explained, it could ruin the enjoyment of those who like to work these things out...

Maybe an annual anthology?

 

[alchemist]

I had been thinking about this recently. I see no problem with it. Just the winners would be a pretty short publication, though.

 

[Boneman]

Good point. But Tied winners would be in it... how to decide who to include??

 

[alchemist]

Even with tied winners.....

The only fair way is by popular vote, (unless some impartial outside agency/publisher chooses) so perhaps the best 4/5/6/7 per month, based on how many pages you need for it to be economically viable to print.

 

[The Judge]

I don't think getting permission is the problem, TEiN. After all, most of us are desperate to be published!! And if anyone isn't happy, well, his/her pieces can simply be omitted. Unless someone knows something I don't, the real issue is cost. There's a word for a project which involves taking money from people to publish their work which realistically no one else will ever want to buy...

And if we get around the question of money because someone will donate the entire costs of publication and all the rest of it, what about the question of editing? Do the entries get published as is, complete with numerous typing errors, spelling mistakes, absent punctuation? That's authentic, but hardly suitable for a professional anthology. If we're allowing entrants to correct typos and the like, do we go further and insist on corrected work? What if the entrant doesn't know his/her work needs correcting, is it done for him/her? We don't allow critiques of the pieces to avoid any unpleasantness, so what kind of reception will that have?

And if someone can change the spelling of a word, can someone else change a word because she has thought of a better one? Who amongst us hasn't submitted a piece and then a day or so later thought of a better way of expressing a line? Do we allow those changes? If so, at what point do we cross from "these are the entries for October" to "these are stories which have a basis in the entries for October" to "these are stories which might have been written in October had we given ourselves another month to work on them"?

And -- and I don't mean to tread on anyone's toes here -- do we have any kind of quality control? Does each and every entry get included, no exceptions (save for those who don't consent/can't be contacted)? But if we're going to start deciding which gets picked, who makes the choice? Do we go with whatever received votes? Because there are plenty of stories I've thought very good indeed which received no votes -- in fact I have been astounded at their votelessness -- and, frankly, vice versa. Or do we have a judging panel? At which point the mods all run screaming for the hills because nothing is likely to cause more upset in AW than a cabal deciding who is and is not good enough to be included in the anthology.

It's a lovely idea, and I would be delighted if someone could prove me wrong and produce an elegant, professional book which receives good reviews and sells prolifically. Until then, let's not forget that we have in effect published the pieces -- they are there in all their glory in Workshop. If there was call for it, I can't see a reason not to pull the completed monthly challenges into their own separate sub-forum so they can be accessed more easily.

 

[HareBrain]

I'd be happy to, as long as it didn't affect my ability to put mine up on any website I might set up in the future.

As for quality, I think they should be proofread and any errors in punctuation, spelling etc be pointed out to the writer, and would then be corrected unless the writer refused.

I also don't see a problem with people tweaking a few words, since they'll no longer be competing with each other.

But for now, I think the Judge is right -- just making the archive of entries more accessible would be a good idea.

 

[Allanon]

As with everybody else I have also voted yes.

I agree with some of the points above, mostly The Judge's, about how to go about this sort of thing. I feel strongly that editing shouldn't really be allowed, these stories are raw and that's what gives most of them feeling.

If you change the words and punctuation you change how it reads, then it isn't the story that won. I do feel however that glaring spelling errors should be rectified, as we dont want the anthology to be ridiculed for being stupid!

As to how many entries get accepted, I think it should be split into 12 chapters. One for each month. And from there you could choose maybe the best ten or so, chosen by the chronicles members and maybe any big time author that would be willing to put his name to it. Reason for the author recommendation would be a publicising tool. More people than just the Chrons members would buy it if it had a foreword from a huge name! And I know we have some in the Chrons!!

Just a shame none of my work would make the grade, but I'll try to get there for the second anthology!!

 

[Mouse]

Sneaking on at work, so gotta be quick!

It's a good idea, but as well as TJ's points, what about contributor copies? Or do we have to buy our own, in which case does the person who put the anthology together get all the money made from that? And if we did get contributor copies then the person who put the anthology together is out of pocket...

 

[Perpetual Man]

Although I'm a newbie to this side of the Chrons, I don't see any reason why not.

In my case at least the stories are written for this specifically, and although I can see places I might want to use them in the future I have nothing specific in mind.

When it comes to getting it published I wondered whether a service like Lulu might be a consideration. ie: doing it ourselves?

 

[chrispenycate]

Just a thought; only printing the winners takes away some of the incredible diversity this challenge is providing. Even eliminating all the entries that never received a vote would eliminate a lot of the "with the same subject they did that, and that, and that!" feeling you get as you try to shave contributors off that forty-long short list.

Really, I am not saying this because I've never won; nor am I averse to the winners being made obvious. It's just that the contrasts make up a large part of the reading/judging experience, and there are so many good tales that didn't manage a single vote.

 

[Deathfrommassive]

I’m pretty sure I would fall under the “sweet I got published and it doesn’t matter if I made any money that’s just awesome” group. Even to the point of pitching in money to get it off the ground. There is enough critique minded people out there (not to mention a whole forum devoted to the concept) that I truly believe that people would pay money for the book in hard copy. Honestly even if we did go with Lulu it would cost nothing other than the binding/printing for a least a personal copy.

As always IMO DFM

 

[Moonbat]

I think this would be a wonderful idea.
I think the numbers would add alot. We have had around 40 entries a month for something like 6 months so far. If this was set up as an annual thing that would be...umm...480 stories per year (approximately). that would be good value for money.
If each story took up a single page (as most would - although you could easily fit 2 or 3 or maybe 4 to a page) that would be a 500 page anthology of short shorts (or would that be 250 double sided pages?) Obviously it could be divided up into twelve chapters for the month and the subject. The winners could get pride of place at the start of the chapter (followed closely by 2nd place in the case of tied)

I agree that all entries should be proofread, and I also wouldn't be against tweaking an entry, as long as the 75 word limit is strictly adhered to.

There is such a wide diversity within each month's entries that it would be great reading. I have an anthology of short shorts by A J Ackerman and I loved it, some were a lot longer than 75 words, but a few were around that amount (and some even shorter) It was fantastic reading.

I have no idea of prices, but if we all bought a copy (say 40 of us) it might only cost a small amount each to create it no Lulu or somewhere. DOes anyone have ideas for cost?

When would this be done? I mentioned a year and I think we started in April, so there's still 5 months left to reach our 12 month anthology. Could people also add pictures/drawings/illustrations?

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

I was thinking along the lines of at least one story per person, providing they agree and are prepared to add any explanations and they aren't offensive in any way (None so far but let's keep it clean etc.) I was thinking the entries 'as is' otherwise we end up arguing about commas and apostrophes and it'll never get done. OK obvious spelling errors would be picked at the proof reader phase.

I would think that still wouldn't be enough of a book though.

I had visions of either another round of voting (with multiple choice available and the top say 10,15, or whatever from each month.)

Or a Booker prize kind of committee (internet based) that would argue the toss on the 'none, pre qualifying' entries. Possibly winners would be the first story in a month with the others from that month following on, kind of thing. Maybe that could be left to the committee to decide if that was the way it went.

That would let everyone feel involved. It would mean there might be some people with multiple insertions but hey if they are the good ones they'll drag the publication up.

The way it seems to be going we could get a reasonable collection together and if all went well publish a collection every year (To take advantage of the christmas demand )

Anyway, this was a sounding out thread. It still needs a mover and shaker type, to get it done.

If millions of copies are sold with 'profits', some form of 'distribution' should be agreed. To keep it simple if the book had 200 stories and one person (say a cheese eating type) had 4 entries then that person would get 2% of the profits. (Hey we can all dream). Profits being the difference between publication costs and money collected - in the usual way. A bit communistic perhaps but there you go.

To be honest, I live in a different world where all the rose tinted glasses are smashed, so let's not get too exited about that aspect.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I think this would be a wonderful idea.
I have no idea of prices, but if we all bought a copy (say 40 of us) it might only cost a small amount each to create it no Lulu or somewhere. DOes anyone have ideas for cost?

If I remember rightly, Lulu works in a strange manner, and obviously format (paperback/hardback etc) effects the overall price.

There is no cost for getting the book together, editing, proofreading, cover design is all down to the writer/publisher - so it is easy to make mistakes.

When finished you can buy as many or as few as you want, and that's where you start paying for it, but then if you are doing it just to have a few copies it's not that bad. That's what I did and I was very pleased with the finished product. (Apart from the mistakes from my bad proofing).

The cost of my hardback was £18 + a bit, but as writer I paid a little less than that for my few copies.

But you can pay more for extra packages - these include official ISBN numbers, and getting the book on Amazon etc.

The costs therefore would be a case of the book to everyone who wanted one, with no ingoing fees unless we wanted to use some of the extra packages. (if that makes any sense).

The profit can be increased or decreased to suit needs, depending on what was required, and keep prices low.

(Just out of interest though my book was selected as part of an experiment to go onto Amazon.com - the mark up in price was a little scary - but I've just checked and realised its fairly comparable now - and it's still there! - but when it first went up it was horrendous)

Obviously there would be a lot more to consider, but that's basically how Lulu works if I remember correctly

 

[HareBrain]

An annual anthology of say 45 entries for 12 months = 540, which at three a page is still only 180 pages, so all could be included, and Chris makes some good points as to why that should be so (and let's face it, it's only us that will buy it).

As for order etc, I'd suggest keeping them as they stand, in order of posting within each monthly chapter, with perhaps the number of votes discreetly displayed at the bottom right of each entry and perhaps the first/second/third placed ones flagged near the title.

 

[Moonbat]

Profits (if there are any) should be easy to work out, as Tein said, just divide 100% by the number of stories and do it that way. It could also be used for the start up costs, so that someone with only 1 story in isn't paying as much as someone with 12 stories.
If you want to take advantage of the Christmas buzz then the first year will have to be short, unless we wait until next year and have a bumper edition.

I thought that if publication for all entries was assured then more people might enter the compeition knowing that it would lead to publication of a sort, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[StormFeather]

If this were to happen, I think Harebrain's suggestion makes a lot of sense.

At the end of each month, when it comes to voting, the diversity of the shortlists alone testify to the varying preferences of folks on here. So, having all the stories present, enabling the reader to sample the rich tapestry of talent, would make for a wonderful book.

And, for those stories that need some help with understanding - heavily promoting the Chrons site in the book, with a link to the specific forum that these stories would be in, and where explanations could be found might be the best/easiest way, rather than interupting the flow of the book . . .

My tuppence worth anyway - and of course, as someone who is unlikely to get published in any other sense, I'd be delighted to be included!!!

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Excellent points there Stromfeather and HB suggestion also makes sense. The problem will come when the rest of the world, on seeing our fat rewards, want to jump on the gravy train (Yeah right). However we could cross that bridge, when the milk has been cleaned up.