Anthology update

Vickie - why not one of your Amazon Shorts stories?

Shelagh wrote:

Thanks Rainbow! I get your drift!

You're most welcome my Queenship!

Okay, I slept on it. This is the outcome (I signed it, Jim!)

Quote :

When a group of members from the Published Authors Forum shared their thoughts about how best to use each other’s talents, the seed of an idea was planted. That idea grew into a suggestion that forum members should contribute to an anthology of poems and short stories with the theme of friendship.

Over the following months, I received wonderful poems and short stories from all corners of the world. This posed an editorial problem as submissions arrived written in both American English and Standard English. I made the decision to present the work as written by the authors, which adds to the world wide appeal of the book.

The short story has enjoyed something of a revival in recent years as the pace of life has increased and busy schedules leave less time for reading. The attraction of this collection of work lies in the varying lengths, diversity and variety of genres: from romance and mystery to fantasy and science fiction. There is something for everyone. While some are short and pithy, others are thought-provoking and satisfying. All are entertaining.

Shelagh Watkins

I think you have done a fine job, Shelagh.

And add a dateline too.

Jim Woods
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Might I still suggest....entertaining. Enjoy!

Ditto on all.

Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!

Looks great, Shelagh! Isn't this all so exciting?

Yes it is ... but hard work! I'm working on the back cover blurb next.

I'm still wating for one or two more promised submissions -- we already have over 40 contributors. The anthology looks terrific and at the moment has 79,723 words and is 254 pages long!

w00t!

That is quite impressive!

Sounds excelent. Well done Shelagh.

Are you using any of my poetry?
I know you have my short story, Noble Heart.

Oh, and let me know if you need any more stories. I have a YA supernatural thriller at 24,500 wrds that's looking for a home.

Thanks eveyone -- everything is going well and this really is something to look forward to!

Hi Karina,

The poems have to fit around the stories so, until all the submissions are in, I won't know if your poem fits in or not. At the moment. the stories and poems flow throughout the book -- which is quite amazing but nonetheless true! There are now over twenty short stories and twice as many poems -- I have to keep every title in my mind so that I can re-arrange as new stuff comes in. It isn't an easy task but I think you will be impressed with the result.

~Shelagh

Shelagh,
sounds great. I'm sure you have been inundated with thoughts about how or where to place what. Of course not everything will fit perfectly. It is also recognized that quality is more important than quantity. Should my contribution not fit, feel free to remove it.

Respectfully,
Abe

Abe,

What an idea! Your story fits very well and is in excellent company! I think you would be as disappointed as me if I were to remove your story.

As to quality, I haven't judged the quality of each individual story or poem (although I do prefer some to others on a subjective basis). I have tried to put personal preference aside and concentrated on consistency in editing. I haven't received a single complaint about layout or presentation. A few grammar changes I made had to be undone as requested by the authors but everyone so far has expressed how pleased they are with the way their work has been presented.

I did make the point very early on that not all the poems would be used, although every contibutor has a least one piece of work included in the book.

~Shelagh

Shelagh wrote:

Thanks eveyone -- everything is going well and this really is something to look forward to!

Hi Karina,

The
poems have to fit around the stories so, until all the submissions are
in, I won't know if your poem fits in or not. At the moment. the
stories and poems flow throughout the book -- which is quite amazing
but nontheless true! There are now over twenty short stories and twice
as many poems -- I have to keep every title in my mind so that I can
re-arrange as new stuff comes in. It isn't an easy task but I think you
will be impressed with the result.

~Shelagh

Hey maybe the sub title could be The Tetrus Anthology! Wasn't that the
ancient computer game that you had to fit all the bricks together?

Shelagh...

Maybe I missed this...but...

Where will we be able to purchase the anthology once it is out? From you? Amazon? Etc.?

Hi Rhett,

Good question! I have been wondering the same myself! Initially, I thought I would set the price of the book as suggested by the lulu.com pricing wizard and allow contributors to buy the book through me using paypal. The way this would work would be to send an email rquesting x number of copies and including a shipping address. I would place the order to that address when the money came into my paypal account, which I would use to pay for the order.

It seems very straight forward but these things rarely are. Any problems with shipping would have to be dealt with by me even though the order had been paid for by the contributor. Not a happy situation.

I had a rethink over the last few days and decided to approach the problem head on. Instead of setting the price at the recommended retail price, I thought it might be better to set the price at a lower figure so that contributors could buy copies themselves and resell at whatever profit they wish to make.

I will have a better idea of the recommended retail price when I load the file onto lulu.com.

Things are going well and the anthology is currently 283 pages long. As far as I know, all the submissions are in and I will be able to make the final decisions soon about the order of stories and poems. As you said earlier, it's really exciting!

~Shelagh

The last book I purchased from Lulu direct was 250 pages at $24.95. If Lulu has say-so about the price of our anthology, look for it possibly to be $29.95 or more.

Jim Woods
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

It is even more exciting to be on this end, without all the work that has been involved! A huge BRAVO to you, Shelagh. You rock! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

As usual, I'm probably missing something, but won't we get the greatest number of sales by referring prospective buyers directly to Lulu from our websites and weblogs rather than paying to have books shipped to us, then paying again to ship them to somebody else? Plus, once it's published on Lulu, it's also going to show up everywhere else, and I think more people are going to buy from B&N and Amazon than directly from me.

You probably covered this elsewhere, but are royalties from direct sales at Lulu going to be used to help support the Published Authors' site?

Malcolm

A reasonable price will create more sales.

A smaller percentage of something is better than a large percentage of nothing.

To echo what Abe said, I would rather see a lower price at Lulu and Amazon for the simple reason that POD books are usually priced higher than mainstream books already. I think we'll have a hard time selling an anthology priced in the $25-$30 range when big name hardback books at 2 to 3 times the length are being heavily discounted down into the $15-$20 range.

Malcolm

Below is a list of the current best-selling anthologies on lulu.com. You can use the information about number of pages and book price to suggest the price you think is the most reasonable for the anthology. For those who wish to buy and resell, the shipping costs come down considerably as the size of the order goes up. The books could then be resold to friends/family/bookstores at a profit determined by the contributor placing the order.

Once the price is fixed and sent by lulu.com to all the online stores, I won't be able to change it.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	Stories of Strength by Various Authors (316 pages ) Paperback: £8.79 Download: £2.80
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	Lulu Creators #6 - Promotional Comic by Lulu Comic Subversives (34 pages ) Paperback: £5.31 Download: £0.00
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	Images to Brighten Our World by Tsunami Relief Effort (110 pages ) Paperback: £19.26
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	Lulu Creators #5 - Promotional Comic by Lulu Comic Subversives (32 pages ) Paperback: £5.14 Download: £0.00
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	The End of the Oil Age by Dale Allen Pfeiffer (266 pages ) Paperback: £9.64 Download: £4.21
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	Capital Crimes: 15 Tales by Sacramento Area Authors by Kathleen L. Asay, editor, Patricia E. Canterbury, editor (188 pages ) Paperback: £8.79
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	Twenty Epics by David Moles, Susan Groppi (390 pages ) Paperback: £10.99 Download: £4.19
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	Promotional Comic - Lulu Creators #4 (Summer 05) by Lulu Comic Subversives (36 pages ) Paperback: £5.47 Download: £0.00
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	American Cultures: Readings in Social and Cultural History by Al Smith (462 pages ) Paperback: £18.72 Download: £6.89
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]	Leaves from the Garden by The Egalitarian Minyan of Rogers Park (399 pages ) Paperback: £11.57 Download: £3.02