Anthology Ponderings …

Pondering on various things, including, in particular, possibility of payment to contributors to a book I am creating … I have an amount of money put aside for the creation of this book. If I pay people who send me their work, I may not be able to afford to send a copy of this book to each person who had a submission accepted, at cost price of the book. This is a thing I’ve indicated on this blog, to be what I will do.
*On further consideration, and an investigation of my finances, I can say I will be sending a copy of this book to every contributor for free, and will send copies to contributors in other countries, not Australia, for the cost of postage.*

At the moment, money is not a huge worry, so I won’t be left bereft, homeless and starving, that’s for sure. I will be able to pay to have this book printed, once it is all put together, I’m confident of that, as I am confident I am capable of putting this anthology together, in a way that will seem to be reasonable. The set out of the book is sensible and will look ‘proper’ for what it its.

And at this stage, I don’t know how big that book will be, so don’t know what the cost price may be … Hmm, decisions, decisions … What I am going to do though is to have each contributor sign an agreement so that they know exactly what they will be getting in exchange for allowing me to use their work, in this anthology I am currently working on.

Clarity is important, I certainly would never want to rip off other writers and poets! There’s more to this book making thing than I first anticipated … Self publishing my own books, using my own words, is much easier! But this is a much bigger thing than my own little books. This involves other people, and their words, and it involves a huge thing that has happened to us all, in many ways …

I had originally advised that I would offer a copy at cost price to all contributors who have their work accepted for publication in this anthology, plus postage and handling. I still think that is a good way to go. Turning words on a computer into books in bookcases takes money, and effort on the part of the publisher/editor, much more work than one might think.

I may end up sending out copies of books to contributors in Australia on receipt of just the cost price, but not contributors in other countries, perhaps, with postage being sometimes very expensive. Or maybe not. Because, of course, with this current lock down time, I’m not spending much money, because I’m not going off to the hotel at least once a week for my writing group meeting, where I often have coffee and something to eat too …

So Miss Moneybags that I am, maybe I can afford to pay for all of this, and if there is any money to be made, it might be from further sales of books, once book launches and book talks can begin happening again. Making money isn’t a major thing, for this book in particular, getting the words out, the various ideas and ways people have about it all, that is the important thing. Because this book isn’t a small thing, this book will be an important historical tome of this strange Covid-19 age …

note, as above – *On further consideration, and an investigation of my finances, I can say I will be sending a copy of this book to every contributor for free, and will send copies to contributors in other countries, not Australia, for the cost of postage.*

If anyone wishes to offer any ideas or advice about this, I’m all ears!