Tag: putting together an anthology

New Ideas, Story Ideas

New Book Ideas

carolyncordon

At the moment, I have a big writing project going. This project, an anthology, is topical right now, and will be for some time to come. The book is well on the way to being finished, and then printed, launched, and sold, with me making back the money it cost to produce, at every step. Or not, I don’t really know, of course.

But in my mind, I feel this book had to come into the world, and I can afford the production of the book, without any worries at all. Even If I don’t sell any copies at all, it won’t send me broke. So this book is going well, I’m loving it, and I just need to do the finishing off stuff, and send it to my printer.

So now is the time to start thinking about new book projects, right? Well, yes, perhaps, but I already have another book project, begun last year, or perhaps before that really, that I want to work on as well. But now still doesn’t feel like the right time for that particular project. These current times still feel too fraught, to me, to focus on a book project that is a fluffy bit of silliness.

These are serious times, and I feel it’s a time for me to be working on serious things, with my writing. So my mind is looking at possible books to shift to, once the anthology is done and launched, then marketed, a bit … (Marketing pfft, who likes that side of the ‘being a writer’ thing!)

three of my books

Anyway, ideas … my brand new best ever idea for today is something to do with intuition. It started with a name, and a google search, then shifted to other, related ideas, and now I’m sitting here, laptop on lap, writing this blog post about it. But I have other things I have to do almost right now, and as soon as I finish this blog post, I do them. Then after that, there will be a game of Scrabble, at some stage, and then, and then …

That new idea for today may drift away, the way the clouds do, up there in the sky, full of water vapour, but drifting past, and not producing anything at all, beyond a shadow perhaps, if they come between the sun and me. Idea, I have a few, but then again, to few to mention? Haha. Goodbye, time to feed the dog!

New Ideas

Anthology Ponderings …

carolyncordon

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.

Destitute?

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 …

‘something to eat …’

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!