This post is about a possible second volume of short stories by Creative Writers on MyTelegraph, following on from 36 Short Stories 2010/11.
History
Back in 2011 when we were discussing what could be done with the site, Charles came up with the idea of a collection of short stories – written by members of Creative Writers on MyTelegraph. Having sufficient experience with print-on-demand (POD) to see such a project through, I considered this doable and said so.
Vie (who kindly prepared the 36 Short Stories blog¹ for the book) suggested it should also be ‘e-’. E-book coding wasn’t on my resumée of the time but I gave it a go.
The results were two editions, an e-book² and a physical book. The feedback from this collection was good. This collection will be withdrawn from publication at the end of 2012.
I’m considering suggesting a second volume. Should this go ahead, there are some things to bear in mind:
Organising
Planning through a blogging community is a bit like using Heinlein’s Waldos with time lapse set to maximum – you’re always out of sync. The best way would be for me to blog & topic the seperate elements as I do them, eg publication consents, bios, additional contributions… and time these to concide with the monthly story competition cycle.
Starting date:
I would’t start this until my current project is finished (a totally self-indulgent re-write). At a guess this could begin around August 2012.
Publishing rights
…to individual stories. These mustn’t have already been assigned elsewhere – eg any pieces entered to the Short Story Club would be ineligible.
Author bios.
I’d plan a section for contributor details and expect, nay demand, a fanciful concoction, fictional or otherwise, that can be included.
Themes
E-book volume 2 would be organised as volume 1 – by competition. I might ask competition winners to expand on the thinking behind the themes they chose.
Why would I do this?
Members may wish to see some of their work in print. As it’s doable, why not? I think it’d help the spirit of the community. I know sufficient print-on-demand and would be willing to wrestle with Kindle coding again.
I’ve no desire to mis-portray this; i.e. it wouldn’t be a way of amassing a wave of sales in a desperate attempt to scale the Everest of publishingness. On the other hand if you become available in print, I’d see no reason for you to conceal that fact.
Royalties as before – Kindle edition go to a Daily Telegraph charity; Lulu edition compensate me for pulling it all together.
Any thoughts?
¹ Here’s me reading Carrie from the book:
Click here to view the embedded video.
² The electronic edition was outsold by the physical edition by a factor of 5, however the balance of effort to produce the respective editions was more the other way – hence e (that were ‘ard) book. The Kindle may be market leader but it is a pig to code.
This is the artwork for the electronic edition (Kindle).
This is the artwork for the physical edition (Lulu)
.
.
.