Opportunity For Joint Publication
The
Idea
I am proposing to put together a collection of short stories,
with contributions from different authors. I will firstly explain
what I aim to achieve, then the benefits and then further details
on how to get involved.
The Aim
The overall aim is to produce a self-published e-book that will be available for download on Amazon for free. This book will contain short stories by a number of different authors. The target is to break into the top 100 books available for free download.
I will be doing all the reviewing and editing on the submitted stories and will also be doing the compiling, formatting and publication work for the book, as well as getting involved in the marketing afterwards. So the admin side of things is taken care of, all you have to do is write a publishable short story.
All authors will retain the copyright for their respective stories and this will be stated within the book itself.
If this is successful I would like to make it a regular thing and build up a reputation for showcasing some of the best new emerging talent in fiction writing, that might otherwise have remained undiscovered.
All contributing authors will be able to submit their own bio to go along with their story and will receive a final draft copy to review before I upload it as a published book.
The Benefits
1) You get your work published in a book for free.
2) Even if your work is not selected to for the final book, all authors will receive some feedback on their work.
3) All stories will be preceded by an author bio. This is free advertising of you as an author and is also a place to advertise any other publications you may have.
4) There will be an opportunity for you to include contact details so that agents and/or publishers can contact you directly if they like your work.
5) Instead of just one author trying to market their book, there will be an entire team of us marketing the same book.
There are other benefits and experience that I can provide:
I teach classes on academic writing and have also been involved with the editing of publications, as well as having my own book chapter published within book.
I have expertise within the field of the psychology of marketing and sales. I will use this knowledge to help promote this book and give tips in general on the marketing side of things.
If you do not yet have your own author website then I can set one up for you and simply email you the password to access it, which you can then change and be the proud new owner of your own website complete with blog.
I have an excellent network for marketing the book, as well as friends who can provide high quality photos for the front cover.
The Details
1) The deadline for submission is 15th January 2012
2) Short stories must be between 2000 and 5000 words in length
3) Stories can be from any genre, but must be high quality fiction
4) Only 1 short story per author
5) Author bio must be one paragraph. Suggested inclusions are your name, location, other publications, a few facts about yourself, writing interests/genres and any contact details or links to websites that you would like to include.
6) No pictures or illustrations
7) You keep full copyright and ownership of your work, but by submitting it to me then you agree to have your work published in this book
8) The work must not have been published, or part published, anywhere else before. It must be entirely original. Plagiarism checks will be carried out, as it is only fair to the other contributing authors.
9) Please submit your work as a Microsoft word document, with no page numbers
If you are interested then please send me a message and I will send you the email address to which you should send your work.
If you have any questions then please feel free to ask. This will hopefully be a fun way of helping a few of us get published :)
Further Details
For those of you who are interested, then some further details are as follows.
The title of the book will be ‘Mullins Collection of Best New Fiction’. Using my surname as the title of the collection ensures that there will be no copyright issues with other similarly named collections, as well as making it is distinctive enough for readers to find future collections.
The layout of each story will be as follows:
TITLE
Author Name
Author Bio
Short Story
I will be writing a short introduction for the book, as well as formatting page numbers and creating a contents page and author contact page for the back of the book.
Take care and happy writing,
Aaron
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72 Comments
Seriously it's a good idea. I take it as any costs will be taken up by you then any sales will go to you. It's important we put this this stuff up front.
Any costs attached to this web site thing?
All stories that are not used can obviously be used by the authors elsewhere, i am not claiming any sort of ownership or anything over anyone elses work. I will let them know quite quickly whether i will use the work or not and keep them updated throughout the entire process. It might be possible that if we get a lot of submissions that we could release similar ones in the future too :)
There are absolutely NO COSTS at all to anyone submitting work. I will be selling the book as a free downloadable ebook, so there are no profits to be made, but it should hopefully prove to be quite popular and thus give us an enormous amount of free advertising as individual authors. Any costs in creating the ebook and all the admin work will be done by myself.
I joined this site over a year ago after i saw it advertised in the 2010 writers and artists yearbook, but only really now have the time to dedicate to writing and thought this would be a fun project :)
Don't most short story collections/anthologies have some sort of common theme? Would you be looking to establish such a thing or are you just planning to pick ones you like.
The wordpress websites sound useful too. The only query I have is how you plan to edit our stories?
I'll check my bet here and watch for a while. It is very tempting given the amount of shorts I have stacked up on my hard drive waiting to make me famous.
I think double glazing or a time share will be involved somewhere along the trail to fame. "Your stories are really good and with a bit of 'professional' editing at £49 per word we are sure you will get picked up by a mainstream publisher in just a few decades"
Luck to those who play.
No offense to Aaron, I'm just a cynical old fart.
Any fiction, mate?
I really don't want to sound negative, Aaron, but you know what aspiring writers are up against out there. Mind you, I can't see what anyone could lose by taking a chance on you.
Check Aaron's profile. He is the real deal and has published extensively in acedemia.
That is up North somewhere I believe.
Take no mind to my comments of disparagement. It is what I do to avoid rejection. Aaron will be able to explain it as a form of rationalization.
Prop
You need to put our minds at rest.
Your profile says your 28 years old and you've done a lot of stuff. In the military as well as academia. You need to give us chapter and verse. There are a lot of scammers out there and some of them have joined the cloud in the past.
You state you recieved a medal for anti-terrorist work?
GSM-NI, suppose that's true, but I got mine from a rice crispy packet in Lisburn cookhouse. So unless you have some oak leafs on yours...
I really want to work with you but I'm a suspiscious bastard...in fact I'm a Monkey Bastard.
While at university i found i was good at academia and writing in general and also studied a creative writing module. I graduated top of my year, proof of which can be found here: http://www3.northampton.ac.uk/news/release/?id=UON8250 I then won a studentship to do a PhD, which i am near to finishing. I have quite a lot of academic publications, but have always helped out in the creative writing department too. Here is a link to a book chapter i wrote for an acdemic book on the psychology of flooding: http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=9781439826256 I travelled a lot during my time in the RAF and while at uni, as i love travelling as much as writing.
As someone has pointed out, i can be found on facebook and everything i have seen, done or ever been can be verified. I know there are scammers and spambots on here because every now and then i get stupid messages from them, which is why i am only giving out my email address in private mail to those who are interested in writing a short story. As much as some of you are wary of me, i am just as wary of how much of my personal information about myself i want to be telling you on a public forum on the internet, so if you would like to know anything else then please private message me :)
Autumn, the editing process will be light, checking the story makes sense, grammer and punctuation, those sorts of things. Its basically what i do in my teaching job at the university.
Veek, no fiction publications yet. My general plan is to use this as a platform to help us in the future. The valuable experience that we could all gain from actually having a ebook out there that we are going to market together as a group, and the excitement of seeing how high in the rankings we could get it :) I have my own collection of short stories that i will hopefully be adding on as an ebook sometime next year, and 2 novels in progress.
I think thats all the questions answered!! :)
You might have been very active in the groups you're a member of, prolific in fact.
But you joined this site a year ago, I've never registered you on here in all that time, this is your first blog and the few previous wall posts date back to your registration.
In the field of fiction, you have no stated credentials as an editor or author and now you have time to devote to it, you'll spend a lot of time marketing other people's work (published under your name) rather than building up a body of your own.
I have to say, I'd be incredulous if you'd shared this proposition from the seat next to me on the bus journey home. I'd think it was a fast track way to give your name a profile, if I'm honest.
I hope you're as altruistic as you suggest and if so I hope your proposals comes off and is a fabulous success. But I don't believe.
Okay Aaron, I'll give it a whirl. You in Ali?
What's to lose?
So maybe I'd submit something like 'Dendrophobia'.
Stephen: The first aim is Kindle Direct Publishing. If you inform them that your ebook is for sale for free elsewhere, they set their price to free aswell to match it. (Section 5.3.1. of the T&C gives you links to the 'matching competitors price' section). Failing that, then second choice would be Manybooks.net. Then possibly could get onto Project Gutenberg, but more likely Wattpad, Munseys or one of those, the list goes on! And if by some unlikely miracle we cant get on any of these, then i just format it so that we can just make it available from our own individual author websites :)
Geri: I believe the stories could sit side by side in the same book. Readers will like some stories and follow other publications and seek out the website of that author, but may skip other stories they dont like. I was going to let the reader be the judge. Afterall, it is not like they have to pay money for the ebook. If i get 10 horror stories and 1 story about kittens, then i might consider tailoring the title and target audience to horror and leaving out the kitten story. But i wont know that until the deadline.
Spangles: Yes i have thought of this and intended to do it at a slightly later stage, after i had been given some feedback on the idea and seeing if anyone was actually interested in it! I see it as more a group of friends trying to get published together, rather than simply me dictating everything, i just happen to be the one pulling all the work and people's suggestions together :)
http://annieevett.com
http://www.facebook.com/AnnieEvett.Author
The way I see it is that every once in a while I write a few thousand words into a short story just for the pleasure of doing it. (Because of my job I have to keep putting longer works down). So I am quite willing to sign up and write another and let you have a look at it. And if it does turn out that it all goes horribly wrong, there's no harm done. If it turns out you don't like it then I'll take the bruising and carry on.
Buried in your responses you mention that you will communicate directly with those who indicate that they are "in". I did send you a word cloud PM, but for whatever reason it didn't gain a response. So, here I am. I write short stories. I once was a runner up in a BBC radio competition and shortlisted in another national comp so I have reason to believe I am not entirely crap. I don't want to put my RL co-ordinates in the public domain either but if you send me a PM if/when ready then I'll show you mine.
Not all of us.......
I'm sure Aaron is legit and non-toxic, biodegradable and completely recyclable.
But I'll watch and admire from afar.
Alan: Thank you, yes there was always going to be scepticism, but i am hard working and determined to make this a success. A few people have already offered suggestions of further marketing or publishing outlets we could consider when the book is complete. It is this pooling of expertise that is also valuable for us all to learn from. I have sent you and Veek my email address :)
Today's runners for your card.....
the odds at first call are:
1. All ends in Tears..... 6/4
2. Amway cataloge..... 7/3
3. Edit sales scam...... 5/2
4. Never heard from again.. 3/1
5. Death by edit........ 7/2
6. Takes the money and Runs... 4/1
Place yer bets...ladies and gents... it all goes to a goods cause.....
7. Aaron and the rest of the community bookmark this page and once the ebook is successfully published, gleefully remind OFP that he forgot to back a winner!
PJs!?
I sleep nekid when at home... except on Sundays when I sleep in a Bat Girl costume. (Hate the boots!)
for my deck chair I wear my oldest bleached out rugby shorts, a Hawaiian shirt (soft blue with Hula girls in the print) , Panama hat with a small Legion pin in the Guard's hat band and my Oakley Blades....and flops.....
Just after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour the US Congress voted to go to war. there was one desenter. They said that no important decisions should ever be unanimous.
You have my best wishes and I will help if I can. I will even contribute to volume II if there is one and it isn;t published by HMP Parkhurst Press.
Bound to be a best seller!
Prop.
"And they're off.......
... And Amway is off to a craicing start .....folllowed closely by All Ends in Tears..... coming up on the outside is Death by Edit..........
WtheU: Sometimes I second mark stories handed in on the creative writing course, and every year there are 1 or 2 students who like to really push the envelope with writing the most sadistic things that they can think of. Which is fine, as the actual genre and content is irrelevant if the story is well written, plus however originally shocking they think they are, we saw the same stuff the year before, and the year before that. The reason these students tend to not do so well is because they spend so long trying to come up with sick stuff for their character to do, they forget to actually build the character, or the world around them. It ends up being a 'my character did this... then they did this...' kind of story, where the characters finish the story exactly where they started it. But if they get a bad grade they complain loudly that the tutors 'didn't get it', or that it was too shocking for them *yawn*. What i liked about your story i read was that you do actually have a go at developing internal emotions and urges that emerge as the story progresses. It read like it was the birth of a serial killer and the ending was brilliant.
The editing process will be light and it will be recommended changes, that you can choose to edit or not, more like an open discussion, rather than me dictating what is right or wrong. I respect that each individual author has their own unique voice and i hope this will come across in the final book :)
Mac
I spotted this yesterday but have been rather busy lately and have only had time to read through everything this morning. This seems like a really wonderful opportunity. It does sound a little too good to be true, free publication AND self promotion. But I for one am more than happy to risk it as you seem very genuine and I would love to be involved.
My email is: kate.robinson21@yahoo.co.uk and I would be very keen on receiving some more information at your discretion.
So far there is a good amount of interest from some excellent writers and its been fun chatting with you all and getting to know you, as well as swapping tips and guidance :)
As i have been explaining in our conversations, i see it as more of a group project and one of the things that has emerged is the idea of deciding where to publish as a group. Obviously i have my initial ideas that i have listed above, but some of the other contributors have had success in different places, so i think its good to consider all options! Though it still has to be available as a free download.
So the plan is for me to review, edit and compile all the stories. Format different versions of the ebook, such as Word, PDF and HTML versions, so that it is easily uploaded to whichever site we choose and/or available from our own author websites. Then i will send a final copy round to everyone so that they can see what the final version will look like and check that they are happy with the front cover, their author bio and their story. Though most of this will have been discussed before the final version is made. Then we publish it together! :)
I have 2 stories submitted so far, one from this site and one from an author i studied creative writing with, in addition to my own short story, which i am currently working on. If any of you want to submit, but still have doubts of some kind, then its ok. The deadline isnt until January, write your story and get to know me in that time, then if you still dont want to submit, at least you have a completed short story :)
Aaron
Can't say as I've received it, Aaron. When you've got a minute will be fine ;0)
As some of you know, at the start of November there was a death in my family, with both my father and his wife committing suicide, which has taken me some time to deal with, so thank you for your patience.
The book is progressing well. I have been looking over 7 submissions, some from word clouders and some from writer friends. Everyone who submitted a short story will receive their feedback before the end of December. There is still plenty of time until the January 15th deadline for those who still wish to submit.
I am still finishing off my own short story. I have managed to get a professional photographer to agree to create a front cover for the book and all contributing authors will receive an email with a few suggested covers, so that we can decide together which one we like best :)
Next week is the last of my teaching responsibilities to the university, so in January i will be dedicating all my time to putting together this ebook.
If you have any more questions feel free to mail me :)
Aaron
Condolences for your loss.
1. I don't write shorts
2. I don't submit anything, anywhere, ever.
These are both on my 'Get a Bloody Grip Woman' List for 2012 though, so if you repeat the project anytime....I'd be interested!
Good Luck!! :)
Whisks.
All authors who have contributed so far have now had their work looked over and emailed back to them, as we work together to get something that we are all happy with.
There is still a week left, for those of you who still want to submit a short story. I might be willing to extend it by up to a week, but no more, as it would not be fair on those who have already submitted. So if you have a short story sitting there and would like to get published, send a mail :)
The rest of January will be used to look over new submissions (and finish my own story!).
Once the deadline has passed, all authors will also receive an email with a number of potential front covers, which we will vote on. The photographer providing the front covers is very successful within her field and regularly attends photography events, such as ShutterRock etc... where they discuss outlets for their work. She also has a very large following on her blog. This means a lot of attention will be given to an ebook featuring her work ;)
Once completed and available online, i have arranged for the ebook to be featured within the Coventry University newspaper, which reaches around 10,000 students!
I have also arranged for it to be featured on a number of websites and blogs, as well as on social networking sites, including SINA, which is the Chinese version of Twitter (I have a LOT of students that I have helped who owe me favours, basically an army of free advertisers and marketers for us!). So it will be internationally marketed.
Most exciting of all, is that the work will be read by my colleagues in the Creative Writing field, who themselves are published authors/former editors and have an enormous amount of contacts within the field. So the ebook may just fall into the right hands :) After all, it is a snapshot of the talent displayed by each individual author, like a handy catalogue for the agents ;)
From the technical side, once complete i will be formatting the ebook as a downloadable pdf, the links for which can be made available on our own personal author websites, or within our marketing sources. Then we will discuss the most suitable website for us to publish the ebook on and i will format it to their specific requirements.
Take care,
Aaron
I have just finished building a website/blog for my artist friend. It is a good example of the kind of website I can build for you, if you wish.
Here it is: http://katieoart.wordpress.com/
Click here to sign up now.