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Should I/How to participate in anthologies?
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A.N.
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Jun 28, 2015 09:14PM
I have seen a lot of information on using anthologies as a way to achieve author recognition and network with other authors. All the research has piqued my interest, but I'm still not sure how to go about participating in these kinds of collections? and whether or not other authors here think they are a good idea? Any input is appreciated. Thanks.
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One of my friends took part in our first anthology, "Snowflake Secrets." It was her first published work. A few months later, she and her husband published their memoir, "Promises Kept." Because her first published work was through an indie press, she had some name recognition and was taken more seriously as an author. She has since contributed to five more of our romance anthologies in the Aspen Grove series. She is now getting ready to publish some of her novellas with the intention of eventually bundling them into a collection.Four of us decided to do the first one. We all wanted to write sweet romance. I came up with the concept and asked the others to join. Of the original four, three of us are in all six anthologies. A new author was added for #4. This gave her name recognition before her solo novels were published (by the same indie publisher who did the anthologies).
For books #5 and #6, one of the original three opted out.
Find others who write in your same genre. Come up with an overall theme, and invite them to participate.
Lorna wrote: "One of my friends took part in our first anthology, "Snowflake Secrets." It was her first published work. A few months later, she and her husband published their memoir, "Promises Kept." Because he..."BTW, don't do it to make money. With the split, you make nearly nothing.
Thanks for your reply Lorna. It seems like a great way to get some name recognition. Did you already know the authors you worked with before you started? I don't know that many other authors, so I'm wondering how I would go about building those connections so I can participate in one. Maybe through conventions or workshops?
I met one of my writing partners at a conference. They are great ways to get to know others. I also met the publisher at the same conference. The rest of our partners are all part of the same critique group. If you're on Facebook, you might join a genre group there and post that you're looking for people to write an anthology with. Make sure your criteria is very clear. You don't want to write sweet romance with others doing erotica--and vice versa!
I've been in several anthologies at this point. It does help with name recognition, and gives you publishing credits. As far as participating in them, you don't need to know people ahead of time. There are several websites that list anthologies looking for contributions. I search them a lot.
Can you list any of the ones you check? or message/email them to me. My email is mountainwhisper@gmail.com Thanks :)
Wayland wrote: "I've been in several anthologies at this point. It does help with name recognition, and gives you publishing credits. As far as participating in them, you don't need to know people ahead of time...."
Wayland, could you post that list on this thread? I'd love to see it and others probably would to.
Yeah, it'll need to wait until I'm home from work, the computers here are flaky. But I'll post in the morning if I manage to remember. If not, someone remind me or throw something at me. ;)
Hey, Wayland--DUCK!!! I just threw a cat at you to remind you to post that list! :-)
Right. Sorry. Told y'all I'd forget.The ones I use most often are:
darkmarkets.com ralan.com and The Submission Grinder, at http://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/
Ralan is probably the hardest to navigate, but once you get used to it, has the most on it. I am sure there are more, but those three are good. If anyone knows of others, feel free to add them here.
I write for anthologies - some of which a paying, or for charity and some of which are free - so exposure only. Has it helped sales? Not a clue but it has got me contacts and encouraged me to write short stories.
Ralan.com is a good source for specfic anthologies. I've been published in five. Two I found through Ralan, two through networking (nobody I knew, but someone I'd sold to forwarded my name to the editor as a possible). Two paid well for fiction, the others not so much (royalties are very small when divided between nine or ten people). But unless your choice is between an anthology and some project you know will make you money, I'd say go for it.
Oh goodness, I've written for several short story anthologies. It certainly helps with recognition with publishers.My go-to site is Duotrope. I've used it for years:
https://duotrope.com
They have a free trial you can use for a week, after that it's $5/month. I use their annual subscription. You can use it to keep track of submissions too so you don't accidentally send to the same market, keep track of submission statistics, view other submission statistics, etc.
And some small publishers put out more than one anthology over time, so you'll have name recognition if you want to submit again.
I've heard good things about Duotrope, but I just am not going to pay them. As many professional writers who know much more about the business have said many times, "The flow of money should go TO the writer."
Yeah, Wayland, I understand.They used to be a free site. When I started using them they were free, but they didn't receive enough donations to continue operating at that model.
As a writer, I agree with you. As a programmer myself, I understand their perspective too. I use the site regularly, so it's worth the price for me.
Thanks for sharing the site Marlena. It's nice to have that option.Their site seems interesting, but I wonder how much time it would take to make sure that I was making something over the yearly fee. I want to spend most of my time writing novels. I don't mind an occasional short story project, but would like to have something more along the lines of a boxed set of novels that I could work on with other authors. I know that going to conventions can help to make those kind of connections, but was hoping for an online alternative in the meantime. I'm going to be really busy this fall and don't think I'll be able to attend any until spring 2016.
