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Anthology Anyone?

Printed From: NYC Midnight : Creative Writing & Screenwriting
Category: GENERAL DISCUSSION
Forum Name: Creative Writing Corner
Forum Description: Discuss NYC Midnight Creative Writing Competitions or Creative Writing in general.
URL: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=19483
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Topic: Anthology Anyone?
Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Subject: Anthology Anyone?
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 12:36pm
There are SO many great stories that either did not score or did not score well enough to get moved on, it inspired me to wonder if we should put together a flash-fic anthology and publish these pieces. I'd like to get a feel for whether anyone would be interested, so if you think you might be, please let me know.

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--Tracy
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Replies:
Posted By: Tim G
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 12:50pm
Colour me intrigued, and more than willing to ride on the coat-tails of an initiative like this :)

Basically I consider anything I post here to be 'out there' and as long as I get cited and notified, I'm happy for any of it to be reproduced.


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Posted By: lisafox10800
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 12:51pm
I think an anthology of NYCM work is a fantastic idea!

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lisafoxiswriting.com
My short story collection, Core Truths, is now available wherever books are sold.


Posted By: wateringcan
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 12:58pm
I third this! Great idea!

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SSC CH 1 - Ti


Posted By: rossinny
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 12:59pm
I would certainly be interested! 

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Posted By: lenka6
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 1:03pm
In for this. Let me know how it progresses.

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“Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark. Begin at the beginning. Tell Gregory a story. Make some light.”
― Kate DiCamillo


Posted By: KJHunter
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 1:08pm
Ooooh I love this idea! And - bonus! Let's add 500 words!  ;)


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Posted By: TeaWithWolves
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 1:12pm
I'd definitely be interested and am happy to help if needed :)

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Posted By: Tim G
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 1:13pm
Can I suggest an anthology of judges' howlers for the toilet-reading / humor aisle?

#stillprocessing #sendbeer


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Posted By: steph9289
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 1:15pm
Totally down for this!!

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#amrevising


Posted By: SuperKarateMonkey
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 1:26pm
I'm game as well. Great idea!

And the judges' howlers could be a fun bonus section... Smile


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Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 1:59pm
Originally posted by Tim G Tim G wrote:

Colour me intrigued, and more than willing to ride on the coat-tails of an initiative like this :)

Basically I consider anything I post here to be 'out there' and as long as I get cited and notified, I'm happy for any of it to be reproduced.

SWEEEEET! Ditto about putting these 'out there.' Plus, they're flash pieces, so perfect size for drumming up reader interest in us as writers, too. Okay, I'll start putting in some serious thought on this so we can make it happen. Big smile


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 2:00pm
Originally posted by KJHunter KJHunter wrote:

Ooooh I love this idea! And - bonus! Let's add 500 words!  ;)

GREAT idea!!! To flesh out those points we couldn't fit in. Love it.


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 2:01pm
Originally posted by TeaWithWolves TeaWithWolves wrote:

I'd definitely be interested and am happy to help if needed :)

Cool - thanks much! I'll drop you a PM in a bit. :)


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: Vernacula
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 2:20pm
Originally posted by Tim G Tim G wrote:

Can I suggest an anthology of judges' howlers for the toilet-reading / humor aisle?

#stillprocessing #sendbeer

Like when you get dinged because your judge doesn't know what Tetris or Game of Thrones is...?

Or wonders why there are so many bags to feed one homeless guy...?

#kickme #neveragain

ETA: if anyone wants to include my story, I'm happy to share it!



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Posted By: beckyrcollins
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 2:30pm
IN 

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Posted By: Log_Lady
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 2:33pm
I love this idea!

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Posted By: GGreen
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 2:46pm
I love this idea. Is it just for stories that didn't score? 

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FF22 Ch1 https://bit.ly/3xtyuAF" rel="nofollow - Treasure Every Moment


Posted By: SidewaysSnow
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 2:47pm
hmmm. maybe :) 

Are we allowed to edit. Wait, don't answer that, because I would anyway!

Fun idea.


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Posted By: beadbalm
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 3:49pm
Nice! I think you might find quite a few people interested in this...:)



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Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 4:22pm
Originally posted by GGreen GGreen wrote:

I love this idea. Is it just for stories that didn't score? 

Not at all - I don't want to limit it, but use it to open some doors for this obviously talented crowd.


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 4:23pm
Originally posted by SidewaysSnow SidewaysSnow wrote:

hmmm. maybe :) 

Are we allowed to edit. Wait, don't answer that, because I would anyway!

Fun idea.

Yes, edit and maybe add up to another 500 words.


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: SLK43
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 5:58pm
I'd love to be involved! Fantastic idea! Smile

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Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 9:08pm
Originally posted by SLK43 SLK43 wrote:

I'd love to be involved! Fantastic idea! Smile

Glad to have you aboard!  Big smile


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: jibwriter
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 9:12pm
I'm interested! Great idea.


Posted By: Lookit There
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 9:19pm
I am 100% behind this idea! Awaiting further developments. 
And - full disclosure - I am so NOT a planner/organizer, I just need someone to tell me, "Send this story here." If you build it, I will come.


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Posted By: SheriLS
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 11:42pm
Great idea. But make sure there is no sort of clause that says we can't .

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Posted By: jaclyncz
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2018 at 11:54pm
I'm also interested in this and would love to see how it progresses!


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Posted By: milesmum
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 12:03am
You can put me down as interested. Do you have ISBN numbers to play with? Who would do the work of editing and layout etc?


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Posted By: regannoelle
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 12:15am
what a great idea! There are so many fantastic stories I’ve read here that definitely deserve recognition. I’d love to help in any way I could.

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Posted By: stephenmatlock
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 12:29am
I've self-published my early flash fiction in a paperback/Kindle version--you can see it on Amazon--"River of Dreams." I don't expect it to sell much, and indeed it hasn't, but I post it for anyone who might be interested in flash-flash fiction. You can take a look at it and see how it's set up where every story is its own chapter.

If you have Scrivener it's pretty easy to create both the Kindle version and the print book version. You can also create EPUB and RTF/DOC for Smashwords. I did some work on another book for Barnes & Noble/Nook, a while back, and I tried to get into Google's book system, but AFAIK it's closed.

I used the standard cover designer for this because I didn't think it needed anything more, but for other books I've self-published I've hired a cover designer.

If someone's already doing the work for this, I'd be happy to help where I can.


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Posted By: PennyForThem
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 12:36am
I'd love to be included!  Let me know if I can help with anything...unless the anything is writing a piece that gets me to the final that is!  




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Posted By: Zblugg
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 7:46am
Well, that was an easy sell.

Add my rubber stamp to the pile! LOL


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Posted By: MikeBham
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 8:12am
Splendid idea. I'm in (if my stories are up to standard!).


Posted By: KJHunter
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 10:14am
Clearly there's a lot of interest here. So what will happen next? Submissions process, judging, acceptance/rejections, the works? I think this is a great way to encourage participants to revise their works, polish them, and get an opportunity to be published with everyone else who has worked so hard here! :)

(rah rah sis boom bah)


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Posted By: Zblugg
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 10:25am
Should this be NYCM backed, or...?

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Posted By: fioOxf
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 1:05pm
I'm a newbie, but if my stuff is up to standard (especially if we could add up to 500 words, as someone mentioned), I'd be willing...

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Posted By: emilymyoga
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 1:11pm
I love this idea and would love to be involved if my stories prove worthy. Or I could help with editing!

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Micro 100 2020: Downstream (5th overall)
Micro 250 2022: What We Lost in the Tide (9th overall)


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 1:57pm
Originally posted by SheriLS SheriLS wrote:

Great idea. But make sure there is no sort of clause that says we can't .

Definitely, Sheri. I believe we retain rights to everything and that NYCM only asks for any kind of rights on winning stories, but I will certainly err on the side of caution on this point.


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 2:46pm
Originally posted by milesmum milesmum wrote:

You can put me down as interested. Do you have ISBN numbers to play with? Who would do the work of editing and layout etc?

If the book is done via Amazon KDP, they will assign ISBN.

Originally posted by regannoelle regannoelle wrote:

what a great idea! There are so many fantastic stories I’ve read here that definitely deserve recognition. I’d love to help in any way I could.

Thanks! I’ll mark you down as someone else who’d be willing to pitch in. I’m thinking we’ll need people to help coordinate, edit and format. I’ll try to work out some kind of strategy so that work is able to be spread around multiple hands. Tongue

Originally posted by stephenmatlock stephenmatlock wrote:

If someone's already doing the work for this, I'd be happy to help where I can.

Sounds good! You’re my go-to man for KDP questions, info, etc., since there may be limited of us who’ve self-pubbed via KDP before. And you’re right, Scrivener would be great for formatting on this type of thing.

Originally posted by PennyForThem PennyForThem wrote:

I'd love to be included!  Let me know if I can help with anything...unless the anything is writing a piece that gets me to the final that is!

I’ll be sure to add you to the “helpers” list.

Originally posted by KJHunter KJHunter wrote:

Clearly there's a lot of interest here. So what will happen next? Submissions process, judging, acceptance/rejections, the works? I think this is a great way to encourage participants to revise their works, polish them, and get an opportunity to be published with everyone else who has worked so hard here! :)

Great question! The more people willing to jump on board, the more likely we’ll have to have some kind of screening process. We’ll have to work out details on that, as it will also add to the work level, but as you say it’s a great way to encourage people to revise and polish, especially with a slightly bigger word count.

I’ll try to work out the details and then provide an email address or repository where folks can “submit.” We’ll probably also need some kind of very lightweight contract for everyone to ensure there are no rights violations and that everyone feels comfortable. Non-exclusive rights in electronic and print format will probably be the way to go, so that everyone can do what they’d like with their pieces as well. We’ll also have to talk about the elephant in the room – payment. My guess is that we’ll have to put any earnings back into advertising in order to get the word out and attract attention to the book and its authors. Since these are flash fiction pieces, they are a good way to garner followers / readers without giving up too much potential profit.

There’s so much more, but I’ll take up the whole page if I keep going. LOL

Originally posted by Zblugg Zblugg wrote:

Should this be NYCM backed, or...?

I’m thinking no. Legally it would involve a lot of red tape for them – which may be why they haven’t done it themselves before now. Once we verify there are no contest rules or rights involved, I think we just take it from there ourselves, as the authors of the stories.

*~*~*

Everyone else who have mentioned helping or just wanting to participate, stay tuned. I’ll post more details as we figure out the right way to move forward.



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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: JingleBells
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 6:22pm
Just saw this thread and I think it sounds like a great idea.  It could grow into an enormous job though. Maybe some kind of voting system for stories to be included.
Count me very nterested!


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https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic20924.html" rel="nofollow - Read R2 A DEADLY DESCENT


Posted By: mkpac22
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2018 at 8:19pm
Interested !

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SSC1:
https://bit.ly/3HC80ma" rel="nofollow - Into the Mist


Posted By: GGreen
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2018 at 5:58pm
I've been thinking about this.
Maybe you could collect 3 or 4 stories with shared themes and group them, then 3 or 4 more with a different theme, and so on, so it's not just 80 distinct stories...sort of curate the stories and make them speak to each other. A different editor could take each theme? By doing that you also make a comment in some way about 2018.
This is me volunteering if you ever decide to do something like that!


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FF22 Ch1 https://bit.ly/3xtyuAF" rel="nofollow - Treasure Every Moment


Posted By: anomalie
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 8:22am
This is a great idea.  I'd love to be involved.


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Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 3:26pm
Originally posted by GGreen GGreen wrote:

I've been thinking about this.
Maybe you could collect 3 or 4 stories with shared themes and group them, then 3 or 4 more with a different theme, and so on, so it's not just 80 distinct stories...sort of curate the stories and make them speak to each other. A different editor could take each theme? By doing that you also make a comment in some way about 2018.
This is me volunteering if you ever decide to do something like that!

Funny you should mention this! :) I was thinking it might be great to group them by genres, but themes is another way to go. Would you be willing to coordinate the different groups and each editor? Our various volunteers may be willing to take on a "group" or at least help to pull them together in some way.


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 3:44pm
***ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSIONS***

I'm thinking we should be open to submissions now through the end of the year. This will give everyone some time to polish and/or make any revisions. Then we'll close submissions and start sifting. My gut says we'll want 50-55 stories max, with a max word count of 1,500. That will put us at around 75k words total.

One other thing I'm considering is allowing people to include their taglines. Those single line gems are SUCH a draw. I know when I'm going through them, I immediately pick out several for my MUST READ list. I think they'll do the same to readers, and will keep people buying and turning pages. Thoughts?

Finally, we must discuss legalities. We'll all need to sign something agreeing to allow our stories to be published in the anthology (I'm going to suggest non-exclusive rights) and house these documents somewhere in the cloud so that a few different administrators can access them. This way we're not single-threaded and have multiple access points if they're ever needed. Without a ton of advertising we aren't likely to see extraordinary profits right out of the gate, so I'd like to propose that any earnings get invested back into the book for advertising. This will give everyone more exposure, and seems like the easiest way to do things.

Should I post a SUBMISSION LINK in this thread, or a separate one? We'll need to help spread the word to the other participants.


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: DreamThief
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 3:49pm
I’d be very interested in this! Not sure how good I’d be at co-ordinating groups of people but I’d be happy to give editing and layouts a shot. I’ve always been interested in doing that for real, and although I’ve got zero professional experience I think I could do an okay job at least. :) 

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CH1 GR73 https://forums.nycmidnight.com/ch1-gr73-cloudberry-boy-ghost-story_topic35071.html" rel="nofollow - Cloudberry Boy (Ghost Story)


Posted By: DreamThief
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 3:59pm
I think a separate thread is a good idea; might be worthwhile to set up something for admins/managers/people who are contributing to actually making this anthology so there’s a place we call keep track of who’s doing what and how progress is going. Keep this thread going as a ‘I’d like to help!’ interest thread.

Non-exclusive rights are definitely the way to go, I think, and a condition that the story has to have been submitted in the 2018 NYC Flash comp. Maybe something about simultaneous submissions - either allowing or not - is a good idea too.

What about, if we’re arranging by themes or alphabetically by title, we have the front contents page with titles and taglines only, then an index at the back grouping by genre?


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CH1 GR73 https://forums.nycmidnight.com/ch1-gr73-cloudberry-boy-ghost-story_topic35071.html" rel="nofollow - Cloudberry Boy (Ghost Story)


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 4:08pm
Originally posted by DreamThief DreamThief wrote:

I think a separate thread is a good idea; might be worthwhile to set up something for admins/managers/people who are contributing to actually making this anthology so there’s a place we call keep track of who’s doing what and how progress is going. Keep this thread going as a ‘I’d like to help!’ interest thread.

Non-exclusive rights are definitely the way to go, I think, and a condition that the story has to have been submitted in the 2018 NYC Flash comp. Maybe something about simultaneous submissions - either allowing or not - is a good idea too.

What about, if we’re arranging by themes or alphabetically by title, we have the front contents page with titles and taglines only, then an index at the back grouping by genre?

All excellent ideas. I think not allowing simultaneous submissions is the way to go, if only to ensure we keep things straightforward. I like the formatting ideas. I'm thinking we'll probably find even more as we start going through the process.


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: GGreen
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 4:21pm
Originally posted by T.E. Bradford T.E. Bradford wrote:

Originally posted by GGreen GGreen wrote:

I've been thinking about this.
Maybe you could collect 3 or 4 stories with shared themes and group them, then 3 or 4 more with a different theme, and so on, so it's not just 80 distinct stories...sort of curate the stories and make them speak to each other. A different editor could take each theme? By doing that you also make a comment in some way about 2018.
This is me volunteering if you ever decide to do something like that!

Funny you should mention this! :) I was thinking it might be great to group them by genres, but themes is another way to go. Would you be willing to coordinate the different groups and each editor? Our various volunteers may be willing to take on a "group" or at least help to pull them together in some way.
Yes I'll do my best! 


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FF22 Ch1 https://bit.ly/3xtyuAF" rel="nofollow - Treasure Every Moment


Posted By: GGreen
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 4:27pm
What is the imagined market for it? That would change how you curate it.
Writers of flash?
People who read on their commute?
Entrants in this competition?
People with short attention spans?




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FF22 Ch1 https://bit.ly/3xtyuAF" rel="nofollow - Treasure Every Moment


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 4:55pm
Originally posted by T.E. Bradford T.E. Bradford wrote:

Originally posted by SheriLS SheriLS wrote:

Great idea. But make sure there is no sort of clause that says we can't .

Definitely, Sheri. I believe we retain rights to everything and that NYCM only asks for any kind of rights on winning stories, but I will certainly err on the side of caution on this point.

I found our answer to the question of whether we have the rights to do this on the NYC Midnight FAQ page. Here's what it says:

Who owns the rights to the stories created during the competition?
A.  You, the writer.  NYC Midnight reserves the right to publish the synopsis and e-mail address of any writer that enters the competition for publicity purposes, but that's it.  In some cases we reach out to the writers to publish their stories on our website, but a separate agreement is made for the story.


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--Tracy
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Posted By: sgspeed
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 5:07pm
I think this is an amazing idea. I'd be interested in helping.  

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Posted By: DreamThief
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2018 at 5:46pm
GGreen raises a good point about targetting! If we’re mixing genres I feel like we might want to curate to some specific and complimentary themes. Or pick a couple of genres and be open themed. But then we cut out/alienate writers here who don’t fit within whatever categories we pick, and that seems unfair. Marketing an ecclectic mix will be a lot harder, though, since the target audience might only want *some* of the stories...

If we had the capital/time/fanbase we could break it down by genre or themes and do a couple of different anthologies but... that seems a bit ambitious at this point. (Although for future refernce, I vote we call them ‘A Flash of [topic]’.)

Okay, jumping the gun at lot here, but possible title ‘Midnight and Dawn’ with the tagline ‘A flash of light, a flash of night’ for a mixed anthology. 

We might want to start off as purely online-based. Perhaps even consider doing a monthly magazine-style anthology? So we can do different genre/themes each month to give everyone the chance to be in it. Publish it through... I dunno, Kindle? I’m not familiar with e-publishing. Seems like this might not be ideal though, since it requires a lot more work than just a single volume. And more time.

Dunno, just putting out some ideas. Sorry for the ramble!


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CH1 GR73 https://forums.nycmidnight.com/ch1-gr73-cloudberry-boy-ghost-story_topic35071.html" rel="nofollow - Cloudberry Boy (Ghost Story)


Posted By: GGreen
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2018 at 2:26am
Originally posted by DreamThief DreamThief wrote:

GGreen raises a good point about targetting! If we’re mixing genres I feel like we might want to curate to some specific and complimentary themes. Or pick a couple of genres and be open themed. But then we cut out/alienate writers here who don’t fit within whatever categories we pick, and that seems unfair. Marketing an ecclectic mix will be a lot harder, though, since the target audience might only want *some* of the stories...

If we had the capital/time/fanbase we could break it down by genre or themes and do a couple of different anthologies but... that seems a bit ambitious at this point. (Although for future refernce, I vote we call them ‘A Flash of [topic]’.)

Okay, jumping the gun at lot here, but possible title ‘Midnight and Dawn’ with the tagline ‘A flash of light, a flash of night’ for a mixed anthology. 

We might want to start off as purely online-based. Perhaps even consider doing a monthly magazine-style anthology? So we can do different genre/themes each month to give everyone the chance to be in it. Publish it through... I dunno, Kindle? I’m not familiar with e-publishing. Seems like this might not be ideal though, since it requires a lot more work than just a single volume. And more time.

Dunno, just putting out some ideas. Sorry for the ramble!
Yes it was the mixed genre thing that made me wonder as books tend to be marketed by genre, but this will presumably be marketed to those who like very short stories. If you divided it by genre within the anthology people might only read science fiction bit, for example. But if you had a theme of say: injustice, you could mix a drama, a sci-fi a ghost-story and a political satire, a dystopian sci-fi. And so on. 


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FF22 Ch1 https://bit.ly/3xtyuAF" rel="nofollow - Treasure Every Moment


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2018 at 3:35pm
Originally posted by GGreen GGreen wrote:

What is the imagined market for it? That would change how you curate it.
Writers of flash?
People who read on their commute?
Entrants in this competition?
People with short attention spans?

Yes! LOL

But seriously, people like getting lots of things for one price. An anthology like this would appeal to them as well as to people buying as gifts. I agree that some readers buy by genre, but anthologies is its own category on Amazon, and one I think we could take by storm with so many talented writers gathered into one book.


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: GGreen
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2018 at 3:36pm
Originally posted by T.E. Bradford T.E. Bradford wrote:

Originally posted by GGreen GGreen wrote:

What is the imagined market for it? That would change how you curate it.
Writers of flash?
People who read on their commute?
Entrants in this competition?
People with short attention spans?

Yes! LOL

But seriously, people like getting lots of things for one price. An anthology like this would appeal to them as well as to people buying as gifts. I agree that some readers buy by genre, but anthologies is its own category on Amazon, and one I think we could take by storm with so many talented writers gathered into one book.
GREAT POINTS!!! So excited. 


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FF22 Ch1 https://bit.ly/3xtyuAF" rel="nofollow - Treasure Every Moment


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2018 at 3:50pm
Originally posted by GGreen GGreen wrote:

Originally posted by DreamThief DreamThief wrote:

GGreen raises a good point about targetting! If we’re mixing genres I feel like we might want to curate to some specific and complimentary themes. Or pick a couple of genres and be open themed. But then we cut out/alienate writers here who don’t fit within whatever categories we pick, and that seems unfair. Marketing an ecclectic mix will be a lot harder, though, since the target audience might only want *some* of the stories...

If we had the capital/time/fanbase we could break it down by genre or themes and do a couple of different anthologies but... that seems a bit ambitious at this point. (Although for future refernce, I vote we call them ‘A Flash of [topic]’.)

Okay, jumping the gun at lot here, but possible title ‘Midnight and Dawn’ with the tagline ‘A flash of light, a flash of night’ for a mixed anthology. 

We might want to start off as purely online-based. Perhaps even consider doing a monthly magazine-style anthology? So we can do different genre/themes each month to give everyone the chance to be in it. Publish it through... I dunno, Kindle? I’m not familiar with e-publishing. Seems like this might not be ideal though, since it requires a lot more work than just a single volume. And more time.

Dunno, just putting out some ideas. Sorry for the ramble!
Yes it was the mixed genre thing that made me wonder as books tend to be marketed by genre, but this will presumably be marketed to those who like very short stories. If you divided it by genre within the anthology people might only read science fiction bit, for example. But if you had a theme of say: injustice, you could mix a drama, a sci-fi a ghost-story and a political satire, a dystopian sci-fi. And so on. 

I definitely don't want to exclude any genres. I have to stick with the single all-inclusive anthology book. The other ideas are all great, but too much to tackle I think. A single anthology book on KDP with a print version option. I've done the self-pub via KDP before, and also am traditionally published, so I think with the other folks jumping on board to help we can swing it. Mixing genres may be a really cool, unique draw. Hard to say. I think linking different stories by theme is brilliant. Kudos for that one, GGreen.

Which leads me to wonder... what about FLASH OF BRILLIANCE as a possible anthology title? Maybe a cover with a shooting star or some galactic night sky event as a way to give a nod to the folks at NYC Midnight?

Full credit to DreamThief for the "flash of" title idea! Smile


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2018 at 4:17pm
*** PLEASE SEE NEW THREAD FOR ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSIONS ***

CONTENT:

Let's get this dang party started! Tongue

If you're interested in being included in the FLASH OF BRILLIANCE anthology, send your FFS from Rounds 1 or 2 as a Word doc to:  submissions@tebradford.com

New word limit is 1500, so all those notes about expanding on this or that can be handled! Let's use all the same general guidelines as the original contest entry, just to keep things easy and clean.

I will be collecting and giving stories out to our "judges" who will recommend based on:
A) Ready for publication right now
B) Great, but needs a little more work
C) Not quite ready

I'll try to have at least 2-3 people read each submission to be sure we're being fair, and I'll also try to look them all over myself as well. Then we'll reach out to everyone to let them know results. Since we're all writers, I'm very hopeful we'll have some excellent recommendations.

Submissions open through 12-31-2018!!!

Be sure to shout this out to the other authors who might not have seen the other topic thread yet! Good luck everyone! Again!!!  Big smile


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: sarahnut
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2018 at 8:49pm
Love this idea. Not sure if my story would be strong enough to be included but I'd definitely be interested in buying it! Also happy to help if I can - probably not as a judge but if you need any admin type stuff done, or anything that doesn't need any specific skills, let me know Smile

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https://bit.ly/3Y8JcJg" rel="nofollow - RS R1 Leigh Grimley

https://bit.ly/3uyyj69" rel="nofollow - RS R2 The African Grey's Lament


Posted By: bchabek
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2018 at 8:54pm
I’m on board! Let us know what we can all do to help!


Posted By: kimand48
Date Posted: 15 Nov 2018 at 12:19am
Gah! I've been away from the boards, too long! Please count me in as a helper/whatever. My husband is also an artist and I'd be happy to recruit him for free cover design work. (Unless someone else in the group here is interested in doing that.)

I'd be happy to take a genre/theme or however we decide to group, as one of your readers, if you still need someone. Or help however I can! I'm not fantastic at grammar minutiae, but I'm pretty decent at formatting, typo spotting, reading lots of stuff, etc. 

I think, even with people assigned to read different groups, you're still going to need a core team that takes a look at all the submissions and defines what the themes will be based on submissions and what's available. 

You've mentioned a major goal being author awareness, what do you think that might look like? Mini bios for everyone included? Links to personal websites? Perhaps a website might be better for that content rather than in a hard copy of a book...

Thanks for spear-heading this T.E.! Let me know what I can do to help. I forget to come on here as often (not advancing... hurt feelings... blah blah blah ;) ) but if you email me or text me I'll be much more responsive. I'll PM you my contact info.

Kim



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https://bit.ly/2HR6wsj" rel="nofollow - SSC1 Send In the Clowns - 2nd place


Posted By: kimand48
Date Posted: 15 Nov 2018 at 12:21am
I just had a thought. What would y'all think of recruiting some struggling artists to illustrate the first story in each group/theme? Too much? I love sending work to artists, and I love the illustrations on the NYCM webpage they do. They might be interested in the exposure as much as authors would be.

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https://bit.ly/2HR6wsj" rel="nofollow - SSC1 Send In the Clowns - 2nd place


Posted By: Talespinner
Date Posted: 15 Nov 2018 at 6:24am
I've got one story to offer for consideration (I'm holding the others back for my own independently published collection of short stories). Sorry, I don't have time to contribute actively; but I do have one suggestion:

Formatting...

NYCM's required standard format seems to me designed to ease reading by judges, which is as it should be: but marshalling all these stories into a unified format suitable for a book (fonts for body text, headers etc., para justification, line and para breaks, etc., etc.) will likely be a drudge.

Why not spread the effort? By defining a standard format (like standard manuscript format but print-ready) and asking contributing authors to use it to do their bit? 

Cheers,
Pat


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Ch3 NC story SF/hospice/armband
https://bit.ly/2zTt58t" rel="nofollow - Ending; Happy?


Posted By: Talespinner
Date Posted: 15 Nov 2018 at 7:08am
I would respectfully suggest not doing what I saw in one flash anthology on Kindle:

Intros said the stories came from prompts like [Crime genre/Scenic overlook/false moustache] which is like the magician introducing his audience to his identical twin helpers: only appropriate to an audience of magicians, or in our case, an audience of writers.

That said, I don't think writers should be the audience: with the thousand-odd peeps here NYCM doesn't need the PR, methinks.

IMHO the audience should be, as has been mooted, people with short attention spans, frequent bathroom breaks, or small screens.

I think a title featuring the word "flash" risks not attracting people unfamiliar with flash fiction. Entitle it, perhaps, "Stories for Metro Riders." Logline: one complete story between each stop and the next.

Just a thought,
Pat


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Ch3 NC story SF/hospice/armband
https://bit.ly/2zTt58t" rel="nofollow - Ending; Happy?


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 15 Nov 2018 at 2:05pm
Originally posted by sarahnut sarahnut wrote:

Love this idea. Not sure if my story would be strong enough to be included but I'd definitely be interested in buying it! Also happy to help if I can - probably not as a judge but if you need any admin type stuff done, or anything that doesn't need any specific skills, let me know.

Don’t talk yourself out of it. Can’t hurt to try, right? I’ll definitely keep everyone here in the forums in the loop when it goes up for sale. And we can always use more hands. There will be plenty to do, I’m sure, so thank you for the offer. I added your name to the list.


Originally posted by bchabek bchabek wrote:

I’m on board! Let us know what we can all do to help!

Thanks! I will definitely put out calls for help once we get rolling.


Originally posted by kimand48 kimand48 wrote:

Gah! I've been away from the boards, too long! Please count me in as a helper/whatever. My husband is also an artist and I'd be happy to recruit him for free cover design work. (Unless someone else in the group here is interested in doing that.)

You've mentioned a major goal being author awareness, what do you think that might look like? Mini bios for everyone included? Links to personal websites? Perhaps a website might be better for that content rather than in a hard copy of a book...

Thanks for spear-heading this T.E.! Let me know what I can do to help. I forget to come on here as often (not advancing... hurt feelings... blah blah blah ;) ) but if you email me or text me I'll be much more responsive. I'll PM you my contact info.
Kim

ALSO

I just had a thought. What would y'all think of recruiting some struggling artists to illustrate the first story in each group/theme? Too much? I love sending work to artists, and I love the illustrations on the NYCM webpage they do. They might be interested in the exposure as much as authors would be.

I think the idea to use your hubby and any other struggling artists in the book is GREAT!!! We could have the art represent the theme itself, which would represent of the stories with that theme by default. Maybe we can have some different genre art, since I know sci-fi / fantasy art might differ greatly from political satire.

I PM’d you back, so we can pick up the discussion via email. Smile

Originally posted by Talespinner Talespinner wrote:

I've got one story to offer for consideration (I'm holding the others back for my own independently published collection of short stories). Sorry, I don't have time to contribute actively; but I do have one suggestion:

Formatting...

NYCM's required standard format seems to me designed to ease reading by judges, which is as it should be: but marshalling all these stories into a unified format suitable for a book (fonts for body text, headers etc., para justification, line and para breaks, etc., etc.) will likely be a drudge.

Why not spread the effort? By defining a standard format (like standard manuscript format but print-ready) and asking contributing authors to use it to do their bit? 

Cheers,
Pat

ALSO

I would respectfully suggest not doing what I saw in one flash anthology on Kindle:

Intros said the stories came from prompts like [Crime genre/Scenic overlook/false moustache] which is like the magician introducing his audience to his identical twin helpers: only appropriate to an audience of magicians, or in our case, an audience of writers.

That said, I don't think writers should be the audience: with the thousand-odd peeps here NYCM doesn't need the PR, methinks.

IMHO the audience should be, as has been mooted, people with short attention spans, frequent bathroom breaks, or small screens.

I think a title featuring the word "flash" risks not attracting people unfamiliar with flash fiction. Entitle it, perhaps, "Stories for Metro Riders." Logline: one complete story between each stop and the next.

Just a thought,
Pat

Hi Pat.
No worries on holding back some of your work for your own collection. That absolutely makes sense. I think this is more about offering a platform for those that wouldn’t do this on their own, with the strength of a group of talent such as this contest generates to add to the allure of the collection. I am in COMPLETE agreement with you about not mentioning the writing prompts. This is purely a collection of shorts by a group of super-talented authors.

With regard to formatting, as long as people submit in the file format required by NYCM (*.doc, *.txt or *.rtf) it shouldn’t be too difficult to do a select all and set the font to a standard throughout. Thankfully I work in technology as a day job, so I’m handy with that kind of thing. But you’re right that we should make sure we ask authors to make any other formatting changes themselves prior to putting the stories into the book format. I’ll probably hold off and only ask this of those selected for the anthology as a prep step.

I’ll keep your title and logline suggestions to chew over. I have a feeling there will be more great suggestions before we’re there, and I don’t want to eliminate any just yet. Big smile


Beer
Thanks for all of the superb suggestions and offers of help, everyone! I will definitely be getting in touch with all of you as things get under way. Keep those suggestions coming.



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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: Talespinner
Date Posted: 15 Nov 2018 at 2:34pm
In my experience, Tracy, the font change is the easy bit, except when in SF for example, fonts are used to distinguish voices: the robots usually get Courier or another monospace font; real peeps are Times Roman of course. 

The drudge lies in, e.g  soft/hard returns, para breaks, non-breaking spaces, consistent section breaks (centered * or what?) etc. Also, converting from pdf to .doc can be a pain?

I suggest trying a few before you commit. Your call...

Pat


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Ch3 NC story SF/hospice/armband
https://bit.ly/2zTt58t" rel="nofollow - Ending; Happy?


Posted By: Talespinner
Date Posted: 15 Nov 2018 at 2:46pm
Um, what about the money?

If it's published on Kindle IIRC it can't be given away; it can only be sold at a minimum price determined by Amazon.

Let's say it's sold for $2.99 a copy.

That's three bucks a copy amongst several writers, and larger slices for whomever puts their time into the drudge work. Is it worth it, or are we doing it for art, love and name recognition, with the money going to charity? 

If the latter, someone will have to administer it, engage accountants, take care of taxes which IIRC Amazon insists upon, even though in the UK they're masterful tax-dodgers: e.g. when I self-publish I'll have to tell them my details so that the Inland Revenue can take their cut at source (Amazon).


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Ch3 NC story SF/hospice/armband
https://bit.ly/2zTt58t" rel="nofollow - Ending; Happy?


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 15 Nov 2018 at 3:03pm
Originally posted by Talespinner Talespinner wrote:

Um, what about the money?

If it's published on Kindle IIRC it can't be given away; it can only be sold at a minimum price determined by Amazon.

Let's say it's sold for $2.99 a copy.

That's three bucks a copy amongst several writers, and larger slices for whomever puts their time into the drudge work. Is it worth it, or are we doing it for art, love and name recognition, with the money going to charity? 

If the latter, someone will have to administer it, engage accountants, take care of taxes which IIRC Amazon insists upon, even though in the UK they're masterful tax-dodgers: e.g. when I self-publish I'll have to tell them my details so that the Inland Revenue can take their cut at source (Amazon).

I mentioned this in a couple of posts, as you're right - it can get very tricky very quickly. All earnings made will be reinvested into marketing of the anthology, so as to best benefit the authors without actually having any taxable revenues. Essentially, it will show as a permanent loss tax-wise, while still drumming up name recognition, publishing credit and (hopefully) fan following for the authors included.


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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: fioOxf
Date Posted: 15 Nov 2018 at 3:47pm
From memory, the minimum price (amazon and maybe smashwords) is determined by the file size, which is obviously affected by images/illustration. I know when an ebook I wrote was published a couple of years ago, my editors were keen to shrink or delete some of the images to keep the file smaller. It may have changed, and should be easy to find out. If not, I can asked my editors. Just drop me a PM if you need me to. 

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http://tinyurl.com/2hcv7m2d" rel="nofollow - Rhyming R2 Aging's a B... (FT)


Posted By: Zebs
Date Posted: 20 Nov 2018 at 7:00pm
If there's still time for consideration, I'd love hear more.
I have a hard time reading the forum for things that require tracking responses, so I'm not sure what point everything is at.

Good luck to everyone working on this, in any case!


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https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic18645_post232857.html#232857" rel="nofollow - CH1 Hearing Music
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic19011_post240184.html#240184" rel="nofollow - CH2 Moment A Kingdom Falls


Posted By: T.E. Bradford
Date Posted: 21 Nov 2018 at 9:57am
Originally posted by Zebs Zebs wrote:

If there's still time for consideration, I'd love hear more.
I have a hard time reading the forum for things that require tracking responses, so I'm not sure what point everything is at.

Good luck to everyone working on this, in any case!

Absolutely there's still time! :)
I've got submissions open through the end of 2018. Check out details over on the Anthology Submissions thread.
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/anthology-submissions_topic19575_page1.html" rel="nofollow - https://forums.nycmidnight.com/anthology-submissions_topic19575_page1.html



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--Tracy
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic45081_post472817.html#472817" rel="nofollow - SSP: Heart of Darkness


Posted By: Maddoris
Date Posted: 28 Nov 2018 at 7:47pm
I would definitely like to help. Editing/proofreading/organizing by genre/whatever you need that doesn't involve art :)

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https://bit.ly/2TlyT4p" rel="nofollow - FF C3 Hang Tight for Treasure



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