[MrBF1V3]

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/132207

Actually maybe even better.

What do you think?

B5

[RedMage]

I haven't participated in either the Flash Fiction or the Short Story competitions, but I often think about doing so. This feels like a further development of the idea that lead to tmso's Winners thread in the Stories sub-forum. It would be very cool to see a year's worth of stories collected all in an anthology. It might also enhance the popularity of our two competitions if there was a prize such as this.

[virangelus]

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/132207

Actually maybe even better.

What do you think?

B5

I am hitting vBulletin's Imaginary "Like" button.

[KatG]

We had a discussion a couple of years ago about the proposal of a SFFWorld anthology and while the idea was felt to have merit, the project was not one that Dag, the owner, wanted to undertake at this time. That being said, we have no problem with people here in the Writing Forum doing their own anthology, from stories done here or elsewhere, which we lay no ownership claim to, as long as it doesn't have the SFFWorld name on it. We also have no problem with you organizing such a project partly through the Forum, but SFFWorld bears no responsibility for anything concerning the project. If you decide to do it, you need to get yourself a model permissions contract for each story, figure out how any monies are split and appoint an editor to organize it. You might want to try hitting up one of the members of the author group that did that anthology to get info on how they did it.

[tmso]

Yeah, I was heading up that effort a couple of years ago. And I'd be more than welcomed to volunteer as editor. At the time, the idea was to use the winners of the contests, but not all winners were willing to participate unless the SFFWorld.com name was behind it.

So, it kind of just dwindled away.

Maybe if we let folks know up front this year that anything they enter may end up in an anthology?

[MrBF1V3]

We also have to consider that in some cases it might change our friendly little competition. I can speak for myself--I get competitive. But it is at least an idea we should kick around for a while.

B5

... maybe we could call it "Stories from an undisclosed location."

[virangelus]

You could start a SEPERATE flash fiction with the name - Anthology Entries in it. This means those that enter already know what they will be participating in.

[tmso]

Oh! Excellent idea, Vir!

But would we be exhausting our current crop of writers?

(By the way, I'm volunteering my time to edit only because it will be a thankless job that somebody has to do, but I in no way have the experience or skills to back that up.)

I suppose, we can try. And if we have any takers, then great, if not then it will just fade away like all the rest.

[Aether Monkey]

I'm game. Let me know if I can help.

[tmso]

I'm game. Let me know if I can help.
Aether! Good to see you again! Well, good to see your picture. :D

Okay, like I said, I'm game to edit though I have no experience. I see this as a learning opportunity for me.

Now, what do I mean by saying I'll edit? To me, that means, I will:

host the contest/submissions process,
choose what stories get in or facilitate the voting system we use to choose the stories,
edit the stories and/or ask the writer to edit each story to our editorial standards (whatever those are),
format the digital file
facilitate getting a cover (volunteers?)
slap it all together and put it on Smashwords


Now, here's what I won't do - handle money. If we get money involved, there's just a whole other kettle of fish to deal with and I don't want to do it. I say make it free or get someone else to handle that part. Does anyone already have a small press set up that would be willing to run this through their system? What would that cost us?

There's also a host of other things we have to think about:

how many stories total will be included in the anthology?
length for each story?
will this be a themed anthology or just the winners of a monthly contest we'll run parallel with the other two contests that are already running?
who qualifies to enter? anyone? or just members whom have joined at least six months before entering the contests/submission process? the idea is to highlight our member's writing, so it wouldn't do to open up an anthology that any passing internet bloke can poke their nose in. or is that okay?


Ideas? Thoughts? Vegetables?