The Latest From AngelaHoy.com

After posting my article about anthologies, I received a handful of emails berating my statements. While reading them, I noticed two common trends.

The first trend I recognized was that negative emails were arriving from people who are obviously profiting from anthologies, including anthology publishers and editors. Some even appeared to be trying to use this space (hoping I would publish their letters) to promote their anthologies. Not one of them convinced me that they’re in any way different from the types of publishers I wrote about below.

The second trend I recognized was that people who write for anthologies, and that are happy with them, seem to have way too much time on their hands. They apparently don’t write for a living, or don’t depend on their writing income for the majority of their livelihood like the rest of us.

If you have a few dozen fiction stories lying around without a home, and you’re happy spending time (likely wasting time) sending them near and far on the limited chance a professional anthology will publish them, by all means, mail away.

However, if you’re like the rest of us and value your manuscripts, regarding them as potential profits and not just words to fill a publisher’s pages (and coffers), then heed my warning at (http://www.angelahoy.com/archives/000015.html).

Far outnumbering the angry emails were the number of positive emails from writers thanking me for letting them know how many anthology publishers operate. Most disturbing, however, were the emails received from former anthology contributors who, unfortunately, have already fallen victim to the methods mentioned in my article.

When searching for new freelance jobs for WritersWeekly.com each week, I always run into ads posted by writers seeking an editor, marketing person or other freelancer to help them for nothing. Well, not actually nothing. What they offer is a percentage of future sales…if any.

The freelancers who then apply for this position are given the hyped description of the project by the author. It’s hyped because the author usually believes in their project and also because the author desperately needs someone to work for them…for free. Even the sharpest individuals, especially those who need money, can get suckered into someone else’s hype.

There are several reasons to avoid this type of relationship. The first is that you will probably never recoup your losses on such a project. You will spend hours and hours editing or promoting the book (and even spend your own money!) and there is no guarantee you’ll ever get paid. This is a huge gamble! If you have that much spare time on your hands, you need to write and promote your own book and keep 100% of the profits.

If an author can’t afford to hire an editor, publicist or other freelancer, this usually means they do not yet have a contract for the book from a traditional publisher (traditional publishers have their own editors and publicists), they haven’t received an advance, and they don’t have any money. If they don’t have any money, they probably can’t afford to do much marketing for their own book, which will hurt sales. If they do have money for marketing, they should be paying you up front for your time.

In the feature article in next week’s issue of WritersWeekly.com, you’ll meet a woman who fell prey to this type of relationship. It’s an interesting and heartbreaking story. Don’t miss it.

Yesterday, a writer queried WritersWeekly.com to offer an article on short story markets. I asked how many markets she’d include. She replied that anthologies would be the markets. Ug!

Anthologies are books that include writing by many writers. These can be compilations of short stories or even non-fiction how-to books, with many writers contributing different chapters. While the idea is a good one, most publishers that create anthologies take advantage of writers in the worst way. Here’s how the process usually works.

The publisher puts out a call for writers. The call is posted to dozens (if not hundreds) of writing websites. The call looks tempting. Write a story of a specific length and, if your story is chosen, you’ll make $20 or $50 or more and sometimes, but not usually, get a free copy of the book. If you want additional copies, you usually have to pay…and you’ll usually have to pay the entire list price (no discount). Often, the call for writers is actually a way for publishers to promote the anthologies they’ve already published. So, what looks like a call for submissions may be that, but may simply be a way to get mentioned in all the freelance writing websites.

~A Bad Deal for Writers~
Writers have to write these stories on spec (write the entire story on speculation with no guarantee of acceptance or publication), while competing against hundreds or thousands of writers. Due to the large number of solicitations put out by the anthology, a tiny percentage of the stories will ever be published. Perhaps some stories are never even read due to the large number of submissions. All the other man-hours worked by writers are a complete waste of their time – time they could have spent sending out queries to real editors and publishers who accept queries in lieu of complete manuscripts.

If (a HUGE “if”!) your story is selected, they send you a check. Sometimes it’s a high payment, but usually it’s really low. The anthology usually requests all rights. They can keep publishing your story in any medium, and even put your story in future books, and you get nothing more than the original check. And, no, you won’t get royalties on the sales of that book or any future books your story appears in.

~A Very Good Deal for the Anthology Publisher~
The publisher is the one who makes out big on this deal! They get stories submitted for free. They get to pick the best ones and simply dump the rest. They spend a paltry amount for those stories and publish the book.

This is where it gets interesting. They pump the writers up to make them feel that what they’ve accomplished is a super thing. They then use this praise to coerce the writer into promoting the book their story appears in (even though they usually don’t make any royalties on the sales of those books). So, not only has the publisher already forced many writers to write for free (and only had to pay a handful), but now they have a free sales force in place as well.

~What Anthology Publishers Should Do~
Anthology publishers should accept queries instead of complete manuscripts. This would cut back greatly on the wasted efforts of writers who are never chosen for publication.

Anthology publishers should also not try to coerce writers into promoting their books for free. If they’re not going to pay royalties on those sales, they need to pay the writers an hourly rate for their sales work. And, if the writer is promoting the anthology on their website, newsletter, they should be paid advertising fees for this promotion.

Many writers feel privileged to participate in book signings at bookstores for the anthologies their works appear in. Yet, they often make no money for their efforts. The anthology publisher has made them feel that doing so will somehow contribute to their “celebrity” status and will increase their “exposure.” What a crock.

~What Writers Can Do~
If you and a bunch of your friends want to contribute to an anthology, you should publish your own! Print on demand has made it affordable to do so. You can then all share in the low costs ($217 at Booklocker.com) and can also promote the book together AND share in the royalties. To submit your anthology idea to Booklocker.com (no need to submit complete manuscripts on anthology ideas), shoot an email my way. I’m at: angela@writersweekly.com