Anthologies Book

 Suppose you have picked up a book in a store having the title, say“ 50 Greatest Short Stories by Terry O’ Brien; you will notice that many writers have contributed their short stories to this book. Such a book is known as an anthology. An anthology is a collection of writings( essays, short stories, or poems) by many authors/ writers, bloggers, usually in the same literary form, of the same period, or on the same theme.

 Anthologies are the ideal approach to start your writing career and make some money if you're a new author trying to build up his/her writing portfolio.

The main advantage of publishing an anthology is that you get more content for less money. As many writers have contributed to the book, it becomes a collaborative effort and eases the stress of writing a book on your own. Also, since there are so many people engaged, everyone will contribute to the book's marketing and promotion. In this manner, the message can reach a significantly broader audience.

These days anthologies are highly in trend  as they are quick to read and can be completed in a go or with short breaks.

If you wish to compile an anthology and publish it, here are the steps to follow

Step 1:Decide an interesting Theme ,Genre

The first step towards publishing an anthology is to decide its theme. It can either be generic or specific. Deciding a theme for your book makes the collection cohesive. The theme of the book depends on the genre you choose. Suppose you choose the genre adventure, then that becomes the theme of the book too. You can make your theme more specific i.e. for the chosengenre adventure, an adventure for children, an adventure for teens, or an adventure for young adults.

An anthology book could be based on varied genres/ themes too.

Step 2 : Decide the number of contributions you’ll need

Typically a manuscript contains words between 40,00 – 60,000. For example : If you decide that each story should have 1,500 words then you’d need contributions from at least 35- 40 writers. Try maintaining the length of each contribution.

Step 3 : Formulate Guidelines For The Contributors :

This is one of the most important steps in publishing an anthology book, as every contribution made should be based on these guidelines. A list of guidelines should be sent to every writer before they begin writing.Following are some of the things that the list must contain :

·   Type of content :

v Tone

v Language to be used

v Story telling style

·   Genre and theme

·   Word limit(restricted to anywhere between 2000 and 5000 words)

·   Deadline

·   Format

·   Legal details (copy rights, royalties, payments  etc.)

Step 4 :Look for a publisher

Even before finalising the contributions, it’s good to talk to agood  publisher who would assist you in publishing. By doing this you  make all the other forthcoming procedures hassle free.

You can either mail  a proposal or talk over the phone to the publishing house about your anthology and ask them to consider it. Sending a sample story (the one you authored) for  their feedback is also a good idea.

Step 5 :Announce submission opening for the anthology

You can create an announcement regarding the submission by promoting your book on social media platforms and spreading words about it as much as you can. Even eye-catchy digital advertisements are good to promote your book. You can approach bloggers,  authors/writers, and book enthusiasts for submitting their write-ups but remember to mail them the guidelines well in hand. The whole process is time consuming.

Step 6: Gather the relevant documentation as well as the manuscript

Apart from the manuscript, contributors to the anthology must also provide a copyright transfer form, a consent letter, and other documents. If the anthology is based on real-life events, then you may also require consent letters from the people involved in the anthology. A copy of all legal documents should be sent to the publication too.

Step 7 :Edit the manuscripts :

It is important to decide whether to publish all of the entries(submissions) or just the best ones, depending on their quality. Edit the stories that will be included in the anthology once they have been chosen. Editing is important in anthologies, just as it is in any work.Editing anthologies is far more time consuming than editing regular stories. Therefore having a professional editor edit, proofread, and beta-read the stories is recommended.

Once you have completed these seven steps, your anthology can now go to the publishing house for publishing.