Kevin's Watch

Jeez, talk about pessimism! I KNOW this book is gonna be my BIG BREAK, and I'm gonna get the recognition I deserve, and I'm gonna be a fancy writer with his own fan site and everything, and the fantasy bedtime girls will tuck me in at night, and I'll buy a pro baseball team, and my team will win the series, and we'll all go to Disney World!

So...any thoughts on the Anthology now? Tom? Dragonlily? Hier? Anybody?

I guess there is still no contact from Myste? Please, m'lady, both Mordant and the Watch need you!

At this point, I'm more concerned about Myste's well-being than I am about the crappy ol' Anthology...but here we are. We're sitting on a fine batch of stories, and I hope they won't be just sitting there for too long.

This is purely my own opinion: the row over what was and what was not included in the Anthology had put the project under somewhat of a cloud, and that initial controversy is still the only thing that has come to be associated with the Anthology thus far, instead of the good stories that it contains. The selection team may have nominally completed its task, but I personally won't feel that I'm entirely "off the hook" until the Anthology has been published and readers can then finally decide for themselves whether the choices we made were sound choices or not. With the Anthology in limbo as it is, I feel like I am too, in a way. I can only hope Myste will be back sooner than later, but with or without her, I hope we can bring a resolution to this project without something befalling another crucial member that puts another halt in the process.

And those are my 2:00 am brain droppings. I'll check back in the morning to see if my ramble is actually coherent.

I never felt the Anthology was tainted by the complaints, MM. Complaints from some of those not chosen is part of the game, and besides, that was long ago.

Not knowing what Myste's "personal issues" are, aside from having been laid off, I have hesitated to check the phone book for her. But she knows we are all waiting on her, and I think it's time for her to tell us if she doesn't feel up to it.

If the general decision is to do it that way, I expect Edge and I can get the book together, and Tom C has a publisher he has been advocating from the beginning. Tom, is this publisher print-on-demand?

No print on demand.

and Tom C has a publisher he has been advocating from the beginning. Tom, is this publisher print-on-demand?

Is this the same publisher that Tom had problems with?

I agree with Matrix. This project is a spectre that will not be silent until we follow through.
As to Cafepress being a POD, I can think of no alternatives. Vanity presses other than PODs require the books and printing to be purchased in advance. If we go POD the upload and setup is free and there will be no charges until a book is purchased. Cafepress will automaticly produce a website to host the book that will be added to Google pretty quickly. If we have aspirations for the Anthology to be registered with Amazon.com then we would need to purchase an ISBN.
As far as I know spending money beyond the indivdual purchasing of a book was never discussed.
If there is an independently wealthy member of the watch that would like to contribute a nice pile of green to make this project more than what we can currently afford, please speak up.
I'm open to suggestions. If someone has an aunt or uncle that runs a publishing house I am all for taking advantage.
What say you?

P.S. CAFEPRESS is a genuine POD. Publish America is the POD pretending to be a traditional publishing house. FYI


www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/learn_book_info.aspx

My sister runs a publishing house, but she needs to be paid like anyone else.

Since Myste doesn't work for that publisher any more, she may not have the resources she expected to have when she accepted the project.

I think the free set-up and free website offered by Cafepress is a boon. I can't imagine a better arrangement for adapting to whatever needs this big group of individuals may have.

Any decisions about ISBN number and selling on Amazon can be made when members read the book and give their reactions. I think we probably do need to give further consideration to copyrights.

Geez, I hope our book didn't get Myste fired......

Dragonlily wrote:I never felt the Anthology was tainted by the complaints, MM. Complaints from some of those not chosen is part of the game, and besides, that was long ago.

I agree. Disappointment will always lead to some grousing, but it was short-lived and, as far as I'm aware, is largely forgotten. MM, neither you nor anyone else associated with the project should feel you have to redeem yourselves in some way or justify your decisions.

Let's get this thing done. While Myste's wellbeing is, of course, the important concern, there's nothing we can do about that. What we can do something about is the book.

So the only logical way to taint the book is to complain about being chosen?

The logical way to taint the book would be to have it full of typos. **growls at the thought**

My story being accepted already taints the book. Heh.-jay

Well said Cj.

Dragonlily wrote:I think we probably do need to give further consideration to copyrights.

The Watch can have the rights to mine, as I said from the beginning. (It's not like I'm short of poetry or anything. )

--A

Okay. We need to proceed then.
I believe we have already hashed out the copyright issue. The pubished book is its own form of copyright and there can be a notation at the beginning that states that all authors retain full rights etc. The book can be altered any number of times and a new pdf can be uploaded. Therefore I suggest we push forward, get the book formatted according to our best understanding of what Myste had in mind and publish. Once I've been given the manuscript and the cover art I'll get it uploaded and post the address where it can be purchased.

I stand by.

Does this mean re-sending the bio's to somebody else? (And who?)

--A

Maybe I'll just mass-email my bio to all of you.

PM your bios to me. You can start doing that right away. I will put thought to the organizing of it. We need to get Edge's formal agreement before we count on him to do the book production, though. He hasn't commented on this portion of the thread. He may not be in a position where he can take it on at the moment.

Myste has a list of the volunteer proofreaders, I don't. Would the proofreaders all please pm me also? You will be needed once the layout is done.

Got it, dAN, thank you.

dAN made a joke of reaching the 150 word minimum. I hadn't realized how very long 150 words is. Personally, I made no attempt to write that much, and I don't see any need for others to. We just want a little something to give readers an idea of who you are and/or how the story came to be ... whatever.

I'm not setting a minimum, just keeping the 200 word maximum, and I'm flexible on that if there's a good reason.

I'm outta here for today, I'll try and remember to send it to you tomorrow.

--A

Edge has agreed.