KW ANTHOLOGY III: NEED SUBMISSION TEAM VOLUNTEERS

[aTOMiC]

The time has come. We need to form our Submission committee for ANTHOLOGY III immediately.
We need at least 3 volunteers but more would be welcome.
Please post here if you have the spare time to devote to reading submissions and then helping to decided which ones will be included.
See ANTHOLOGY III submission guide for more details.

Hey ho. Let's go!

[I'm Murrin]

I'll volunteer to read again.

[aTOMiC]

Thats one. Thanks Murrin.

[iQuestor]

I intend on submitting a story and have submitted poems. I could review artwork or help in another way if it is permissible -- I couldn't read because I am a submittor. Is there anything I can do to help without causing an issue with my being a submittor?

[aTOMiC]

Due to the suprising lack of feedback we've recieved about the third Anthology I'm concerened that the series might end with the second. I will give it more time but if interest doesn't increase rapidly we'll have to announce a shut down sometime before the deadline.
As it stands I do have a very short story in the works, we have iQuestor's submissions, Murrin has volunteered for the submission team and a very busy Dragonlilly will still give it the old college try regarding the editing. Out side of that I don't have any other information. If any of you are reading this and intend to participate please respond here or PM me.
Thanks.
Tom

[Avatar]

I'll submit a poem or two if its going ahead.

--A

[Xar]

Due to the suprising lack of feedback we've recieved about the third Anthology I'm concerened that the series might end with the second. I will give it more time but if interest doesn't increase rapidly we'll have to announce a shut down sometime before the deadline.
As it stands I do have a very short story in the works, we have iQuestor's submissions, Murrin has volunteered for the submission team and a very busy Dragonlilly will still give it the old college try regarding the editing. Out side of that I don't have any other information. If any of you are reading this and intend to participate please respond here or PM me.
Thanks.
Tom

I don't think I'll be able to finish the next story before the deadline - I've stumbled into a difficult story to tell - but if I have time, I might send in an older story of mine.

[Loredoctor]

Due to the suprising lack of feedback we've recieved about the third Anthology I'm concerened that the series might end with the second. I will give it more time but if interest doesn't increase rapidly we'll have to announce a shut down sometime before the deadline.
As it stands I do have a very short story in the works, we have iQuestor's submissions, Murrin has volunteered for the submission team and a very busy Dragonlilly will still give it the old college try regarding the editing. Out side of that I don't have any other information. If any of you are reading this and intend to participate please respond here or PM me.
Thanks.
Tom

I won't be submitting, as I don't have much confidence for writing. But more importantly, the release of the second anthology felt like a non-event. That might sound harsh, but what I mean is that virtually no one commented about the stories. I tried to start up discussions, but I never had any feedback about my, or others', story (as far as I can recall).

[CovenantJr]

I won't be submitting to the anthology because three is too many, to my mind.

To be blunt:

One = nice forum project

Two = fine, since so many new members had joined by the time the first was eventually finished

Three or more = vanity and self-indulgence

[aTOMiC]

Well I'm a bit suprised by what seems to be happening to this project. I have to confess that my enthusiasm, and ego, took a hit when my story was rejected for Anthology II however I wasn't aware of any drop in excitement for the idea until we began to get Anthology III started. Now it seems I'm struggling to catch up with current events and apparently the idea has soured a bit. One thing that I've always hoped would happen with these Anthologies would be for members who hadn't previously contributed to well...contribute. There have been many comments made by a number of watchers that suggest that they would have liked to submit a story but weren't quite ready. An Anthology III would give those watchers another chance (Prorider514 - my daugther among them.)
As I stated before I'll give this a bit more time before pulling the plug officially. Once again, if you are reading this and were hoping to submit a story or poem please let me know one way or another.

[Dragonlily]

I agree with keeping it alive, Tom. Another possibility would be to wait until we have enough selections to make a book. I don't think the "sourness" is representative.

[aTOMiC]

I suppose putting off Anthology III until next year wouldn't do any harm, if that is what circumstances dictate. I bend to the will of the people.

[aliantha]

I was planning to submit a story (my lack of progress on same so far notwithstanding ).

I disagree that a third anthology equals "vanity and self-indulgence". If we published everything that was sent in, then yes, I would agree -- but we do have a committee vetting the submissions and a professional editor. Besides, there are so few places anymore where new sf/f writers can get a start at getting published that I think, in a way, the Watch is providing a public service.

Maybe we gave ourselves too *much* lead time this year? A shorter deadline gives us creative types less time to procrastinate (see my parenthetical above). I know that for this anthology, I kind of went, "Okay, I've got months and months to write this thing..." and then sort of forgot about it until Elohimfest was coming up, when it occurred to me that I'd better check the submission deadline and get cracking. But that's just me....

Before we decide to deep-six the project, let's see how many submissions we get this year.

[aTOMiC]

I was planning to submit a story (my lack of progress on same so far notwithstanding ).

Before we decide to deep-six the project, let's see how many submissions we get this year.

I agree aliantha. What you suggest is exactly what I would like to do.
Personally I have no intention of slowing the progress on my own submission. Hopefully things will become better defined soon and we can act accordingly. We have one submission team member but I'm hopefull other will step up soon.

[I'm Murrin]

Besides, there are so few places anymore where new sf/f writers can get a start at getting published that I think, in a way, the Watch is providing a public service.

To be honest, I don't think the KW anthologies can really serve that purpose. They might be counted as practice, somewhat, but it is still essentially a vanity publication; it's written by, selected by, and sold to members of a small, exclusive group, and so in terms of publishing credentials is not really of much use.


To be honest, I'm not sure they serve much purpose, which is, I expect, what has prompted CovJr's response to the third anthology. I volunteered because I wanted to have a go at the slush-reading experience, and am not particularly concerned about the product. I have no objection to the anthology going ahead, but there are probably more productive things writers here could do with their work.

[aliantha]

Well, I agree that the anthology is essentially a vanity publication. But again, the submissions are vetted (anonymously, right?) and edited. So it's still a cut above, say, sending your own 10 stories to Lulu and paying them to print your anthology -- which is what I tend to think of when I hear the term "vanity publishing".

I wonder if there's a way to get our anthology known to a larger audience? Dunno if there's even any interest in it....

[aTOMiC]

Some discussion occurred early in the going with the first Anthology about doing some promoting, purchasing an ISBN and so on. It was agreed that asking for money to do such things was impractical. Given the professional manner in which we have created the Anthologies, it is possible that they might merit a wider audience if said audience were to be informed of their existence. Some of the stories contained therein are certainly of a professional caliber and with dragonlilly's editing the books in general are on par with much that is available for sale to the public at large.

[CovenantJr]

It just seems to me that with each anthology, the whole thing becomes more self-congratulatory; it enables people to feel vaguely like they're approximately being published without any of the risk, effort or commitment required to actually attempt professional publication. I say again: once was fun and interesting; twice was acceptable due to the huge growth of the membership in the eternity it took to get the first one done; thrice is self-indulgent and slightly smug, not to mention completely pointless from a practical point of view. Regardless of the quality of the content, the anthologies are notmarketable to anyone other than us. The suggestion that anyone outside Kevin's Watch would read it is a glaring example of the self-congratulation I mentioned. The anthology does nothing more than stroke the egos of those involved, and while some ego stroking can be fun, continuing to indulge in it is simply vanity. It's similar to, say, the Star Wars prequels: a fun adventure that is being stretched and sustained until it's no longer fun or adventurous but merely an exercise in creative vanity.

If this is acceptable, or people disagree with me, fine; it makes no difference to me either way. But message boards exist for the expression of opinion, and this is mine.

[kevinswatch]

I donno, I don't see what what the big deal is. Personally, I view the Anthology as something that's simply made for fun. And allow people to read some of the writings of the people here in a book-format. It's just kinda cool, that's all.

Maybe doing it once a year is just pushing it too much. I'm sure it's one of those things were interest will rise and fall depending on people's moods.

I say waiting to see how many you get at the deadline, and then extended it a year if too few people are interested, is a good plan to take.-jay

[Dragonlily]

To be honest, I don't think the KW anthologies can really serve that purpose. They might be counted as practice, somewhat, but it is still essentially a vanity publication; it's written by, selected by, and sold to members of a small, exclusive group, and so in terms of publishing credentials is not really of much use.

To be honest, I'm not sure they serve much purpose, which is, I expect, what has prompted CovJr's response to the third anthology. I volunteered because I wanted to have a go at the slush-reading experience, and am not particularly concerned about the product. I have no objection to the anthology going ahead, but there are probably more productive things writers here could do with their work.

If it has been enjoyable, or rewarding, or a valuable learning experience for anyone involved, it is a good thing. Since I qualify for all three, I vouch for its purpose. I know I'm not alone in that.