Anthologies of short stories – the finances

You’ve probably read a lot about the young adult novel on this blog. My other love is the short story anthology. They’re reasonably quick to edit. Usually we’ve found the ones with a strong structure so the first edit is minimal. It’s just a matter of getting the writing right.

I also love reading and writing short stories and have several published myself. But it doesn’t make me rich.

Even big names earn little 

I’m published alongside Richard Adams, Anthony Browne, Alan Gibbons, Virginia McKenna, Michael Morpurgo and Lauren St John. Yet I couldn’t live on my earnings from my short stories. I also note an anthology full of big names has rarely been taken out of our local library. I do get royalties every year but earn far more from my novels and teaching resources. Also, I get a good ALCS payment for my academic work and good PLR on some of my educational resources. Yet the short stories bring in very little.  

Some strategies

There are a couple of things you can do to increase your returns.

1. Get more stories published. Obvious really? Perhaps target certain publishers with certain types of stories. For instance, I sell all of my near future ones to one publisher, human interested to another and ones that resemble this you have in women’s’ magazines to a third.
2. Purchase author copies from your publisher. They’ll often offer a huge discount.  Then sell them on at full price. Offer to do readings with a friend. Find a venue that will hire you a free space as you’re creating footfall.  

Short stories are fun and deserve to be out there. And you deserve to earn a little more from them.          

The Shelagh Delaney Collection

In commemoration of the annual Shelagh Delaney Day, 25 November, we are putting together a collection of short stories. The winning story will be read out loud by a professional actor. The best twenty will appear in an anthology.

There is no charge for entry to the competition.

Eligibility

You must have a connection with Salford.

This can be:

·         You have lived, worked or studied in Salford.

·         You currently live, work or study in Salford.  

·         You were born in Salford.

·         You participate or have participated in leisure activities in Salford.  

·         You know Salford well enough to set your story there.   

Theme

Shelagh Delaney was a great observer of ordinary people. So, we want stories of everyday people, the sort of people who perhaps live in Salford. You can set your story elsewhere as long as you meet one of the other eligibility criteria. You may interpret the theme of “ordinary” in any way you like.

What we’re looking for

Strong character-driven stories that show acute observation of human life similar to that found in Delaney’s works.

Stories should be between 1,000 and 3,000 words.

How to enter

Your manuscript should be double spaced, in a 12 point common font, with paragraphs indented. Please use single quotes for speech and italics for thought.

Nowhere on the manuscript should you have contact details.

Please email your work as a Word attachment to editor@bridgehousepublishing.co.uk. In the subject of the email please include Shelagh Delaney + The title of your story e.g.  Shelagh Delaney Shopping in the City. In the body of the email please include full contact details and a 50 - 100 word bio that also confirms your eligibility for the competition.

Deadlines

Last entry: 7 October 2015

Longlist (20 stories for anthology): 22 October 2015

Shortlist (the six best: 2 November  2015

Winner:  9 November 2015

Staff and students at the University of Salford will be involved in judging the stories. Those involved in judging are not eligible to enter the contest.                    

  

  

Team work – editors and authors

The editing process can sometimes be quite demanding for both editor and writer. The author has made the text as good as they can – perhaps having edited it several times already, and she may have also used a critique group and beta readers. Now we’re asking her to make even more changes.

The editor usually sees things the author has not noticed. Even so, there is still the possibility that she may be stuck in a rut or cramped by a house style that has become formulaic.

A new anthology.

So, now we have made all of our selections for the new Bridge House anthology, Snowflakes. Next comes the editing. This is usually quite an enjoyable process. We rarely have to do anything in the first stage of editing as we've chosen the texts because we like them. We're usually  more into copy editing, checking for house style and making sure that expression is clear  and logical.  

In the final edit we tend to  use 'track changes.' I generally tell people to switch it off and just switch it back on when the text seems clunky.

One of the main things we need to do then is a proof read. We normally do this after we've made the text 'camera ready'. The four pairs of eyes look at it: the writer, both editors and our designer. We're looking for odd formatting, the typos we didn't spot before and any strange page throws.

At this stage we sometimes update bios - maybe someone has had a major success elsewhere since they wrote the story for us.

Designing the book and its cover is something quite technical and a little time-consuming and tedious.  It's incredibly important that this is done well. We usually do, I'm glad to say.

Cover design is fun and technical at the same time. Choosing the stock image is creative but some technical know-how has to be applied as well.

We have mixed feelings when we release the book. It's good to get it out here.  But is there something we've overlooked? How well will it be received? Will we get kind reviews? Will even all of the contributors like what we've done? In our business,  we just have to accept that we can't please everyone all of the time. 

Nevertheless, creating a book remains rewarding.  

Organising competitions

Is it fair?

I’ve done one or two with both Bridge House and The RedTelephone, and as a writer I’ve judged for other competitions. As a writer also I’ve entered them.

I have mixed feelings about them, though. They are hard work to organise. Whatever you charge it never seems to cover the costs and certainly never pays the first round of judges for their time. On top of that I feel a little mean; you’re taking money from people and not really offering anything in return. So, why charge at all?      

One publisher I know actually charges enough for competition entries to cover the cost of a book including shipping. This guarantees a few sales of the book with enough profit to cover set up costs. My head tells me this is a good thing to do. My heart tells me this is cheating a little.

Nevertheless, I’m tempted … And morally it might be all right after all: the writer gets a good book by a publisher they obviously respect.

An exciting new development for new writers for young adults

We’re looking for three volunteers to take part in a scheme that may help you to get your young adult novel published. It is aimed at writers who only have a little experience or who are new to the genre.  

Working through a self-help books

You will be asked to work your way through a “how to” book on writing for young adults. You are asked to complete the exercises at the end of each chapter and send them to us for feedback. We’ll then give you feedback on your work.

We need your feedback too

We’ll ask you to give us feedback on the materials and the process. We’ll ask you to help us work out what would be a fair price to charge for this course in the future.

Some tough decisions

It’s interesting being both a writer and a publisher. I see both sides of the story. Occasionally we have to do things that might seem unfriendly towards the writer but actually we are working on the same side. 

Returns

We offer our books sale or return to book shops. We keep our fingers crossed that they don’t return them. They’re usually not fit to be sold afterwards and even if they are, the mechanics of warehousing can be complex. Many publishers will charge back the cost of returns against the writer’s royalties. So, it’s in our mutual interest to avoid this. Perhaps we don’t need to be so keen to see our books get into bookshops except where we know we shall definitely sell.