Furry Writers' Guild Forum

So you want General Audiences Anthology? Then Make It Happen

Publishing and Marketing
#1

I posted about Rabbit Valley opening some adult anthologies, and a person on Twitter remarked that they hoped they would open some general audience anthologies.

Here’s the thing. The Publishers don’t decide to open an anthology on topic X and then look for an editor. It’s the reverse - someone comes to the publishers and says “I want to make a book on X.” The Publisher says “I like the sound of it, and I think it could sell. Let’s do it.”

And it’s happened several times now - Punk’d, Pulp, Urban Knights and Abandoned Places. All four opened itn eh last two years, all have specific themes and all are General Audiences anthologies the editors wanted.

This happened with all three anthologies I have (and am) in the process of editing. I wanted to see X, I pitched it, and they said yes.

The only reason there are an abundance of adult anthologies is because that’s what the editors who pitched them wanted to do. So if there’s a desire for more General rated anthologies, then someone has to step up and take charge. Waiting around isn’t going to get it accomplished. I say that if you want it bad enough, you should step up and take the plunge yourself, like I am. You do have the power to make it happen.

Caveat: The theme has to be strong enough to A) appeal to the publisher and B) appeal to an audience. A bland theme is not going to fly far.

#2

As the editor for Abandoned Places, I can agree with Rechan on that. AP came about through a Twitter post I did that got a lot of attention. I approached FurPlanet about it and Fuzz took great interest.

That said, if you are going to put together an anthology, know that it is a LOT of work, and can be a huge cost to you. AP for example, is costing me a fair chunk of change and has taken me significantly longer to put together than I had originally planned.

Will I do it again?
Probably not.
Though you never know, because it had some very bright points.

#3

Reminds me of the way it used to be when I went to AC (don’t know if they still do this). After closing ceremonies, they invited people to step up to the mike and make suggestions for what they wanted to see changed next year. But if you suggested you wanted something, nine times out of ten they’d tell you to give so-and-so your badge number, because you’d just volunteered yourself for it. :slight_smile:

As I also pointed out in that Twitter exchange, writing and editing are two different skill sets. Frankly, I’m not that interested in being an editor these days, and I’m not even sure I have the skills to do it successfully. So I guess I can’t complain, then. shrug

I do get a little frustrated, though, that as furry writers we’re expected to pretty much do everything in the entire publishing chain – write, buy, read, review, edit. No simple solution to it, of course; it’s just frustrating sometimes to feel like anytime you say “I wish there were,” you run the risk of getting a guilt trip because you aren’t doing it yourself or doing enough yourself. (And I know I’ve probably given my share of those guilt trips, too. Especially where reviews are concerned.)

For the record, though, my tweet was just intended as a casual remark that I’m hoping Rabbit Valley will have some general-audience anthologies open this year, in addition to the adult ones that have just opened (or half-adult, in the case of the second Trick or Treat). I assume furry publishers are limited in how many titles they can afford to put out in a given year, and since I’m not writing much in the way of adult work these days, then as a writer I’d selfishly enjoy seeing calls for submission that I can possibly submit things to. That’s really all I meant. It probably came out as more of a complaining tone than I meant it to (and this post might, also); I’ve been under a lot of personal stress lately, so in hindsight maybe this isn’t a good time for me to be talking to people on the Internet. :-[

#4

I suspect that other fandoms and niche markets are just the same. And furthermore, that Mainstream writing is getting very similar. Authors are now expected to be their promoter. Hell, publishing houses do not expect their editors to EDIT - if the Editors EDIT, that’s extra, it’s not part of their job description anymore. And if you want to self-publish, well you have to do it all. The days where a writer can just write and someone else takes care of the rest is over.

For the record, though, my tweet was just intended as a casual remark that I'm hoping Rabbit Valley will have some general-audience anthologies open this year, in addition to the adult ones that have just opened (or half-adult, in the case of the second [i]Trick or Treat[/i]). I assume furry publishers are limited in how many titles they can afford to put out in a given year, and since I'm not writing much in the way of adult work these days, then as a writer I'd selfishly enjoy seeing calls for submission that I can possibly submit things to. That's really all I meant. It probably came out as more of a complaining tone than I meant it to (and this post might, also); I've been under a lot of personal stress lately, so in hindsight maybe this isn't a good time for me to be talking to people on the Internet. :-[
I understand. I made the above thread because I want to point out there's a solution to the problem that doesn't involve sitting and waiting and continuing to be frustrated.

I would like to have more places to write and submit stories, but my anthology-editing plate is full right now.

#5

I’m hardly expecting those days to come back (if they ever existed 100% in the first place). That’s a bit of a broad generalization from my point, though, which I suppose is that, yeah, this is just something else to be filed under Why It Can Suck to Be a Furry Writer. In, say, traditional mainstream sf/f, you have far more editors and reviewers and critics (and far more readers) who are not also writers – and so writers aren’t always expected to be the main ones to step up to make projects happen from start to finish.

because I want to point out there's a solution to the problem that doesn't involve sitting and waiting and continuing to be frustrated.

True. And I’m only pointing out that the solution isn’t necessarily viable or practical for everyone, because it does involve a lot of time and effort and skill. It’s not like volunteering a couple hours at a con somewhere, or writing a three-sentence review of a book on Amazon. Just because I say “gee, I wish somebody would make a product that does x,” I’m not going to be in a position to go get an engineering degree and design something and file for a patent and actually make the thing. :slight_smile: It’s great that some people can do that – and, to get out of analogy and back to reality, certainly I appreciate the hard work that editors do in the fandom while still juggling their own writing projects as well. But sometimes maybe there’s worth just in letting other people (who do have the time and effort and skill) know that there’s a demand for something, and things can potentially happen that way as well.

#6

If I didn’t already have the guild anthology project (which I’d like to plug, is general audience) I’d be happy to help with the editing of something general audience. While I’m not totally against erotica, I don’t really enjoy reading it. It’s kept me from buying several upon several furry published works; I want to read something for a good story, not for a good sex scene.

Maybe in April or so when I hope to be done with the first installment of the guild anthology then I can look to helping with a project here.

#7

Not everyone. But it has to be viable for someone.

#8

The fact that furry literature already is a niche market doesn’t help considering we’re talking about niche’s within that niche market.

I know I’ve said many times I’d like to see more non-erotic in the fandom. Nothing against erotica, just want more variety. We have so many erotica anthologies also because it sells in this fandom.

#9

I think there’s a market for it, quite honestly. I’d love to have furry lit written by a wide variety of the authors in this fandom that I could sit in my bookshelf. Without, uh, worrying about guests picking it up and reading it (in fact, I’d be doing the opposite; I’d hope it would interest guests who would then read it).

#10

Friday, if you don’t already have them, I’d recommend the Different Worlds, Different Skins anthologies from Anthro Dreams, that are roughly G-PG:

http://www.anthrodreams.com/wordpress/2009/12/20/different-worlds-different-skins/
http://www.anthrodreams.com/wordpress/2010/11/23/different-worlds-different-skins-volume-2/

All the ROAR anthologies are also general audience, and then of course there’s Five Fortunes, which I think they have listed as R.

I think all those could pass the coffee-table test. :slight_smile:

#11

Yeah…my father read my Will of the Alpha story. o.0;;

#12

Thanks! I’ll take a look! :smiley:

#13

Funny you mention this. Even though I do enjoy the occasional erotic prose, I think the furry fandom needs more non-erotic fiction. A few of them do exist, Roar, being one of them. I would like to see more of these publication out their. I had mention this idea to Fur Planet and they stated exactly the same thing that was mentioned in previous post. About collecting a bunch of Anthropomorphic fiction and organizing them into an anthology and publishing them, preferably through Fur Planet. While that’s appealing, I’m a little apprehensive. Considering I’m not good at Editing at all and from the sounds of it, it requires some monetary investment. Which is something I can’t really afford to do. Anyway I mention it now because if anyone is interested, I wouldn’t mind helping out, any way I can and just to show general support for the idea in general.

Warnndog.

#14

I don’t know why FurPlanet originally listed “Five Fortunes” as R-rated. It’s G-rated now. There is nothing in it stronger than in the s-f anthologies that were in my junior high school library back in the 1950s.

#15

Responded to this via PM.

#16

FuzzWolf, thanks for your reply. I just wanted to let everyone know that the regrading of “Five Fortunes” from R to G has not changed any of the stories any. The five novellas always were only G-rated.

I would say that I don’t edit R-rated anthologies, but “The Ursa Major Awards Anthology” clearly is. But in that case, I was obligated to include all the stories that won the award. (Not that Kyell Gold’s stories are not very good.)

#17

I suppose I should throw my own two cents in this since I am a writer of GA.

I would say that I think more GA Anthologies would be good since that is my writing preference. Of course I think Erotica has it’s place and I think it’s quite swell but at the same time it’s not what I personally like to read or write.

Now on the subject of actually creating a GA Anthology myself. I would love to do so if I were in a position where I could. As it stands I haven’t gotten any work even published in a GA Anthology. I would say that once I can affirm that I can keep the commitment, I would be all for creating a GA Anthology. Until then I’m sticking to writing since it’s what I do best and it’s what I know.

#18

On he one hand, I’d love to have another furry anthology to contribute to-- I’ve still got a couple-three unsold stories to get rid of, after all, and someday I might get back into writing shorts again. On the other, I’d not encourage an editor or publishing house to take the project on because such anthologies are rarely if ever profitable enough to be worth the creator’s time. In fact, they generally sell heartbreakingly poorly from what I know. The only possible exception I know of to this was Fred’s very first furry anthology, which was also if I’m correct the very first in the fandom. I would submit that it sold well a) because he had such a rich background of unpublished stories to choose from and b) because there was in essence no competition. If you wanted to own a furry book by largely fandom authors, that was it. There essentially were no others.

What a shame that it’s not still in print, though I’ve heard there’s excellent reasons why it’s not.

#19

A new General Audiences anthology would be nice, though that’s more personal tastes on my end. I wouldn’t mind opening up a Non-Adult anthology on the press, however we’ve never had a budget to be a part of the paying markets. Press anthologies have always offered contributor copies due to our starting from the ground up. That probably would shy away at least a few writers, I suppose. I do hope to pick up a couple of the anthologies listed here though. I do need a couple more books to add to the reading list!

#20

For what it’s worth, I’ll be working on an anthology next year that will have a ceiling rating of pg-13. If all goes well, I’ll either do a sequel or another basic GA antho. As much as I enjoy works such as OOP, I find it can be fun reading through GA shorts :3