Here's the idea, a trade paperback of around 300-320 pages featuring some of the best stuff that has appeared on BigCloset over the last eleven years and perhaps some new stuff, too. The book would be 6x9 inches, more or less, and retail for $15. That's around 100,000 words, btw. The book would be available to be ordered here on BC, through Amazon and possibly through other channels. There might be an electronic edition which would probably be sold for $10. And we might put the electronic edition into the Hatbox for contributors.
This "stuff" would be chosen and prepared by a group of BC editors under my supervision. Authors would be invited to submit "stuff" and some stories might even be requested by the editors. I'm thinking "Shoes" by Heather Rose Brown as perhaps the lead story.
This first volume would be an omnibus with no particular theme except all the stories would have some transgender element and taken as a group would represent the spectrum of TG fiction.
Later volumes might have overall themes. Mature themes are encouraged in volume one but not so much on the explicit sex.
Later volumes? Yes, I'm seeing this as an at least annual project, maybe twice annual.
These would be short stories, mostly. Around 3000-6000 words with a few longer ones. At least 12 stories in the book and not more than 25 or so. Contributors will be offered a nominal publishing fee but will have to purchase their own copies, perhaps at a discount. We will have contracts to protect copyrights and other author rights.
Proceeds from the sale of the books will go to supporting BigCloset and perhaps a share for my own expenses.
I'll be in the BC chatroom tonight starting at 6 p.m. Pacific with a scheduled meeting for volunteer editors starting at 7 p.m. Pacific.
Hugs to all,
Erin
Comments
Chatroom
No idea where that is but let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
EDIT: just found the room, yay!
What would that be
in Central time, then? Around eight when you'll drop in, I believe?
Melanie E.
Yes,
That would be around eight central time.
Maggie
Would it even be feasible,
Would it even be feasible, since this is all digital, to have a means of letting purchasers select stories to appear in a personalized book featuring their own interests? I am not at all sure how it could work, perhaps by requiring a number of stories to be selected with page lengths to meet the average size story that would give you the numbers of pages? And a subroutine for auto-formatting? I dunno, maybe I am not really understanding the plan you have here. I just know that there are some stories I wouldn't care to have on my bookshelves even as a small part of an anthology, and others that would grace the shelves.
Just asking.
CaroL
CaroL
Simple answer, no
Such a personalized book would require nearly as much effort and expense for each version as the overall project. The book publishers/printers do not make such things available.
Even programming such a thing would likely end up with each book costing about 5x-20x as much as a standard book. Sorry.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Connect from Android smart-phone?
Is it possible to connect from an Android smart-phone? Don't have any desktop acces right now.
The Rev. Anam Chara+
Anam Chara
Only if...
Only if you have an IRC client for your Android.
Anne
I am so excited!
I am so happy this is actually going to happen. Now, if i can only decide if any of my pieces would be worthy of consideration....
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
I think this would be an
I think this would be an exceedingly good idea. I know I would contribute to it, and if I had the money available, I'd buy a copy.
I think "Shoes" would be perfect.
----
May the Stars Light Your Path
Maid Joy
http://i-know-i-know-but.net/
don't sign anything....
Bleedin' 'eck. Contracts? Hell, I write here and these days nowhere else, for the release and pleasure of it. An agent would starve even assuming I knew one or thought I needed... hell a scornful sneer would be almost expected. So if any little thing of mine is felt worth considering feel free. If such a collection would give pleasure and more importantly helped the site, great. Least I could do, can do, might do... Ummm hypotheticals, go for it.
Kristina
Always willing
I am always willing to help the cause and if any of my stories are considered by the editors to be good enough for inclusion then I would be happy to agree to it.
Hugs
Sue
Being a newbie ....
... it would be impossible for me to begin to make suggestions. Is there amy other way I can help?
And because of the mention of 'Shoes' I just had to go read it - thank you SO much for the recommendation.
"The Cost of Living Does Not Appear To Have Affected Its Popularity"
in most, but not all, instances
Not Sure
I'm not sure what your editorial bent is. I agree that Shoes reflects much of what we try to say in our writing . . . an explanation of our existence.
It also is the kind of story that I would like the non-tg readers to see and appreciate.
When I first started writing TG fiction, I can recall you (Erin) telling me that the TG writer has the advantage of writing for an audience who willingly suspend their disbelief. If might be that if the editors of this venture shoot for stories that stand as good stories without the TG element and don't require a massive suspension of disbelief, they will appeal to a mainstream crowd.
If you're looking for short, punchy stories I submit my Tis A Gift. It examines what it means to be transgendered from a totally different perspective. Another story of mine that could fit into such an anthology would be An Affair of the Harte. It questions the nature of those who let meaningless issues dominate their opinions.
As always, Erin, you can use any of my stories as you see fit without paying any fees to me other than the ongoing existence of BC.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
In the unlikely event of ...
... any stories of mine being suitable, you have my permission to use them as you will. Yellow the Leaves of the Rowan has the inestimable value of being short. By my standards anyway :)
Hugs,
BC-1 meeting
We had a very productive meeting last night in the chatroom. Just some highlights:
1. BigCloset Volume 1 will be about 320 pages, 8x10 trade paperback, around 150,000 words and will be priced at $15. That's a little different than mentioned above. The larger size allows more content without increasing the price. An electronic version may be made available also for about $10.
2. There will be forms here on BC to submit your suggestions for content. Other forms will exist for authors to submit stories, already posted or brand new just for the book, there will be a form for signups to help with editing, artwork, proofing, etc. Other forms for authors to give permission for their works will be up, too. Those forms should be up by next week.
3. Publication date is set for June 15th, with fallback date of July 31. If we make the June 15th date, we're going to try for a volume 2 in December.
4. For BC-1, we plan on one story in the 20,000-40,000 word range, a novella; 2-5 stories in the 10,000-20,000 range, novelettes; and the remainder of the book to be 6-10 each of 5000-10000 word stories and stories 500-5000 words, short stories. Flash fiction (500 words or less), drabbles, and poetry will be accepted to be used as filler between stories and when we need to fill out an otherwise nearly empty 8x10 page. No blogs, articles or images in this first volume.
5. The back of the book will be occupied with author bios from authors who care to submit them. Possibly also bibliographies of BC submissions by the authors who appear.
6. The cover will be adapted from a cartoon I drew, The Infinite Closet. I'll get someone who can do a good job of turning this into cover art.
7. We're going to ask authors for renewable non-exclusive English language print and electronic rights for five years, so we can keep the book in print for at least that long. Authors will be offered $10 each for these rights for stories, $5 each for flash, drabbles and poety. I'm paying expenses up front but I expect this to be a good seller. Setting up the book will also cost about $50-100 at the printer and about that amount to get the cover done.
8. Next scheduled chatroom meeting is for Wednesday, 23 Feb, 6 pm Pacific. I'm thinking also of having a meeting on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Pacific which will be more convenient for people in UK/EU/Africa. Not sure when to schedule for AU/NZ/Asia. Midnight?
I may add more to this as I think of it and go over the notes sent to me by Melanie and other members.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Use anything of mine -
No charge. This assumes that you'd want to!
I agree with 'SHOES'; I've said it should be required reading for those entering any profession involving TG.
What about stories in a Universe? How might you handle that? Thinking particularly of 'The Center' at the moment.
S.
In the extremely unlikely event...
...of anyone voting for any of the handful of tales I've scrawled (even if it's a drabble to fill a bit of blank space), feel free.
The book's a great idea, and no doubt there'll be some stories there I've already read, and some I haven't (it would be almost impossible to read everything on the site unless you speed read everything and didn't sleep). Hopefully something from one of the UK crowd will make it in :)
Of course, as a recent blog post proves, it would be impossible to include in the book my favourite tale on this site... as it would currently occupy most of a bookcase on its own... besides which, it may be double that size by the time it's finished :D
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
International issues
Yes, I understand you can get up all hours of the day and night to chat with authors from around the world, but a more important question is:
What kind of issues are we likely to get with respect to sending this (these?) tomes to other countries? I'm assuming that you're going to physically publish in the US, no problems with that. But, I want a copy, and I live in the UK. We're all over the place, actually. Different copyright rules, different publishing rules, different laws, heck, even different laws on what might constitute obscenity or porn or... you can see where I'm going with that one.
I don't want to see a situation where someone buys a copy and then it gets confiscated by somebody's customs "for their own moral benefit". Or worse, they get charged for importing 'obscene' materials.
Penny
CreateSpace
CreateSpace is an Amazon company and they do the printing and shipping. It costs a bit more than $15 US in the UK, partly because of taxes, and I'm not sure about AU and other places but it is doable.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Big Closet Book
Sorry, but all of the stories I posted were meant to be free; if you go with this book idea, do not include any of my stories.