Lessons from Our First Anthology
Embarking on the journey of creating our first anthology was an exciting and daunting adventure. As a creator, I’ve always found joy in storytelling, but curating an anthology taught me lessons I never anticipated. It wasn’t just about compiling stories-it was about telling a whole story with short stories. It was the hardest thing I ever done in my writing career so far.
Here are some key takeaways from the experience:
It’s Not as Easy as It Looks
From the outside, creating an anthology might seem as simple as collecting a few stories, editing them, and publishing the final product. However, the reality is far more complex. Each step—from conceptualizing the theme to managing submissions, editing, formatting, and marketing—required meticulous attention to detail. (Have I ever mentioned that I hate marketing)
I learned to wear many hats, shifting between being a project manager, editor, and marketer. Can you imagine doing this alone? Thank goodness I have a partner that is also learning the process with me. Does that mean that half the work was his, yes and a no. If you don’t know me Hi, my name is Tiffany, and I am a control freak. So, while yes he was with me every step of the process I have an issue with letting go and letting it be.
Project manager-yes we agreed with everything that should be in the anthology. We each read each story, and we talked about what we liked, didn’t like, what order we thought each story should be. So that taunting task of making choices was not mine alone.
Editing-We have an editor so even though we beta read each story we did not have to edit. Thank goodness because if you ever read my books you know I am not a great editor-I just rereleased my first book with a professional edit. You should go check it out on amazon here.
Formatting- I do formatting as a living, so I format all the books. It is a fun process, but it does take time to get them right.
Marketing- See I do the social media for Outsider Publishing Company. I hate it. I am not great with social media, but it is something that needs to be done and I am learning a great deal about it. I am also good talking with people, so I do better marketing in person.
And there is so much more that goes in to it, but these are the top ones that came to mind.
The Rise of AI Writers
One of the most surprising discoveries during the submission process was the sheer number of AI-generated stories. While technology has certainly revolutionized creative fields, I was taken aback by how many submissions lacked the authenticity and emotional depth that only human experience can provide.
Yes I know there is a hole debate of is AI good, can AI edit something for someone, When can a creative use AI. I can say if it sounds and reader like AI. I don’t want it.
Building a Family
I didn’t think that I would build a family out of doing our first anthology. I mean when it came around to getting submission to the next one, a lot of the same people were submitting. We may have gotten the first person we are signing from it as well. (check back to see if this happened). But we have built a small community now and I am loving it.
Crowd funding
There is so much I can say about this but I will be doing a YouTube video on this subject, so I won’t go to much in to this. Al I will say here is please don’t short yourself here. Check out our YouTube channel and you can see more on it.
Be flexible
Not everything is going to stay on the timeline that you made. People take longer to get back to you. There is a death in someone family, the writer ghost you and you have to find a new story on the fly. There are so many things that can go wrong when you are working with 15 different people, an editor and a partner. Just make sure that you give yourself a little wiggle room.
Final Thoughts
So, as I said in here we have our 2nd anthology coming out in March. So, I guess it was not as rough as I made it sound like. Afterall I am putting myself through it again. But there is something so exciting when I see people enjoying other people work. Knowing that they would have not been able to read it without the hard work Outsider Publishing put into it. That makes the long nights, early morning working schedule worth it.
