Poets United is looking into and considering producing an anthology. We are hoping the members of this community can lend any knowledge they have in regards to doing this.
This possible foray into publishing is not meant for profit. It is meant to be a way to showcase our members and give us something a little more tangible or permanent.
If Poets United receives enough feedback, support and confidence to go through with this, we want the anthology to be as affordable as possible, free would be wonderful but we know that is a long shot. There is no intent for profit nor is there even a true need to break even. We do not wish to be a business. We are a creative outlet only pursuing a chance at sharing our work with others.
We do not want to fall into an overpriced Vanity Press trap so this concept will be thoroughly investigated prior to actual production of any sort. Worst case scenario we can look into producing a quarterly or biannual online anthology of sorts.
Robert Lloyd is currently looking at possibilities of hard print, e-books and a few other outlets. He is by no means skilled at this and is learning as he goes. Any assistance, knowledge or experience in this pursuit you can provide will be received with tons of gratitude.
If any one wishes to volunteer to sit on an exploratory panel where standards can be set for a possible Poets United anthology please let us know by emailing us at poetsunited@ymail.com.
You do not need to be a professional of any sort. Poets and writers come from all walks of life and this will be a community effort.
*Please note this is merely a topic for discussion and possibility nothing has been established or decided on currently.
This sounds very exciting. I have no experience to share, but just wanted you to know your efforts and dedication are appreciated.
ReplyDeleteRobert,
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of an Anthology is wonderful. I fully support the idea and wish you well with your endeavours to realize this.
Eileen
This is a brilliant idea Robb, putting everyones amazing poetry together. I haven't got any advice on publishing but i wish you luck on finding it.
ReplyDeleteI support the idea - a collection of fine poetry from the members of this blog would give much needed credibility to the hard-working writers who continually contribute without much hope of formal publication. Thanks for engendering the idea.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great idea, Robert. I know of a few writers who have self published using Lulu.com, myself included. I also know others who have used Lulu to publish anthologies, thereby offsetting printing costs and retaining rights to their work by creating a publishing entity. I'm not sure about all the details but the possibilities are endless.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a wonderful idea Robert. I worked on an editorial board for my college arts journal at the beginning of this year. Though the process was a bit different than the norm, since the college regulated much of it (costs,trying to keep it free for the students etc.). Like Paul says, possibilities are endless. =)
ReplyDelete-Weasel
I agree the choices are endless. It may take me a while to research a bit. Paul you have me curious as to how others have published Anthologies on Lulu. Could you email me a little more detail? It seems e-books are real easy to do but if I can manage something in paper form then I can do an e-book or even site as a secondary source of the same material. In the end the goal is a voice for this community outside of our blogs. I am working on a few basic standards. I don't want them to be hugely limiting but at the same we can't print everything (Although I would love to).
ReplyDeleteRobert, I agree with Paul's recommendations regarding Lulu and have sent you an email with some details and reasons why I think it would work well.
ReplyDeleteI am all for it also, great idea let me know if you need any help...bkm
ReplyDeleteI think it' a great idea but your going to have to narrow the field based on categories or styles of poems or your going to be overwhelmed. I'll contribute, or review, or edit just plain advocate for some of the poets I like on blogs currently.
ReplyDeleteJust one point-of-view here in thoughts about publishing:
ReplyDelete"As a matter of production costs vs. revenues, [ ...] publishers will sooner or later begin making decisions based on ebooks. Paper books will become a secondary consideration [...]" (from TeleRead)
One thing that follows from this: Make sure primarily that the book (including poetry) looks good in ereaders.