So you want to make an Anthology… An Overview

Short story anthologies are great. They’re a great way to be introduced to the writing style of several authors at once, to read multiple stories around a similar theme, and to be able to enjoy an entire story in a single sitting.

Putting together an anthology can be a lot of fun too. The anticipation of waiting for authors to submit stories, curating the best possible stories to include into the completed work, and coming up with fantastical themes for your project is all a lot of fun and a create outlet for your creativity.

But there are a lot of steps involved with putting together a collection of works, and sometimes it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Have no fear! There is help available so you don’t feel so alone on this journey.

Things to Consider…

When deciding to start a project like this there are many things that you should take into consideration to give yourself the best chance of having a great anthology. Here is everything that you need to consider.

• What is your Anthology’s theme?
• What are your content guidelines?
• How will you be accepting and managing all of the submissions?
• Who will help you with the slush pile?
• How will you recruit authors to your anthology?
• Are there any “big authors” that you can get to join your anthology to help bring in more authors?
• Who will help with editing?
• What style guide will you use to standardize format for each story?
• Who will create your cover art?
• What contract will you be offering the authors and how will you manage them?
• How will you be publishing the anthology?
• How are you going to market the anthology?
• Where can you go to sell the books in-person?
• Do you want to have a release party?
• How are you going to provide copies of the anthology to the authors?

Aye aye aye, what a list!

There are so many things to think about that it can quickly become overwhelming, but every one of these questions is an important one to have an answer to. If you take the time to fully plan out the project you will greatly increase the success of your amazing anthology.

You don’t have to answer all of these questions alone, however. We at Anthology Gateway will be with you every step of the way. For the next several weeks we are going to cover each of these topics in depth so you don’t have to figure everything out yourself.

I know that you’re excited to get started, so make sure you subscribe to our mailing list so each of these topics can come straight to your email so you don’t miss a thing.