Originally, my Slenderman-and-dream-inspired short story Eucha Falls was intended to be a free release, just a quickly thrown-together e-book with previews of both my novels in the back, more of a marketing tool than anything else. But then I grew attached to the idea of having a cover done by an illustrator whose work I follow (and adore) in the Marble Hornets fandom, which would really be a perfect fit. And in the interest of paying her for her work, I’d have to charge for the book. I suggested a profit share, but she prefers a flat fee, for which I can’t blame her in the least. She offered to do it for a very reasonable fee, but it’s still high enough that I’d have to do another pre-sale on Indiegogo to raise the funds.
Which, I think, is doable. I could pull my other unpublished horror novelette, Hungry Child, out of mothballs and finally do a revision to fix all the problems the beta readers found with it, and package them together for a paperback so I could offer signed copies. Maybe also throw in a few flash fiction pieces to flesh it out and make sure everyone gets their money’s worth. And if somehow the IGG campaign took off and became wildly successful, we could also talk about maybe doing that graphic novel version that Matt was all excited about.
But then yesterday I found out about a horror anthology that Ellen Datlow is putting together, and she’s accepting submissions, and in an unusual twist she’s accepting stories up to 10,000 words. EF is just over that and it wouldn’t take much trimming to get it under the limit. And if it’s accepted, it would mean a pretty decent paycheck. Not to mention a traditional publishing credit, plus it would expose my work to a much wider audience than I’m able to reach on my own. AND the anthology has the same title as my very first finished novel, which if I were superstitious I would take as a sign.
Hmm. Writing it all out, it kind of seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?
There is a downside, though. Mainly, the waiting. If I submit it and it doesn’t get accepted, then I’ll have wasted weeks or months in which I could have been using the story to promote my whole body of work, just waiting to be rejected. If it DOES get accepted, then I’m sure I’ll have to wait some contractual period of time before I can publish it as a stand-alone, or in any other collections. Or do that graphic novel. 😉
But again, if it does get accepted, I’ll get paid more in one fell swoop than I’ve earned in total royalties during my entire self-published career to date. Which, admittedly, isn’t very much.
I’m thinking I should follow the money. What do you think?
You’ve got to follow your heart and your gut on something like this, but after reading your post I think were it ‘my’ decision (so easy to say that, I know) I’d go for the actual anthology and payment. And keep working on flashfic or your other short stories in the meantime too. Then, if it doesn’t make it, you’ve already been putting some of the work in for your own anthology. If it DOES make it, then you’re already working on your own anthology PLUS you got Eucha Falls published in another venue to give you more exposure. I don’t think you can lose out here.
P.S. Eucha Falls was AWESOME and I totally think it stands a real chance of being included in the anthology.
P.P.S. I heard of Slenderman for the first time yesterday, and now that you mention it in this post, I might be slightly MORE creeped out by Eucha Falls. =)
Thanks, Lissa! This is helping me decide. Also, if the Slenderman mythos catches your fancy then you should definitely check out MARBLE HORNETS on YouTube. But wait till you have a few hours free because you’ll want to marathon that puppy. It plays out on two Youtube channels, which can be confusing, so start here: http://marblehornets.wikidot.com/the-entries#toc2
I say follow your interest. Which way seems more fun?
Well, the fun part was the writing, and that’s done. Any way I slice it, what comes next is work.
LOL! Well then, I say submit to the anthology. Waiting is easy work. 😉 Plus if you get approved, you get paid AND get known by a new crowd who will scoop up everything you put out there.
Yeah, that’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve come to. I really have nothing to lose by submitting it.