Wavin’ atchya, WG2E-Land!
Today, we’ve got Meredith Bond, a fabulous member of our Beach Book Blast Team, here to tell us about her experiences working on their new Anthology.
Take it away, Merry…
Thank you so much for having me here, today, D.D.!
I’m here to share with you all my experience in putting together the anthology, Tales From The Mist.
It’s an amazing anthology filled with exquisitely written stories – and I can say this despite the fact that one of them is my own, because it’s what every reviewer who has read it, so far, has said. We have gotten the most consistently amazing comments from everyone who has read this book. Naturally, I’m absolutely thrilled by this, but not very surprised because I know what a terrific group of people the authors of this anthology are – having worked with them closely for the past three months.
Has every minute of every email been a joy? No. Has it worked out really well in the end? 100% yes! Would I work with these people again? In a heartbeat.
First, I have to say, that nothing would have gotten done without the brilliant leadership of Rhonda Hopkins. She reminded us of everything we needed to do and guided us with a sure hand through the entire process – and that wasn’t easy!
Eleven people is a large number of people to corral, especially when we’re strewn, literally, around the world. We have authors from New York to Texas to California and many places in between, not to mention one in Australia and another in Malta. But Rhonda kept us on track and moving forward.
The beautiful thing about working with such a diverse group of brilliant writers is that we each brought our own experience to the table. Marty Young has participated in anthologies before and lent us his expertise. Stacey Joy Netzel is a well-established indie-author who gave freely of her knowledge (and ISBN numbers). Greg Carrico is a brilliant writer of not only horror stories, but blurbs as well. Catie Rhodes, while new to the world of publishing was right there, the entire time, chipping in with her excellent common sense and hard work. Natalie G. Owens is a lawyer and gave us free and extremely helpful legal advice when we were putting together the contract. Cate Dean was not only helpful contributing her own expertise, but gave us our cover artist who did an amazing job with the cover. Tamara Ward, Mitzi Flyte and Lizzie Starr all contributed their thoughts and sometimes brilliant ideas into the mix as well.
This anthology is something from which we can all stand back and feel extremely proud. We did it. We did it as a group. We worked with each other as a community of equals, pooling our individual strengths, to create something of beauty. Some days were easier than others. For some tasks it was easier to get consensus. Others were more difficult and took some haranguing . Sometimes we had to go ahead without Marty’s input from Australia simply because of the time difference – that’s how fast we moved on some issues. But it worked and I, for one, am thrilled and, yes, amazed that eleven people could co-produce a book.
My thanks to you all!
The book is listed for sale, even though we have not reached our official launch date yet. We did, however, want to have it available for reviewers and anyone else who stumbled upon it or read about it in a blog posting (like this one). You can find it at Amazon (http://amzn.to/WjkmBv), Barnes & Noble (http://bit.ly/Sp5aEk) and Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/239235). Soon you’ll find it at Kobo, ARe, Apple, and on Amazon in POD.
And now it’s your turn, WG2E-Land. Let us know your thoughts on Anthologies and your experiences in taking part in putting them together.
The Best of Author Collaboration Wishes — Meredith Bond
Meredith Bond is both a traditionally published and self-published author of romance novels. The Merry Men Quartet is a series of traditional Regency romances published eons ago (2004, 2005) by Zebra. More recently, she’s moved into self-publishing. She teaches writing at Frederick Community College in the continuing ed department and has the greatest time doing so. She’s a proud member of our WG2E Street Team and the Beach Book Blast Team.
Merry, you and the crew all rock. It was a pleasure working with you, and yep, I’d do it again in a heartbeat, too.
There’s nothing I love better than a good anthology. I find I do some of my most creative writing when I am challenged by a particularly interesting anthology theme. That’s one of the reasons that I still keep an eye out for this sort of a project. Say, if I read that Bubba and Earl-Bob Hollister are putting together an anthology of “Haunted Outhouse Stories” that might spark an idea regarding a story of a possessed Sears mail order catalogue.
Ideas spring out at you when you are writing to a particular theme – ideas that might otherwise have never come to you.
Looks like a great collection, Merry! Hope you folks sell a bunch.
Steve, now you’ve got me wanting to read that story! LOL
Too funny, Steve! I’m with Stacey and am ready to read that one.
Do it, Steve! LOL
Merry, we appreciate all your work with formatting and everything else!
The wonderful early reviews totally make the brief difficult times fade fast. One thing I will say is that even when all the authors didn’t agree, everyone respected everyone else’s opinions and professionalism remained intact through the entire process. This is something that is very important in a larger group.
If you’re considering doing something like this with other authors, another suggestion would be establish a core group that you trust to make good decisions. It will help you streamline the entire process.
We figured out a lot with this first anthology and the next one will only benefit from all we learned.
Adding my THANKS to everyone in the group for all you did!
You are so right, Stacey, on both point. We did keep things civil even through disagreements — which just proves what an amazing group of people we have. And having the core group to simplify options has made things a lot easier.
Thanks so much!
Congratulations on the finished book. I thought the corresponding emails were all very good and friendly at the start of the process, although I didn’t get to appear in it.
Well done, Beach Book Blast Peeps! I’m looking forward to reading your Anthologies, beginning with this first edition!!!
I love that you didn’t call it an Anthology in its title…looking back, I’m wondering if that’s what’s taken so long for our WG2E Anthologies to pick up steam, which they finally are. It was kind of a big DUH moment for me last week, when I was pondering this idea thinking “I’m not sure readers know what an Anthology is.” Yes, we writers do, but all of the readers I asked last week, for a small sample, not one of them knew. They get “short story collections” and “tales,” but again, not a single one knew what an anthology was…
Second, why did you decide not to put your author names on the cover? Just curious…
Easy, D.D. There were too many of us! We liked the picture we found and wanted that and the title to feature, rather than all twelve of our names.
Hi D.D.! We do have them all on the back cover of the print edition and listed in the description on each of the sellers’ sites.
As for anthology – you’re probably right. Everyone I’ve mentioned anthology to (who are not writers) didn’t know what an anthology is. I didn’t know myself until a couple of years ago.
I’m reading it now and will review it as soon as I’m done. Loving it so far! I’m so proud of all of you Street teamers and your accomplishments. I’m so blessed to be part of such a dynamic group. I had already committed to being part of the other WG2E Anthology for October with D.D. Scott when this opportunity came up, so I missed out on jumping in with you guys, but I’m so glad to see how it’s all worked out. May you have many sales and successes! Congratulations:-)
Thanks so much, PJ! We’ll definitely get you in on future anthologies! And good luck with the one you will be in!
I’ve only had time to read my amazing critique partner’s story (Stacey’s Beneath Still Waters!), but with that as an example of what else I can expect in the anthology I cannot wait till I have time to sit and read the entire book! Oh, and I love the cover, it’s perfect.
Thanks, Donna. They are amazing stories — as evidenced by the reviews we’re getting. And that’ the terrific thing about anthologies — you can, as they say, sip at them, reading just one at a time when you’ve got the time. Enjoy!
I know, I’m typically the goofball of the bunch, but if I can be serious for a second… This has been an amazing experience. No collaboration ever comes together without a bump or two. But I’ve never worked on a project with this many talented, smart, and good looking people (yeah, I said it, and I’ll say it again!), that has gone so smoothly. Even when we disagreed about something, we never lost the spirit of respect and friendship, and that speaks volumes about the awesomenessitude of the entire group.
I totally agree that Rhonda Hopkins leadership made something that might have been like herding cats, look like an orderly procession of ducks crossing a street.
Since Merry is too classy to say it, I’d just like to point out that she has worked incredibly hard on every aspect of this project. Her cool head, and the brilliant mind inside it, are largely to blame for the impeccable quality of this book.
I’ve loved working with all of you, and am eagerly looking forward to our future projects.
Whew! Being serious is thirsty work. I need some sweet tea. Cheers, everyone!
Aw, gee, shucks, Greg. Thank you for your sweet words. I think we all pulled our weight here. And I must agree on that good-looking comment — I’ve seen all of your pictures!
Merry – thank you so much for all your very hard work with the formatting, conversion, uploading and your incredible patience with us — especially me and all my newbie questions. And thank you and Greg for your very kind words.
This has been an amazing experience and I’ve learned so much from each one of our authors. Like others have said, to have eleven people working on a project could have been a nightmare, but each one of these beautiful people have been a joy to work with and I would definitely do it again. Even in our disagreements everyone remained professional and courteous – no egos got in the way.
Other members of the WG2E Street Team also helped us out with story blurbs, bios and answering questions – people like Dale Amidei, PJ Sharon, CC MacKenzie, Fabio Beuno and others. Plus they kept us laughing which is a huge benefit when you’re in the middle of a project like this.
I just feel very blessed to be part of such an amazing group of people. Thank you for bringing us all together, D.D. Scott and Alicia Street.
Right back at ya, Rhonda. When D.D. and I started the WG2E Street Team less than a year ago we had no idea where it would go or that it would blossom into dynamic offshoots like the Beach Book Blast or the Book Blast Anthology group. I also feel thankful for this amazing group of people who have become my cyber-family.
I’ll second that, Alicia! Bravo to all of you! Well done!!!
Wonderful post, Merry! I’ve been watching from the sidelines, both thrilled and impressed at how beautifully this came together. But I’m not surprised. You guys are all such talented and hardworking writers. Congratulations! I’ll be reading my review copy this weekend—with the lights on!
Thanks so much, Alicia! Keep Roy close by to hold on to!
Merry
I’m a little late but I would like to add my voice to the bunch and say that this anthology is what it is for various reasons…
First one – Rhonda’s amazing leadership led this ship though safely, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank her enough.
Then there’s Merry – who worked equally hard formatting and uploading the work for digital and print. She took all suggestions and comments and her work is perfect and professional.
Personally, I’d thank also Catie and Stacey who edited my story with amazing skill…and all the others who served as preliminary editors for the different stories.
Finally – This book is receiving rave reviews already because all the authors are talented and dedicated to their craft.
I could not be prouder of this bunch
xoxo
Congratulations to all of you! I could not participate in this anthology, but I’ll definitely be out there cheering on my Beach Book Blast buddies
I absolutely adore that cover, and I can’t wait to dive into all these great tales!
Thanks for all your kind words, Merry. Helping put together this anthology has been amazing. I have learned so much–which is most of the reason I did it. I have made some friends (I think). Learning and making friends are the two most important things in life. I am so glad I did this.
Great post, Merry! I’m amazed at all the work and time you, Rhonda, and others have (and continue to) put into making this anthology what it is. You’ve carried a humongous volume of work that isn’t writing. Being a part of this anthology, I’ve learned from you, and I feel honored to be part of the project.
I’ll add my .02 – which I did quite a bit during the process.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with and getting to know all of you – and I know it wouldn’t be the book it is without every writer who participated. We held each other up, made silly comments when they were needed – looking at you, Greg – and helped each other create the best work we possibly could. I am so proud to be a part of this anthology – even when I wanted to tear my hair out. 
Thank you, Rhonda, for keeping the rest of us writer cats herded in pretty much the same place, and Merry, for taking on the monumental task of formatting and uploading. We could write a book just on that process!
It has been quite the journey, and I am thrilled with where we ended up. Go Street Team!
~Cate
Yay! I started a love-in. Tee hee!
I just finished reading Tales From The Mist and it is fantastic. Creepy, scary. You guys all did a fantastic job!
Thanks for the great post, Merry!
Looking forward to reading it. I’m just in the process of taking part in my first anthology as an author, so I’m anxious to see how it goes. Happy writing!