I recently received copies of my latest book,
"Conscious Entrepreneurs: A Radical New Approach to Purpose, Passion &
Profit." If you look the book up on Amazon.com, you'll see that my name is
not on the cover. It is, however, on the table of contents. I wrote chapter 37,
"Writing: A Journey of Creativity, Consciousness, and Connection."
I LOVE anthologies! I recommend them wholeheartedly. They
offer a variety of benefits:
They're equally open to new and experienced writers.
- It's fun to hold a book in your hands that has your poem, story, or article in it.
- Inspirational stories are easy to write, because they're based on your life.
- If you're having trouble writing, an anthology call will give you a specific topic to write about and a very real deadline to write towards.
- Every publication helps build your writing credits and platform.
- You can use your 50-100 word bio to drive traffic to your website.
Here are some links for anthology calls for submissions:
This link takes
you to Chicken Soup for the Soul's website. Go to: Submit a Story/Possible Book
Topics.
Anthologies Online may not be the prettiest website, but it has monthly listings of new anthologies looking for content, including poetry, short stories and stories about your life.
This link takes
you to the online classified section of Poets & Writers Magazine. The current magazine's listings are always
online.
Creating
your own anthology can also be fun and profitable. You can write a book
proposal, gather some sample stories, and find an agent or publisher (I have an
anthology book proposal currently making the rounds that's been seen at
HarperSanFrancisco and Inner Ocean Publishing, among others), you can
self-publish, or you can turn your content into an ebook.
The biggest benefit of creating your own anthology is that your name goes on the cover. You are considered the author of the book, whether your name follows "edited by," "compiled by," or stands alone. It makes a great first book. If your own author's platform isn't very strong, get some name authors to commit to your anthology and stand on their platforms. Once you have a book published, you've got your foot in the door and it's a little easier to get your "next book" published. Make no mistake, however, an anthology is still a book and takes time, commitment, and lots of work.
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