Making A List AND Checking It Twice

It is finally Friday and, per usual, we like to head into the weekend on a positive note. And, yes, we’re going to talk about CHROMOPHOBIA. This is one of those “How The Sausage Is Made” type of posts.

Let’s get to it!

Yesterday, we wrote an update on CHROMOPHOBIA’s production, and this article is a bit of supplemental material, so if you missed yesterday and want to be brought up to speed, then click HERE. Otherwise, read on…

Sara Tantlinger, editor of CHROMOPHOBIA, knows what she wants for the anthology and has sent contracts to those parties. Today, she shared the names of said parties with us. To say that we are excited is an understatement. This TOC will be wonderful, and I imagine these authors will be pleased to share space together.

To confirm, there are (as of this writing) 26 stories at play. We’re looking at some award-winners, some award-nominated, some up-and-comers, and some authors who are just starting out. As it should be!

So, congratulations to all of these authors, and big thanks to Sara Tantlinger for shepherding this project, but also an enormous amount of gratitude to everyone who submitted a story. When you get hundreds of subs, it is extremely difficult to whittle down to your final TOC.

But, what comes next?

Money! Well, kinda sorta…

What really comes next is cataloguing each story along with the individual word count (as we pay per word). Then, we make sure we have each contract, that the contract is signed and dated, making sure we have the appropriate information (are we cutting a check? are we paying via PayPal?). Now, the terms within the contract states payment within 30 days of publication, but we plan on paying all these authors in January, many months before the release of the hardcover and nearly a year before the release of the trade paperback.

When we catalogue each story and its respective word count, we also record mailing addresses, as this will become our master list for sending out author copies. These 26 author copies are also considered a part of the overall cost of production. And FYI, always… always check with your authors and confirm shipping addresses before you mail their books. Addresses can and do change! Especially considering that the amount of time between signing a contract and publication can be quite a long stretch.

Now, before a book is finalized from front cover to back, exact costs can be hard to pin down, so we work from estimates early on and tighten these numbers as the chips fall into place.

As of now, rough estimates give CHROMOPHOBIA a production cost of about $3,000.00 and, no lie, I sweat a little when I look at that number.

But, we can do it, so we will. The money and time spent is always worth it. Always.

Hope you have a good weekend. Read a book. Watch a fucked up movie. Fall in love. Nuke a planet from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

TTFN