Creativity question

[The People]

(09-05-2013, 02:04 PM)nats Wrote: well that's two of us already

all we need is about 5 or more interested to participate and we can see a book already starting to take shape!

what do you think, should we post this on a separate thread and see if others are interested?

Separate thread. if we were to do this there would be a lot of factors involved; including cross border issues that would have to be considered. And $$ issues when it got published. Sounds selfish with the $$ but I am too broke to say I would donate my share.

[Blue]

Yo i think this book thing is a great idea, but have to agree with The people, who would pay for such a thing and where would we write this as we're all so far apart i.e. some in uk some in US etc, how would we all get together to write it? Brilliant idea though.
Blue.

[nats]

we first started thinking about this as a project quite awhile ago, mainly as a way of bringing in some much needed funds for MM. still, we can see the point that contributors should get some money out of it as well.

how it would work would depend largely on the publisher and the arrangements we could negotiate with them (e.g. either i put together a proposal to fund book preparation, in which case we could pay contributors a set amount based on what they put into it, or we rely on negotiating some post-publication royalties, which might be trickier to divide fairly amongst a group of us). either way, it's not going to be a huge amount of money we're talking about because our target audience is not yet that big.

as for collaborative writing across time-zones, that's not so bad. we do it regularly for other projects .

[The People]

Based on discussions with other writers and some folk in the business (not that I know any big wigs) I am not for self publication. First of all I have no money to put into it and second, I don't like the projects I have seen. Editing is your own and projects are not well received in some of the major book stores.

I think that, if we found the right publisher we might be able to get them to work with us as a group without us having to spend more on the books than we would potentially male. I think there would be an interest. It is just a matter of getting it all together.

As some of the biggest publishing houses are in the US I think that is the country we should start with. So perhaps our sirst step would be to narrow it down to a few publishing houses that might look at this type of book. Then we could each take one and see if we could peak (you have no idea how much trouble I have with the 2 spellings of that word)

[nats]

Agreed self-publishing isn't what we want.

The usual process is to submit a book proposal to one or more potential publishers. However, in our case it makes sense to look for some project funding to prepare the book in the first place as publishers wouldn't usually give an advance on this type of book b/c it's not likely to make much in sales. From personal experience (granted, in academia, so slightly different), this will do better if led by 1 to 2 editors, who are willing to use their names - chapter contributors can then be named or use pseudonyms in the book proposal. It will be easier for individual chapter authors to get paid if this is arranged up-front as part of funding for a 'project' (i.e. as i mentioned previously, if i can manage to get us a small grant for this). it also then allows for any additional earnings/royalties to go to MM, which currently has no money coming in and will grind to a halt at some point if we don't take action.

[The People]

As most of you are in the US and I am in Canada (and have no experience with this) maybe a couple of you could run with the initial aspects of the idea. Perhaps what could happen, for the request is that those of us willing to do a group project could submit a 1 page outline? I don't know if that would be beneficial but just throwing out ideas here. The bigger publishing houses are all in the US as well.

[nats]

i can take this forward - at a snail rather than rocket pace as i've got other stuff going on , but can get back with people who are interested in participating once i have a firmer idea of publisher and any potential funding.

in the meantime, if you're interested in contributing in some way (this can be small - e.g. maybe including some quotes) perhaps just respond below saying how you might be able to help (e.g. chapter writing or being interviewed, editing, finding and reviewing DID literature).

[chem_in_6]

we'd like to help. chem likes finding and reviewing literature, editing, and possibly being interviewed.
other folks in the crew wouldn't mind providing assistance with editing, or maybe even writing.

let us know

-chem, Zip, Oldest, Mella, (Shadow) [the older crew members]

[Symphony]

(09-10-2013, 10:05 AM)nats Wrote: ...respond below saying how you might be able to help (e.g. chapter writing or being interviewed, editing, finding and reviewing DID literature).

Can and am willing to help in any of these ways.

[dragonfairy]

We would be interested in participating just not sure to what degree yet at this point. Sorry have been so busy and not on here much last few weeks. School has started for us full force and have had some personal thing going on as well. Just trying to hold things together and not fall apart again if at all possible. But really love the concept you have all got here and will try to get on more often and see what is going on.

Katie and The crew

[Tangled Web]

We would be interested in helping also.
TW

[The People]

Let us be clear that you do not have to be part of this just because you are part of MM. And if you wanted to do some small thing it could be a poem or a drawing your smallest little did or... anything you want. I this works I think variety is the key.

[The People]

(09-07-2013, 11:48 AM)nats Wrote: we first started thinking about this as a project quite awhile ago, mainly as a way of bringing in some much needed funds for MM. still, we can see the point that contributors should get some money out of it as well.

how it would work would depend largely on the publisher and the arrangements we could negotiate with them (e.g. either i put together a proposal to fund book preparation, in which case we could pay contributors a set amount based on what they put into it, or we rely on negotiating some post-publication royalties, which might be trickier to divide fairly amongst a group of us). either way, it's not going to be a huge amount of money we're talking about because our target audience is not yet that big.

as for collaborative writing across time-zones, that's not so bad. we do it regularly for other projects .

Also re time zones, publishers go across time zones all the time. look at harry potter! And many other, less known authors. Some of my favorite authors are (or were as one left us ;( from Britain or other places. We see things like The Kite |Runner (well maybe that was an American print I'm not sure). But good works have no borders. And ours will be GREAT ^5!

[The People]

I do agree that a % of any money earned should go to keep MM alive. Sorry I have not been back to respond but life called. As for it not being a project people would be drawn to I rather disagree. Many people are fascinated with the subject because they want to understand more and because stupid shows like Criminal Minds make them curious. Then there are those like me who wonder if they will find themselves in it. I remember taking "When Rabbit Howls" out of the library. Someone took it back before I could read it as they knew we were not ready to discover that we had our own 'Rabbit". If people are still looking in this direction we need a couple of people to take the steering wheel. Again I feel that people in the US would be best. Easier to access each other and a wider variety of houses to approach. Plus some of you appear to have some knowledge of the whole publishing business. The few Canadians here are spread out all over the map; the second largest map in the world. Impossible to hop a train and spend a day in Ontario for planning.
Another thought just popped into my head. What if we were able to find a 'name' to jump on board with us to guide us through the process. The first name that popped into my head was jack Canfield; Chicken Soup mogul. (not to be confused with mudblood). Perhaps he, or someone he knew would be willing to take on the leadership of the project. Chicken Soup for Multies and those Who love them? J/K But he has his hands in a lot of pies. While he is unlikely to take an interest in our project he might know of someone who would. If nobody objects I would be quite willing to contact him, lay out our plan and ask if he has any connections that would work on such a unique and wonderful project. Thoughts?

[nats]

hi People, momentum hasn't died at all. as i said, it will take me a little while to see if i can get us a small grant to fund our work on this.
in the meantime we can start thinking about book structure, as that will help determine which publisher/s to approach. i agree we should continue this as a project discussion on the creative writing forum instead of here.