As I said in my last post, Mocha Memoirs newest anthology release is Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires, a Steampunk horror collection. The new Sherlock Holmes anthology is currently in production. Last year, we produced Avast, Ye Airships! and An Improbable Truth: The Paranormal Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Past anthology offerings included In the Bloodstream and The Grotesquerie.
Why should you care?
Many reasons. First of all, an anthology is a brilliant way to see the work of many different authors for a substantially cheaper price than if you bought their longer works without knowing anything about them. Of course, we hope that you will want to see more of their writing, but if someone's style doesn't resonate with you, you have other stories to read.
Tying in with that, it is a great way to find new favorites. An anthology usually has a mix of authors--some you may follow regularly, and others you may never have heard of. With a small press, you are even more likely to find some unfamiliar names.
Anthologies usually have a unifying theme or subject matter, which means that you are going to be getting stories that all relate to something you are interested in. Like Airship pirates, or Sherlock Holmes. :)
It can be a lot of fun to collect the authors' autographs too--though sometimes a challenge, as we have many foreign contributors. Which is another benefit: you get to see varying perspectives when you have authors from around the world.
Finally, you don't have to invest a great deal of time all at once to reading it. With short stories from different authors, you can pick and choose the order to savor them depending on the time you have to devote to reading at the moment. Anthologies are great for Kindles and other readers when you might be stuck in a waiting room or a long line.
Search for anthologies on Amazon, and you will be amazed at the variety of offerings. Of course, some may be higher quality than others. In these fast-shifting days of publishing revision, there are many anthologies that have been cobbled together quickly--but even the worst that I have seen have a gem or two in them, and for a reasonable investment.
And Mocha Memoirs has treasure chests full of carefully-chosen gems for you to enjoy!
Showing posts with label Avast Ye Airships. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Avast Ye Airships. Show all posts
Monday, November 7, 2016
Monday, April 4, 2016
Last Chance!
This is it. The deadline was extended a week, but this is your final opportunity to be part of the Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires Steampunk horror anthology. We have some really great reads for you, but there is still room for a few more. If you've been hesitating or procrastinating, this is the time to put pen to paper! (And I am in the same boat...)
So far, I am really pleased with the Table of Contents. I'll be revealing it soon. ;)
Mocha Memoirs is beginning to have quite a nice collection of Steampunk:
Heliodor by Shannon Wendtland
Avast Ye, Airships edited by Rie Sheridan Rose
"The Head Above the Gate" in RieTales...
But we can always use more, and that is where you come in. Get me a story by Friday! I want to see what YOU have to add to the genre. :)
So far, I am really pleased with the Table of Contents. I'll be revealing it soon. ;)
Mocha Memoirs is beginning to have quite a nice collection of Steampunk:
Heliodor by Shannon Wendtland
Avast Ye, Airships edited by Rie Sheridan Rose
"The Head Above the Gate" in RieTales...
But we can always use more, and that is where you come in. Get me a story by Friday! I want to see what YOU have to add to the genre. :)
Monday, February 2, 2015
It's February! Get Ready for Pirates!
February is going to be a HUGE month.
First of all, it is Women in Horror Month. If you haven't heard about this before, Women in Horror Month celebrates the female in what is traditionally considered a male dominated genre. Mocha Memoirs will be posting blogs about this all month, so I am just going to leave that there...
Even more exciting for me, it will see the publication of Avast, Ye Airships! I feel like I am sending my first child off to school to interact with the public for the first time. This anthology has been dominating my thoughts since April--so basically nine months--I guess it is my baby. :)
The manuscript has been turned in. It is a solid mix of adventure, humor, and romance. We have eighteen stories altogether. They come from all over the country, all over the UK, even as far away as Romania.
Steampunk, Airships, Pirates--what else can you ask for? Coming February 26th.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Airships Preparing For Take Off!
After months of preparation, the final boarding call has been sounded. The contacts have started, the crew is being finalized, and the Airships will soon be climbing into the skies.
We had over forty submissions (thirteen of them in the last two days!). They came from as far away as Romania, and as close as my downtown.
We had really great pirates, really bad pirates, and a few airships with no pirates.
There was a submission with cat pirates and a submission with squirrel-like aliens.
I had the pleasure of accepting a writer's first sale.
We had stories set on other worlds, and stories where the airship was almost a world unto itself.
It was difficult indeed to narrow things down. But I think you will be pleased with the results. I know I am.
It's time to bring the last provisions aboard. I'm assigning the crew to their quarters, and then we head to the skies! We will be heading your way the end of next month, so prepare a berth for us.
And chocolate..,all pirates love chocolate!
We had over forty submissions (thirteen of them in the last two days!). They came from as far away as Romania, and as close as my downtown.
We had really great pirates, really bad pirates, and a few airships with no pirates.
There was a submission with cat pirates and a submission with squirrel-like aliens.
I had the pleasure of accepting a writer's first sale.
We had stories set on other worlds, and stories where the airship was almost a world unto itself.
It was difficult indeed to narrow things down. But I think you will be pleased with the results. I know I am.
It's time to bring the last provisions aboard. I'm assigning the crew to their quarters, and then we head to the skies! We will be heading your way the end of next month, so prepare a berth for us.
And chocolate..,all pirates love chocolate!
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Short and Snappy
Last weekend, I was on a panel at ApolloCon discussing short fiction, and was there still any market for it. The resounding consensus was YES!
As the print magazines began to disappear, there was a brief time when the market might have been shrinking, but as people turn more and more to online venues for their reading pleasure, it has come roaring back. There are probably more online magazines looking for short fiction and poetry today than there ever were print. And new anthologies are announced daily.
What does this mean for you as an author/reader? It means that there are dozens--if not hundreds--of ezines and anthologies to read and/or write for. These short story markets are a great place to hone your craft and make a little money.
It is true, that with the growth of the marketplace, you might not be seeing the same financial return as offered by the big magazines of the past, but it all adds up in the long run. Personally, I made more off selling to anthologies and magazines last year than royalties.
So, where do you start? There are basically two ways to go about it. Write a story and then look for a market that it fits, or find a market that looks interesting and write a story to submit to it. Either way can work. In fact, sometimes writing a piece for a specific market can break up a pesky Writer's Block.
Once you have decided you are ready to write short, there are several wonderful resources to find markets. My personal favorite is ralan.com, because it is free and open to everyone. There are also several excellent Facebook groups with specific focus that have been helpful. These require that you be added to the closed group, but I don't believe anyone is ever turned down. They start with OPEN CALL: and then the specifics. Search for OPEN CALL: and you should get the entire list. There are groups for Horror; Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Pulp; and Crime, Mystery, Suspense for sure. There may be others, but I haven't had call to join them yet. :)
At the next level, Duotrope is considered a must-have tool by many in the industry, but it is not free. On the other hand, it provides a Submission Tracker, and many analytics that aren't available on the other sites mentioned.
Finally, there is the old standby Writer's Market which has now brought in an online component. If you still like the doorstop paper version, you can get it--or you can get it with a year's access to the online version too--or, it looks like, you can now just register online for a year on the website. So many choices!
Spend some time with these market lists, play with words a bit. Short fiction, as I said, can hone your longer pieces, as you learn to write tight description and compelling characters that must grab the reader's attention on the first page. It can supplement your income and start spreading your name around. If people read one of your stories in an anthology, and like it, that can help them decide to give more of your work a try.
And if you need a place to start, try writing something for our Steampunk anthology Avast Ye Airships!
As the print magazines began to disappear, there was a brief time when the market might have been shrinking, but as people turn more and more to online venues for their reading pleasure, it has come roaring back. There are probably more online magazines looking for short fiction and poetry today than there ever were print. And new anthologies are announced daily.
What does this mean for you as an author/reader? It means that there are dozens--if not hundreds--of ezines and anthologies to read and/or write for. These short story markets are a great place to hone your craft and make a little money.
It is true, that with the growth of the marketplace, you might not be seeing the same financial return as offered by the big magazines of the past, but it all adds up in the long run. Personally, I made more off selling to anthologies and magazines last year than royalties.
So, where do you start? There are basically two ways to go about it. Write a story and then look for a market that it fits, or find a market that looks interesting and write a story to submit to it. Either way can work. In fact, sometimes writing a piece for a specific market can break up a pesky Writer's Block.
Once you have decided you are ready to write short, there are several wonderful resources to find markets. My personal favorite is ralan.com, because it is free and open to everyone. There are also several excellent Facebook groups with specific focus that have been helpful. These require that you be added to the closed group, but I don't believe anyone is ever turned down. They start with OPEN CALL: and then the specifics. Search for OPEN CALL: and you should get the entire list. There are groups for Horror; Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Pulp; and Crime, Mystery, Suspense for sure. There may be others, but I haven't had call to join them yet. :)
At the next level, Duotrope is considered a must-have tool by many in the industry, but it is not free. On the other hand, it provides a Submission Tracker, and many analytics that aren't available on the other sites mentioned.
Finally, there is the old standby Writer's Market which has now brought in an online component. If you still like the doorstop paper version, you can get it--or you can get it with a year's access to the online version too--or, it looks like, you can now just register online for a year on the website. So many choices!
Spend some time with these market lists, play with words a bit. Short fiction, as I said, can hone your longer pieces, as you learn to write tight description and compelling characters that must grab the reader's attention on the first page. It can supplement your income and start spreading your name around. If people read one of your stories in an anthology, and like it, that can help them decide to give more of your work a try.
And if you need a place to start, try writing something for our Steampunk anthology Avast Ye Airships!
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