SFFMP 202: Lessons Learned from Putting Together Anthologies and Donating to Charity

October 10, 2018 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

This week’s show should be of interest to those authors who have considered putting aside the author hat temporarily to don the publisher/editor hat for a project or two.

Our guests were science fiction romance authors Veronica Scott and Pauline B. Jones, who also happen to be the editors and publishers of the Pets in Space series of scifi romance stories (with a pet theme, naturally). They just released their third one (Embrace the Passion: Pets in Space 3) and talked to us about recruiting authors for anthologies, publishing and marketing them, and what’s involved in donating a portion of the proceeds to charity.

Here are some more of the specifics that we covered:

How they got involved in this series of anthologies.
How they go out and recruit authors (some newer voices and some well-known authors with large followings).
Why they only accept original fiction rather than reprints.
What’s involved with giving part of the proceeds to charity (and why you need to check with a charity before using them in your marketing material).
Why it’s a good idea to sign a contract with a charity.
How they determine the order of stories in their anthologies.
If there are any stigmas from readers who are suspicious of authors/publishers who “use” a charity for marketing.
Their experience with hiring a PR person and why it’s been useful and worth the money.
Balancing earnings with their marketing spend to make sure there’s money for the charity and also that the authors get paid for their stories.
Why they’re releasing the stories wide instead of focusing on Amazon and KDP Select (Kindle Unlimited) for now.
Some of the challenges of marketing science fiction romance outside of the Kindle Unlimited ecosphere where romance of all kinds seems to thrive.