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Our second group anthology-Submissions to Ignite by end of September, please.
message 201:
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Patti (baconater)
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Jun 27, 2012 01:17PM

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cheers
MTM


http://www.goodreads.com/photo/group/...

Cheers
MTM

http://www.goodreads.com/photo/group/..."
That's a lovely blue, isn't it?
It's so close to perfect, in my humble opinion. The greens aren't quite right though.
But as I said, could be my iPad?





Cheers
MTM



I have changed the grass colour (made it lighter) and the writing at the bottom had to go black else it was hard to read but i think it looks ok anyway, your thoughts all?
http://www.goodreads.com/photo/group/...

it looks like someones came along and artfully cut bits of the tree out

But who is hiding in the tree? (mm, short story comp?) Or is it just a squid...

Yay!

I have changed the grass colour (made it lighter) and the writing at the bottom had to go black else it w..."
Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.

Might not be racy, more likely to be a comedy about racy fiction, but we shall see.

lol. Better publish it on a Monday then.
Regarding "adult" material. It's important it has a general appeal. For example, let's say I write something for middle-grade. I'm not going to be able to promote the book in those circles if it has very strong adult material in it...
It makes sense to keep it along a general appeal, imho.

What do others feel?
Edit - We had some horror type stuff in the other book. How general is general?


If "adult" material is included, we could still have other stories in there - it's just that I wouldn't be able to promote it to my audience. That's a pity because the real power of the anthology is that each author promotes it and thus everyone benefits. For that reason I suggest that writing something that aims at a general appeal would most solidly see the book promoted.

It'd make no sense to have it as a general appeal when it comes from such a wide group of authors we have here. It'll be like stamping on their little creative voices.
(this is meant to be a personal book coming from us - in my opinion it's lovely if it does well but we aren't marketing it for the next big seller :S)

And, yes, I am interested in promotion and making sales ;)

although that's the way i see it anyway.
and what about us people who strictly read adult books? we'd see no appeal in a 'general audience' one.


Edited to add: I'm totally squeamish about horror. Really can't read it but that won't stop me from buying the book if there's some in or reading the story until it gets scary (snortle). Likewise with erotic fiction, if it's good, why not put it in and market it as an anthology with a stress on the variation among the writers included.
You could always have a disclaimer to state that a couple of stories in there are not suitable for children. Or ask each author to give their piece a film rating, you know; u, pg, 15, 18 etc I can't remember what they are exactly but you get my drift. I think the US do old UK; u, a, pg, x, xx but don't quote me on that.
I think a film classification is far more useful anyway. My book is PG and aimed at the YA market. I know many 10 year olds who'd lap it up but I also know some 12 year olds who'd find it scary. Age banding so depends on the child but if it says PG you know at once whether it will appeal.
Cheers
MTM

G - Generally suitable for all
PG - Parental Guidance recommended
PG-13 - May be inappropriate for people under 13
R - Under 17 must be accompanied by an adult
NC-17 - Nobody under 17
UK film ratings are
U - Universal, suitable for all
PG - Parental Guidance recommended
12 - (video only) Nobody under 12
12A - (Cinema only) Under 12 must be accompanied by an adult
15 - Nobody under 15
18 - Nobody under 18
R18 - Sexually explicit material restricted to licensed premises
Essentially the differences are in terms of the age breaks, but that does sometimes lead to problems, particularly with films that are made for the PG-13 market. For example, The Hunger Games was PG-13 in the US, but deemed to be 15 in the UK. Since the producers felt a 15 rating would seriously reduce their audience, it was cut to achieve a 12A rating. (The DVD out later this year is uncut and has the 15 rating)

It was really only us that bought it too!



As I have mentioned previously I don't like poetry & will skip that as well as any really gory/horror stories. It wouldn't stop me from getting the book unless the poetry/horror was the majority of the collection.
PS My favourite books


I would suggest simply stating the genre of each story in the contents, maybe in brackets or italics after the story title. So readers know in advance which one is horror, erotica, poetry, or whatever else they may not wish to read.
Otherwise I strongly feel that it's up to the reader to make their own judgements. If you buy an anthology, you expect a mixed bag - that's the whole point of an anthology!

The problem exists in that if I wish to approach a parents'/mums'/school group and say "Hey, you can read a sample of my writing in this anthology...but, erm, you have to skip some other bits and don't let your child actually read it, you'll have to read it to them because they might read the other bits and -"
Well, it's complicated ;)
I think the best solution is for me simply to write something not aimed at children; though I do like to see some kind of guidance on a book or story as to its content - a description is often better than a rating. I mean I've seen films that were PGs that should've been 18s, and 18s that should've been PGs!
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