Hello there!
Welcome back to my channel!
It's been a while since the last video, huh?!
I hope you enjoyed your holydays and that
you’re back full of energy to write!
But let's move on to the video!
Some weeks ago I said:
At this point a question might arise such
as: if there are also poor works in the anthologies,
is it a sign of prestige to be included or
do they throw anyone into it?
And the answer is both yes and no.
But I'll talk about it in more detail in the
next video.
And the video has come!
So no more chatter and let's get started!
I have seen anthologies made in different
ways that I would group into three categories.
In the first one, which I would call "Virtuous",
only the winning and finalist writings are
included in the anthology, so a small number
of writings, from ten to twenty / twenty-five,
depends on how big and renowned the competition
is, both for short stories and for poems for
a total of authors included in the anthology
ranging from twenty to fifty maximum.
The quality of the writings in this type of
anthologies is medium/high and in fact in
the stories included in these anthologies
I have not found any of the errors I talked
about in the previous videos since they were
all well written.
In the second method, that I would define
“inclusive”, in addition to the winners
and the honorable mentions or finalists, other
“selected” writings are also included,
generating massive anthologies that can even
exceed 300 or 400 pages.
The reason they do this is obviously to make
money, even if they sometimes have the nerve
to write the opposite on the back cover, on
the fact that authors are more inclined to
buy one or more copies of the anthology if
their work is included, and since the market
for these anthologies is mainly based on selling
them to the authors who participated, you
understand that the more you put in, the better
(and every now and then I got the impression
that they put in them all!).
In fact, in these anthologies it is not uncommon
for a total of one hundred to one hundred
and fifty authors to be included, therefore
double or triple compared to the virtuous
mode.
However, in this way the general quality of
the anthology is diluted and in fact it was
not among the finalists or the honorable mentions
but in the unspecified "selected" stories,
which are the stories in the lowest position
of the ranking, that I found all the errors
I mentioned in the previous two videos.
The third one, I can only call "the pay one"
It happened to me only once but the methodology
was so different that it deserves a category
of its own.
My story was selected in the finalist pool
but the actual ranking would have been reveled
only during the award ceremony.
At a certain point I received an email from
the contest organizer saying that my story
was selected to be included in the anthology
of the literary competition as long as I buy
four copies of the anthology itself for 20
euros each, so…
I would have to buy my place in the anthology
for a total of 80 euros.
Among other things, in the email was specified
that being included in the anthology had no
correspondence with the ranking in the competition.
Nothing could be more likely that they sent
this email to all the participants fishing
for all those willing to buy 4 copies of the
anthology for 80 euros.
In addition to the fact that it’s immoral
to ask an author for money in exchange for
inclusion in an anthology, that email also
pissed me off because it was clearly false,
you can't tell me that my story has been "selected"
for the anthology but then present me a blackmail
of 80 euros if I want that possibility, it
is obvious that you have written the same
thing to everyone, you have not selected my
story, you are just collecting money.
Well, almost all the competitions charge you
for the anthology, but if they select you,
they insert you, print it and THEN, IF YOU
WANT, you can buy it.
And that's okay, but it had never happened
to me that they asked to buy four copies in
advance to purchase a place in the anthology.
Be wary of those who behave in this way, in
fact even the publishing contract they sent
me some days later was a rip off and I refused
it as I refused to be part of their anthology.
But I’ll talk about this story later on
and only if you are interested in hearing
it.
And that's all for today!
If you like my stories, you should know that
a few days ago I published a new one on my
website!
It's a really short one, just half a page,
exactly 1000 characters!
But I had a lot of fun writing it, I had to
open the "black humor" category just for it!
It is called Zoe which in ancient Greek means
life, vitality.
If you want to help me hire a professional
to translate it in English please consider
to support me on Patreon!
And of course: subscribe to the channel, like
the video, ring that fucking bell and I'll
see you next time!
Bye!
