ATTENTION: Important issue for all Anthologiers

[Colleen Thomas]

It seems to me the idea here was (beyond exposure to us all as writers of course) to generate some money to donate to a worthy cause. If we don't generate some publicity, it would seem we could have done about as much for that cause by each donatng the money we would spend on our own copies.

The old adage is, ytou have to spend money to make money. I think the best course of action is to spend some of what we generate at first promoting, via whatever means is most cost effective.

my 2 cents

 

[EnglishMuffin]

On slippery ice he's skating
but he don't have a care
Beneath his feet its breaking
but his head's in the air
Everyone's anticipating
he's gonna take a dive
Turn down your conversations
here comes the fall guy

Here comes that fall guy
Here comes that fall guy

I know I shouldn't ought to
reach for illusion
Just like a lamb to the slaughter
I only see confusion
Everyone's in expectation
this head is gonna roll
Turn down your conversations
here comes the fall guy

You can't help bad luck oh no
You can't help bad luck oh no
You can't help bad luck oh no
But it's a fool who puts his head in a frame

On slippery ice he's skating
but he don't have a care
Beneath his feet its breaking
but his head's in the air
Everyone's anticipating
he's gonna take a dive
Turn down your conversations
here comes the fall guy

You can't help bad luck oh no
You can't help bad luck oh no
You can't help bad luck oh no
Here comes that fall guy

You can't help bad luck oh no
Here comes that fall guy
(repeat to fade)

 

[impressive]

LOL

EL,

I did the same thing. I shouted in the other thread before I knew this one was up.



Laurel put a link to our book at CafePress on the frontpage of Lit!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY cool !!!

 

[TheEarl]

Has anyone spoken to the free speech charity that we're supporting - I'd imagine they'd give us a link. I'll e-mail them if no-one else has.

E-L: That sounds superb about the website; I'm sure we can rustle together some content. We'd need a home-page, information pages on each volume, a links page and a 'Buy It' page. We can have the pictures of each of the items from CafePress and then link directly to each thing's shop page. As soon as money is released from Cafe Press, I think that sounds like the first plan of action.

Then we can see where we go from there.

The Earl

 

[English Lady]

Earl, no probs, if we decide what we want, he can do it Well, as long as we get a domain name.


Not sure if anyone's spoken to the free speech folks tho'

 

[TheEarl]

We can have www.coming-together.com or www.eroticanthology.com, but no www.comingtogether.com. That one's been taken.

The Earl

Edit: Okay, apparently, we could have comingtogether.com.

 

[impressive]

We can have www.coming-together.com or www.eroticanthology.com, but no www.comingtogether.com. That one's been taken.

The Earl

Edit: Okay, apparently, we could have comingtogether.com.

I am willing to purchase the domain -- and just be "owed" from the proceeds when CafePress releases them.

Let me know if y'all want to proceed that way.

EDIT: I would vote for www.eroticanthology.com because (a) it matches the CafePress store name; (b) it's readily understandable to the casual surfer; and (c) there may come a time when we do a theme collection with a different name. However, if the site is going to be strictly about the Coming Together series, then that's a different story.

 

[Black Tulip]

Erotic Anthology covers the content better, IMO.
Nobody can claim to be unpleasantly surprised if you use a name like that.
And it gives us a little more space to expand, if we want to.

 

[English Lady]

erotic anthology would get my vote too...

 

[TheEarl]

I am willing to purchase the domain -- and just be "owed" from the proceeds when CafePress releases them.

Let me know if y'all want to proceed that way.

EDIT: I would vote for www.eroticanthology.com because (a) it matches the CafePress store name; (b) it's readily understandable to the casual surfer; and (c) there may come a time when we do a theme collection with a different name. However, if the site is going to be strictly about the Coming Together series, then that's a different story.

Agreed with your points, but I'd say comingtogether has a better chance of accidental hits or showing up on search engines. £0.02

The Earl

 

[Guest]

EDIT: I would vote for www.eroticanthology.com because (a) it matches the CafePress store name; (b) it's readily understandable to the casual surfer; and (c) there may come a time when we do a theme collection with a different name.

Works for me.

 

[TheEarl]

www.eroticanthology.com it is then? Imp, if you understand domain names, then it would be sterling if you could purchase it for us.

Now to work out what we'd need on the website and what content we'd like.

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

Anyone disagree with this layout?

http://www.imageshosted.com/images/544535layout1.jpg

The Earl

 

[English Lady]

If you get the domain name that'd be cool Imp, then If The Earl could help organise exactly what content we want Ican start informing the darling husband, so we can get things a goin'


Thanks Imp

 

[English Lady]

Anyone disagree with this layout?

http://www.imageshosted.com/images/544535layout1.jpg

The Earl

That's pretty much what I was thinking. Hubster says we can have a page per author if we feel so inclined, but then each Author would need to come up with a blurb, a pic (not of themselves necessarily, an AV or something symbolic,just something to break up the text)contact details etc. Might be better if we have a smaller piece on each Author on one page/one section. Just throwing out options

 

[TheEarl]

How about this as a preliminary design prototype?

http://www.imageshosted.com/images/162593layout2.jpg

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

That's pretty much what I was thinking. Hubster says we can have a page per author if we feel so inclined, but then each Author would need to come up with a blurb, a pic (not of themselves necessarily, an AV or something symbolic,just something to break up the text)contact details etc. Might be better if we have a smaller piece on each Author on one page/one section. Just throwing out options

I think on the 'About us' screen, each author could have 120 words (twice the bio length) to describe themselves, an avatar/picture and a link to their Lit page/homepage. Don't think we need separate pages for each. That osund good?

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

How about this as a preliminary design prototype?

The Earl

The first person to comment on my interesting spelling of 'variety' gets shot.

The Earl

 

[English Lady]

I think on the 'About us' screen, each author could have 120 words (twice the bio length) to describe themselves, an avatar/picture and a link to their Lit page/homepage. Don't think we need separate pages for each. That osund good?

The Earl

Sounds grand to me

 

[English Lady]

Your desing looks ok -not taken with the green though.

Hubby will happily do a design if we give contents, but if we want to actually design it too, thats cool

 

[TheEarl]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you on behalf of a coalition of erotica authors. We thoroughly appreciate the free speech that allows us to write our stories and recognise your organisation at the forefront of the battle to ensure that free speech.

As a result, we have decided to release an anthology of stories and to donate all profits to your foundation, as a way of saying thank you for the support you provide to all who value freedom of speech. We are currently looking to publicise the anthology and would appreciate any aid that you can give us, such as a banner advertisement or maybe a review and recommendation on your website.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

The Earl

Just sending this off. Any objections before it goes?

The Earl

 

[English Lady]

No objections from me, sounds just right

 

[TheEarl]

Your desing looks ok -not taken with the green though.

Hubby will happily do a design if we give contents, but if we want to actually design it too, thats cool

Well, if I've only learned one thing from my Computer Science course (and God help me, it appears very likely), it is that prototypes and user research matter. So I thought I'd knock out a prototype.

Tell me what's good, what's bad and offer suggestions of what you would like improved and I'll knock out a second prototype so that we can get closer to what we want. Audience participation at it's best.

The Earl

 

[impressive]

Anyone disagree with this layout?

http://www.imageshosted.com/images/544535layout1.jpg

The Earl

The only issue I have is giving links to our member pages (About Us). Will folks still buy if they know it can all be had for free?

 

[TheEarl]

The only issue I have is giving links to our member pages (About Us). Will folks still buy if they know it can all be had for free?

I worried about that as well. However, we can talk it up as some stories having extensive rewrites, along with illustrations that you cannot get anywhere else.

On second thoughts, I think you're right. I'm sure we can forfeit some extra reads on our other Lit stories in order to sell more copies.

The Earl