Whisper House Press

Notes from the desk of the editor are offered in the interests of personal posterity and transparency for writers and other potential editors who wish to learn from my experience.

the editor

It’s about time for another update, as a lot has transpired with the Costs of Living anthology in the last few weeks.

(If you haven’t been keeping up with this series of posts, I suggest you start at the top, but feel free to dive in anywhere.)

First: I’ve been keeping up with my target response time of ≤45 days (I’m even quite a bit ahead in almost all cases!), taking time each day to check my targets against submissions (my daily google search is “what date was 45 days ago?”). I’m proud of myself for meeting this goal (so far). (That’s a lot of parentheses!)

Second: We’re at 21 contracted authors with stories totaling 54,300 words (pre-edits).

Third: The accepted stories range broadly, from creepy crawly critters in apartments to incidents with the HOA and delusional neighbors seeing hoodlums everywhere. The mix is glorious. I keep thinking of arranging these stories like Phish generates (usually as they go) setlists… you need a breather story between heavy-hitters, and whether or not I want all the silly stories grouped together or sprinkled throughout will be a choice I need to make intentionally—that sort of thing.

Fourth: I’m thinking carefully at this point about how to introduce the contributing authors to the world as members of this team. (And what a team! We’ve got Stoker Award winners, total newbie publishing artists, television writers, academics, and old hands. I’m blown away.) I get the sense that introducing the contributing artists with care and intention is a good idea. Perhaps a youtube-hosted interview with all who are willing (I didn’t write this into the contract so I can’t assume!) would be a winning notion. I’m not sure, and I’m open to suggestions! How should I introduce the team of contributors?

Fifth: I realized this morning that I should have a list of folks to whom I send ARCS for blurbs—folks I should ask for that honor, that is. How do people go about this step? I genuinely have no idea.

Sixth: I’m thinking about when to close the call. In the initial call for submissions, I said I’d be taking submissions until May 1st or whenever the collection is full. Well, May 1st has come and gone, and I’m glad that I’m still receiving submissions. I haven’t been through everything yet, but one or two have jumped out at me since that date has passed and were immediate “yes” responses. So there’s no decision here, yet. I’ve received some 250 subs and have some 60 in my “additional review” pile with 3 new ones in my inbox.

Finally: I’d like to share with you the note I’ve been sending to each author as they sign (as well as an initial group of them a few weeks back):

Hello – 

Getting this note means you’re one of nine authors whose work has been contracted for inclusion in Costs of Living, Whisper House Press’s inaugural anthology.

If you’re curious about project progress amid my commitment to transparency, you can find “notes from the editor’s desk” on my website, https://stevecaponejrauthor.com/ in the dropdown menu labeled “whisper house press.”

Updates: I’m still poring over and sifting through submissions, and the editing process won’t begin in earnest until I feel like I’ve got all the component parts. That likely means that I’ll be working on editorial feedback this summer and will ask for edits in the fall.

I want to have the cover design and book block assembled for test printing at the end of the year. I am considering a small kickstarter project in early 2025 to boost printing capacity. I’m considering every step I’m taking right now to be a bit of marketing for the eventual publication of the anthology.

I anticipate that final publication can happen in time for the Halloween season 2025, which—sadly (as this period should instead extend throughout the year)—is the time when people expect to see horror collections. Irrespective of my lament, we’ll take advantage of that publishing window.

This schedule will give us all time to promote the book (with me doing the heaviest lifting I can manage). I will be participating in conferences, planning for a release that includes ARC copies to key reviewers and booksellers, and will be building a marketing plan to make the best use of the time we’ve got to make the project go off as strongly as possible. And I’ll need your help and suggestions, of course.

The last thing I wanted to share at this point is that I’m considering asking our authors to be a part of a small and private community for contributors that would do something that I’ve never heard of, if it exists: a cooperative effort, of sorts, in which authors might offer one another feedback and contribute opinions on the cover design, layout, and future anthologies. If you’d be interested in such a thing, please let me know. More to come on this last point.

Thanks for everything.

steve

As always, I’m as open a book as I know how to be. Send me questions: editor [at] whisperhousepress [dot] com.

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