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

First and foremost, I hope to spread the word (and get y’all to spread the word, if you’re willing) that the Kickstarter project page for Costs of Living (due out 9/1/25) is live and absorbing—er, embracing all readers who would follow for updates and for the project’s official launch in late January 2025. Please click on “remind me” on the project’s HQ.

If you have suggestions about improving the page, the rewards tiers, or anything else, send them my way. I need all the advice and assistance I can get.

Secondly: The call for submissions for Dread Mondays (our next anthology, due out 10/31/25) is going well. We’ve got over 100 submissions in the first two weeks, and WOW. That’s a lot.

Planning my evaluation timetable has been something I’ve thought about, wanting to address it with care, honesty, and a reasonable set of goals.

I know it’ll take a while to look through subs, and I want to ensure that those submitting latest get the same traction as those submitting first, so I’ve chosen not to begin reviews (other than the obvious “not a good fit” responses) until after the deadlines have all passed. That means I won’t begin reading until November 30th, 2024. I’ve told people to expect responses in the new year, so let’s hope I can keep my promise to respond within 45 days of the call-closing date.

I’m also keeping my eye on a budget. If I were to put together something approaching my 80,000-word initial anthology (Costs of Living) at .06 / wd, I’d be shelling out many thousands that I do not have. (If you want to be my benefactor, I’d love to produce larger volumes at professional pay rates!) This in mind, I’m likely to do something like half of that length for this second release in as many months in late 2025. That’ll be more doable, and I can keep the professional pay rate. And so while there are 35 stories in the first antho, there’ll be more like 12 to 15 shorts in the second. We’ll see. I can also spread out payments and acceptances with contract offers over several weeks or even a few months (during which time the kickstarter might contribute something as a stretch goal or some such) to make accepting more stories feasible. Again, we’ll see.

til next time…