A
Pizza My Heart: An Anthology
by Various Authors
Genre: YA Fiction Anthology
Release Date: February 9th 2017
Hocus Pocus & Co.
Summary:
by Various Authors
Genre: YA Fiction Anthology
Release Date: February 9th 2017
Hocus Pocus & Co.
Summary:
Gooey cheese and warm pepperoni, with a side of kissing and
murder.
A Pizza My Heart is a quirky and fun anthology that crosses all genres. Fifteen extraordinary authors have united to
tell stories of mystery, mayhem, romance, danger, deceit…and pizza.
Sometimes spicy, sometimes cheesy, but always delicious, A
Pizza My Heart invites you to explore life, happiness, and the pursuit of pizza.
Stories Include:
A Slice of Adventure by Maria Carvalho
Between Slices by Andy Grieser
Fresh, Hot, and Deadly by Rena Olsen
KissingDancingPizzaMURDER by Darci Cole
Kneadful Things by Jenna
Lehne
Love Pizza No. 9 by Vanessa
Rodriguez
Madame Miraval’s Pizza Place by Kelly deVos
Password Is… by Jolene
Haley
Pizza on the Brain by Emily Simon
Pizza Buddy by Brian LeTendre
Pizzamergency by Brett Jonas
Survival Pizza by Rebecca
Waddell
The Last Stop at the End of the World by Jamie
Adams
The Pizza Guy by Jessi Shakarian
Where There’s Pizza by Jasmine Brown
Guest
Post:
How to
Publish an Anthology
By Jolene
Haley
I love pizza. Always have and always will. And one day I
thought—wouldn’t it be so cool if there was some sort of pizza anthology (pizzathology, if you will)?
I wasn’t sure if anyone would want to participate because I wasn’t sure
that other people shared the same level of pizza obsession that I had. So I put
out a call for pizza stories, not really expecting to get any, and I got fifty
amazing stories! I narrowed them down (it was so hard!) into what you see today
for the A Pizza My
Heart pizzathology—fifteen
amazing stories from fifteen amazing authors and all of them revolve around
something very important: pizza!
The nice thing about anthologies is that YOU normally don’t have to
write all of the stories in them. Normally, if you write all of the stories in
a book, it’s called a short story collection (and that’s another post for
another time). For those who are new to this altogether, an anthology is a book
or collection of stories, usually written by different authors, with a common
subject thread.
If you really love a certain type of story or if you can picture
something you would love to read but you can’t find, consider putting out your
own anthology. The cool thing is that you can put eBooks out for almost no cost
to you these days.
Here is what you will need to consider if you
want to put out an anthology:
1.
What will
be the common thread?
Will these be a book about pizza, like my
Pizzathology? Will this be an anthology about space? Romance? Think of what
kind of stories you want your anthology to be about.
2.
Who will
be editing?
I have been the editor for all of my
anthologies and I’ve loved doing it. But if you do not want to be the editor, if
you have a friend or know someone who loves editing and is great at it, put out
those feelers! Or, if you have the money, you can always hire a professional
editor to help you.
3.
What
guidelines will you have for your future authors?
You need to think about your guidelines and
post it when you put out the call for stories. How long do you want your
anthology stories to be? Normally 1,000 – 3,000 is my guideline. What about
other things. Any specific setting? Time? World? Going for any specific vibes or tone? Looking
for a specific target audience? Be clear in what you’re looking for so you can
get the best stories possible and the authors know what you are looking for.
Here is a link to my original call for submissions so you can see how I did it.
4.
What kind
of cover will you have?
Amazon Direct Publishing has Cover Creator that allows you to make a cover for free for your book.
There are a gazillion stock photograph websites out there that you can get
images from. Or, you can always consider hiring a cover artist. Our cover
artist for A Pizza My
Heart is Haley
Crosby and she
completely killed it with the type of cover I envisioned and the vibe I was
going for! She’s amazing and so easy to work with. Check out her art work. It
blows my mind.
5.
Will you
provide payment to your authors?
I’m a fan of paying your authors for their
work, even if it’s a flat fee. The authors in A Pizza My
Heart were paid a
flat fee. However, some people are happy just getting their work and their name
out there. Whatever you decide or can do, make sure to be clear up front.
6.
Where
will you sell it?
Decide if you’re only going to sell on Amazon
or Barnes and Noble, etc. Amazon is my favorite place to sell books because you
don’t need to purchase an ISBN for eBooks and that saves money if money is
tight. Also, in my opinion, Amazon has a wider reach than most places.
Once you figure these things out you are set to go and can start working
on putting out your very own anthology! It’s a fun thing to put together and,
especially in this case, the authors and our cover artist make it even more fun
because we’re all so excited.
I asked a few authors in the A Pizza My
Heart anthology for
tips and thoughts on writing and what makes a good anthology. Here is what they
had to say.
Tips from
the Authors
Maria Carvalho
Probably stating the obvious here, but it's important to stick to the
theme and the target audience. Don't try to take a story you've already written
and then tweak it to make it fit the theme; instead, let the theme inspire you.
I love writing for themed anthologies because it's a fun challenge to come up
with something that has to incorporate a specific idea, and that tends to spark
my imagination and lead me to stories I never would have thought of otherwise.
I think a good anthology is one that has strong stories, each incorporating the
theme in a different way and in a unique voice, that all work together to form
a cohesive whole.
Jamie Adams
I approached the anthology in pretty much the same way I
approach my books—by asking "what can I do that will be most
unexpected?" Whenever I have a general concept, I almost always
immediately discard my first 3-5 ideas about how to bring that concept to life.
I find those ideas are too easy, too general, or too close to a version someone
else could tell. After I discard those, I consider their opposites, and then as
I write I look at each turning point and ask if I want to do the expected or
the unexpected. Sometimes I go with a more predictable path, because who
doesn't love the slow build?! Other times I go for the shock and awe option,
but I never let myself assume a story must go a certain direction—especially
when a whole group of amazingly talented people are taking on the same task!
Rebecca Waddell
Finding a theme that speaks into my soul the way pizza does
is a great way to start writing an anthology story. A good anthology story is a
good story all by itself.
Like any flash fiction, it speaks to the theme as well as
capturing my attention and making me feel things. The characters need to
capture me and pull me into their world.
*****
A
Pizza My Heart will be out on Amazon February 9th, 2017, which is
National Pizza Day!
We’ve got a special pizza promotion happening if you pre-order
or buy it in the first two weeks. You can get the entire thing for only 99
cents. That’s less than a pack of gum these days! After that, it will go up to
its normal price.
If pizza isn’t your thing, there are some amazing anthologies
out there and I highly recommend checking them out if you are looking for fun
reads that tie together.
If you have questions, feel free to check out my website for more tips or
reach out to me on Twitter!
Here are some of my
favorites from people all over the writing world:
About the Publisher:
Established in 2014, Hocus Pocus & Co. loves to bring unique
voices and stories to fruition.
Publisher
Links:
Cover Design by Haley
Crosby
Join the book buzz using hashtag #Pizzathology
Blog Tour Organized by:
1 comments:
Thanks so much for having us on the blog!
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