I love this idea ! I've been thinking for a while of pulling together three or four different anthologies by genre based on Hive posts I've done in the past.
For the ISBN, they aren't crazy expensive, and I'd favour owning on ourselves rather than getting trapped into Amazon's ecosystem. That way, we could offer a variety of formats; KDP, other e-book, print on demand, or even print a few on spec in order to do in-person sales & signings.
For the financial model, if we had (say) five Hivers each contributing two stories of roughly equal length, I'd be happy to pay a fifth of the ISBN and cover art cost, although I don't think I could stretch to covering the cost of editing right now.
But if a fellow Hiver was doing the editing, how about the five authors cover the other up-front costs and we work out what the editor should fairly earn. Then, revenue is split 6 ways until the editor has been paid after which it reverts to the revenue being split 5 ways. Or just a 6-way split all through (possibly fairer on the editor, who is taking a gamble that it makes enough to ever pay their wages !).
We might need to also say that the revenue split is after channel fees (Amazon especially takes a huge whack), and maybe say that a fixed percentage is taken off the top for pre-agreed marketing costs.
Marketing might be a combination of on-Hive, plus whoever of us has the biggest YouTube, TikTok & Instagram channels, in-person signings at bookshops & bookfairs, possibly Facebook ads, and maybe even getting to Hive meetups and bringing a few copies to sign & sell.....
Yeah, we could use our platforms to make videos and talk about it. We could even record production meetings and could also do a short video on self-publishing and the trials and tribulations we go through to do it, as a short YouTube documentary.
Across Hive, I'd say we could gain a bit of a following for doing it and rally some support for what we're doing.
5 writers with 2 stories each would be really managable, and as for the editor, if they were up for taking an even share that would be great. It would be ideal to keep it all inhouse here on Hive, which I'm sure there are artists and potential editors here.
Because this idea is beneficial for Hive, I'm sure across the whole community we could have a wit round €2-€5 each to help pay for this. If not though, between the 5 writers we could cover it.
I think I read before that 10 ISBNs are between €250 - €500, we would need one for paperback, hardback, and ebook, which would mean we would have 7 to use on the next book(s)
I love the idea of doing signings, especially at Hive events. If we picked up momentum, we could potentially get this book on shelves in a real shop, rather than relying on Amazon, which would be amazing.
There is a local bookshop in my town, and I know the people, so I'm sure if I approached them they would take a few copies.
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