I’ll donate a few copies of Login Accepted digitally and to be named in my second or third book depending on when the contest goes live.
What kind of giveaway are we talking about here? A collection of short stories by different authors where all proceeds to go charity? I think we should start with a rather concrete idea and work from there. For example: We are looking for at least 6 short stories by different authors (but the more the better). They must be stand-alone stories (no prior knowledge of the 'world' necessary). They must be 'safe for work', because we are trying to appeal to a mass audience, etc. Plus, a preface for readers new to the genre will be helpful, where the 'editor' discusses what LitRPG is and what to expect from the different stories. If we have a clear 'this is what we are looking for', then it's easier for people to volunteer and pitch in (or make suggestions)
Yes, that's exactly what we need. There's enough of us here we could easily make a short story collection - of course we'd have to trust the person running it would actually give the proceeds to chairty (which you can easily do by sending out a sales record).
So it looks like the course of action is something like this: 1. Pick a person to be in general charge of things. 2. Decide on a charity to donate to - Child's Play was suggested, and I'd like to throw in http://www.ablegamers.org/ as a possibility as well. 3. What is the format? The easiest would probably be a bundle of short stories, to be sold as an ebook, with the monthly profits posted so everyone can see them & the whole of the donation going to the chosen charity. 4. Write out the parameters for the story - length, rating, etc. Probably should keep it family friendly as possible? 5. Should the authors be given compensation, or should we ask them to write a story for free? I realize that might be asking a lot since people depend on their writing for a living, perhaps a minimal payment like $20 USD for first reprint rights? The authors should definitely each get a page in the book that can be an author's bio with links to their books, that's only fair. 6. Advertising - someone should be in charge of spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter, Royal Road forums, and other applicable platforms that call for story submissions. 7. Set a deadline - what is a reasonable length of time to ask for a short story, say 5,000 - 20,000 words? A month? 2 months? 8. Gathering the submissions, editing. For me using google docs would be easiest for editing. Maybe also a Trello board to keep everyone organized. 9. Formatting the book (as noted, I'll donate a cover). 10. Advertising AGAIN to sell the book.
Great action plan! My thoughts: 3. What is the format? The easiest would probably be a bundle of short stories, to be sold as an ebook, with the monthly profits posted so everyone can see them & the whole of the donation going to the chosen charity. I agree this is probably the best way to go about it. 4. Write out the parameters for the story - length, rating, etc. Probably should keep it family friendly as possible? Probably 5,000-15,000 words? I agree with family-friendly. 5. Should the authors be given compensation, or should we ask them to write a story for free? I realize that might be asking a lot since people depend on their writing for a living, perhaps a minimal payment like $20 USD for first reprint rights? The authors should definitely each get a page in the book that can be an author's bio with links to their books, that's only fair. I'll write one for free 7. Set a deadline - what is a reasonable length of time to ask for a short story, say 5,000 - 20,000 words? A month? 2 months? 6 weeks? Potential problems and further thoughts - We want this ebook to present the genre in the best possible light, so we need to make sure the writing is a) of very good quality, b) be understandable even to non-gamers but not so 'introductory' that it turns off actual gamers. Tread carefully here. Honestly, someone needs to have the authority to say "No, this is not what we're looking for", and writers who choose to participate must be mature enough not to get butt-hurt. Maybe do an 'adjudicating panel' thing to select stories (if we can get stories written in the first place, that is). - Should there be a 'theme' / 'mood and tone'? When someone got 14 directors to do 14 shorts on 'love' and stitch them into a film, it was a complete mess. - I still think an 'editor's note' to introduce each story will be a good idea. People already familiar with LitRPG can skip these introductions. - LitRPG short stories face this challenge of having to build a rich-enough game world for interesting play but simple-enough so that readers can quickly grasp it in the limited amount of words. This might be harder than it seems when it comes to writing. - Maybe ask writers to write "a short story set in their existing world" -- like a side story. This way, if the readers are intrigued by their world, it's free advertisement for their main work. And they don't have to build their world from scratch. Beta readers unfamiliar with the world can then read the stories as stand-alone stories and give feedback on whether it's too difficult to understand.
An editor's note and intro would definitely be in there. And writing a story in their existing world is a fantastic idea, the writers get some free adverting for their generosity.
