5 Reasons to be Featured in an Anthology

Last summer a bright spot during the pandemic was the call for submissions to a new anthology being created by London author Rosemary Boyd. I had been wanting to be part of an anthology to add to my publishing kudos and jumped at this chance.

A couple of years earlier, however, I had turned down a request to be part of another writer’s dream and that had left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. The person who contacted me wanted me to write a section of a book about women hanged in Ontario, specifically the part about someone right here in my home town.

I was really excited to research this history but the more I asked him about the project, the less enthused I became. He was going to edit my work, a seemingly good idea, but then I asked for his writing credits. He gave me none. I asked for written details of exactly what he expected and what my part of the book’s proceeds would be. He wanted to have complete control over my work and he would not pay me or the other contributing writers a nickel for what looked like a lot of work with no say in anything.

I declined.

With my fifth book on its way to publication, I had a full plate and was happy. Then Rosemary’s call came out for submissions and my interest in an anthology was resurrected. I particularly liked that I knew Rosemary to be honest and fair. The 101 contributors each wrote something short. I wrote about the pandemic being a time for reflections and my thoughts during that time. My essay turned out to be about my amazing mother and her tremendous effect on my life.

Rosemary’s book is called 101 Things to Ponder During a Pandemic. You can contact her for a copy by replying to this post and I’ll forward your email to her. Here is the book on Goodreads.

5 Reasons to be Featured in an Anthology

1. An anthology puts your work alongside that of many other writers and helps find new audiences for you.

2. You have a chance to work with other editors and learn from them. I was interested to see the mid-section of 101 Things… for its unique method of displaying one writer’s thoughts.

3. You have the chance to read other authors in small pieces, always adding to your own writing knowledge and experience.

4. This gives a writer a fresh outlet while not using up too much of her time. When you consider my books often take two years, a week to write the required piece, edit, proof, rethink it and finally submit it is not too bad a time investment.

5. Being part of a much larger work helps a writer hone those skills of working with others and having respect for others’ work. Getting lost in our own work and not keeping up with other writers’ publications could be very limiting. As John Donne said we are part of the whole. “No [one] is an island.”