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Some of the things DSP did with UNSPEAKABLE HORROR that seemed to work:

1. Pay professional rates;

2. Aim for a mix of established "name" talent, reputable midlisters, and some worthy new talent. Why the latter? First, it's the right thing to do for the genre. The genre needs new voices, and the small independent presses are the perfect vehicles for discovering that new talent. Plus, some of the new voices you discover will, in turn, invest their own time and energy in promoting the hell out of the project for you (in some cases much, much more than your name talent). Plus, plus...it's just good karma! ;

3. Don't go cheap on the cover artwork and design;

4. Be prepared to distribute many more review copies than you'll actually get in reviews. Take the time to thank reviewers and the editors of the publications in which they appear --- reviewers for their time and effort in reviewing the book, editors for making space for the review in their publication and/or buying the review in the first place. As grateful as I was to Michael Rowe for the well-crafted review of UH he wrote for FANGORIA, I was equally grateful to Tony Timpone for buying the review from Michael in the first place and then making room for the review in his magazine.

5. Establish very clear, detailed submissions guidelines. This cuts down on repetitive questions (and even then, expect some) and gives potential contributors a clear idea on what they can expect from you --- and what you expect from them. As a result of doing this, questions were intermittent at worst;

6. Treat your contributors with respect and be author-friendly. Start by acknowledging receipt of submissions (nothing worse than wondering if your submision has been received). Stick to the response timeframes established in your guidelines and communicate if you fall behind. (We do this quite easily with the establishment of a dedicated blog for each project.) If you are passing on a work, endeavor to provide feedback to the author. It can be a killer on your time, but establishes a line of communication with a potential contributor for a future project. Once you accept a work and have contracted with the author, take the time to establish an email list and send periodic updates to the group. The UH anthology was released in December 2008; our first contributor updates started in August '08 and are still going out when a review appears or something special happens. Again, the idea here is to keep the project on your contributor's radars. Those updates will then be posted, in many cases, on your contributors' websites, blogs, and social sites;

7. Invest in a book trailer. I can't speak with certainty in terms of what our UH trailer did for sales, but I can tell you that 31% of the traffic to the Dark Scribe Press website in the months immediately preceding and following the book's release came from sites and blogs where the book trailer had been distributed and posted;

8. After our research (which included asking for sample books from numerous offset and POD printers), we opted for offset printing over POD. For us, it was a matter of quality and consistency;

9. We minimized our slush by requesting a formal query prior to submission. This enabled us to weed out quite a bit of material that a) wasn't what we were looking for in terms of theme and b) was poorly written based on the writer's demonstrated ability in the query. Writers who routinely send off their trunk stories every time a new market opens up will be discouraged if they have to take the time to draft a formal query;

10. Be professional. Keep details regarding submissions to yourself. Don't think yourself clever by lampooning some misguided newbie on your public blog. Even if it's not immediately realized, it'll be bad for business and bad for your reputation. Publishing is an industry, not a playground on which you should be building yourself up by tearing others down. It's about networking and building connections. Remember: you never know where future paths may cross.

11. First impressions count. Do it right with your first project. Know what you're doing before you make public announcements; otherwise, you just look incompetent to potential contributors and readers. This isn't trial-by-error, feel-your-way-along-in-the-dark-as-you-go. It's research, game plan (budget, marketing, editorial and production schedules), investment, image, quality product, and then quality improvement to see where you can improve on the next project. In the end, how well you do these things will work toward establishing your reputation in the industry.

12. Be open to constructive criticism, tactful with less-than-constructive criticism, and generous in sharing any praise with those you've worked with on a project.

13. Pay any success forward in whatever small way you can.

~ Vince

Lisa Morton wrote:

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I think Vince has just taught a Master Class in publishing with that post!

LOL! It was a little long...sorry!

~ Vince