I’d like to put together an anthology but I’ve run into a dilemma.
Reprinting another writer’s works requires permission and payment. How much? That depends. Who is your publisher? What is the print run? How many pages will be in the book and what will be the selling price? Those are just some of the many questions a typical publishing house will ask before they tell you how much reprint rights will be.
Here’s the problem.
I don’t have a publisher. And I won’t go through the arduous process of finding one unless I know in advance that the anthology will be economical to put together. Why solicit a book deal when you can’t afford to bring it about? I’m left unable, therefore, to estimate what my anthology would cost.
This is what my generation calls a catch-22. It’s a noun and it means “a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.”
Read Joseph Heller’s book of the same name if you want to know more about impossible contradictions. And if you know more about putting together an anthology, give me an e-mail.
