FELT TIPS - The Untold Story
TIME'S UP! Last night (Valentine's Day) at midnight ET, the call to submissions for FELT TIPS, the world's first and greatest charity anthology of office-supply-related erotica closed. We're done. It's over. Got a story? Tough! Self-pub it. If you make six bucks off it you'll still make more money than you will with me as, you know, none of us are getting paid. In all seriousness, I want to thank every last FELT TIPS contributor for donating their time and talents to this totally ridiculous brainchild of mine.
Special thanks to Allie Sanders for her incredibly dedicated hard work as my fearless editoral assistant. Allie takes the first pass at the accepted stories before sending them to me for final edits. The girl has mad editing skilz, and I couldn't have asked for a more talented or more dedicated assistant. Follow her on Twitter @alliesanders
Special thanks also to Andrew Shaffer who is lending his incredible artistic talent to FELT TIPS. He will be illustrating a handful of stories for us and helping with the marketing. With him as the head of our marketing team, we're sure to be a success. Follow him on Twitter @andrewtshaffer
Also big thank you to Amber Skye for our beautiful splash page and Lucy Felthouse for helping with promo.
I had hoped and dreamed we might get 30 to 40 stories with 40 being my dream goal. We blew that goal out of the water and received almost 50 stories if you include mine which I haven't written yet (deadlines do not apply to editors ;). I can't promise every single story will make it into FELT TIPS, but there will be room for everyone on the FELT TIPS website. If I've already told you that you're in, then you're in. I have about fifteen stories left to read. Those writers will hear from me in a week or two.
Also, if you've already been told you're in, you'll be getting a basic contract in March that says you'll grant us one-time non-exclusive rights to publish your story in the print and eBook version of the book.
A few people have asked if FELT TIPS will be in bookstores. Probably not. Almost nothing self-pubbed ever makes it to the bookstores. Will it be print-on-demand? Most likely. If it's not in bookstores, then there's no reason to bother with a large and expensive print-run since most POD companies can print and ship a copy in two to four days. I'm exploring all our options but having worked in five bookstores, I know how few stores carry erotica at all and how even less carry self-published books. But you will be able to get the book in print form and/or eBook.
I'm hoping FELT TIPS becomes something of a viral sensation. We're certainly unique. I'm not sure if anyone has ever attempted a charity anthology of erotica. Once we get close to our release date (Fall 2012 if all goes well), then I'll ask all the contributors to post buy links and blurbs on their websites and blogs.
As I've said before all profits will go toward our charities (one for school supplies, one for struggling adults trying to get back into the workforce). We will, of course, have to split part of our cut with the company that prints us. Andrew Shaffer, my agent Sara Megibow, and I are exploring all our options to find us the best deal so we can maximize our exposure and our cut of the proceeds.
Finally I want to say thank you to everyone who had anything to do with FELT TIPS - Twitches who retweeted the calls to submission, bloggers who posted our splash page, everyone who sent me their fantastic ideas. This is already the best erotica anthology ever. Every last story I've read has been wonderful and creative. The stories hit all genres--horror, sci-fi, romance, thriller, and pure smut. The glorious Cara Peterson even wrote a story in Twitter DMs. Some are laugh-out-loud funny. Some are super sexy and serious. I didn't impose any rules at all and yet every last story was classy and tasteful and hot as Hell. You guys are amazing, and I appreciate your hard work more than I can say.
I'll keep you posted on any further developments. If we pull this off and make enough money to justify all of the work, we'll do it again next year. I'm thinking a sports theme. SCORING! Balls, Sticks, and Good Hard Pucks. If you read it, you will come...
Love,
Tiffany, The World's Most Unprofessional Editor
PS Any questions? Hit me at littleredridingcrop AT gmail DOT com.