Oh Jeff returns

Would you like your 'Oh, Jeff..." micro fiction to appear in a new book? Looking at some of the fabulous entries to the "Oh Jeff" unofficial challenge (Dec 2024) recently, I wondered what it might be like to put them together into a print publication.

What do you think? If you were one of the entrants, would you like your story or poem included in such a collection? Would you want to show it to friends and family and use it to promote your other work? If you didn't enter, would you be interested in writing a new story for inclusion?

If you are interested, here's what I have in mind.

A selection of the stories that were submitted to the challenge will (subject to author permissions) be compiled into a single volume work and published as a book, in paperback and Kindle formats, using the Kindle Direct Publishing platform.

Rights to each work included would remain the property of each author. Each author would be credited with their name or pseudonym, an author biography, and link to their vocal or other home, if this is what they want.

Complete list of 57 challenge entries

I would include some of my own work and write an introduction to the book. I would do all of the formatting. I would also do my best to get the book noticed but can make no promises as to sales numbers.

Past experience of independent publishing suggests that the chances of this venture being a riproaring success as far as sales are concerned are limited. But there is, as with any literary endeavour, always a chance it will take off. And between us we have lots of friends, subscribers and social media buddies we can enlist to support us.

Would authors be paid?

I’ll need to think about this and cost it out. If I were to pay authors $5 per contribution, for instance, it would cost me up to $300, maybe more. There is very little expense in Kindle publishing as such, but lots of time and effort editing and formatting for publication. To get any kind of interest going it may also be necessary to do some paid promotion.

What I am prepared to do is to commit to sharing any profit on sales above any costs incurred. But not if this amounts to pennies and the odd dollar. We can go into this more if there is any interest in the project.

So how would authors benefit?

The main benefit for each of us would be the opportunity to promote our work. There is always a certain amount of prestige to be had from publishing a book. And don’t we all love to see our work in print? I like to take paperback copies of my books (printed by Amazon) to book fairs and other events. Some I sell but I give away copies too, in the hope that someone will review them or otherwise help get my work noticed.

Again, if sales of the book soar and costs have been covered (unlikely in my view) I will share any significant profits made.

So, what do you think?

Do you like the idea?

Would you like your story or stories to be included?

Would you expect to earn a fee or royalties?

Does it seem like a good opportunity to promote our work jointly?

Any comments, suggestions or questions?

Please do let us know what you think. All comments, views and suggestions will be gratefully received. And please don’t by shy. Let us know if you think it’s not a good idea or if you would have any concerns.

Thanks so much for reading this tentative proposal and thank you again to all the contributors who made the Oh Jeff challenge so successful and such a fun challenge to be a part of.

Best wishes and love to all

Ray