Yesterday I went to a meeting of a local writing group. I’ve been before; I already know I can find more useful criticism here. I just wanted to socialize.

They asked me what I was writing, and I hemmed and hawed, and said, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

I spend so much time on fimfiction because I’ve learned so much and met so many talented, hard-working, and helpful people here. I’m proud to be a part of it. I imagine sometimes that this is what Paris in the 1920s felt like, when half of the future great writers of the Western world were gathered together in a single city. (Hey, I can imagine.) Yet when I meet other writers in other places, I pretend to be a newbie who’s written nothing rather than endure that special scorn reserved for fan-fiction writers.

I want to change that.

I’ve tried to get outsiders to read some of our best stories, but something about pony makes their brains seize up faster than a Mazda RX-8. My friends won’t read my stories, let alone those I recommend. I told an editor I know at Tor that I could introduce him to great new unpublished writers. I sent him links to stories by four authors. He never read them.

I kept thinking that we need one book of great non-pony stories by pony writers. One book that people who are just a little curious about fan-fiction can read, even if they’re hoping only for something to ridicule. I tried to get the Tor editor interested in producing an anthology, but he was afraid of legal problems. He seemed to think that anything we wrote would necessarily infringe on something, as if we were incapable of anything original.

Then I thought: Why not do it myself? Choose some non-pony stories from pony writers, get non-pony art for them from pony artists, put them in an e-book, publish it on Amazon for about $5, and advertise it on fanfiction sites and on the authors' blogs.

Then I put it off for a year.

No more putting it off. The pony train isn’t going to last forever. When it finally stalls out or runs off the rails, I don’t want that to be the end. I hope all of us who’ve worked so hard here can transition to a post-pony world. I understand as well as anyone how comfortable it is once you’ve settled in here, but it’s a temporary refuge. Like Paris in the 1920s.

So I want to do this anthology. I want to gather at least a dozen great stories by ponyfic or fan-fiction authors, bundle them into a book, market it, advertise it, and sell it. And I want the authors to make real money doing so, even if it isn’t very much, so they experience that “I got a check for my writing!” feeling. If we advertise it on fimfiction, we should sell at least a few thousand copies, I’d think.

But I want people outside fandom to read it. I want a write-up in Wired Magazine saying the future of fiction is online and these are the people who will write it. I want ads on goodreads, and a piece in The New Inquiry that uses the words “ponies” and “decontextualizing” in the same sentence.

If it sells enough, well, we could do it again. Even start a small publishing house. Publish original novels. Bypass the mad world of traditional print publishing entirely.

But first, I need stories.

Some big questions you can help answer are:

- Will it be just ponyfic authors, or authors of any kind of fan-fiction? I’m open to all, but I don’t know how to find good authors from other fandoms. It would be probably end up with 15 ponyfic authors and 2 from all other fandoms, which would be silly. Do any of you know how to find the best authors in other fandoms?

- Should it be a themed anthology? If themed, what might the theme be, and should I pick it before or after choosing some stories?

- What kind of stories would not be accepted? “Pornography”, but how about other explicit stories?

- Should it be open to everybody, or by invitation only?

On the last point, if I’m going to read all the submitted stories, there are three key factors:

A. I can only read so many stories, but

B. I don’t want to spend an entire day sending PMs to each author I want to invite, and

C. I don’t know if anybody will actually submit anything for it.

So my policy at present is this: I am open to submissions from anyone who:

- has published a story on EQD, or

- has over 1000 watchers, or

- has published a story in a market that paid at least 3 cents a word, or

- has a story in the Vault or the Royal Canterlot Archives, or

- has been reviewed by Seattle's Angels, or

- has gotten 3 or more stars from Chris (though I think that implies being on EQD), or

- has gotten a "Highly Recommended" from PresentPerfect, or

- has been invited to submit by me

I will sort unread submitted stories according to what I know about their authors, acknowledge receipt, and read them when I’m able to read them. That might mean I read a device heretic story when it comes in even though there are already others ahead of it, or even that I never read some of the stories, if there are a lot. Sorry. If I get a lot of stories, I’ll ask others to help screen them. For money, or a percentage. None of this volunteering business. I want to do this like grown-ups.

I’ll give fair warning:

- I want these to be great stories. Stories that people will want to write review columns about, and not in a “Dog rides bicycle” way. “Good enough for Equestria Daily” is not what I’m aiming for. No slight on EQD, but they publish a story every day. Hell, they even published one of mine today. I don’t want one-a-day stories. I want one-a-month stories. That said, “good enough for Equestria Daily” does mean “good enough to submit”.

- I plan to be a bastard activist editor, the kind who might send things back and ask for changes, like John Campbell in the 1940s (or EQD in 2013).

- I will keep accepting stories until I have enough great stories, or I give up.

I will start accepting submissions immediately. I may later announce here and on the google forum (below) that I’ve chosen a genre or theme based on what’s been submitted so far.

Seriously, I need help thinking of a themed anthology that could work. I don't think a genre is a good idea; the purpose is to show that we have good authors, not good hard SF authors or good epic fantasy authors. And part of my pitch to literary people is that fan-fiction defies genres. A theme that's broad enough to encompass a wide variety of genres would be best.

To submit something,

1. Join the Google forum beyond-ponies-forum.

2. Write a non-pony, non-copyright-infringing, non-pornographic story or poem in Google docs that is under 25,000 words.

3. “Share” the doc and set it to “Anyone with the link can comment”, because I eventually want the authors of accepted stories to critique each others’ stories.

4. Email a message with the following to [url=mailto:[email protected]][email protected][/url] and [url=mailto:[email protected][/url][email protected]:

        - Mail it from an email address that I can reply to & can share with others

        - Your fimfic username and a link to your user page

- Mention whether you've got a story on EQD, in the Vault, in the Royal Canterlot Archives, etc.

        - A short description of the story

        - The link to your doc

You can put “Copyright <your name>, 2014” on the doc if you want. That isn’t done in the Real World, but I don’t mind. Sending material to me is not selling it. That requires you to sign a contract. You can submit a synopsis instead of a story and get feedback, but "Trixie and Twilight get lost in the Everfree and have to learn to cooperate" is not a synopsis. A synopsis for a 20,000-word story should be at least 1000 words. (I'm making that number up, because in the Real World you don't write a synopsis for short stories.)

There are also questions about legal matters, anonymity, and how to define, divide up, and distribute profits, which I’ll address in a separate post if stories start coming in. I’m thinking no up-front payments, with profits split up 20-25% for reading, choosing, & editing stories, commissioning & selecting art, & formatting; 5-10% for marketing and promotion write-ups outside fimfiction and personal blogs; 40% for writers; and 30% for artists. If we use Amazon, authors can use Amazon affiliate links and get an additional commission on copies bought through their blogs. Legal crap (incorporating, filing 1099 forms, writing contracts, sending checks, figuring out how to pay people outside America) and advertising will count as expenses before profits, and I expect to front that money myself.

Simultaneous submissions are okay, but say so if you’re doing so, and email [url=mailto:[email protected]][email protected][/url] immediately if you sell a submitted story somewhere else. Avoid previously-published stories. Most likely I’ll want to purchase first world electronic rights, and I can’t do that if you’ve already published it electronically. And your ability to promote your story to your followers is useless if you’ve already given them a link to a free online copy.

I feel like an ass for posting two grandiose schemes in two days. This is the one that’s more important to me. I need stories from you folks to make it happen.