12 Random Questions - time to do some homework...

So now begins my journey into the wide wide world of ... what was it? Oh yeah.. publishing the 2008 Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs. Did I mention that we have received 30 submissions already? Things are going well so far... but...

As I've said more than once - I'm a complete novice/amateur when it comes to publishing. No, wait... i have ZERO experience as a publisher; which makes me worse than a novice. I have never even taken a single class in marketing, publishing, or creative [anything] in my whole life. I'm a scientist.. what the hell do I know about publishing a book?

The closest experience I have with publishing has only been in a professional context as an author of a research paper; which usually involves sending in manuscripts to a journal - getting them reviewed - making edits - and getting it published. Other than line art issues and journal specific document formatting; I don't really have to worry about much beyond that.

Now, with the Anthology announced and in the works, I suppose _i'm_ sort of the publisher; but I;m flying by the seat of my pants in a vague direction that ends with a book being published. And this book will only come to fruition as a result of loads of hard work by myself and all the very kind people who have volunteered to help. You know you who are... raise your hand!

But hard work is nothing without knowledge of what the heck you are doing. In short, I need to do my friggen homework. I've done enough homework to know what I need to do more homework about - and I have a fairly good sense of what the major issues (hurdles) will be thus far as well - so I guess it is not all bad. If fact, its quite good i think.

In the short term, here's a list of topics (brainstorming now) of things I know less than I should about -

1. How to marketing a book, publication or other print doodad to your target audience?
2. How to protect myself and the bloggers who are contributing to the Anthology legally from license, copyright, and trademark infringement?
3. How to organize an anthology?
4. How to design the internals of an anthology?
5. What the design/layout (page by page) will look like?
6. Will there be a logo for OPEN GAME TABLE, and what will it look like?
7. What will the cover art for the Anthology look like? Would anyone design it for free?
8. How many pages will it be?
9. How much money of my own am I willing to throw at this project?
10. Is LuLu distribution via Amazon.com enough? If I'm interested in the possibility of brick-n-mortar FGLS shops picking it up, how will I do that? Is being listed in Books in Print enough? What about RPGNow.com, would they carry it?
11. Whats the best way to promote the Anthology without sounding like a broken record? Whats the best way to get people to submit quality posts to the Anthology?
12. If start up costs become an issue, is sponsorship a reasonable solution?

All these things are percolating up and down the transmission lines in my head daily now. I feed on unanswered questions... and one of the aspects about this project that I like the most is that it is something I've never done before. And for me, pushing the envelope of what I know how to do is what it is all about...

How would you answer these questions if you were me?

What would be your #1 priority issue to get resolved?

Please leave a comment here, or if you want to help then please head over to Open Game Table and join in the planning and discussion of the Anthology.

Of course, this may all fall on deaf ears since it IS Friday and the blogosphere is dead on Fridays... now for the footnote you'll be seeing a lot of for a while...

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Are you an RPG blogger? Or a reader of RPG blogs? Then submit your favorite blog posts from any blog to OPEN GAME TABLE: The 2008 Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs. More information about this in-the-works project can be found here.