It has been decided that there will definitely be an on-line supplementary Daikaiju! anthology made up of original giant monster tales that aren't in the book version. Consider it to be More Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales 2. This is a sort of bonus for readers of the anthology and a marketing strategy -- as well as offering an alternative market to the large number of authors out there who seem rather keen to explore the genre.

However, we still have many issues to resolve -- some of which may never be resolved. But it is something to strive for, I guess.

Some of the questions the idea raises are listed below.

Will the stories included here be made up of submissions to the anthology that we shortlisted but could not include in the final cut, or would we make a new call for submissions?

Response: That rather depends on the authors involved. The truth is there are going to be very good stories that we logistically won't be able to put in the anthology because of space, compatibility or other considerations... and it would be a shame if these never found a home. But we can't ask specific authors about it yet, as we won't be making decisions on the final composition of the anthology until after November 30, the deadline for submission --- and before then we won't know what's "left over" (if anything is). I have been, and will be, keeping a record of stories we have sent back that would fit into a proposed e-anthology, so I will be able to contact authors about their stories when and if it becomes reasonable to do so. The idea is still a relatively new one and we are not willing to commit to it yet.

As for calling for submissions specifically for an e-anthology, that might happen. If we take a few steps in the direction of an e-anthology and it works, perhaps Daikaiju! Giant Monster e-Tales will become an ongoing proposition.

What would the cost implications be?

Response: Still undetermined. The print anthology itself is likely to exceed the publisher's budget, so cost may stop the e-anthology project from happening.

Would the proposed e-anthology be available to all or restricted to those who buy the book version?

Response: That's a tough one. It would be nice to offer something extra to purchasers of the book version, but attempting to set up a restricted site may be beyond our capability. We can envisage ways of doing it, but do we want to? Of course, anything we set up wouldn't be high security, but that wouldn't matter much. And we would like to offer a few stories to the net-surfing public as an enticement to seek out the book anthology. So there are lots of aspects to this and we will continue thinking about it.

Time issues?

Response: While we would plan to put a few stories up to coincide with the printed anthology -- hopefully to encourage people to buy it -- we wouldn't envisage a full e-anthology being available until well after the book is out. It is, after all, an after-thought.

Another issue relates to how much time an ongoing e-anthology would demand of us, the editors. In terms of our own writing, the anthology has been quite a millstone and will only get more demanding as we approach actual publication. So as part of our evaluation of the e-anthology we will have to ask ourselves whether we want to commit ourselves further. At the moment, I'm inclined to feel positive about the idea; but, again, I'm not agreeing to anything definite until all the implications have been weighed up.

Do you out there, the potential readers, have any comments to make? Writers (including contributors to the anthology) should feel free to do likewise.

Response: All comments for or against -- and any suggestions -- would be gratefully received. Just email us at daikaiju@roberthood.net (to avoid being deleted as spam, put the words "Ezine comment" as part of the heading).

 

One contributor has written in to comment on the above. He thoroughly approves of the idea but had two questions (and a suggestion):

"Firstly, would the e-anthology become a regular e-zine, as opposed to a one-off project? I think this would provide an excellent opportunity (and niche market) for all those monster fetishists out there."

Response: The answer here is... maybe. I do like the idea of an ongoing e-zine. It is going to depend on response to the anthology itself and the editors' endurance levels.

"On that note, would the e-project (anthology or zine) be a paying concern?"

Response: Hopefully. The level of that payment is likely to be lower than the already abyssmal payment level for the anthology itself, but I would like to offer contributors something.

"Finally, while I know it's none of my business, if you are looking to do some cross-promotion, you may consider a limited edition bonus CD with a PDF version of the bonus stories, to be sold with the print antho. CDs are dirt cheap, creating an attractive label for the CDs is also easy and inexpensive, and the actually PDF (or e-book) format is simple if you have the software."

Response: Another good idea... and we will put it under consideration.