The poll registered a resounding "no" on postmortem content in the book. That's cool. There was some interest in other editorial content (a foreword, or some form of "author's note" attached to the stories), but I think this is too much work to pull together. I'd considered just having a short note about each of the winning stories, based on an edited version of the postmortems, but even though all the winning entries were postmorted, the author's comments vary greatly from CRwM's annotated text to fleece's trademark minimalism to the more traditional narrative of the story-behind-the-story. So, unless anyone has any further suggestions, I don't think there'll be any content beyond the challenges themselves and the stories.
Which Stories Get Included
This was the most confusing part of the poll; the "more the merrier" option had a plurality, but the "best of" options outweighed that one, with people undecided on which filtering system they wanted.
So, my new proposal (which I'll use unless there are any strenuous objections) is a combination of fleece and 256's suggestions from the comments with a dash of Scrymarch: Taking the poll as a starting point, the winners of the WFCs (those who wish to participate) collectively decide where the cutoff point for inclusion lies for each round.
If anyone who participated in the WFCs did not get a story chosen by the above means, the editors will pick at least one of their entries for inclusion as well.
Then I'll take the list that comes out of this process and seek permission from the authors before finalizing the table of contents.*
Copyright
Creative Commons seems to be OK with most people, but I'll confirm this with authors when I contact them about using their stories in the collection.
Illustrations
I have nothing to add except to point out this comment of spacejack's.
Covers
I'll try to work out some way of incorporating thumbnails of the winning covers on the back cover, again with the creator's permission.
Digital Version
There'll at least be a PDF available for download. Other versions may be possible, depending on demand as well as my time and ability to produce them. Feel free to request a specific format, though it may not actually happen. Or if I can't/don't do it, maybe someone else will.
Money and Profit
Enough people thought the idea of making a small profit for hulver from this was a good one, so once we have a sense of what the book will cost to produce, we'll look at the pricing again and see if people are willing to chip in a few more bucks to a good cause.
OTHER THOUGHTS, COMMENTS, inquiries, suggestions, etc? Post below.
--
* The managing editor at my very first job had a mini-rant about how there's no such thing as a "table of" contents. It's just "contents." In the book, page vii (or whatever) is the "contents page." I have a lot of lingering neuroses from that first job, and this is but one of them.
| < Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi on the Risks of Female Masturbation | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' > |

