Ok, let’s talk about the Anthology Workshop. This conference is put on by WMG Publishing and is run by Kristine Katherine Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith.

Before the conference, all of us writers were given a series of calls for submission we could write for. Each one had some specifics on the genre and we were told the editor for each anthology, which means if you know the editor, you can write to their interest. The call is insured on Monday and you have until Sunday to turn in a story (yes, one week) per the guidelines. 6 calls, 6 weeks in a row. Most of these were 2-8k, a few had up to 12k for worldbuilding.

1: Ghostly Taverns edited by Mark Leslie Lefave

This anthology is a cross genre collection of haunted taverns. Ghost patrons, ghost taverns, haunted beer, etc. I was unable to write for this one due to a conflicting deadline.

2: Cozy Mystery edited by Chris York

This call specified the mystery had to be set at the beach, but try not to write a downing, that’s really common. I wrote a mystery from the POV of a pet rat and sold this story!

3: MilScifi edited by Kris Rusch and Loren Colman

The wordcount for this call was a bit longer to give room for world building. I wrote a short story in my Queenships world. No sale.

4: Scifi Mystery edited by Kris Rusch

This deadline also conflicted with another I had and I was unable to write for this call.

5: Fantasy Regency edited by Anthea Sharp

The regency call was tough, I don’t consider myself a historical writer. But my Act Of Piracy series is set right in the Regency time period and I’ve been meaning to get back to writing book 3. I wrote a scene I know belongs in the book. It was on Anthea’s maybe list for a while, but ultimately another author’s story was selected. No sale.

6: Halloween Hearts (spooky and romance) edited by Ron and Brigid Collins

This story I felt was the weakest of the 4 I wrote. The romance wasn’t strong enough. No sale.

But Tami, you say, you announced 3 sales, not just 1.

Indeed I did. because while the editors for these anthologies had first pick from the submissions, Dean was also there selecting stories to publish in Pulphouse magazine. This is a closed market, invite only, and the anthology Workshop is one of the few ways to get a story in front of Dean for consideration if he doesn’t already know you and your work.

So while Anthea passed on my Regency story, Dean purchased it for Pulphouse Magazine.

My final sale happened after the end of the workshop. I went to lunch with a bunch of friends, one of whom is an editor for her own series of monster anthologies: DeAnna Knippling. I didn’t sell my Halloween story during the conference so over the lunch discussion, she laid claim to it.

So my final results:

• Cozy Mystery (under my ST Lynn penname)
• Fantasy Regency (very gay, bonus monster) for Pulphouse
• Halloween Monster to DeAnna

I’m overjoyed with these results. You can’t go into this conference expecting to sell, but it’s always a learning experience to see how the decisions were made that got to the final results of sale/no sale.

I received great feedback on my MilScifi story and I took extensive notes throughout the conference. I have an opportunity to re-submit for the MilScifi and I’m going to. That’s due at the end of the month.

By far, the most valuable aspect of this conference is the meetup in the evening after dinner, where the editors and the writers mingle and talk shop until midnight.

These anthologies will be released initially through Kickstarter (then later, wide on all stores) over the next several months. Once they’ve been released I’ll be able to sell reprint rights to other markets.

I’m already signed up to attend this workshop again in 2026.