Hey, I am a little confused about how anthologies(?) work. If I'm correct a publisher publishes an anthology from a bunch of short stories collected from one or more people. But I get confused about the part if say, I submitted a short story to the publisher, and they decide to publish it in an anthology with like 7 other short stories written by other authors. Anybody have any ideas how they do royalties or how they do that? Thanks,
first of all, it's a sad fact that many 'anthologies' are scams that make their money on those whose works are included [and their friends/family] purchasing a book that never will be seen in a book store or library... so, be sure to check the publisher out very carefully... start with p&e, then go over their website looking for any signs of it being less than legit... and google for feedback from unhappy contributors/victims... if it's a legit one, they will explain how contributors are paid... some pay a flat fee and some pay royalties, split among the contributors...
Mammamaia is correct in that most anthologies explain up front what they will pay. Some pay nothing other than contributor copies. Some pay a flat rate (either per word or per story). Some pay a % of the royalties to each contributing author.