Rachel Kramer Bussel is an mb contributor and editor of several anthologies. Have you ever had an idea for a great collection of stories but never knew how to wrangle them? I asked Rachel to share her insights on how to make it work.

I've now edited or co-edited four erotica anthologies, Up All Night, Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z, First-Timers, and Glamour Girls: Femme/Femme Erotica, with nine more on the way in the next year. For most of them, the publisher or a co-editor approached me, but I do also have some advice about acquiring a publisher.

First, you want to figure out what your anthology is going to be about. Not just the general topic, but specifics to be covered within it. Then it becomes sort of like a jigsaw puzzle, where you approach authors to tackle the topics you've set out. You should have some idea of who you want to be included in the anthology, a wish list of sorts, comprised of both writers you know and ones you don't but hope will contribute. If you're pitching an anthology, you should get some of these people on board so their names are attached to the project.

Then you'll want to write a call for submissions, with as detailed instructions as you can manage while also leaving room for those wild card possibilities. I really enjoy writing calls for submissions because you're sharing your creative vision for your project, then setting it free. You want to cover things like word count, payment, how they should submit, but also give them an idea of what you're aiming for with the anthology. The topic but also the style. As in a book proposal, you can refer to other books. You can say, "Like The Bitch In The House but _____." If you've edited other anthologies, you can refer authors to those.

Then you set it loose. Ideally, you want to give people a few months to get their stories/essays in. In the meantime, you should spread the word to everyone you know in case they have a fabulous writer who has a story about just such a topic. As an editor, you're kind of a scavenger, constantly searching for hidden gems. I've gotten some great stories for my books from conversations at parties; someone would be telling a story and I'd grab them and exclaim, "You have to write about that for my book!"

I edited erotica anthologies, so at this point, I have a group of a few dozen writers I approach first when I want stories. I don't always do a public call for submissions, because then you're going to wind up with more submissions than you need, and the chances of the quality being as high as those from your pre-selected group are slim. It's your choice though; if you want to make sure anyone who might possibly have a story hears about it, tell people you know to forward it. If you were writing about, say, nurses, you'd want to contact nursing groups and maybe send it to major hospitals to post on a company bulletin board. You can also ask trusted friends and writers for recommendations. It's up to you whether you want to write a piece for your own book; I recommend it, because it gives readers another chance to get to know you and what motivated you to explore the topic and give your take on something you've clearly thought quite a bit about.

Another aspect of editing is being a bit of a nudge. I know some brilliant erotic writers, such as L. Elise Bland, but they take a bit of coaxing and reminding to produce a story. With them, I know that if they can manage to write something, 99% of the time, it'll be fabulous and I'll want to publish it. But you also have to realize that someone may want to write for your book but have other commitments or just not be able to, so don't get your heart set on writer X when you're working on the proposal, then freak out if they can't submit. That just means you have to do a bit of sleuthing and find someone equally as talented.

Once you've selected all the pieces you want to use in the book, you'll have to go about figuring out a logical order for them, ideally putting two standout pieces at the start and end of the book, and building some sort of progression. Or, you might group them by category. With my anthologies, some of it's calculated and some of the placement is random. I'll try to leave space in between stories that cover a similar theme, like right now I'm finishing up Sex and Candy: Sugar Erotica, and there are two stories about cupcakes, so I made sure they're nowhere near each other. Then you get to reflect on what you've just created in your introduction.

If you don't have a publisher at the outset, you can follow all these steps, then try to find an agent or publisher to work with, or you can do a smaller version, with your proposed outline, wish list, a few sample essays, market overview, etc., and shop it around. The more you have to go on, the better, to show what the anthology will be, but you do want to get a feel for whether the project's viable before you put so much effort into it.

Lastly, I'd say being a people person helps. You will invariably have to reject some submissions, deal with cranky authors, answer countless emails about things people could have found in the call for submissions, etc. But ultimately, it's worth it when you have the final product resting in your hands. I haven't written a whole book on my own yet, but to me there's something extremely satisfying about not just having put out a book, but about having given others the chance to share their stories as well.