To date, there have been some brilliant questions about From the Body. I thought it might be helpful, then, for those looking to get involved, if all of the FAQs were listed in one space.
That said, I am happy to update this page on a rolling basis. If there's something about the project that you'd like more information on, please don't hesitate about reaching out to me using the Contact box at the bottom of the page.
Does every submission have to feature food?
Absolutely not. Food is one of the recommended topics for the anthology, but this isn't a must for every submission. I appreciate that not every has a troublesome relationship with food - thank goodness - so not everyone would want or need to feature food talk as part of their work.
Does every submission have to feature reference to the body?
Again, absolutely not. Similarly to food, I know that some people have brilliant relationships with their bodies, so this may not be a topic every author would like to touch upon. It's an option, but it certainly isn't a must.
Are you only accepting submissions from people with diagnosed eating disorders, or those with disordered eating habits? | Are you trans-exclusive? | Is there a space in the project for disabled bodies?
From the Body aims to be a project that represents all bodies. The food reference, and the changing relationships many of us have to food, stems largely from the diet culture rhetoric that has blossomed at speed due to the pandemic. To me, though, neither food nor the body are gender or ability discriminate - at least not in this project. I would actually love to have submissions from writers with different gender identities, writers with disabilities, writers with or without mental illness, and writers of colour. From the Body wants a huge range of voices.
Where does the reading fee end up going?
Little did I know in the first instance, but there's a lot of human power that goes into developing an anthology like this one. With that in mind, the reading fee will be going to those spending working hours on the project. That includes me and, I'm hoping, it will cover a token of thanks to the guest authors who have kindly agreed to be part of the project too. From book sales, there will be a 50p donation to our nominated charity, with the rest of the monies going to Valley Press who are kindly putting working hours, production time, and a whole lot of love into the project as well.
What about authors who can't currently afford a reading fee?
There have been some offers of sponsorship for authors who can't currently afford to pay the reading fee, which is really generous and I'm very grateful to those who have offered this.
I don't want anyone to be excluded from this project. So if you can't currently afford the reading fee, please do contact me on the From the Body email address (fromthebodyproject@gmail.com) and we'll see what can be arranged.
Equally, if you'd like to be added to the current list of sponsors for the project then it would be great to hear from you. Please do get in touch: fromthebodyproject@gmail.com
For those who have work selected, will there be a contributor's fee paid?
Given that this is a charity anthology, there won't be a contributor's fee paid for those who have their work selected, no. However, Valley Press have kindly offered two free copies of the anthology to everyone who has their work selected and featured as part of the project.
What's the nominated charity for the project?
50p from every anthology will be donated from Valley Press to BEAT: The UK's eating disorder charity. I owe a lot to this particular charity and, as From the Body is very much a passion project for me, I wanted to try to find a way to give something back.
If you'd like to know more about BEAT and the work they do, you can access their website here.
That said, I am happy to update this page on a rolling basis. If there's something about the project that you'd like more information on, please don't hesitate about reaching out to me using the Contact box at the bottom of the page.
Does every submission have to feature food?
Absolutely not. Food is one of the recommended topics for the anthology, but this isn't a must for every submission. I appreciate that not every has a troublesome relationship with food - thank goodness - so not everyone would want or need to feature food talk as part of their work.
Does every submission have to feature reference to the body?
Again, absolutely not. Similarly to food, I know that some people have brilliant relationships with their bodies, so this may not be a topic every author would like to touch upon. It's an option, but it certainly isn't a must.
Are you only accepting submissions from people with diagnosed eating disorders, or those with disordered eating habits? | Are you trans-exclusive? | Is there a space in the project for disabled bodies?
From the Body aims to be a project that represents all bodies. The food reference, and the changing relationships many of us have to food, stems largely from the diet culture rhetoric that has blossomed at speed due to the pandemic. To me, though, neither food nor the body are gender or ability discriminate - at least not in this project. I would actually love to have submissions from writers with different gender identities, writers with disabilities, writers with or without mental illness, and writers of colour. From the Body wants a huge range of voices.
Where does the reading fee end up going?
Little did I know in the first instance, but there's a lot of human power that goes into developing an anthology like this one. With that in mind, the reading fee will be going to those spending working hours on the project. That includes me and, I'm hoping, it will cover a token of thanks to the guest authors who have kindly agreed to be part of the project too. From book sales, there will be a 50p donation to our nominated charity, with the rest of the monies going to Valley Press who are kindly putting working hours, production time, and a whole lot of love into the project as well.
What about authors who can't currently afford a reading fee?
There have been some offers of sponsorship for authors who can't currently afford to pay the reading fee, which is really generous and I'm very grateful to those who have offered this.
I don't want anyone to be excluded from this project. So if you can't currently afford the reading fee, please do contact me on the From the Body email address (fromthebodyproject@gmail.com) and we'll see what can be arranged.
Equally, if you'd like to be added to the current list of sponsors for the project then it would be great to hear from you. Please do get in touch: fromthebodyproject@gmail.com
For those who have work selected, will there be a contributor's fee paid?
Given that this is a charity anthology, there won't be a contributor's fee paid for those who have their work selected, no. However, Valley Press have kindly offered two free copies of the anthology to everyone who has their work selected and featured as part of the project.
What's the nominated charity for the project?
50p from every anthology will be donated from Valley Press to BEAT: The UK's eating disorder charity. I owe a lot to this particular charity and, as From the Body is very much a passion project for me, I wanted to try to find a way to give something back.
If you'd like to know more about BEAT and the work they do, you can access their website here.