Adrian wrote:I don't see whats wrong with anything here. A book is to be published. So what if the stories are online too?
It is even more relevant for the book of Lovecraft influences. The overriding question is will the reader shell out the money for something they can get cheaper somewhere else. Most of Lovecraft's influences are in public domain, and freely available online. That means any potential reader of your antho could just read the stories there, and save themselves the money. Nothing is wrong with reprinting something that is found on the internet, but the editor and publisher have to make that business decision. If they work out the numbers, and it works, more power to them. I know Medium Rare is reprinting many books that are in public domain. Collectors realize they are in public domain, but they want nice copies of them. I still like having a hard copy of books that I like. So the editor/publisher has to ask him/herself whether their collection will be good enough that people will pay for the hard copy, despite the fact that they can read it for free. This requires a good deal of market research. If you have faith in the quality of your antho, and the facts back your faith, that should make the decision easy.
