Guess what we forgot to do back in the summer???
Yep. I totally forgot about our annual Christmas Story Contest.
I know this is short notice. I know a lot of you are working on NaNoWriMo. But—
I hope you'll find some time to write and submit a story for the...
LDSP 2010 Christmas
Short Story Contest
Short Story Contest
Submission Rules:
- FOLLOW rules carefully! In the past, I've let some of you slide a little. But since this is for a publication, I'm going to be as sticky-picky as I am when receiving real submissions. Why? Because this is a REAL submission!
- Write a short Christmas story in any genre. Stories should be positive and family friendly. I reserve the right to refuse any story I deem inappropriate for this blog/book.
- Maximum word count: 3,000; no minimum.
- Story must be previously unpublished. Stories published anywhere other than your personal website or blog are ineligible. (That includes books, magazines, e-zines or other contests.)
- Stories submitted for previous years' contests are also ineligible for this contest. (But may be selected for publication in the book.)
- Paste entire story into an e-mail. NO ATTACHMENTS, please.
—Put "Contest: Title of Story" in the subject line of your e-mail. (Example: Contest: A Christmas Gift for Mary)
—At the top of the body of your e-mail, type your name, mailing address, phone number, e-mail address, word count and whether you are a published or unpublished author (defined below). (Example:
LDS Publisher
123 My Street
My Town, ST 00000
123)456-7890
ldspublisher@gmail.com
word count: 1990
published author
—Skip a line, then put the title of your story
—Skip a line, then paste in your story.
- "Published"—as in published author—is defined as someone paid you money or comp copies (in the case of magazines) for any story or book written by you. (So either a publisher paid you, or you self-published and people bought your book.)
- If you are a published and/or agented author, check with your publisher and/or agent before submitting. They will want to know the information listed under "Book Details".
- You may submit more than one story. Send each submission in a separate e-mail. Include all your info, as outlined above, with each e-mail/story.
- SUBMIT your story any time between NOW and Saturday, December 18, 2010.
- I will post the stories beginning on December 1st, in the order that they arrive.
- We will have Reader Voting for the best stories, as we have done in previous contests. The winners are guaranteed a spot in the book. Voting will take place December 20–24th. I will post voting rules then.
- You may tell your friends that you've submitted a story and to please go vote, but DO NOT tell them which story is yours. We want the stories to win on merit, not personal popularity.
PRIZE: Publication in the next LDSP Christmas Anthology
- There will be four winners:
Readers' Choice/Published Author
Readers' Choice/Unpublished Author
Editor's Choice/Published Author
Editor's Choice/Unpublished Author
These four winners are guaranteed a spot in the anthology.
- As usual, I reserve the right to not award one of the Editor's Choice awards if I feel none of the stories deserve it.
- Other stories in the anthology will include my choices from this and previous Christmas contests held on this blog, selected based on providing a variety of stories and book size.
- Anthology will be published before Christmas, either 2011 or 2012, depending on the number of quality submissions received. All authors to be included in the book will be notified six months before publication.
Book Details (Read Carefully):
- By submitting a story to this contest, you are agreeing to all the conditions below.
- Authors shall give LDS Publisher One-Time Publishing Rights for inclusion of story in the as yet untitled Christmas story compilation. This is the non-exclusive right to publish your story in this compilation, in various formats, and to retain your story in the compilation until LDS Publisher takes the compilation out of print.
- Authors shall retain all other rights and copyrights to their stories and may sell this story to any other party with a publication date after release of the compilation.
- Compensation for use of story in this compilation shall be: one free e-book copy of the published book sent to author upon publication; author's name listed in the Table of Contents and on the first page of the story; and rights to use this compilation as a publishing credit. No royalties, advances or other monetary compensation will be given to any author. Author may not print or sell the e-book files.
- Compensation exception: If sales of the book exceed costs to produce it, LDS Publisher shall notify authors and arrange an equal royalty split between all authors, illustrator and typesetter. Conditions and terms of royalty and payment shall be determined at that time.
- LDS Publisher shall assume no rights to any future works by author.
- LDS Publisher shall have full editorial rights to the stories included in the compilation, including, but not limited to, title changes, editing for space and content, design and layout of book, title of book, and book cover.
- The compilation will be available for purchase online in both print and e-book formats at a TBA future date.
- The compilation may or may not be made available to bookstores at discounted pricing, but in any case, no marketing will be done by LDS Publisher to guarantee placement in any bookstore.
- Authors agree to help spread the word about the contest and the book by any or all of the following methods:
—Word of mouth to friends and family
—Website/blog buttons, links, posts, etc
—Facebook, My Space, Twitter, or other networking sites or forums
Help spread the word! Post about the contest on your blog, in your forums, and e-mail all your friends.
Buttons for your blogs:
Standard Sidebar (220px)
Smaller Sidebar (125px)
10 comments:
Yeah!
Does this mean you'll finish the critiques on the Book of Mormon contest submissions soon?
Any wild supposition about the publication day/month/year?
:-)
In case I submit and my story is included. A girl has to ask.
Marsha, that depends on the number and quality of submissions. If I have enough good stories to make a book, expect to see it for sale in time for Christmas 2011.
Do publishers send rejection notices anymore? The story I'd like to submit to the contest has been melting in a slushpile for three months now. How soon can I reclaim it and send it to you?
Okay, stupid question, just so I don't get this wrong. If I have been paid for a non-fiction piece for one of the content mills (associated content), does that make me "published"? I'm guessing not, but I just want to make sure.
I posted your little button on my blog, but I can't get the link to work so I just linked it to your page.
~T~ It depends on the publisher. Send them a quick email asking about the status and letting them know you want to submit elsewhere if they're not interested.
Erin, yes. You are a published author. Claim that title with pride! :)
Jennie, sorry. I'll see if I can figure out what's up with that.
May I encourage my creative writing students to submit a Christmas Story? (I have 5 students-3 are LDS)
Betsy, ABSOLUTELY!!
Authors need not be LDS to participate, but their stories do need to be in line with LDS standards and teachings.
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