Better Sex Fiction Contest - What is happening now.
The deadline for story submission was Saturday. We are going through all submissions now and confirming their receipt. This is going to take until Wednesday the 5th (at least). We are working our way through stories and should be done with notification next week. *** Note, we are up to week 5, so we are now 1/3 done. More notifications are going out the week of 11.17. ***
Vote Now
Every week 3 new stories will need your support, so please use the link below to cast your vote. Somewhere in Iowa, Los Angeles, Boston, Canada, Great Britain or New Zealand there is an author who needs your support. Help support a writer this holiday season by casting your vote in the contest with the largest award for an amateur writer. Here is where you can find all 3 stories every week:
http://www.bettersex.com/t-erotic-fiction-contest.aspx
When will my story run?
If your story is selected, we will move it into a "publication slot". We are working on our publication schedule now. Our plan is to notify all authors by 11.21 (we are behind) but it may take a little bit more time based on the number of late entries received. Only the first five weeks of stories are determined as of today. The rest of the contest is being scheduled now based on our reading.
Where should I link to send my voters?
We are using the main fiction page as the hub this time around. This prevents any incorrect links, so all stories will be staged from this link:
http://www.bettersex.com/t-erotic-fiction-contest.aspx
Can I use your logo on my blog?
Yes, in fact we are creating a new version of our logo that writers whose stories have been selected may use since being selected is itself an award. We will also have special logos for Weekly Winning stories, semifinalists and the Grand Prize winning story. We will post those new logos to the main page: http://www.bettersex.com/t-erotic-fiction-contest.aspx
How will you make sure voting is fair?
We've developed a voting algorithm that detects unnatural voting patterns. This algorithm successfully determine there was an attempt at fraud in the summer and we removed the story and disqualified the author once fraud was proved.
How many votes can I cast?
We have blocks on the system that prevent anyone from voting more than once with the same computer. We do allow authors to vote for themselves twice figuring most of us have more than one computer these days, but please do not go to the library and vote on every computer there (this actually happened in the summer). Our safety measures pick up artificial patterns like this and we will be forced to remove your story.
What if My Story is Second?
Vote count is very important. Last year we had to remove a story. When we did that we went to total vote count to determine what story would become the replacement. If your story is second on a week with a very high vote count the contest may not be over for you or your story. This year we've also instituted a "judges wild card" pick for a story that did not win its week but we feel should be in the semifinals. Votes matter, so even if your story is not winning encourage your friends to vote as you never know what will happen.
What Happens now?
3 stories go online every week from now until Valentine's Day 2009. Each week the story with the most votes wins $100, will be included in our 2009 book and gains entry to the semifinals. Every weekly winner is then run off to determine finalists. Finalists go to 3 judge panel to determine the Grand Prize Winner. Our goal is to announce the winner on Valentine's Day 2009.
Erotic Fiction Contest Updates
You may want bookmark our Better Sex Blog http://better-sex-buzz-team.blogspot.com/ since this is where we will post helpful information and contest updates. We will also post updates to our Twitter feed: http://www.twitter.com/bettersexweb .
Martin
No comments:
Post a Comment