Announcing The Authors… And Clarifications
Wow, has it really been just two weeks since we launched The Fantasy Writing Contest site? It seems incredible that so much has happened, and yet, we still have two weeks until the contest opens and around 340 days until the Fantasy-Faction Anthology begins shipping and becomes available for download.
In the 14 days we’ve been up online we’ve had some really exciting developments too. Already, we have been able to announce five very, very exciting writers: Myke Cole, Mark Lawrence, Jon Sprunk, Michael J. Sullivan and Adrian Tchaikovsky! For those of you unfamiliar with these authors, these are some of the finest authors currently active within modern fantasy. Also, we have already set up profile pages for these authors, so click here to familiarise yourself with them and their existing work!
The response to these names has been phenomenal. People have praised us over Twitter for acquiring such renowned authors for the anthology – however, we have to stop you a moment and say we can’t take the credit. These authors; Myke Cole, Mark Lawrence, Jon Sprunk, Michael J. Sullivan and Adrian Tchaikovsky (as well as the others still to be announced) have all subscribed to this project because they want to support us (Fantasy-Faction) and YOU (Undiscovered Fantasy Writers). This anthology has been set up in order to merge the successful and the undiscovered in order to give you a push towards where they are now.
Oh, and just to tease you, we still have two more authors writing short stories still to announce! That’s before we even mention the ten authors/industry experts who are currently in the process of researching and putting together articles… Oh, and trust us when we tell you this – you will not believe some of the names that will be released as the months go by.
So, it seems 14 is an important number today because it is just 14 days until the Fantasy Writing Contest opens its digital doors for your short stories. Are you nervous? excited? Good! Because we are too! We don’t know what on Earth you are going to send us, but we are ready to read anything you do. This would probably be a good place to clarify a few things and answer some questions we’ve had over the past few weeks we’ve been promoting the site. Some of them I should mention are our fault, because we changed some of the rules at the last minute and other things I shall mention are just bits we want to clarify.
Firstly: What is The Word Count? The Word Count is 8,000 words. Originally, we looked at 10,000 words, but after speaking with various authors and getting their opinions as well as looking at page counts and how much a reader could get through in a single sitting – we decided 8,000 was a far better count for us.
Secondly: What does published mean? This is a question we’ve been asked a lot. Again, our fault because we didn’t define it within the rules. We are going to define published as someone who has printed a novel of more than 1000 copies. Therefore, if you have ever written a novel and had more than 1000 copies printed then we are sorry to say that you cannot enter.
Thirdly: Do I keep story rights? YES! You Keep the story rights… However, we do require a single year of exclusivity. That means you will not be able to post your story online or for entry into another anthology for one year. Some people will think this is generous – the reason we are allowing this is because of Patrick Rothfuss… “Huh?” Well, basically, he submitted a single chapter of his Wise Man’s Fear into an anthology as a short story. Obviously, when the anthology was published people read it, loved it and he actually got a book deal because of it. Should the anthology have refused to let him have copyright back then Wise Man’s Fear would not have been the book it was. We don’t want to stop writers producing longer works based on their short stories in the future.
Forth: This Entry Plus Thing? It is as good as it sounds. If you opt for entry plus, you will receive a full critique of your story and our thoughts (as judges). The whole point of this ‘entry plus’ option was that, having myself entered writing contests, writers could find out why they have not won. What used to drive me mad when I entered these things was the not knowing… why did I not win? What could I have done better to win? We have made entry-plus optional, but should you want it – it is there.
Fifth: I can’t wait! Can I please, please just sent my entry now!? No! However, we do want you to come hang out with us a bit… chat with us a bit… therefore, please connect with us
Here: Facebook
Here: Twitter
Here: Goodreads
And Here: Our Fantasy Reading & Writing Forums
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We hope that clears matters up, but please, if you have any questions just drop as an e-mail through the contact section (you have to scroll right down to the bottom of the page to find it) and we will get back to you!
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Stay tuned, because next week we will be giving you some behind the scenes information on our PR & Marketing work… It is more interesting then it sounds - honestly. Then, the week after that we will be giving you a sneak preview of each story the authors have sent us!
