Comments, questions & suggestions about our upcoming writing contest are welcome & encouraged.

This is the tenth part of a multi-part series devoted to our plans for a writing contest. To read this from the beginning or to see a full list of posts as they are posted, please refer to this page.

Since we are still in the planning stages, be aware that any of the following is subject to change at any moment (though I doubt it).

Whether they be positive or negative (though tactful), we would like to hear your comments, questions, and suggestions. Unless there is a need to respond at length, this will probably be the last part to this series. I believe I have covered everything in general.

At the time of writing this, 31 people have expressed interest in this project. I would like to thank each and every one of you for doing so. I hope this continued information has excited that interest even further.

There will be a few extra perks for those that have signed up early, which you can still do for a while yet. Another form will be used to officially sign up for the project. That post will also officially announce the prompt that the short stories should be based upon. Those that sign up before this time will be sent an email which will contain the prompt, giving them a little extra time to work on their short story before everyone else is updated. I don’t know how long they will get, but I would guess at this point it would be at least a week, maybe longer.

Another perk will be preference in advertising or anything else we might do for you. Those that donate and those that sign up early will both get preference with display ads, Twitter advertising slots and more. Those that have already expressed interest in helping with graphics, editing and so forth will be considered first, though we won't turn anyone away from helping us. There will always be something new to work on. So, let us know sooner rather than later.

The official sign up post will also announce whether or not there will be a cash prize. The donations that I have received at that point plus whatever I will personally match will be known by everyone (well, at least a total figure, that is). The prize at that point will not go lower than announced, though it could increase with further donations. Sometime soon I will put up a paypal donate button. All donations received between now and the conclusion of this contest will go toward the contest. Bec and I are not taking any for ourselves or for the crew’s plans in general. So, please donate, even if it is just $5. It will go toward a fellow writer or writers.

Even if you aren’t officially interested in advertising this project on your blog, we encourage all to tell their writer friends about this. Remember: the main goal of this project is to establish connections within the self-publishing community. We want to find people who are interested in self-publishing and support their efforts, and we have a few other things in the works along this line of thought, which you should be hearing about soon.

The only major change that has been made is to the judging system, a nice chunk of the original post no longer up-to-date. I’m not deleting it since some of the information is still good, and I want there to be a paper trail of sorts to show how I wish to operate: open and honest. (Or as best as I can).

We’ve gotten several votes in about which judging system you would like to use. If you have not had a chance to vote on that, please do so here.

Please fill out the form on this page to express interest in helping us with our upcoming writing contest. Be sure to include details in the comment box.