Yog’s Law
I am a firm believer in Yog’s Law; money should always flow toward the author. Things like “poetry contests” where everyone who enters is a winner and gets published in the collection, which is then sold back to the entrants have always bugged me. I don’t want The Best of 2009 #fridayflash Anthology to be like that. While the anthology will be available for sale, probably both as an ebook and as a POD, I don’t want the participants to have to pay for a copy of it.
So, everyone who submits a story to the anthology, whether they get accepted or not, will receive an electronic version of it free – probably as a PDF. I cannot offer you a free copy of the POD simply because physical books cost money to produce and ship, and I can’t afford that. So, while money won’t flow toward you, at least it won’t flow away from you either.
Genre Request and Judging
I added a request that you include the genre on the same line as your title. The reason for this is I will ask all judges to identify any genres they prefer not to judge. It makes no sense to me for someone to judge a genre they do not read or like. If you already submitted without the genre listed don’t worry about it. I’ll figure it out. It will just make life easier on me if it is included from now on (but won’t get you eliminated if you forget).
Second round judging will be done by a panel of judges selected by me. So far Steven King and Dan Brown have not volunteered. I hope that’s not too disappointing.
I reserve the right to select up to four “Editor’s Choice” works for inclusion over and above what the judges decide. That does not necessarily mean there will be four Editor’s Choice stories. But there might be.
Editing
We now have four volunteers for editing who have rather extensive editing experience. They include newspaper copy editors, anthology editors, and editors-at-large. So far they are all fellow #fridayflash writers. We have an amazing pool of talent here folks. You impress me every week. If you have experience editing, I’d love to hear from you. You do not have to be a #fridayflash contributor to be a volunteer.
Editing will mainly consist of line edits. Spelling and grammar errors will be corrected without reservation. More substantiate edits will be passed back to the author for coordination and revision. The author will have the final say. It’s your work.
Don’t Cry For Me
I am not going to finish NaNo in time. Don’t weep, wail, or gnash your teeth. It’s OK, really. I came to the realization a few days ago that there is no way on Earth I am going to finish my novel by November 30th. There is simply too much going on that commands a higher valued demand for my time. Something had to give, and NaNo was the something.
As soon as I made the decision I felt a great sense of relief wash over me. I told my wife I felt “clarified.” The novel will continue, and will most likely get completed, but on my own time in my own way. I wish the best of luck to all my NaNo friends and encourage you to carry on. I will most likely be right in there with you next year.
~jon
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Good thoughts on all of that!
Without you Jon a lot of us wouldn’t even be writing for #fridayflash – yes, me. It was you who first encouraged me to contribute, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. I know I speak for everyone when I say Thank You Very Much for all you do for us writers!
Question about genre – are we including the “be surprised” category in the anthology, or will that be eliminated to make it easier for you to decide which judge to give the piece to?
I’ve no doubt you’ll finish that novel either.
The purpose for collecting genre is assign judges appropriate stories. The ones that come in without genre will get an email from me asking if they would like to categorize their story. If the email goes unanswered, or if they don’t want to categorize their story then it will get assigned for judging at random. So it will behoove authors to indicate genre so a judge that hates a given genre does not end up judging it. I don’t think this will be a serious problem for anyone, as there are many people who like to read any genre.
~jon
I already submitted entries without genre – oops.
No oops. It won’t effect your submission at all. The only reason I want the data is so I assign stories to appropriate judges.
~jon
BTW, You can shoot me an email with the genres and that will work fine.
~jon
I like your thinking regarding this anthology, Jon. I believe, with the care you are putting into it, this will be a very respectable book.
I will submit works, I assure you. I am still pondering which ones to choose – not because I have such terrific works that it’s just *hard*, you know? :-} I want to submit the best I’ve got, because I know the pool from which the selection will be drawn contains really great stories.
But, there won’t be any small bright creatures. I am hoping to have other plans for him/her/it.
Again, thank you for the entire #fridayflash effort. It’s quite an inspiration you’ve had. Nice work.
I think I am with you on the NaNo thing. That novel will be completed, but this November? Likely not. I will try again with a different novel next year, but for now, with Thanksgiving, work, and household stuff happening. I don’t cry for you. Instead, I offer a hearty handshake and a pat on the back for trying and being man enough to admit it before me that we just couldn’t get it done this year. Cheers!
Having never before heard of Yog’s Law, I say thank you for enlightening me and vouch my agreement!
Glad you clarified yourself
Nano’s just a goal. The important thing is to write, and it seems to me you do plenty o’ that!
And glad you clarified re genre. Some of my stories genre-hop, so I might have to categorise my subs against several genres. I’m pretty sure there won’t be any application of the ‘western’ genre to my stories