FIC Calling for first round submissions
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SLWatson
Mar 25, 2009, 2:51:29 PM3/25/09
to Trek Twelve days of Xmas
This is what I'm posting on the many and sundry groups I'm involved
in. ::grins:: Feel free to join Ad Astra's forums, even if you're not
planning on joining the archive.
Well, many of you doubtless remember the Trek Twelve Days of Christmas
last year. This year, we are taking something of a different format:
Namely speaking, I'm in charge of the fiction category. The plan is to
eBook stories and maybe create a fanzine.
I'm opening up submissions for the first round of eBooks right now.
The qualifications are:
1.) Stories must be complete. Preference given to full novels, but
story anthologies and novellas are all right as well.
2.) Stories that require the least amount of editing get picked first.
A lot of my time last year was spent editing, which is perfectly okay,
but for the first round I'm only going to be taking stories that are
very sound. That way, when I do take works needing more editing, I'll
have a better idea how much time I'll have to work.
3.) Cover concepts are allowed, but the final decision's gonna have to
be ours. This is a massive volunteer effort, and it takes a lot of
time to create both the books themselves and then the covers as well.
4.) Initially, one submission at a time. I don't mind publishing
multiple books from one author, but let's start off with one apiece.
So, if you have a novel, novella or anthology, feel free to point me
in that direction and I'll let you know. If your works need edited and
get rejected from the first round, I'll let you know what you should
try to correct before submissions for the second round open. Remember
that this, unlike your everyday ficcing, is an actual publishing
venture... even if we don't get to profit on it.
Coordination for this project, or at least my part in it, is going to
mostly be run from Ad Astra's forums (http://
forums.adastrafanfic.com). While I'll certainly take submissions from
non-members and anyone, from any Trek site, that's probably where
you're going to be able to participate best with this project, since
that is now my 'home base,' and where the cover renderer (Mike) as
well as the other editors (maybe Teddog) all are in one place, as well
as last year's participants.
in. ::grins:: Feel free to join Ad Astra's forums, even if you're not
planning on joining the archive.
Well, many of you doubtless remember the Trek Twelve Days of Christmas
last year. This year, we are taking something of a different format:
Namely speaking, I'm in charge of the fiction category. The plan is to
eBook stories and maybe create a fanzine.
I'm opening up submissions for the first round of eBooks right now.
The qualifications are:
1.) Stories must be complete. Preference given to full novels, but
story anthologies and novellas are all right as well.
2.) Stories that require the least amount of editing get picked first.
A lot of my time last year was spent editing, which is perfectly okay,
but for the first round I'm only going to be taking stories that are
very sound. That way, when I do take works needing more editing, I'll
have a better idea how much time I'll have to work.
3.) Cover concepts are allowed, but the final decision's gonna have to
be ours. This is a massive volunteer effort, and it takes a lot of
time to create both the books themselves and then the covers as well.
4.) Initially, one submission at a time. I don't mind publishing
multiple books from one author, but let's start off with one apiece.
So, if you have a novel, novella or anthology, feel free to point me
in that direction and I'll let you know. If your works need edited and
get rejected from the first round, I'll let you know what you should
try to correct before submissions for the second round open. Remember
that this, unlike your everyday ficcing, is an actual publishing
venture... even if we don't get to profit on it.
Coordination for this project, or at least my part in it, is going to
mostly be run from Ad Astra's forums (http://
forums.adastrafanfic.com). While I'll certainly take submissions from
non-members and anyone, from any Trek site, that's probably where
you're going to be able to participate best with this project, since
that is now my 'home base,' and where the cover renderer (Mike) as
well as the other editors (maybe Teddog) all are in one place, as well
as last year's participants.
Kirok of L'Stok
Mar 26, 2009, 5:05:19 AM3/26/09
to Trek Twelve days of Xmas
I don't think the Fan Fiction stream needs too many gimmicks to gain
acceptance because you are doing something here that isn't being done
elsewhere.
There could be those who might say - and I'm playing Devil's Advocate
here - that you are hijacking something to your website that should
remain open. There's a precedent - I used TrekUnited pretty heavily
and will probably continue to do so for some subjects. I used the
StarTrekPaperModels Yahoo Group for Paper Models and in 2007 the
Gaming stream was on Hailing Frequencies Open.
I think the onus should be on the event and NOT who does what. Give
hosting privelidges to whoever fields the best bid at the start of the
year in the same way that they decide the Olympics or the WorldCon.
Just taking the fan fiction stream, if in future years a dozen small
fan fiction publishing groups have sprung up - and part of our purpose
is to encourage newcomers - then the hosting could be shared or
rotated or something else worked out that is beneficial to all.
Besides, what's the alternative? To build up The Twelve Trek Days as
some uber-group with its own forums and message lists? When I asked
for advice on the Conventioning list <http://conventio.ning.com/forum/
topics/online-convention> and Fanboy replied, "One of the biggest
obstacles I see is that you're trying to build up an online community,
have it be active for 12 days, and then shut it off for the next 11
1/2 months. That's going to have trouble competing with a message
board that's up and running year-round."
To which I answered, "The target audience is the Trek fan production
community and Trek fandom in general. To generalise my experience from
the past two years I've found that individuals and smaller, newer
groups were interested in what we were doing because we represented a
wider audience than was dropping onto their sites. The larger groups
and individuals though were politely stand-offish for the most part."
"One of the things I've had to battle has been the perception that The
Twelve trek Days represents competition for their website's hit-count
when in fact , ideally we try to funnel users to the creators
websites. A perfect example was the 2007 Trek paper model and Gaming
days where we had a website that had a general webpage with links to
the host pages. In effect our website is less of a host than a
publicity organ for the different contributors."
"The exceptions were the events that represented *groups* of small
independant contributors like the 2008 eBook day and Music Video day.
In the case of the former I organised the labour involved in creating
the eBooks under the umbrella of TrekUnited publishing (this year Ad
Astra will be the host) which were made available on Issuu for free.
Similarly all the Music Videos were mirrored on our website using the
YouTube embedded viewer. The individual authors were happy to be
published electronically as were, presumably, the MV creators because
there was heavy emphasis on the creators homesite and other works."
I think the aim should be to make the event an enjoyable and
fulfilling experience for *groups* as well as individuals. How can we
expect groups to participate in the event if it is of no practical use
to them and their members? Ad Astra and TrekUnited do not exist for
The Twelve Days of Xmas, they have their own projects, goals and
aspirations.
I think it's perfectly ok to use the hosting of the event as a
drawcard to get groups to host events. I want people to turn around in
2010 and say, "Remember the Fan Fic publishing that Ad Astra did for
that Christmas Trek thingie last year? That was outstanding! I didn't
realise fans could do something like that!" I'd like to say to
prospective groups in 2010, "You get out of it what you put into it!
Ad Astra would never have got mentioned in the NY Times if they hadn't
grabbed the ball and run with it!"
You never mentioned rating of submissions - like we discussed I think
you should open it up to adult ratings this year as long as you use
industry standard labeling.
Go for it guys!
K
acceptance because you are doing something here that isn't being done
elsewhere.
There could be those who might say - and I'm playing Devil's Advocate
here - that you are hijacking something to your website that should
remain open. There's a precedent - I used TrekUnited pretty heavily
and will probably continue to do so for some subjects. I used the
StarTrekPaperModels Yahoo Group for Paper Models and in 2007 the
Gaming stream was on Hailing Frequencies Open.
I think the onus should be on the event and NOT who does what. Give
hosting privelidges to whoever fields the best bid at the start of the
year in the same way that they decide the Olympics or the WorldCon.
Just taking the fan fiction stream, if in future years a dozen small
fan fiction publishing groups have sprung up - and part of our purpose
is to encourage newcomers - then the hosting could be shared or
rotated or something else worked out that is beneficial to all.
Besides, what's the alternative? To build up The Twelve Trek Days as
some uber-group with its own forums and message lists? When I asked
for advice on the Conventioning list <http://conventio.ning.com/forum/
topics/online-convention> and Fanboy replied, "One of the biggest
obstacles I see is that you're trying to build up an online community,
have it be active for 12 days, and then shut it off for the next 11
1/2 months. That's going to have trouble competing with a message
board that's up and running year-round."
To which I answered, "The target audience is the Trek fan production
community and Trek fandom in general. To generalise my experience from
the past two years I've found that individuals and smaller, newer
groups were interested in what we were doing because we represented a
wider audience than was dropping onto their sites. The larger groups
and individuals though were politely stand-offish for the most part."
"One of the things I've had to battle has been the perception that The
Twelve trek Days represents competition for their website's hit-count
when in fact , ideally we try to funnel users to the creators
websites. A perfect example was the 2007 Trek paper model and Gaming
days where we had a website that had a general webpage with links to
the host pages. In effect our website is less of a host than a
publicity organ for the different contributors."
"The exceptions were the events that represented *groups* of small
independant contributors like the 2008 eBook day and Music Video day.
In the case of the former I organised the labour involved in creating
the eBooks under the umbrella of TrekUnited publishing (this year Ad
Astra will be the host) which were made available on Issuu for free.
Similarly all the Music Videos were mirrored on our website using the
YouTube embedded viewer. The individual authors were happy to be
published electronically as were, presumably, the MV creators because
there was heavy emphasis on the creators homesite and other works."
I think the aim should be to make the event an enjoyable and
fulfilling experience for *groups* as well as individuals. How can we
expect groups to participate in the event if it is of no practical use
to them and their members? Ad Astra and TrekUnited do not exist for
The Twelve Days of Xmas, they have their own projects, goals and
aspirations.
I think it's perfectly ok to use the hosting of the event as a
drawcard to get groups to host events. I want people to turn around in
2010 and say, "Remember the Fan Fic publishing that Ad Astra did for
that Christmas Trek thingie last year? That was outstanding! I didn't
realise fans could do something like that!" I'd like to say to
prospective groups in 2010, "You get out of it what you put into it!
Ad Astra would never have got mentioned in the NY Times if they hadn't
grabbed the ball and run with it!"
You never mentioned rating of submissions - like we discussed I think
you should open it up to adult ratings this year as long as you use
industry standard labeling.
Go for it guys!
K
SLWatson
Mar 26, 2009, 12:33:06 PM3/26/09
to Trek Twelve days of Xmas
Re:Devil's Advocate: Oh, they could say it. But considering that I'm
posting a call for submissions on the Omega Sector, TrekUnited, the
TrekBBS, ASC and eventually LiveJournal, it really doesn't hold
water. ;-) But I need a place to coordinate, we have a forum
dedicated to Star Trek fanfic, and most of last year's participants
are already there too, as well as Mike (who does the 3D for the
covers) and Teddog (who's a professional designer), and probably a few
other people who may be willing to help.
The decision to use Ad Astra's forum is one of practicality, mostly.
Given that the userbase is pulled from all of those sites and then
some, I've always taken the view that Ad Astra is more of a hub that
its own insular site. Everyone has their favorite forums, etc; ours
is just a place for them to come together, visit with one another,
help each other out on the creative front. Was never intended to take
any forum's place.
But I'm totally cool if people want to eBook something themselves and
submit it, with their own label. Mine is still ShadowKnight, and on
the books I do, Ad Astra's not going to have any labels -- I'm not
doing this for Ad Astra, but for the Trek Twelve Days and the
authors. We just happen to have a forum to coordinate from and space
to put finished books for full download.
Adult ratings are fine, yep! So long as the stories are of high
quality, they can be whatever rating, and those with an MA will be
labelled as so.
Any suggestions?
-Steff
posting a call for submissions on the Omega Sector, TrekUnited, the
TrekBBS, ASC and eventually LiveJournal, it really doesn't hold
water. ;-) But I need a place to coordinate, we have a forum
dedicated to Star Trek fanfic, and most of last year's participants
are already there too, as well as Mike (who does the 3D for the
covers) and Teddog (who's a professional designer), and probably a few
other people who may be willing to help.
The decision to use Ad Astra's forum is one of practicality, mostly.
Given that the userbase is pulled from all of those sites and then
some, I've always taken the view that Ad Astra is more of a hub that
its own insular site. Everyone has their favorite forums, etc; ours
is just a place for them to come together, visit with one another,
help each other out on the creative front. Was never intended to take
any forum's place.
But I'm totally cool if people want to eBook something themselves and
submit it, with their own label. Mine is still ShadowKnight, and on
the books I do, Ad Astra's not going to have any labels -- I'm not
doing this for Ad Astra, but for the Trek Twelve Days and the
authors. We just happen to have a forum to coordinate from and space
to put finished books for full download.
Adult ratings are fine, yep! So long as the stories are of high
quality, they can be whatever rating, and those with an MA will be
labelled as so.
Any suggestions?
-Steff
Kirok of L'Stok
Mar 26, 2009, 7:11:00 PM3/26/09
to trek-twelve-...@googlegroups.com
SLWatson wrote:
> ... I've always taken the view that Ad Astra is more of a hub that
> its own insular site. Everyone has their favorite forums, etc; ours
> is just a place for them to come together, visit with one another,
> help each other out on the creative front. Was never intended to take
> any forum's place.
>
Some of the achievements we've had over the last two years have been
brought about by cross-fertilisation and people crossing perceived
boundaries
> But I'm totally cool if people want to eBook something themselves and
> submit it, with their own label. Mine is still ShadowKnight, and on
> the books I do, Ad Astra's not going to have any labels -- I'm not
> doing this for Ad Astra, but for the Trek Twelve Days and the
> authors. We just happen to have a forum to coordinate from and space
> to put finished books for full download.
>
As the host that's the best attitude. I tend to kill two birds with one
stone by combining my responsibilities to TU publishing with the Trek
Twelve Days. I'd definitely like participants feel that their
contributions were something they can be proud of. I like to think that
those who were involved in the "Dispatches From The Romulan War" audio
book series in 2007 came away from it empowered - I know that it was a
turning point for me!
> ... I've always taken the view that Ad Astra is more of a hub that
> its own insular site. Everyone has their favorite forums, etc; ours
> is just a place for them to come together, visit with one another,
> help each other out on the creative front. Was never intended to take
> any forum's place.
>
brought about by cross-fertilisation and people crossing perceived
boundaries
> But I'm totally cool if people want to eBook something themselves and
> submit it, with their own label. Mine is still ShadowKnight, and on
> the books I do, Ad Astra's not going to have any labels -- I'm not
> doing this for Ad Astra, but for the Trek Twelve Days and the
> authors. We just happen to have a forum to coordinate from and space
> to put finished books for full download.
>
stone by combining my responsibilities to TU publishing with the Trek
Twelve Days. I'd definitely like participants feel that their
contributions were something they can be proud of. I like to think that
those who were involved in the "Dispatches From The Romulan War" audio
book series in 2007 came away from it empowered - I know that it was a
turning point for me!
Trek United Publishing will contribute at least one book and I'll help
in some way by being part of the production crew overall.
K
capt_nc...@insightbb.com
Mar 26, 2009, 8:49:57 PM3/26/09
to trek-twelve-...@googlegroups.com
Call me internet-dumb. I acknowledge it. What is the process or what is
the E-booking?
the E-booking?
I have two novels and several smaller stories in two series that I would be
interested in submitting. All are currently simple Microsoft Word documents
with no graphics. I have inquired with a local artist about doing sketches
of various charactors but proceeded no further.
FCapt. Jeff Davis
CO - U.S.S. Indiana NCC-79158, SFI
Writer, Publisher, Editor - Imaginations Unlimited
capt_nc...@insightbb.com
Kirok of L'Stok
Mar 26, 2009, 11:51:16 PM3/26/09
to trek-twelve-...@googlegroups.com
Basically, Jeff, it entails electronically publishing your work - novel
or anthology - in different media to a professional standard.
Basically what you want to do is get your story across to as many people as possible in an aestetically pleasing manner. You have them as a MS Word document, which means that you could send it to everyone who has MS Word to read - not everyone has it and its not a very nice way of reading online. The same goes for any other word processor file, OpenOffice, AbiWord, Word Perfect. Basically the major choices are ...
<http://groups.google.com/group/trek-twelve-days-of-xmas/browse_thread/thread/7b990135661a49d4?hl=en#>
<http://groups.google.com/group/trek-twelve-days-of-xmas/browse_thread/thread/b16a4c7538b7aba2?hl=en#>
Gotta run guys! Going into the city for my daughter's twetyfirst birthday bash!
I'll post later (broadband in the hotel room! Mwahaha!)
K
Basically what you want to do is get your story across to as many people as possible in an aestetically pleasing manner. You have them as a MS Word document, which means that you could send it to everyone who has MS Word to read - not everyone has it and its not a very nice way of reading online. The same goes for any other word processor file, OpenOffice, AbiWord, Word Perfect. Basically the major choices are ...
- Txt - Can be read by everyone, even on phones but no graphics or fonts. Checkout Project Gutenberg
- html - Again, covers just about everyone and although you have a choice of graphics and 'Net ready fonts it has no pages and problems printing (NB There's a subset called the Blog Novel <http://blogbookstd-hol.blogspot.com/>)
- pdf - It looks exactly how you formated it to look : page size, graphics, fonts, to be viewed on the Adobe Acrobat viewer online or off and can, in theory, be handed to a printer to be printed out as a book (expensive and copyright problems but it can be done) or printed out yourself as a reasonable self-printed book.
<http://groups.google.com/group/trek-twelve-days-of-xmas/browse_thread/thread/7b990135661a49d4?hl=en#>
<http://groups.google.com/group/trek-twelve-days-of-xmas/browse_thread/thread/b16a4c7538b7aba2?hl=en#>
Gotta run guys! Going into the city for my daughter's twetyfirst birthday bash!
I'll post later (broadband in the hotel room! Mwahaha!)
K
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