***

From : DIYReporter.com <bruce@diyconvention.com>
Sent : Monday, May 2, 2005 2:25 PM
To : jbskaggs@
Subject : DIY Book Festival Adds Categories

| | | Inbox


2005 DIY BOOK FESTIVAL ADDS CATEGORIES

LOS ANGELES (May 2, 2005) _ The 2005 DIY Book Festival has added new
categories for best unpublished/published short story and teenage literature to
its entry considerations.

The fourth annual festival celebrates the success of independent authors and
publishers.

The DIY Book Festival will consider self-published or independent publisher
non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children's books, teenage,
how-to, audio/spoken word, photography, art, comics, 'zines, fan fiction, poetry
and e-books published on or after Jan. 1, 2003.

All entries must be in English and have been self-published or issued by an
independent publishing house that has published less than 50 works since the
entry cut-off point. Please note that authors with iUniverse, Infinity
Publishing and other print-on-demand outlets are eligible for the competition.

Our grand prize for the 2005 DIYBF Author of the Year is $1000 cash and a flight
to Los Angeles for our gala awards ceremony. Genre category winners will receive
a combination of books, software and cash awards.

Submitted works will be judged by a panel of industry experts using the
following criteria:

1) General excellence and the author's passion for telling a good story.

2) The unique use of guerilla marketing tactics to reach a wider audience. This
includes innovative marketing, merchandising, publicity tactics and other
innovative methods of reaching an independent audience.

ENTRIES: Please classify your book and enter it in the following
categories. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each
book.

1) General Non-fiction

2) General Fiction

3) Children's books

4) How-to

5) E-books (word or .pdf file acceptable)

6) Comics

7) 'zines

8) Photography

9) Fan Fiction

10) Poetry

11) Art

12) Teenage

13) Biography/Autobiography

14) Audio/spoken word

15) Best Published/Unpublished Short Story (all manuscripts welcome)

In addition to honoring the top selections in the above categories, The DIY Book
Festival will award the following chosen from submissions:

1) DIY Author of the Year-Honors the outstanding book of the competition.

2) DIY Book Design of the Year - Honors outstanding and innovative design.

3) DIY Independent Publisher of the Year - Honors the top publisher based on
materials displaying excellence in marketing and promotional materials, as
determined by our judges.

FESTIVAL RULES: DIY Book Festival submissions cannot be returned. Each entry
must contain the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact
telephone number. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.

NOTIFICATION AND DEADLINES: We will notify each entry of the receipt of their
package via e-mail and will announce the winning entries on our web site
(www.diyconvention.com) on Oct. 1. Because of the anticipated high volume of
entries, we can only respond to e-mail inquiries.

Deadline submissions in each category must be postmarked by the close of
business on Sept. 25, 2005. Winners in each category will be notified by e-mail
before Oct. 1. Please note that judges read and consider submissions on an
ongoing basis, comparing early entries with later submissions at our meetings.

TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at www.diyconvention.com or may be
faxed/e-mailed to you. Look on the right hand side of this page and click on the
red "register" button underneath "2005 DIY Book Festival." Please contact our
office for fax requests. Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable
entry fee via check, money order or PayPal online payment of $50 in U.S. dollars
for each submission. Multiple submissions are permitted but each entry must be
accompanied by a separate form and entry fee.

You can also enter the contest by phone by calling 323-665-8080 between 10 a.m.
and 6 p.m. Pacific time. Please have your credit card handy.

Entry fee checks should be made payable to JM Northern Media LLC. We're sorry,
but entries must be mailed and cannot be delivered in person or by messenger
services to the JM Northern Media offices.

Entry packages should include one copy of the book; any relevant marketing
material; your official entry form or a copy; and the entry fee or receipt.

Entries should be mailed to:

JM Northern Media LLC
attn: DIY Book Festival
7095 Hollywood Boulevard
Suite 864
Hollywood, CA 90028-0893
Phone: 323-665-8080

AWARDS: Winners of the 2005 DIY Book Festival will be honored at a gala ceremony
held in October in Los Angeles. You do not need to be present to accept your
award or accompanying prizes.

DIY Book Festival winners in each category and their approved guests will be
admitted free to the day's events.The DIY Book Festival selection committee
reserves the right to determine the eligibility of any project.

The 2005 DIY Book Festival is part of the DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in
Film, Music & Books, which also produces the DIY Film Festival and the DIY Music
Festival. The 2005 DIY Book Festival is sponsored by Final Draft Screenplay
Software; Infinity Publishing; The Hollywood Creative Directory; Imagic;
Alcasid.com and The DIY Reporter.com.
# # #

MORE INFORMATION:
bruce@diyconvention.com
or 323-665-8080

I'm not too familiar with writing contests, but do they normally charge fees? Yet, whether they normally they do that or not doesn't really matter to me anyway as I refuse to pay a $50 fee for entering contests. I am, after all, a poor college student. I can't afford to pay for contests like that.

Generally, a contest that is funded entirely by entry fees collected by the contestants should be considered a bit fishy. It's essentially a form of gambling. And in this case, it would seem that the outcome is probably rigged, if you define that term broadly. After all, the point of the contest is to celebrate successful self-published works, yet they're inviting unpublished and unpublishable (not just the fan fics, either) authors to enter.