quote:Are HM's in the running for the top three places or once you are on HM you are out of the running and it is their way of patting you on the back?
Once you are informed, the decisions have all been made. Honorable Mention means you have shown some fine qualities (Characterization, Plot, Narrative Voice, etc.), a Semi-Finalist is good enough to get a critique that should make it publishable, Finalist is publishable and Winner goes without saying.
I think its more than just a patting on the back; I think they are saying, 'keep submitting to us, this is what we’re looking for.’ Another story of this quality may stand out from the crowd and move on. Here we go with the American Idol similarities again, but its true. It’s about either doing something a little different or doing something typical but done so well it still stands out. But in the end it’s about standing out and affecting the judges and making them say, “Wow, that was impressive.”
Incidentally I noticed in her personal blog that Ms Wentworth really emphasizes good grammar and syntax usage. Stating that errors will get a story, (probably even a good story) eliminated very quickly.
Tracy
[This message has been edited by tnwilz (edited May 07, 2008).]
quote:Incidentally I noticed in her personal blog that Ms Wentworth really emphasizes good grammar and syntax usage. Stating that errors will get a story, (probably even a good story) eliminated very quickly
Uh oh! looks like I am out
I have to say, My nerves are racked. Is this ever going to be over? *Deep Breath* I need a response from something. I have like seven subs out. Even a rejection letter would soothe me right now.
I am putting all my eggs in the next basket. I feel really good about my WIP.
posted
Question 1. Do you recieve any payment for copies sold if you end up being published in the book or is the initial cash prize it?
Question 2 In 2004 Eric James Stone was published in the WOTF book with “In Memory” Then again in 2005 with “Betrayer of Trees”. Did he enter twice cos I thought you couldn't do that or did they change the rules?
posted
If I am not mistaken, finalist that are published in the anthology are offered a pro rate sale with royalties.
As long as you do not place in the top three you are eligible to compete again. I assume that the author you mentioned was published in the anthology as a semi finalist and then later won.
posted
Bent Tree, there are eight finalists every quarter in the contest, making for a total of 32 Finalists a year. Out of the eight every quarter, three win in that quarter, and all three are published in the anthology, making for at least twelve stories in every WOTF anthology. Depending upon the size of the winning stories, some of the other non winning Finalists may also be published in the anthology. Some years there's as many as three while others there's none. It all depends on how much room there is for them.
The cool thing about being a published finalist, but not being a winner, is that you still get to go to the awards ceremony (for which all costs are paid for), attend the workshop, get paid to be in the anthology, and are still eligible to enter the contest again, like Eric James Stone, unless you've passed the eligibility standards of three professionally published short stories, or one novel, or novelette.
Semifinalists finishers do not get published in the anthologies. All of the published stories in the anthologies are Finalists, they just didn't all win first, second, or third place in the quarter they were in.
posted
I'm curious as to how they do the judging. Do they read in batches, then classify each batch by rejection, HM or next round? Do they then notify the HM's and rejections?
I have yet to hear of anyone who has recieved a rejection. Have they begun?
*Scratches head*
[This message has been edited by Bent Tree (edited May 09, 2008).]
posted
All submission go to California. There, Joni Labaqui, the contest administrator, coordinates the separating out of that first identifying page from the manuscript, and other preparations, and puts them in boxes which she sends on to Kathy Wentworth, the coordinating judge.
Kathy reads all the entries (yes, thousands) and decides which ones are rejects, Honorable Mentions, Semifinalists, and Finalists. She then sends all of them back to Joni except the semifinalists, which go back last because she does a written critique on those. If you want to see what one of those critiques looks like, I've included the one she wrote for my semifinalist story on my webpage. Just go to
and select "My Stories". There you'll find my semifinalist story, a rewrite of it, and Kathy's critique.
Joni then notifies HM's and semifinalists on the blog, and by snail mail. Finalists usually get a call, but sometimes find out the same way now that they are being posted on the blog. For the rejects, it will take longer yet to find out because those will be notified by snail mail only.
The selected eight Finalist stories are then copied by Joni and sent onto four other judges who rank them. From that, the three winners are determined. Sometimes Kathy has to break a tie, but usually the other four determine the winners.
Here's another website that is useful to lurk around if nothing else. Kathy hangs out here and lets others know where she's at in the process:
posted
One very minor correction on the handling of announcements. Apparently, Joni emails the HMs because permission is required to announce your name as a HM in the blog (for some reason that I don't quite understand). I got her email at 1AM Sunday (Pacific time) and she asked for a quick reply so it could be included in the Monday blog.
Since the general opinion is that a HM is a way of saying your story isn't of publishable quality, I was a little less than thrilled, but c'est la vie. I'll see if maybe someone likes it better than they did. Thanks for the congrats. Hope everyone does well. I'll probably enter again next quarter if I can squeeze a short story in between edits on the novel I'm working on.
And as far as Wolfe_boy's question about whether I'm still around--generally speaking the answer is no.
[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited May 09, 2008).]
posted
When my finalist story was published in volume nine, there were no royalties, just a flat payment, even for the winners. I don't know if there are royalties now, but I doubt it.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
| IP: Logged |
posted
I received a letter for a 4th quarter 2006 entry that congratulated me on being a quarter-finalist. Does anyone know what that indicates? I just took it as a "good" rejection letter (especially for a first attempt.) Is it an older term for honorable mention?
posted
Honorable Mentions used to be called quarter-finalists. They changed the term because it confused people.
I'm still waiting on my entry. It looks like this is the last quarter I'll be eligible to enter, so I'm kind of anxious to see how it goes. Not hoping for much, anyway. Kathy said there were a ton of very good entries this quarter.
You're elligible until you have three pro sales, more or less. The guidelines on the webpage of WoTF were rather vague, so I included all my sales on the cover letter. Since they accepted the sub, I'm assuming I was fine. But my Asimov's story is due soonish and once it's published I'll no longer be eligible by any definition.
[This message has been edited by Sara Genge (edited May 10, 2008).]
quote:What kind of flat payment are we talking about? I assume the flat payment and the prize money for placing are separate.
When I was published, they paid a flat $500.00 per story for publication to the finalists, and I think the same (if not more) to the winners. And for the winners, that was separate from the prize money.
I'm not sure if they do it that way now--it's been a few years.
posted
I think I’m becoming telepathic because when all the other entrants read Sara’s post, I’m pretty sure I heard a collective, “Aww, you’ve gotta be s******* me, at this point that girl could fart on a sheet of paper and they’d publish it. Son of a – well there goes fame and fortune pushed off another year. Man… couldn’t Bush just invade Spain as a sort of going away thing. You know how the presidents always do this last minute stuff they always wanted to but were too chicken before. You know the Spaniard’s musta did something to annoy the Bush boys.”
I kid I kid. I actually think this has been a stunning success from Hatrack.
quote: When my finalist story was published in volume nine, there were no royalties, just a flat payment, even for the winners. I don't know if there are royalties now, but I doubt it.
I may be confusing WotF with a different contest, but I believe that royalties are only paid out if the anthology sells more then a certain number of copies.
quote:I may be confusing WotF with a different contest, but I believe that royalties are only paid out if the anthology sells more then a certain number of copies.
That's only when there are royalties.
The way it usually works is that the author (whether in a book or as part of an anthology) is paid a certain amount as an "advance" against the royalties. Once the number of books sold is enough for the royalties to equal the advance, then the author can start receiving royalties beyond the initial advance.
Often, especially with first books, there are no additional royalties paid because the book doesn't "earn out" (sell enough copies to equal the advance).
Unless WotF has changed the way they do things, there are no royalties with that anthology, ever. Just a flat payment up front. It's a big enough flat payment that it's okay, though. We bought a new refrigerator with my payment. (Which I felt was pretty unglamourous, but, oh well.)
She says there is no royalty which is correct if you think of a royalty as a percentage based on number of books sold. There is no such thing. The $500 I called a royalty is a flat fee. Hope this clarifies it.
posted
For my published finalist story I was paid 10 cents a word for the rights to publish the story. I believe the policy is to pay 10 cents per word up to a $500 limit, but I'm not sure on that.
For my 2nd place story I received $750 in prize money, plus $500 payment for the rights to publish the story.
I don't get any more money no matter how much the anthologies sell, but that's fine because the initial compensation was very good.
posted
Any additional news yet? I know of one person that got a non-winner message. I haven't heard a thing yet which is more good than bad at the moment. Congrats to all the HM so far, especially you Patrick James.
Posts: 3072 | Registered: Dec 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
No news yet. Joni said she'd be posting the results (sans the 3 winners) by the end of this next week. I think she enjoys the palpable tension. I know I do... <--Can't you tell?
Posts: 3687 | Registered: Jan 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Competition for this, as I gather from the quality of those stories that do win, is quite fierce. So give yourself a pat on the back for making it this far and keep on keepin' on!
Posts: 2185 | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm bummed--and I didn't even enter Q2. I'm starting to have the feeling my Q3 story won't stand a chance...
Posts: 1275 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
The quality of the grammar is imperative to get past KD Wentworth. It’s worth having it checked by an expert for this comp if its not one of your strengths. She openly admits she will toss a story quickly if the grammar is off. And it could have been a great story but they must figure it’s not fair to progress a story that lacks the effort when there are so many that are flawless in terms of grammar.
Louise, you’re sitting on a short story that you wrote years ago… you know the one. It brought tears to my eyes because the real you bleeds into it so profusely. Any insightful person who read it would know. Its one of those brilliant, story within a stories, just like Saturn in G Minor (which won for the year). Its undercurrent is so powerful. (For you eavesdroppers: I’ve never met Louise and she lives on the other side of the world, but I can tell you that she’s the kind of woman that would knock you off your barstool if you cross the line. But when it comes to those that need her, there is no mountain too tall and no river too fast…) If I have these judges figured out, it would do well. It has all the elements, speculative, sci-fi and brilliantly portrayed, human emotion. I would love to see you let people here help you polish it and fling it in for next quarter.
posted
I wasn't part of Hatrack when I entered, but this is my second entry and second HM. I had the feeling that anyone who didn't make finalist got an HM, but I guess that isn't true.
Posts: 72 | Registered: Apr 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
HA, Louise Caroline Booth of the United Kindom... What did I tell you... and I never read a word of your entry. Didn't need to. See, now you can believe in you as much as I do.
That's awsome, I am so happy for you. You've got to be bouncing off the walls. That's Validation right there.
Tracy
Umm... may I make a second prediction concerning Sara.......
[This message has been edited by tnwilz (edited May 17, 2008).]
I haven't heard anything yet. That could be goodnews or they can't get a hold of me for some reason (I had that problem last time). If I do well it is because of my super-secret-can't-miss-plan. I have a friend thatt works in the post office in Maine. I got him to switch cover letters with IB.
Yes, I was wondering about snapper and WriterDan too; got my fingers crossed for you two.
Not hearing anything doesn't mean a thing. I didn't get a phone call or email. First I knew about it was someone congratulating me on my HM. IB, I'm with you. I will accept nothing less than semi-finalist next time!
Edited to correct early morning typos.
[This message has been edited by darklight (edited May 18, 2008).]
Printer-friendly view of this topic
<--Can't you tell?
Just got my notice saying my story didn't win.
