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Freeditorial Contest.

SeverinR

Vala
hmmm.
Don't like this part:
"The digital publishing rights of the non-winning submissions belong exclusively to Freeditorial for two (2) years."
They get publishing rights to non-winning submissions for 2 yrs? So you can't submit that work to anyone else for 2 yrs?
Also:
"However, from those dates, Freeditorial can continue publishing them on its website, but not exclusivity."

So they can "publish" your work on their website free, even after the date.
Basically you might get $15k or you give your work to them free. Once published for free, why would anyone want to pay to have it published? Granted it would offer some visibility to your work, which is not worthless, but a far cry from getting money for your work.

I don't have a problem with the winning pieces being kept, you receive money for them (Granted $2000 isn't great) but you lose publishing ability for 10 yrs. Also I don't see any royalties, either. So you sold 10 yrs of your works popularity for your prize.

Submit something good, but don't submit your life's book. It sounds like they reap the rewards while you reap some publicity.
 
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Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
Okay, call me a skeptic. Here's what I think:

1. That site was probably built in three hours, has no advertising or other indicators that it's a steadfast company/ competition/ whatever. The copyright on the bottom of the site is 2016, and without a connection to a magazine or editor...what exactly is the final product for the published submissions? Online readers of the ebook they plan to publish for the winners? It's not clear in the rules. Also, if that is true...do they have editing services offered for free before publication/ Good ones? Or are they going to expect a winner to "pay" for their own editing, and oh look here, we have a person in-house who is our editor and you'll be paying them...

2. The rights are very weird. Submissions rights? WTF? I've NEVER seen a magazine say they expect to get rights on a non-winning story. Run. Run very fast...now. This is simply ludicrous, to send them a story (of an expected 40 they are seeking at minimum), and then to be told you didn't win, but they have already gotten your permission to use your story for two whole years. I have a story I don't have rights on for two years, and that's a long time, especially if you love the story and wish you could use it for your own purposes.

3. The prize money is also ludicrous, if you ask me. Most contests have a clear goal ("winning entries will be published in our 'Wizards in Tall Pointy Hats' anthology coming out March 2017", OR "Winners will be published in the September issue of our Ezine." And most contests say up front that winners will win a certain amount of money (usually between $200 and $1000) and some royalties. Also, most contests clearly say that winning entries are not obligated to be published by the company hosting the competition. That's a pretty big thing.

This looks poorly thought-out, badly designed, and unprofessional if you ask me. Brandon Sanderson has talked about rights and some of the ludicrous things you see. He says that most of the time, it isn't that people set out to harm writers, but that they simply don't understand what's okay and what's too much to ask for. Ten years is TOO MUCH to ask for, and so is TWO YEARS for submissions. Whomever decided on that...I don't think they work with writers much. Honestly, this is less beneficial to a writer than just self-publishing their novella, because only one person is going to get the $15k, which is only 150% of a typical new writer advance anyways, and everyone else is just going to be screwed. And the writers are the ones who are supposed to drum up business and get "readers" to like their stories and so on. Like what Tablo does...get friends to click little hearts. So the winner is a crowd-picked fav. And everyone gives away their rights, even if they don't win. Not good. I would avoid anything that looks like a rat and smells like a rat, personally.
 

SeverinR

Vala
Glad I'm not the only one that didn't think this was on the level.
You looked at it deeper then I did.
I seriously doubt how they will provide the prize money with no affiliation and no advertisers.
I also believe they could pick the worst stories, default on the prize money and have the rights to all the other submissions.
Since they didn't give prize money they would lose the rights to the winners, but they would still have all the others to use if they could publish them.
 
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