LDSP 2012 Christmas Story Contest

This year’s Story Contest Submissions are now closed. But you can start planning now for next year’s contest. Submissions begin November 1, 2013.

Drum roll, please… It’s time for the 6th Annual LDS Publisher Christmas Short Story Contest.

Submission Rules:

• FOLLOW rules carefully! I hate it when I have to reject a story because the submission rules were ignored. (And I’m going to be really picky this year!)

• Write a short Christmas story in any genre. Stories should be positive and family friendly. I reserve the right to refuse any story I deem inappropriate for this blog/book.

• Maximum word count: 3,000; no minimum.

• Story must be previously unpublished. Stories published anywhere other than your personal website or blog are ineligible. (That includes books, magazines, e-zines or other contests.)

• Stories submitted for previous years’ contests are also ineligible for this contest.

• Paste entire story into an e-mail. NO ATTACHMENTS, please.

—Put “Contest: Title of Your Story” in the subject line of your e-mail. (Example: Contest: A Christmas Gift for Mary)

—At the top of the body of your e-mail, type your name, mailing address, phone number, e-mail address, word count and whether you are a published or unpublished author (defined below). Example:

LDS Publisher

123 My Street

My Town, ST 00000

(123)456-7890

ldspublisher@gmail.com

word count: 1990

published author

—Skip a line, then put the title of your story

—Skip a line, then paste in your story.

• “Published”—as in published author—is defined as someone paid you money or comp copies (in the case of magazines) for any story or book written by you. (So either a publisher paid you, or you self-published and people bought your book.)

• If you are a published and/or agented author, check with your publisher and/or agent before submitting. They will want to know the information listed under “Legal Details.”

• You may submit more than one story. Send each submission in a separate e-mail. Include all your info, as outlined above, with each e-mail/story.

• SUBMIT your story any time between NOW and Friday, November 30, 2012.

• I will post the stories beginning on December 4, 2012, in the order that they arrive.

• We will have Reader Voting for the best stories, as we have done in previous contests. Voting will take place December 17-19th.* I will post voting rules on the 17th.

• You may tell your friends that you’ve submitted a story and to please go vote, but DO NOT tell them which story is yours. We want the stories to win on merit, not personal popularity.

PRIZES: Consideration for publication in the next LDSP Christmas Anthology

• There will be four winners:

Readers’ Choice/Published Author

Readers’ Choice/Unpublished Author

Publisher’s Choice/Published Author

Publisher’s Choice/Unpublished Author

• I reserve the right to not award one of the Publisher’s Choice awards if I feel none of the stories deserve it.

• Stories in the anthology will include my choices from this and other Christmas contests held on this blog, selected based on providing a variety of stories and book size.

• Anthology #3 will be published when I have enough quality stories to create a book. It may take several years/contests to collect enough quality stories. All authors to be included in the anthology will be notified before publication.

Legal Details (Read Carefully):

• By submitting a story to this contest, you are agreeing to all the conditions below.

• Authors shall give LDS Publisher One-Time Publishing Rights for inclusion of story in the as yet untitled Christmas story compilation. This is the non-exclusive right to publish your story in this compilation, in various formats, and to retain your story in the compilation until LDS Publisher takes the compilation out of print.

• Authors shall retain all other rights and copyrights to their stories and may sell this story to any other party with a publication date after release of the compilation.

• Compensation for use of story in this compilation shall be: one free e-book copy of the published book sent to author upon publication; author’s name listed in the Table of Contents and on the first page of the story; and rights to use this compilation as a publishing credit. No royalties, advances or other monetary compensation will be given to any author. Author may not print or sell the e-book files.

• Compensation exception: If sales of the book exceed costs to produce it, LDS Publisher shall notify authors and arrange an equal royalty split between all authors, illustrator and typesetter. Conditions and terms of royalty and payment shall be determined at that time.

• LDS Publisher shall assume no rights to any future works by author.

• LDS Publisher shall have full editorial rights to the stories included in the compilation, including, but not limited to, title changes, editing for space and content, design and layout of book, title of book, and book cover.

• The compilation will be available for purchase online in both print and e-book formats at a TBA future date.

• The compilation may or may not be made available to bookstores at discounted pricing, but in any case, no marketing will be done by LDS Publisher to guarantee placement in any bookstore.

• Authors agree to help spread the word about the contest and the book by any or all of the following methods:—Word of mouth to friends and family—Website/blog buttons, links, posts, etc—Facebook, My Space, Twitter, or other networking sites or forums

Help spread the word! Post about the contest on your blog, in your forums, and e-mail all your friends.

Buttons Coming Soon!

*This is a change.