The Next Great Crime Writer...

Meh, I saw an ad for that on court tv last night.

I'd stopped watching for a while. I was horribly offended by the Psychic Detectives thing and the incessant ads for local traffic-ghoul lawyers. (But Forensic Files, you know I still love you.)

Anyway, I assumed it was some sort of promotional gimmick.

The "way it works" section says you enter, the judges narrow it down to five finalists, and then "the public will have a chance to read the entries and vote for the winner".

From the "official rules" section:

Semi-Finalists may be required to pass a civil, criminal and financial background check and may be disqualified if such check reveals anything in the Sponsor’s discretion that merits such action.

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Awesome. What does my civil, criminal, and financial background have to do with my ability to write?

And the prestigious judges only see the ten highest rated submissions.

Ten (10) semi-finalists (the “Semi-Finalists”) will be selected by an independent judging organization from among all eligible Submissions received during the Submission Period.

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The touted judges narrow it down to five, and then the five finalists are put up on the court tv website for the public to judge.

And here's the best part:

GRAND PRIZE: One (1) Grand Prize Winner will receive a check in the amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) and an opportunity to sign an exclusive book publishing deal (“Publishing Deal”) with Regan Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers (“Regan Books”), at an approximate market value (“AMV”) of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000). The details of the Publishing Deal are subject to the sole discretion of Regan Books. Regan Books will decide whether or not to publish the Grand Prize Winner’s book (the “Prize Book”) in its sole discretion. Winning the Contest does not in any way guarantee that the Prize Book will be published.

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I definitely did not get the impression that final publication was optional from their commercial. I'm not surprised by it, but, in light of this, the commercial was pretty misleading.

ETA: I suspected something like this would be in there. Automatic "no", as far as I'm concerned. I doubt they're out to get anyone, but language like this makes it too easy for problems to crop up down the line.

With respect to the participants’ Submissions, participants hereby irrevocably grant Sponsor and its designees the non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide right to use their Submissions, in whole or in part, alone or in combination with other material, or as a basis for new material, as Sponsor may determine in its sole discretion, and to use the Submission in connection with the Contest and related advertising and promotion or otherwise, but not as a direct endorsement of any product or service. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, participants agree that the rights granted hereunder shall include, but not be limited to, the perpetual, worldwide right of Sponsor and its designees to use, edit, telecast, cablecast, rerun, record, publish, reproduce, license, print, distribute and/or otherwise exploit, in any language and in all media now known or hereafter devised, the Submissions in whole or in part, without any further compensation to participant or any third party.

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worldwide rights in perpetuity? NO!!!!!!!!!!

"Semi-Finalists may be required to pass a civil, criminal and financial background check and may be disqualified if such check reveals anything in the Sponsor’s discretion that merits such action. "

Yea right.

This is the Publisher who was trying to relase the OJ Simpson "If I Did It" fiasco. The Parent company today canceled all publications, interviews and documentaries.

This is also the same subsidiary which published a so-called biography of a certain Psychic local to me which has been debunked and the Auther who is a multi-convicted felon. She has just been convicted again and faces a long prison term.

So I question the so-called hypocritical "Sponsor’s discretion "

Edited: I said Gypsie originally instead of Psychic. It was not my intent to imply anything about a group, I was only referring to a solitary person.