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Abandoned Towers Magazine

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Hey guys,

I submitted and paid a $10 entry fee to Abandoned Towers magazine for a contest that closed in May. The finalists were supposed to be released in June, but there has been no word from them at all. I sent them 5 queries, and they only responded to one about a month ago that says "we'll be sending out an explanation soon". Still nothing.

Before I file a dispute with PayPal to get my money back for the entry fee, I was wondering if anyone had any insight into the magazine or the competition. I obviously can't be the only one in this boat. They're still making Tweets every few days or so with information about the magazine, and they seem to be releasing new fiction. It doesn't SOUND like a scam, but I could buy a lot of cookies with that $10.

Joe
 

Polenth

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It's never been on my radar as somewhere to submit, but the things I do know about it: They don't pay most people, the original publisher doesn't like AW much, and someone else edits it now (but no idea if the original publisher still finances it or not).

In general though, $10 is a steep entry fee for a small no pay/token pay 'zine contest. If it were me, I'd be getting the wheels in motion for a refund. PayPal's money back thing does have an expiry date, so you don't want to delay too much. That is a lot of cookies.
 

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Strangely enough after so many months of silence I just got an email this morning. It basically said "Yeah, sorry about that. We didn't get enough entrants to make the contest prize, so we're refunding everyone."

I think that's kind of a crock since the contest closed in May. You know the day of closing that you don't have enough entrants. So it's not really a scam, but I certainly won't be submitting to AT any time soon.

Oh well. Maybe someone else will like the story I wrote for them.
 

CaoPaux

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Although the submissions page was updated 5/13 (to announce "temporary" closure to subs), the rest of the site is stuck in '12. Not optimistic.
 

CaoPaux

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Nope, site nixed w/o further activity.