Short Story Contest about pets

Short Story Contest about pets - $10 Entry Fee

I PM'd Anne about a writing contest about pets I read in the latest Small Markets newsletter from Funds for Writers. She suggested I post it here. Long Story Short is an e-zine for writers. I don't know anything about the contest so this is just FYI for you pet lovers out there.

LONG STORY SHORT PET CONTEST
http://www.alongstoryshort.net/Contests.html
---
$10 Entry Fee - directions on web site

Write a flash (1,000 words max, fiction or non) about a critter. Make us laugh, cry, go Aaaawwww, at the adorableness of your best pal in the creature world. Or do you have a squirrel making you batty? Are bugs your worst enemies, your life a daily battle to keep them at bay? Good or bad, it's all interesting to us. (Please though, spare us hunting stories.)
Deadline September 25, 2006. $50 first place, $25 second place.

****************

Contest listed in FFW Small Markets newsletter, Volume 7, Issue 37 - September 10, 2006

Editor: C. Hope Clark

Mailto: [email protected] -or-
[email protected]

It was a bit of a mixup and I had PM'd Anne to let her know. The newsletter said there was no entry fee and the write-up was so lovable. Anne said to post it which I did.

THEN I checked the web site and it looked to me like it had a $10 fee. I had the same thoughts you did about that being steep and asked Anne to delete the thread if she felt it was unfair.

I feel Hope Clark has a great deal of integrity so I've already emailed her to see if the no entry fee in her newsletter was a mistake or if I've misunderstood the web site. The link was given in the first post if you want to check it yourself.

I will let you know what I hear from Hope.

Hope replied that there was a mistake in the newsletter, the "No entry Fee" was for another contest by the same web site and this will be corrected in her next newsletter.

So, the $10 entry fee for the pet short story contest stands. Too bad, it sounded like a fun contest.

And...yes, yes (raises hand solemnly) I will not try shorts cuts -- I will listen to the nagging inner voice beforehand and will be sure to double check before I post.

Arf! Meow!

Thanks, Silver King. I had the same thoughts you did. I wondered how many people would enter with a $10 entry fee and how much money they would make on the contest. A $1 or $2 fee would have been much more reasonable and would probably have generated more entries. I've never held a contest though so I have no idea of the costs involved.

Animal lovers in general, and pet lovers especially, love to read about their furry (scaly, feathered) friends so that's the good news for writers. And...there are so many pet lovers that the market can only increase, so there's room for lots of good writing ideas and opportunities for us.

I do know someone looking for inspiring true stories about dogs

eldragon said:

I'd write stories for free, but can't really justify writing them and paying ten dollars.

Click to expand...

I agree totally, Pam. The problem was that I saw this short story contest in a newsletter which had mistakenly listed it as "no entry fee." I posted it without checking it out first. I don't know anything about the web site either, I was just passing it on and edited my first post to show the $10 fee when I found out.

I do have a friend, John Cali, who is looking for true stories about dogs for an e-book. Right now he's able to offer a small payment of $10. I haven't talked to him about it for awhile, but I just checked his guidelines and he still has them posted so it looks like he is still open for submissions.

Here's the link to my AW thread and the posts about submitting. Anne Watkins sent a reprint which was accepted and I believe a couple of other people mentioned to me that their stories were accepted. Here's the thread in the AW forum:

Inspiring Stories about Dogs Wanted, $10 payment

or go directly to John's web site. He has very detailed guidelines:

Dog Story Guidelines at Great Western Publishing

Good luck!

awatkins said:

Thanks for the reminder, Sue! I got an e-mail from John a few weeks ago saying that he was looking for more stories; I meant to post that here but got so covered up with work that I totally forgot. So by all means, if anyone is interested, visit John's site (Sue thoughtfully provided the addy), study the guidelines, and send something his way. He's a great person to work with.

Click to expand...

I second the "great person" assessment, Anne. I just put your quote in the original thread about his offer to update it. I don't have any dog stories, but I will be submitting other animals stories for his future books.

Busy is good when it's writing!