Fiction Tuesday - Contest

Download the Audio version of this blog post
Welcome to Pirate's Cove an imprint of Flying Island Press.  I say that nearly every week, and some times multiple times a week,  but what does that really mean?  I have been thinking about that for a long time.  While I really enjoy working on all the public domain projects that we've been doing, the intent of Pirate's Cove was to produce original fiction as well.  To do that I have to have original fiction.

For the last three weeks I have been writing a weekly blog post called "Fiction Tuesdays."  The intent was that I would take one of the prompts from the Pirates Daily Writing Prompts, write a story based on that prompt and post it.  I like this kind of writing because, for me it is the kind of writing that I do best.  It is freeing almost.  But there are two problems with this.  First, Flying Island Press is not a vanity press, therefore posting my own work is kind of unfair.  Second, I realized that I am being rather selfish.  I know that there are other people out there that like this kind or writing, and in fact can do it very well.  You have only to look at other projects like Every Photo Tells and [clears throat] Great Hites to see what I mean. These people deserve to have their stories told.

So, Starting in two weeks we will being the Fiction Tuesday contest.  "Contest," you say?  "What are the rules?"  Well I am glad you asked:

1.    Write a story of no more that 3000 and not less than 1000 words (give for take a few hundred) based on ANY of the Pirate's Daily Writing Prompts.
2.    This is very important!  The story must have a rating of PG-13 or less.
3.    The story should be upbeat.  This means it need not necessarily have a happy ending, but at least it should not end so badly that people go away feeling worse than when they started.
4.     Stories need to be original and unpublished.  no re-prints please!
5.     Going along with being original we cannot accept FanFic of any kind.

And that is it.  Those are the basic rules.  "Well," you say, "that is easy how do I submit a story."  Again I'm glad you asked.

Stories should be sent in text format in an e-mail to Piratescove @ flyingislandpress . com  with the subject line of Tuesday Fiction Contest.

"How will stories be selected?"

All stories submitted will be put into "The Hold." (that is pirate talk for slush pile)  We will pick the best ones and publish those.  If you submit a story you will be notified within two weeks if it has been accepted, and given and approximate publication date.

"How will my story get published."
We will release an audio version (most probably just a straight read) and the text of your story for our listener / readers to enjoy

"Will I get paid for my story?"
You have a lot of questions you know that?  But it's funny you should ask that question.  Pirate's Cove does not currently have a budget to buy stories, we can barely keep the crew fed.  However, we do believe that you deserved to get paid for your work.  So this is the deal.  On each and every story that gets published we will have a donate button.  The First $20 in donations, that comes in goes directly to the author,  after that it is a 60/40 split (You get 60% and we get 40% this will help us in the future to be able to offer you more great piratey things)




If you have more questions please feel free to contact us at Piratescove@ FlyingIslandPres . com  We look forward to hearing from you