Wow.
In the 10 days since we launched the Lulu Short Story Contest, we’ve received hundreds upon hundreds of submissions, authors are helping each other out more than ever on our social networks, and authors are finding just how easy it is to publish an eBook of their very own.
Based on the whopping 150+ comments on the original contest announcement blog – we’ve noticed that a lot of you have some of the same questions about the contest, so here are some helpful tips to consider as you get closer to submitting your own story.
600 Word Max: We know it might be a challenge, but it is definitely possible to submit a short story that is 600 words or less. Facebook fan Jason Johnson puts it best: “I agree that 600 words is short, but I also think that’s the point. What can you tell in 600 words that still makes it interesting to your readers.” Oh, and the 600 word count does not include the title and copyright material.
Use the Template: I love that people are looking for ways to spice up their entry – be it with pictures, a table of contents, etc. But avoid straying from the template we’ve provided. We’ve done most of the work for you formatting-wise and designed the template to pass through eBook validation as smoothly as possible so you can be sure your story can be distributed to places like the iBookstore.
Multiple Submissions: Yes please! You are certainly allowed to submit more than one short story, so keep em coming. 600 words not enough to contain all that remarkable creativity? Then write and submit as many new short stories as you want. Several people have submitted more than one already. We’ve even had one guy ask if he could send in 400 separate stories. No matter how many you give us, submitting more than one will increase your chances at winning.
Submitting Your Story: Submitting your story is just a matter of visiting this link to Survey Monkey and filling in the 5 questions. The most important part is providing us with a link to your work. Once you finish publishing, you can click the “My Lulu” tab. Here you’ll see a list of your projects, including your new eBook short story. Click the “view/buy” button next to your work’s title. Copy the web address of your story’s product page and paste it into question 4 on Survey Monkey. This will help us track submissions and is how you get your 20% off coupon for participating.
Pricing: Once you get to the pricing step in the publishing wizard. You will be able to set your price to anything you want – even free. The default price is set at $1.24, which is the minimum for making revenue off your story. If you’d like to give your eBook Short Story away, simply enter $0.00 as your price.
We’re excited to see so much activity going on with this contest and definitely plan to do more in the future. There is still plenty of time left in the month though, so send us your short story today. Good luck and thanks for playing.
Want even more short story writing tips? Check out this handy article from Fiction Factor.
