Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Worlds

[Jinn]

Is there anyone on the list from this place?

 

[Lorraine Anderson]

I recognize two of the names, but I'm not sure they're on this board. Derek Tyler Attico was in SNW 8 and 9. John Coffren was in 7 and 9. At least, that I can see in a short lookup.

 

[Bibliomike]

Sounds like there are some really intriguing stories on the list. Congratulations to all the winners!

 

[Csalem]

What an odd little competition where the Grand Prize winners get published in SNW but the First Prize winners get their own books published, not on Star Trek though, and do not appear in SNW.

 

[Bibliomike]

I don't think that's the case, Csalem. Could be wrong (and won't get to find out firsthand, more's the pity!), but I think the First Prize winners get free self-publishing packages as well as their stories in SNW.

 

[JD]

Has Dilithium is a Girl's Best Friend been available somewhere before? I swear that title sounds familiar.

 

[Christopher]

^A Voyager story by Bill Stuart in SNW IV was named "Iridium-7-Tetrahydroxate Crystals Are a Girl's Best Friend". And of course they're both named after the song "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

 

[Idran]

I don't think that's the case, Csalem. Could be wrong (and won't get to find out firsthand, more's the pity!), but I think the First Prize winners get free self-publishing packages as well as their stories in SNW.

It doesn't sound like it from that announcement. If the First Prize winners are getting their stories in SNW, wouldn't their titles be listed along with the Grand Prize winners? Plus, it explicitly called out getting published in SNW as a reward for the Grand Prize winners, and not for the First Prize winners.

Edit: Yeah, the press release seems to back that up.

We are excited to announce that from hundreds of submissions to the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Writing Contest, the following authors have been selected to be published in an upcoming Star Trek anthology!
...
In addition, two First Prize winners, Kerry F. Booth, and James Corrigan will each receive a free publishing package from Archway Publishing.

That definitely implies that the First Prize winners do not, only the authors included in the list.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

In the email S&S sent out:

We are excited to announce that from hundreds of submissions to the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Writing Contest, the following authors have been selected to be published in an upcoming Star Trek anthology!
The 10 Grand Prize Winners are:
Neil Bryant
Dilithium Is a Girl's Best Friend
Gary Piserchio & Frank Tagader
A Christmas Qarol
Kelli Fitzpatrick
The Sunwalkers
Chris Chaplin
The Seen and Unseen
Michael Turner
The Façade of Fate
Nancy Debretsion
The Manhunt Pool
Derek Tyler Attico
The Dreamer and the Dream
Roger McCoy
The Last Refuge
John Coffren
Life Among the Post-Industrial Barbarians
Kristen McQuinn
Upon the Brink of Remembrance
The two First Prize winners, who will each receive a free publishing package from Archway Publishing, are:
Kerry F. Booth
James Corrigan

It seems like the First Prize winners (also in bold) are encompassed under the "following authors" comment in the opening paragraph.

 

[Thrawn]

If their stories are in the anthology, then why doesn't it show the names of their stories?

 

[Wowbagger]

Congrats to the winners! With the caveat that I will burn enviously of them forever.

 

[vegaslover62]

I got the e-mail yesterday. Denied yet again.

 

[JoeP]

Interesting read from The Digital Reader:
The Star Trek Writing Contest Was a Feeder Pool for Vanity Press Author Solutions
http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/...eeder-pool-for-vanity-press-author-solutions/

Author Solutions is a scam from beginning to end, and authors would be wise to avoid it. There are cheaper ways to get published, and there are many honest and trustworthy companies in this industry who can help get an author's book published without taking the author for everything they got.

A warning to those here who entered...

 

[Defcon]

The questionable/scummy nature of Archway has been mentioned before in this thread. For example here:

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

This is interesting -- Dean Wesley Smith, who edited the first ten volumes, considers the new SNW a publishing scam, and he advises writers not to submit to it.

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

Anyone with the least bit of interest in writing needs to know about Writer Beware.

http://accrispin.blogspot.ca/2012/11/archway-publishing-simon-schuster-adds.html

But I guess it doesn't hurt to mention it again.

 

[JoeP]

Oh, damn. Sorry, I just saw the article I posted today.

 

[T'Bonz]

Well, it wasn't a scam to those who won. For the rest of us, there was no obligation to answer the email, you know?

Not big on self-publishing anyhow. Prefer stories that I buy to be properly edited/produced anyhow. From an author's viewpoint, I wouldn't pay to be published. It's supposed to go the other way.

 

[Steve Roby]

Thing is, this isn't self publishing, it's vanity press publishing. It's neither difficult nor expensive to create and upload a pdf to a company like lulu and set a price for it; unless lulu's changed drastically, there's no upfront cost unless you want extra services. But people can and have spent well over $10,000 to get books published through Author Solutions companies that end up selling a dozen copies to family and friends.

 

[Idran]

From an author's viewpoint, I wouldn't pay to be published. It's supposed to go the other way.

The point, though, is that a lot of other authors don't realize that because they're new to the field, and Archway (among other companies) takes advantage of that fact to exploit them for money. That's why it's important to push this: to better inform those authors that don't realize that isn't how it's supposed to work.

 

[T'Bonz]

Pretty much, in life, if you're doing anything that requires a payment and you have no experience with the company/service, you should do research first on it. Saves a lot of grief later.

 

[Idran]

But that doesn't mean that scams shouldn't be highlighted for the sake of informing those that haven't. It's no different than the existence of something like Consumer Reports. Just because someone hasn't done that research doesn't mean they deserve to be conned; no one deserves to be conned, regardless of what choices they've made. And if even one potential author that was considering paying a vanity publisher is warned away by alerts like this, then it's done a good thing.

I mean, isn't one of the jobs of media to inform the populace about things that might harm them due to lack of information?