Grounds for Disqualification

[GraceWilliams]

Hi!

I'm still new and therefore very ignorant of the competition Just to clarify if you have self published and sold more than 5000 ebook copies that means you are ineligible to compete right?

[KD Julicher]

You'll want to check with Joni, but I believe it would be "sold more than 5000 copies of a single ebook". So if you have 50 books and each has 100 sales you're still good. And I believe it has to be sales, not give-aways.

[chuckt]

On a different kind of disqualification--I've seen mentions of stories getting disqualified. Why would that be?

1. author already a pro?
2. story already published?
3. plagiarism?
4. story was ghost-written?

[KD Julicher]

On a different kind of disqualification--I've seen mentions of stories getting disqualified. Why would that be?

1. author already a pro?
2. story already published?
3. plagiarism?
4. story was ghost-written?

All those would be reasons. Also if it doesn't meet word count, or has inappropriate language/content, it'll be rejected.

[DoctorJest]

Or if it's not anonymous. The contest entry form is very clear on that point too.

[kentagions]

Watch the conjunction and. Pro rate + copies or hits.

Rule 5, sentence 2:

Professional publication is deemed to be payment of at least six cents per word, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits.

If you receive less than pro remuneration as they define it, then the number of copies or hits doesn't matter.

[michaeljwyantjr]

Watch the conjunction and. Pro rate + copies or hits.

Rule 5, sentence 2:

Professional publication is deemed to be payment of at least six cents per word, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits.

If you receive less than pro remuneration as they define it, then the number of copies or hits doesn't matter.

I wonder if they count that? In order to "count" using those rules, a person would need to have made $6,000 (off a 100k manuscript) for it to qualify as a pro publication.

[chuckt]

"5. The Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment of at least six cents per word, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits."

So, for example, a zine could pay you .06 but unless they distribute 5,000 copies or there are 5,000 hits on your story, you aren't disqualified?

Galaxy's Edge, Lightspeed, Locus, and a lot of others. According to Locus, they sell less than than 5,000 copies. And they are SFWA qualifying markets. That's not a professional sale for contest purposes???? (They do report way more than 5,000 "unique visitors" to their websites each month).

[DoctorJest]

I think SFWA qualifies a market at 1,000 or more readers / issues / what-have-you. So it could well be that they qualify a story for SFWA membership more leniently than WotF considers one to count towards excluding you as being eligible to enter the contest.

[michaeljwyantjr]

End of the day, Joni is really quite flexible. If you have questions, shoot her an email and ask.