Impending E-book Compilations, Reader Polls, and Other Weighty Matters
There are many great things on the horizon here at Fiction Vortex, and we're not even talking about the dragon egg that's about to hatch on our back porch. We have an impending e-book issue for our first month of stories, awards for the top stories in May, and the first inaugural Reader's Choice poll. All happening in a matter of days, ulcers and anxiety meds permitting.
Let's go down the list and elaborate:
1. It may seem a little unusual that we're putting out a monthly e-book issue on the Amazon Kindle store when we already post all the stories on our website, but we're just unreasonable like that. Also, it turns out that many people prefer to simply download a chunk of short stories on their Kindle and read them at their leisure, which presumably means when they aren't hacking the Maltrigonian mainframe, staking vampires, or balancing the books for their local pet food store.
Not only will our monthly issues have great stories, the e-books are a fantastic way to support the site. We still want to metamorphosize into a resplendent fiction butterfly that also pays professional rates to authors, and buying our monthly short story compilations will go a long way toward accomplishing that goal. More importantly, convincing your friends, family, assorted thralls, and other indentured servants to buy the e-book will help the most.
We're not sure how much call there is for other formats — B&N, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, etc. — so if you would like to see us somewhere besides the Kindle store, let us know in the comments. The May issue will be available sometime in the first week of June. We'll let you know when to storm the Amazon castle.
2. Hopefully you haven't forgotten that we will pick the top three stories each month and award them cash prizes. First place receives $30, second $20, and third $10. It's not much, but it's the best we can do with our limited budget, and we want to make it clear that we value your stories.
Winners will be announced on the first day of the following month. That means May winners will be announced here on June 1. Stay tuned to find out who got top honors.
3. The rewards don't stop there. We also want to know which stories you thought were the best each month, which is why we have instituted the Reader's Choice poll. On the first day of each month, we'll post a poll of all the stories from the previous month. Anyone and their newt familiar can stop by and vote for their favorite story of the month. Voting will remain open for a week, at which point we'll tally the results and reward the winner with $10, even if they have already won an award that month.
Our readers are just as smart, discerning, and possibly snooty as we are, so we hope this gives you an opportunity to make your voice heard. Tell everyone who values your writing to stop by and vote. If things get too tight to call, we'll institute a ThunderDome-style smackdown wherein authors and their kin can bring the hurt to whoever dares think their own story is superior. FVDome will be available on PayPerView ... in an alternate universe.
That's enough news for now, but make sure to read up on our stories so you can vote with authority when the time comes.
Oh, and don't actually smite any of our authors, no matter how righteous your fury over not winning the Reader's Choice poll. The last thing we need is a lawsuit for wrongful smiting. Our lawyer on retainer is just a depressed little kobold who keeps the rats out of our broom closet. We pay him in bread crumbs, so he's not all that motivated to defend us.