M. David Blake · @absinthefish
11th Nov 2013 from TwitLonger
2014 CAMPBELLIAN ANTHOLOGY: SUBMISSIONS CALL!
This is an official call for inclusion in the 2014 Campbellian Anthology. Any individual whose first qualifying sale (at least 3¢/word, for a total of at least $50) was published in 2012 or 2013 is eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer via the 2014 Hugo ballot, and is accordingly invited to participate in this anthology. Please help us to spread the word!
Note: This is an unpaid, reprint-only anthology. It will be available as a free download, from January 15 through the end of April, 2014... by which point the Hugo and Campbell nominees should be announced. (If for some reason the announcement of nominees is delayed, the anthology will continue to be available until the actual ballot is public knowledge.)
No one will be compelled to provide material, nor will anyone be shunned/ignored if they choose not to participate; a full list of known, eligible candidates for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and the details of their eligibility, will appear in the finished volume, regardless of whether those individuals also supply fiction for the purpose.
However, if you are eligible, and if you were already planning to make any of your work available to the public, please consider allowing us to include a selection of that material as well. You'll be in good company, and there is always the possibility that you will pick up a new reader or two along the way.
Assuming you are currently eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, you are invited to supply your qualifying sale (meaning the first for which you received at least 3¢/word, for a total of at least $50), and up to two additional pieces of your fiction that were published in the same year as, or after, your qualifying sale. If your qualifying sale is submitted, it will be the first story presented under your name; if you are suppliying additional work, feel free to specify your preferred sequence. If no sequence is specified for the additional work, we'll default to the sequence of publication.
Additional work does not necessarily need to come from qualifying, professional venues. If you feel that your ability is better represented by a semi-pro sale, feel free to include it. If you are the proudest of a story that first appeared on your blog, that's fair game, as long as it appeared after your qualifying sale. Although we would strongly prefer to include as many Campbell-qualifying sales as possible, should the reprint rights for your qualifying sale not be available, or if the qualifying sale is not among your strongest work (meaning you would prefer not to present that particular work, for whatever unspecified reason), you may substitute another piece from the same qualifying period, so that — if you choose — three representative pieces may still be included.
In any case, please restrict yourself to no more than 20K-ish words, split however you feel is best, among no more than three pieces of fiction. Remember, we want everyone to read as many of the included stories as possible; we don't want any single individual to monopolize the content. (If you feel your career is best be represented by a longer novella or an excerpt from a full-length novel, please contact me so that we can determine whether it would be better to bend the length restrictions and include an appropriate portion, or simply include the publication info.)
We are seeking a one-time, non-exclusive right to reprint the material you supply, with a duration sufficient to ensure exposure for, and facilitate the fair evaluation of, as many eligible writers as choose to participate. Whatever you send though, please make sure that your reprint rights are unencumbered. We can only include stories for which you are allowed to assign these reprint rights. If you aren't certain, or if the stories you'd like to include are recent enough that it might be questionable, please check with your original publisher first so we don't step on any toes.
Use the submissions -AT- vintageseason -DOT- com address to send material for the 2014 Campbellian Anthology, and please include the following details with your submission(s):
• Your actual name, and contact info
This allows us to send a contract formalizing your inclusion.
• Your preferred personal pronouns, for use in the brief "about the writer" blurb that will accompany details of your eligibility
For some readers, the Campbellian Anthology may serve as a formal introduction to your work. Although "he/she" and "him/her" pairings are frequently an acceptable default, they are not universally applicable. Let's get it right.
• Your preferred personal website or online access point
If new readers enjoy your contribution, they may wish to seek out more of your work. Do you have a website, with an online bibliography? Would you prefer they seek you out via Twitter? Is Goodreads, Google+, or Facebook your online home? The Campbellian Anthology will include one link, per writer, so that these readers may more easily connect.
• The original publication info for each submission
The original publication info (magazine/anthology title and editor name for multi-writer collections, title and publisher imprint for excerpts of longer works) will be displayed alongside each contribution.
• Suitable early release/exemption for any submitted work that might otherwise still be exclusively held by the original publication(s)
If the period of exclusivity for your qualifying sale has not yet ended, you are well within your rights to ask the publisher for an early exemption so that your work might appear in the Campbellian Anthology... but if the right to grant reprints has not already reverted to you, we can't proceed without such a release.
The deadline for inclusion is December 31, 2013.
The firm release date is January 15, 2014... which will give us time to spread the word about participation, and still allow folks time to read before filling out their ballots. Even if you choose not to include your work in this collection, please help spread the word, so that every eligible writer will have the opportunity to be included.
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F.A.Q.
Q: Wasn't this called the Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology last year? Why did you change the name?
A: Yes, but that wasn't a very elegant title. If you like "Pre-Reading," feel free to keep calling the series by that name. Officially it is now known as the annual Campbellian Anthology.
Q: If I participated in the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology last year, can I include stories that already appeared in that volume?
A: Readers who encountered your work in the previous volume are probably going to expect something new. Unless you are presenting additional/related work alongside the repeated material, doing so is unlikely to be advantageous.
Q: I'm proud of a story that appeared the year before my qualifying sale. Can't I include it? It's really good.
A: Your Campbellian eligibility began with the first sale that earned at least 3¢/word, for a total of at least $50. We'll allow anything from the same year as your qualifying sale, but no earlier.
Q: I'd really like to include a story that won't officially appear until after the Campbellian Anthology is released. Can't I sneak it in?
A: The Campbellian Anthology is not a venue for debuting unpublished material. If the story has not yet officially appeared, it is still "unpublished."
Q: My eligibility started in 2012 and goes through 2013, so I am eligible on the 2014 ballot. I'd like to include an awesome story, but the publication is dated 2014. Can I use it?
A: Only works dated within the two-year span of your eligibility may be included in the Campbellian Anthology, regardless of when they originally became available to readers.