captainsblog | Jan. 17th, 2011

It's ever so gratifying to read entries like this one, which just go to show how many lovely publishers are out there looking to steal your stuff:

Some of you may have heard about First One Digital Publishing's writing contest -- perhaps from eviscerations of it by Laura Anne Gilman or John Scalzi or Janet Reid.

But in case you haven't, here's the short version: DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST.

For starters, they specifically say they're only open to nonprofessional writers -- not "aspiring" writers or "unpublished" writers, but specifically "nonprofessional" writers. This is a huge red flag, because it means they don't want anyone who's ever read a contract....

The fee to enter is $149, which is pretty steep. The grand-prize winner will get published and also get $5000. Twenty second-prize winners will get published, but no indication that there'll be remuneration for it, though the fact that the prize includes ten of their books valued at $120 suggests not....

( Continuing with the not-so-fine print.... )

From the bad old days of vanity publishers, to the likes of the Woodside Literary Agency, there's always some leech out there trying to suck onto the good efforts and intentions of the writing community. It's sad that the Internet has not only not squashed these bugs, but it's made them easier to breed.