Erotic Fiction Story Submission

Erotic Fiction Contest Rules

1. Who is eligible

Any adult from anywhere on the planet may enter the Better Sex Erotic Fiction Contest. Past winners came from New Zealand, France and Germany. Prizes are awarded in US currency (sorry). This means you can live anywhere and we will get your check to you if you win, but you must be at least 18 years old to enter.

2. Weekly Winners

We review all stories for content and then release to the community vote per week to determine weekly winners. Each weekly winner will receive a $50 cash prize or up to $100 value in products and their story will be included in the semifinals August 2-7, 2010.

3. Limited Submission Entries

Publication slots will be filled as stories pass the initial content review. Once the submission quota is filled, those submissions will be scheduled for voting, the author notified and entries closed.

4. Grand Prize

One story will win the grand prize. The Grand Prize Winner is eligible to receive their pick of either $1000 cash prize OR up to $2000 in product prizes. Only weekly winners are eligible to win the Grand Prize.

5. Voting

Many of last year’s authors used blogs and social networks such as Digg to get the word out and win their week. Authors should link to the Erotic Fiction Contest homepage on the Better Sex Network as this location will not change and provide access to voting for featured stories. Please use "Better Sex Erotic Fiction Contest" as the link title. Authors may vote for their own story once. We track voting now by IP and with a voting algorithm. We’ve had attempts to stuff the ballot box. Any attempts using this kind of fraud will disqualify the story and author.

PLEASE NOTE: it is every author’s responsibility to warn well meaning friends that they may only vote once. If repeated unnatural voting patterns emerge, BetterSex.com reserves the right to discontinue community voting entirely and employ our 3 judge panel to determine all awards.

6. Privacy, Security and Pen Names

Authors usually request use of a pen name. Our Better Sex Erotic Fiction Release Form asks for submissions to be authored by pen names. Only pen names appear online. All author information is confidential and never shared.

7. Email

We will use our weekly broadcast emails to share contest results. Authors are not automatically subscribed to our email list. To subscribe to BetterSex.com emails, please visit http://www.bettersex.com/createemailprofile.aspx. We use a double opt-in process, so you will not be part o four list until you click on the confirming email.

8. Story Length Guideline – 3,000 Words

We are looking for great erotic writing. That is the single most important criteria. Our general guideline is 3,000 words, but this is not a limit. The only limit we have is the quality of the work and quality is usually apparent in the first sentence.

9. Only Original Unpublished Work

Authors must submit original unpublished work. Any unnoted use of another author’s work or submission of an already published story will disqualify the author. If you are unsure if you've already published it on the web, check Copyscape.

10. Legalese

The Better Sex Erotic Fiction Contest is a contest of skill and presented as entertainment. It is not a sweepstakes and is void where prohibited by law. Authors agree that BetterSex.com and its parent company are acting in good faith, have outlined in detail how author’s intellectual property will be considered and published on our Learn More page Only stories with electronically signed 2010/2011 Limited Release will be published so no damages can occur. Even if BetterSex.com goofs and publishes a story by mistake without a release, authors understand that a release will be sought and BetterSex.com remains bound by the details of the 2010/2011 Limited Release form. An author’s original submission of a story constitutes a pledge of good faith by both parties. (This means if we mess up and forget to secure a limited release we remain bound by the stipulations in our release thus protecting the author and we will seek a release the minute we realize we goofed. We can’t say, "whoops we messed up" and steal an author’s work. We would never steal but putting stuff in writing creates clarity. Protections we’ve created in the release apply whether there is a signed release or not. Authors have to give something too and that is that we are acting in good faith as we are bound by the protections we’ve created and will rectify any paperwork mistake. Copyright in our contests always remains with the author. We simply rent stories for specific purposes and, in all cases except the first use for community voting, we send checks for any retail use of your work.)

Authors must only submit original unpublished work and, in so doing, authors agree to fully indemnify BetterSex.com and its parent company to any and all third party claims relating to an author’s submission. (This sentence means if you crib a story, present it as original and we publish it we will refer the complaining lawyers to you.) BetterSex.com and our parent company can not be held liable for stories that are lost or that can not be opened. Judges decisions are final. BetterSex.com can change these rules at any time and for any reason. (We don’t plan to change the rules, but if we need to comply with a federal or state law we will.) Submitting a story to the Better Sex Erotic Fiction Contest means you’ve read, understand, agree to and will abide by these rules.

Erotic Fiction Contest Release

I (hereby confirmed Author of written submission) and Townsend Incorporated, dba The Sinclair Institute and BetterSex.com, hereby enter into the following agreement governing the publication of this (and all subsequent) Erotic Fiction Contest written submission(s).

(1) Author warrants that he/she is the sole author of written submission and is the owner of any copyrights or other intellectual property rights. Author grants Townsend
publication rights covered by this agreement. Author states that written submission is a work of fiction that has not previously been published or publicly distributed.

(2) Author agrees to allow publication of written submission one time on BetterSex.com for community voting to determine if written submission will become a “Weekly Winner”.

(3) If written submission becomes a Weekly Winner Townsend agrees to provide a cash award of $100 and provide one free copy of the 2010 BetterSex.com Erotic Fiction Anthology (“book”) when and if one is printed.

(4) If judges award written submission the Grand Prize, Townsend agrees to pay a cash reward as outlined in the Contest Rules and provide up to ten (10) free copies of 2010
BetterSex.com Erotic Fiction Anthology when and if one is printed.

(5) Author agrees to accept this agreement and any payments earned, as full consideration for the grant to Townsend of a non-exclusive right to publish written submission in any medium including but not limited to publication on its website
and in a collection of stories contained in a book (print or electronic). Author grants Townsend the right to use Author’s pen name in connection with the publication and
promotion of the publication of Story. Townsend agrees to keep author
information other than pen name private and secure.

(6) “Royalties”, defined as net profits (profits less production and marketing
costs), from book sales will be split evenly between all authors once a year
once all book creation and marketing costs are paid.

(7) Author retains the right to publish written submission through other means. If written submission becomes a weekly winner authors agree to include the statement
“BetterSex.com Erotic Fiction Winner” in any subsequent publications of
written submission for 1 year from signature date.

(8) Author consents that given “pen” named may be used when
publishing the written submission.