I wrote a pm to Erin, with my idea on how to do a "best of big closet" book - make it a contest! These would be the rules, in my opinion:
Authors can only submit their own work, and in doing so are giving permission for publication. The only exception should be for an author who has passed on. In that case the submission must be approved by the estate.
Submission will be done publicly as reply to the official opening of the contest. no pm submissions. Submissions will include a link to the story.
Contest would be broken into categories based on the publication list when a piece is submitted. Ie: drabble, short-short, ext.
From the official announcement of the contest, authors would have 2 months to make a submission.
Because the focus would be on presenting as many authors as possible, complete pieces can only be novelette size or smaller. Excerpts of longer pieces would also be acceptable, but a link must be provided to the excerpt.
Also to help present as many authors as possible, each author should not submit more than 2 pieces in any category, and no more than 4 pieces overall.
once all pieces are submitted, an announcement will be posted on the Writer's Challenge forum. The announcement will include a link to the submitted stories. Voters would be given two months to vote.
Voting will consist of public replies to the announcement. No PMs would be counted.
Voting will consist of ranking the submissions by category from first to last. Ie: their favorite story in each category would be number 1, second favorite would be number 2, and so on. any stories not ranked will be considered as being in last place.
Once the voting is concluded, the votes would be counted, and the top two submissions in each category would make the book.
The book will be presented by category in alphabetical order. The submissions within the category will also be in alphabetical order by author's name. Each author will be allowed to make a short intro to their own piece.
A short introduction should be written by Erin
A mention of those authors who have passed away should be included
Any comments?
a couple of things
first, for legal reasons, fan fiction is not eligible. Second, someone suggested a reverse scoring for the voting. So if there are 20 submissions in a category, you would give your first choice 20 points, your 2nd choice 19, and so on. thus, the entry with the most points would be selected.
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
this reads...
.. like an invitation to an Authorial ego-fest. Not sure about anyone else, but I would not be putting myself forward as some sort of 'Best Of' writer. I saw a couple of comments that suggested I might have a place in such a collection, among others, but that is not for me.. or might I suggest.. any Author to say. I'm just an occasional scribbler, I don't do ego that much.
It is down to the reader/s to decide whether a work is worthy in any way. So... not being a rabid self promoter... you'd get no self nominations. If a few readers suggested something I had 'penned' was worth considering, fine. I would be proud to be considered, but I would not do so myself. Never vote for my own stuff either, if some few see something that resonates in some way I'm glad, but that is not my place. Of course any author is able to comment and many do. So as a reader I might just nominate someone else, probably would in fact.
I do wonder if the wording above beats out the intent. It's a worth while thing Dorothy, kudos for going forward, just be careful of the written expression.
Kristina
nominating somone else
the problem with nominating someone else is that then it would be someone's job to track down each author and get permission, which might not be easy, and if the author didn't want to participate, a waste of time. As for ego, well, if it helps to think of the collection as less of a "best of" and more a sample of what we produce here. Take it as a bit of "fun", and see what happens!
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
Self Nomination?
Some of the best works here are likely to NOT be nominated, because the authors would not be likely to put themselves forward - either because they're no longer posting here, don't believe they should advance their stuff (as Kristina indicates), etc.
The next problem is what constitutes "BEST"... Some stuff here is as good, if not better, than a lot of stuff professionally published. But, again what is BEST? There's some VERY well written stuff her, that I don't like. A popularity contest? No. I don't think that really works that well - in finding things that are good literature. They find things with all the right "themes". Oh, occasionally really well written stuff has those themes as well, but far from all the time.
Next would be "how long" should the pieces be in the "Best of BCTS"? Some really outstanding novels exist here. Some good series stories. Some good Novelas. Some good Short stories... How BIG would a "volume" of "Best of" be? In the Dead Tree market - most "Best of..." books are comparable in size to single novels - which could exclude all of our novels if you use that form-factor. But whatever the size - it puts a limit on how much can be included.
In my opinion, the only way a "Best of BCTS" could be managed would be for one or more "editors" to be selected. Each with a "focus" on a class of stories - and they'd work through stuff here that fit those categories. Nominations by readers is perfectly fine here. The editors could then review all of the stuff for quality and such (a story with decent mechanics can be really popular. MOST of the time, cleaning those mechanics up even further would improve the story but many authors either don't want to, can't wait for that or whatever...) to come up with a list that fits their theme. If it was wanted - they could work with the authors to "polish" their stories (if needed) as well as get permission for inclusion... But, that still leaves the issue of authors that cannot be located. Some outstanding work would end up being "lost" then.
The concept of a "Best of..." isn't bad of itself... It's just very difficult to do well... And, is a LOT of work for an Editor.
My 2 cents...
Anne
troubles with that idea
the troubles with that idea for me would be: who would be the editors? how would they be chosen? who would be willing to put their own projects on hold for months if not years while pulling something like this together? By what standard would they judge the work, or would it be totally subjective? what do you mean by "class" of story if not by publication category? How would the authors be sure a story got a fair shake, and not rejected for reasons other than how good the story was if it all took place behind closed doors? My way, we could start right away, and it would take very little editing to make work, and we could realistically see the book ready for publication within the year. And it would be totally above board, no concerns about the fairness of it. I am afraid if we did it the way you suggest, it won't happen, period.
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
Not Sure a Public Vote...
...is in either the writers' or voters' best interests. Why let anyone get hard feelings because an online friend they were counting on decided to downgrade one of their stories?
On the other side, voters may feel obliged to vote for people, so to speak, rather than stories, for various reasons: to name two, people that a voter might think couldn't handle a rejection, and people who are felt to "deserve" inclusion even though their shorter pieces don't measure up to their (ineligible) novels. (One can, I suppose, argue either way on the latter; me, I'd prefer great stories over great authors, if that's the choice.)
I certainly could be wrong on this next point, but I think the kind of vote you're discussing could end up with a bunch of awfully similar stories: mid-teen or younger TSs or just-discovered ISs coming of age in an American suburb, complete with mall trips, slumber parties, mothers' encouragement and absent or antagonistic fathers. I certainly have nothing against those stories, most of which rate high in reads and votes (my votes among them), but IMO a "best of" book ought to have a more eclectic feel. Even if voters agree about that, I don't think the consensus will reflect it when weighted votes are counted.
Another point about a public vote: as several folks have pointed out, there are categories here for which people very apparently would prefer not to identify themselves as readers. Not that I'd want those stories included myself, of course [g]. but it seems unfair to those authors to have a vote system that's rigged to exclude them.
My preference would be to skip the contest, have nominations (and seconds) from readers, with the whole bunch of nominees being sent to a team of editors, who'd get the permissions and either choose the stories or set up narrow choices for votes: not even "vote for your favorite two of these four mid-length pieces", but "choose between these two kid stories" and "do you want the vampire tale or the furry transformation"? (Or whatever, of course.) Voting should be by (relatively) secret ballot; whoever's tallying the votes needs to know who they're from and that nobody's voting more than once or setting up straw accounts, but no one else needs to.
Editors would either be chosen by the admins from volunteers, or voted on by all of us here from self-nominations. (I suspect most of the regulars here already have a pretty good idea of the likely winners, assuming they volunteer.)
My thoughts, anyway.
Eric
public voting
The reason why i suggest a public vote is so that it would be above board, and not up to the judgment of a small group of editors. in essence, we all would be the editors. I am hoping that we would get as many different types of stories as we could, to show off the range of what we produce here.
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
Best of?
I think this idea is really good, but not in the format suggested.
Firstly, I have been here four over four years and I still feel that my work needs to improve before I would be comfortable calling it 'good', let alone 'the best'.
You see, I'm confident that some of my work would be able to hold its own against other pieces here, but I would not be so egotistical as to believe that anything I have written could be labelled 'the best'. I would not be surprised to discover that other authors felt the same way.
So like Kris, I won't be putting any of my work forward for consideration as I feel that authors and/or stories should be nominated.
I don't just look it, I'm totally into fair play
not the best?
I definitely have trouble thinking of my stuff as good, much less the best, but like i said above, maybe we could consider this book a "sample" rather than "the best of", if that helps. hugs.
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
Not too bad
It's a good idea and would showcase some of our best works here.
I wouldn't be happy with putting my stuff forward, as like others, I am uncomfortable with self praise, but if there is a category that is headed 'Not Too Bad' and a reader would want to nominate me, that would be nice!
Hugs
Sue
take a chance
we would love to praise you.... grin.
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
Editorial
It seems to me that a good "best of" compilation---at least judging by the ones I've seen---relies on the skills and the sensibilities of smart editors who are each allowed to pick an equal number of their favorites (and maybe to argue among themselves) rather than a blanket vote from among the current crop of readers like some People's Choice Awards. It's not the easiest way to do this, it means a lot of work for somebody, but it pays off. Herds---even an excellent herd like ours---tend to think alike, to gravitate toward a homogenized "high standard of standardness", whereas editors will think in terms of representing a variety of styles and tones and topics, and will make surprising choices that aren't the immediate crowd pleaser but will with time be revealled to have been good selections. Maybe I'm full of it, but to me it seems editing a compilation is an artform that takes a guiding hand---or a number of them---instead of just relying on blind demographics.
~~~hugs, Laika
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
I agree...
...but while I'm at it I'd like to thank Dorothy for beginning this process, and hopefully we'll see the fruition of her hard work soon. Thanks!
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
the level of work required
as much as that might be a good idea, i fear there just wouldn't be a group of "smart editors" here who would be willing to volunteer that much of their time and energy for this. Then, basically, we say, "Well, it would be nice - someday" and it never actually happens. That's a choice, but I would rather see something actually produced, even if it was not perfect, than waiting forever for people to have the free time to create an ideal version.
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
I'd be willing
I don't know about being "smart" really, but I've already volunteered to work on the book.
Melanie E.
Selection committee
I agree with Laika that a selection committee is a preferred method for compiling a digest of the best of BCTS.
A popular vote of all published works is one thing, but asking authors to self-nominate themselves for a ballot would not be fair or effective.
Selecting a selection committee might also be a matter for a popular vote, along with a method of author inclusion/exclusion when considering the works of authors on the selection committee.
Michelle
As being "The Best Of BC" implies it's the best...
and best is so subjective, I feel a secret vote would be better.
I personally think the best way to handle a "Best of..." collection would be to have the site admins select a small group of people to get together online and hash out a short list of possible candidates. While letting everyone have a say makes sense on a democratic idealistic front, it is more likely to cause problems when someone's idea of a good story is refused, or something they hate is included. By instead limiting the people with actual say on content to, say, six trustworthy site contributors, you can prevent most of these problems. After all, if something someone dislikes makes it in, they can only blame the committee that put the book together, most of whom would probably be chosen for their ability to deal with being blamed for making the choices they do.
While everyone having a say in what is included is a good idea, it would be hard to implement. And, in a way, everyone already DOES have a say. In choosing content for such a book, comment and/or vote totals would be one element that the chosen team would look at when considering what to include, I'd imagine, so every time someone has commented or voted for a story they liked, they have contributed toward the "Best Of..." collection.
Perhaps a better way to do it would be to have people apply to the admins for a position on the book committee, the admins cut the list down to no more than 25 people, and then have the site members do a private vote through the admins for who they think would be best fit to work on the book, with the 5 to 8 most voted making up the committee.
Or just let Miss Erin pick, since it's her site after all :P
Melanie E.
waving the white flag
well, I wave the white flag, giggle. I am so glad so many people bothered thinking about my little idea, even if they disagreed with me. On the other had, maybe I have also gotten people excited enough to volunteer to be an editor for the project. I really hope we can pull it together.
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen