Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.
A: Launch Writing Careers
Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?
A: The Contest publishes both writers and illustrators, and my favorites are of course, my judges, past & present (some have passed away). They were/are not only brilliant writers/illustrators but had/have the pay-it-forward attitude of mentoring the new person in the field.
Writer Judges: Kevin J. Anderson, Algis Budrys, Doug Beason, Gregory Benford, Orson Scott Card, David Farland, Frank Herbert, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Dr. Yoji Kondo, Nancy Kress, Katherine Kurtz, Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey, Rebecca Moesta, Larry Niven, Andre Norton, Jody Lynn Nye, Nnedi Okorafor, Fred Pohl, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Brandon Sanderson, Robert J. Sawyer, Robert Silverberg, Stephen Michael Stirling, Dean Wesley Smith, Sean Williams, Jack Williamson, and Roger Zelazny.
Illustrator Judges: Laura Freas Beraha, Edd Cartier, Echo Chernik, Lazarus Chernik, Ciruelo, Vincent Di Fate, Leo & Diane Dillon, Dan dos Santos, Bob Eggleton, Will Eisner, Craig Elliott, Larry Elmore, Frank Frazetta, Frank Kelly-Freas, Brittany Jackson, Jack Kirby, Paul Lehr, Val Lakey Lindahn, Stephan Martiniere, Mike Perkins, Moebius, Sergey Poyarkov, Rob Prior, Alex Schomberg, Shaun Tan, H.R. Van Dongen, Tom Wood & Stephen Youll.
Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?
A: 1) The anthology our winners are published in: "L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume ____" is a national bestseller annually. Often getting a "starred review" from Publishers Weekly. It truly is a stepping stone for careers. We've launched 14 New York Times bestsellers careers so far and hundreds of bestseller careers. We are currently in our 39th year (2022).
2) The other major difference is that we have several tools available to help you become a professional. We have a free 20-hour writing workshop taught by 4 New York Times bestselling authors that you do at your own pace (pre-recorded interviews) etc.
We have a national award nominated podcast with interviews of professionals in the field that can give you insite in areas of the field you aren't even aware of
We have a blog with dozens of helpful articles
3) Our winners are flown to Los Angeles, given a week-long workshop by our judges and a lavish awards ceremony on top of everything else. We pay! (no matter where you live on the planet) Not only do you get our award money (prizes are listed on our listing in Duotrope) but you also get paid to be in the anthology.
Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?
A: Here are my key points that everyone should know about entering this contest:
1) We are looking for speculative fiction short stories and flash fiction is OK too. Science fiction, fantasy, light horror is what we mean by speculative fiction. Art should be science fiction or fantasy-themed.
2) Don't submit an overused trope. We are looking for original ideas well written on the writer side. On the illustrator side we are looking for illustrations, not cartoon drawings and not someone else's work please (we catch plagiarism every time).
3) You can enter every quarter until you win and should enter as often as you can. Our quarters are: Q1 -- 1 October through 31 December, Q2 -- 1 January through 31 March, Q3 -- 1 April through 30 June, Q4 1 July through 30 September.
4) Read the rules before you submit your story or your art so that your format is correct.
5) Do not send us a story that has been previously published anywhere.
Q: Describe the ideal submission.
A: A short story that is engaging for the reader and is an original idea.
For the illustrator - 3 pieces of art that show your strengths. Don't submit three portraits. One is fine if you must but your other 2 should have background, action, etc.
Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?
A: The contest is anonymously judged, so don't leave your name on the manuscript itself or the art.
For the writing contest, make sure your story contains some hint of the genre in the first four pages. We get romances and other sorts of stories that are not right for the contest.
Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?
A: We have an entry form that does require your name (and pen name if a writer), address, phone and email. (we call our finalists on the phone)
On publication credits, yes, this is important. If you are a professional - making your living at illustrating, you cannot enter. This is for up-and-coming artists.
Writers cannot have a traditional publishing contract for one or more NOVELs (advance payment, royalties deal). (you are over qualified to enter if you do)
Self-publishing and vanity publishing (you pay them to publish you) do not count against you here. The only time self-publishing that would disqualify you is if you are supporting yourself with your self-publishing. Some people do, but the majority do not.
You cannot have more than three short stories published that earned you professional rates and that have over 5,000 sales.
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: The obvious reject is lots of spelling errors and/or poor grammar.
We get lots of very good stories, so many are read to the end.
Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?
A: There are several phases to this contest.
The first reader takes out the obvious rejections - including stories that have been previously published (we can't accept them)
We end up with several categories:
Finalists - there are 8 of these only. Those 8 stories go on to 4 judges randomly chosen each quarter and there are 3 winners selected from the 8 finalists
Semi-Finalist - there 10 to 12 of these each quarter. They receive a critique from our coordinating judge, Jody Lynn Nye.
Silver Honorable Mention - No set number - Very good stories.
Honorable Mention - No set number - Nicely done, good solid writing skills. Could have an over-used trope, not strong enough, characters not engaging, but still a good story.
No win - the rest, including poorly written stories, even a nicely written romance or western. Not what we are looking for.
Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?
A: I am not the editor, I manage the show but I do know that the editors can tell very quickly if a person's basic writing skills are there or not.
For us it comes down to, "oh this is a unique storyline, not seen this one before." That is what they are looking for other than the writer can engage them and the writer has the skill to get the reader emotionally involved with the characters enough to care what happens to them.
Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?
A: Modern technologies are important. This is how most people communicate in this day and age. Our anthology is published both ways. We believed in tradition and also keeping up with the times. That is why we offer paperback, and Kindle formats. We also publish the book internationally, in English-speaking markets.
Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?
A: We don't do a lot of editing of our winners. Our editor works with the author if they are one of the winners being published in the book.
Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?
A: This is an award but the anthology has also won awards, so yes, we do.