Better Sex 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 and select 3 stories per week as weekly winners. Each weekly winner will receives a $100 prize and their story will be included in the semifinals February 4th – 9th.

3. Submission Deadline is Midnight Sunday November 1st
All publication slots will be filled and published by November 10th.

4. $3,000 Grand Prize
One story will win the day and the grand prize. 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: http://www.bettersex.com/t-erotic-fiction-contest.aspx as this location will not change and schedule and featured stories will be included on that page. 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 pen names. Only pen names appear online. All author information is confidential and never shared.

7. Email
We use our weekly broadcast emails to share contest results. Authors are not automatically subscribed to our email list. Click Here to subscribe to BetterSex.com emails. 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 will disqualify the author.

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 signed 2009 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 2009 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 our 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.