ralan.com

[julesjones]

Those of you who've used the market listings at www.ralan.com will know how useful they can be to specfic writers. Unfortunately Ralan's hosting costs have gone up considerably, and the site needs some financial support if it's not to close. Two ways to help - enter the Grabber Contest, with a $20 entry fee and a specified split of the entry fees between the prize pool and the site hosting costs, or donate money. The contest closes 31 August (and I meant to mention it earlier, damn it). I've just made a donation, because I think I've had a lot of value out of the site and I want to see it keep going. I'd have entered the contest, but I didn't come up with a suitable entry.

The sf world is generally pretty leery of contests with entry fees, and with good reason; but this one is very clear about what you're getting for the money, and one of the things you're getting is supporting a useful resource.

Comments

[ceciliatan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I entered his fundraising contest last year, which was for "best ending", where submissions only sent the final five paragraphs of stories, so it was decidedly different. I didn't win, but I supported the cause, at least. It's depressing to think he'll have to do it every year -- I wonder if he'll eventually team up with sff.net or someone.

[julesjones]

I liked the idea of last year's contest, but my basic problem is that I'm not really a short story writer in the first place, and smut seems to creep in even when I intended it to be clean and pure. It's easier just to send him a $20 donation for bandwidth. I do occasionally use the other listings sites, but Ralan's is the one I always turn to first, and I'd be sorry to see it go.

[ceciliatan.livejournal.com]

smut seems to creep in even when I intended it to be clean and pure

*laughs*

That's how I ended up a smut short story writer in the first place. After that happened to me 5-6 times in a row, I gave up and made a career out of it...