  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: Tigger thinks of Prancer  
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This is the newsletter to read if you're interested in contests and activities around the site.
Your editor this week is Tigger thinks of Prancer . |
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RULES!
Rules and guidelines are everywhere! At work, I remind chidren to use Safe Hands. When driving, I get reminded to go 55mph. When at the theater, my cell phone gets turned off. But, this newsletter won't be about those. It'll be about the rules and guidelines for contests and activities on Writing.Com.
For many people, one of the hardest parts of creating a sucessful activity is coming up with the contest's rules and activities and presenting them in a clear and concise manner. I will offer what I have learned through my experience with running activities around the site.
Don't forget about me
Here are some things that should be in nearly every activity's guidelines:
Set-Up - Are you expecting bitem links for contest entries or do you accept posts directly to the forum?, Should raffle ticket purchasers send Gift Points to your group or directly to you? Do you have a blurb or signature that you want group members to include in their sig block or in group-related reviews? Is your review forum only for stories about animals?
Expected Commitment - How long should an entry to your contest be? How much participation do you expect from group members? How much do raffle tickets cost?
Ending - Most activities have some sort of ending (or other dates) associated with them. Let your participants know up front!
Sometimes, too much is too much.
Make sure your rules are clear, concise, and not too abundant.
Having too many rules can be frustrating for participants or can cause people to forget them.
Writing paragraphs about what could and should be said in a sentence gets overwhelming as well.
If you wrote it, stick to it.
Your auction's posted ending was 2:15pm, but someone made a 2:31pm bid.
Your contest states entries should be 250-2000 words and your first entry is 2200 words, but is REALLY good.
What do you do in these cases?
I say that in both, those entries are disqualified for not following set guidelines. If you let someone through because they only missed a guideline by a little, it really isn't fair to those who DID follow all guidelines. |
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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If you have any questions or suggestions about rules and guidelines, feel free to post them and I'll include them in a future newsletter.
Here are comments from my last newsletter:
Another great NL, Tig! This would make a good article fort he Noticing Newbies newsletter, too. I think you covered just about everything, keep up the good work!
---ryanpie
Thanks!
I loved the newsletter for contests and activities. I never knew that I could get a prize just for entering! And I never knew that it was so easy to sign up for one. [...] And do you have any advice to get people to add to my brother and I's story? Because I keep emailing people and giving them good reviews for their work but I only have 6 chapters so far. Any Advice?
---Enolse
Glad to have helped. And, as for advice about your story, make sure you have it set up correctly, with genres and correct content rating. Then, post it on appropriate forums, such as "The Shameless "Plug" Page" [E] Also, when asking people to join in, you may want to stick with people who seem interested in the topic or your story... or friends.
Good luck!
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Contests & Activities: June 20, 2007 Issue [#1785]
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