Writers Camp 3rd Edition - Winners Announcement!

[phinality]

Oof, having to take back a winner announcement must suck for all parties. Regardless, congratulations to all the winners and runner-ups! They all deserve it! I found a lot of really good stories because of deciding to post my NaNoWriMo writing here and this contest specifically, so I definitely appreciate all the work put in from both staff and community members

[KRWright]

Thank you to Tapas for running the contest! I hope the issues with the other novel get sorted and resolved quickly!

Well done to everyone both on the list and off it! You all did awesome! (Also I love Diaries so I’m so happy it got ED pick!).

[FloresDelMal]

Congrats to all the legitimate winner, special KR, that really was on the race from the start and it was really one of the true fan favourites, and my sympathies to all the writers who poured their love and time into their beautifully crafted books to only see them scrapped at the last minute just because tapas decided to fall in line with the puritan guidelines of the Apple store, which makes economic sense and it is understandable, I just wish they were transparent about it from the start so everyone knew the REAL rules of the game and could have planned their stories accordingly, but this lack of transparency is certainly unforgivable, when even their premium content not always falls on their grey 'guidelines' area

[Blizzriel]

So I assume that Violin's site isn't finished? Because it says there are 98 entries but by my count there are 134 and my own entry is among the 36 not on the list.

[nascentechuva]

I'm truly grateful that Mariposas was considered at all. Regardless of the controversy, which I've gathered is a little tradition at this point, I don't regret the effort I put in or the support I received. I'm happy to have participated with my noisy-seniors-learn-to-be-friends-through-the-power-of-awkward plotline.

Here's hoping (a small desire of mine, really) there will be more editor picks. There are writers holding so much potential that participated during this competition that I wish we could all see. Three (but not all) of my personal favorites:

All in by HopCrop
A Flying Töskr by @faeriesandents
The Butterflies Blossom by Armel Oenn (I admit I was checking out the butterfly competition on this one.)

Congratulations to the head winners! And sidenote: Horror, science fiction, and mystery writers. I see you, and I love you.

[faeriesandents]

You're a darling, Chuva dear :3
I really wished Mariposas would be amongst the winners, you are such a talented and hard-working writer! The feels man, the feels!

[ratscout]

@brooke
@Michaelson
@STAFF
Hi staff of Tapas! As you all probably know, I really love this site and its beautiful community and the contests are a great opportunity! Not only for lesser known authors to gain a following, but also for the wonderful cash prize, and, more importantly the opportunity to work with an editor to get their stories polished and uploaded into the premium section! It's like making someone's dream come true!

That being said, I have put together some suggestions and criticisms from myself and from some of the other entrants concerning the way the contests have been run in the hopes that you can make the camp a more pleasant and enchanting experience in the future.
1. Tapas should make genre contests from now on. I think almost all of the most subbed entries were BL, so, I think this would even things out in the future either just by Tapas doing a BL genre contest, or other genre contests.

1. The community pick should be the actual community pick. Rather than having the entries with the most subs win, Tapas should actually require a vote to be turned in to the admins for readers to support their favorite story. I think this would make things fairer because the people voting would be people who have a real passion for the story they supported rather than letting someone who probably has a lot of subs who might not even be reading their story win.

2. People entering probably should not be able to promote on other sites where they already have humongous fanbases that they are entering the contest. As an extra caveat, maybe Tapas should only let people who have like… Under 1000 subs enter. Exposure contest anyone?

3. There should always be more staff-picks than community picks or at least an equal amount of both.

4. Just so all the entrants get a little something extra for entering, Tapas should promote the contest like crazy! You should probably make that big ol’ banner that is front and center on the homepage a banner for the contest! This would really help everyone gain a following and let everyone know that there is a contest running! Along with that, you should also consistently leave a little message in everyone’s inbox that the contest is going on! And while the contest is running, I was even thinking that you should replace the novel staff-picks with entries from the contest each week and rotate them so every story has a chance in the sun! It makes a little more sense than leaving the same staff-picks up for months.

5. Tapas needs to be way better organized. Like, way, way better organized. You need to check to make sure some of these stories are not up on other websites before you let them enter. This isn’t asking much; my sister runs contest at her Disney Club at Deviantart where hundreds of people enter and she has a similar rule where the piece of art entered in the contest must be made for the contest, and after the date she got the journal up. She is literally ONE person and she takes the time to check and make sure no one is cheating.

6. Tapas should let their entrants know how they read their stories. I believe the best in Tapas, but I really do want some kind of proof the admins are actually reading every single entry and more importantly, how they are reading them. If they are only reading the first ten chapters, I want to know about it! An easy fix to this would either be to limit the number of people who can enter to give each entry the time they deserve, or to actually notify all the creators which story they are on at any given time. Maybe that’s a little paranoid, but I think we’d all appreciate the transparency! I know I would!

7. This is a smaller complaint, but I noticed that someone who entered the contest basically got a free sub boost and advertisement from Tapas because they were entering the contest and at the same time Tapas did an interview with them that ended up in the entire community’s inboxes. That was kinda unfair. XD

8. It goes without saying that Tapas should be completely transparent about their guidelines next time concerning mature content. It's fine that you only allow PG-13/safe for work content to win, but you need to define what that is and, more importantly, notify all entrants that it is not allowed before starting the contest.

9. Lastly, I was extremely shocked by the sudden announcement of the winners! I think this was the most baffling thing, but we never even got told the date they were going to announce the winners! They just said… Sometime in February, and then BAM! It suddenly appeared in my inbox!
   I am only critical of this site because I actually really love it and want it to succeed! I hope you'll listen to these suggestions~!

[minerrale]

Just going to add 1 suggestion that has been made several times already but since we're there...
There are a number of readers/creators on this platform who would be delighted to give a hand to the Staff during events such as Writer's Camp, be it for making sure the stories follow the mature content guidelines or that they aren't published anywhere else, or anything else the Staff might need.
We all know you guys are a small team, and we'd be happy to help out!
Also we're and I believe I can speak for most of us creators) very grateful for all the opportunities you give us, and for your dedication.
We love this platform, this community, and we only wish to make it even better!

[drac]

Cool! The full collection of entries can be viewed at that link! Somehow, NOT SEEING MINE. Not seeing the real winner either.

Good god, what a waste of time.

6th in views, 1st in eps, 18th in subs, none of this shit is legit. I am damn sure I'm not going to be publishing on Tapas anymore. Enjoy what you can read while you can, I'm taking it down real soon.

[nascentechuva]

did you submit before November 1st?

[drac]

yeah, i did. i made sure of it.

[nascentechuva]

you had to submit on or after, not before

[drac]

okay you're not hearing me, i submitted this within their rules. and i didn't really expect any sort of award, but exclusion altogether, despite adhering to their rules, is a tremendous insult. do you see anything i've written in the "full collection"?

i can understand why the real winner 'lost' by publishing elsewhere at this point.

[Blizzriel]

Yeah, I'm not seeing mine either and it's kind of disheartening given that I exceeded the required ep count, more than doubled the average word limit, and followed the rules to the best of my knowledge. I wasn't aware of the Puritanical standard, but I see some entries on the list that state in the summary that they contain gore and NSFW content. I wasn't expecting to win, but I am upset to see that I'm being treated as a non-participant.

[Pan]

Is your story

Intimidation / Interdiction??

[drac]

no my story is called

consideration / disputation

do you have any other smart ass comments?

[Penni]

Regardless of how you feel about the situation, there is no need to be rude to people.

[Pan]

Just wondering which exact day you uploaded your first chapter is all. I’m trying to help find out why this happened. No need to be mad at me.

[nascentechuva]

I wasn't trying to anger you. I was trying to tell you that because of the rules, the third one to be exact, your story was disqualified. You entered September 8th. Giving you an unfair advantage.

You must publish your story on Tapas within the submission period of 12:00 AM PST on November 1st, 2018 and 11:59 PM PST on January 13th, 2019.

[Blizzriel]

I thought drac was talking about the fansite, not the official list. Whoops