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mefas
ADMIN - Promoting Stories and Authors at the MEFAs - Dos and Don'ts
Hey guys,
2010 is I think the MEFAs' sixth year running. That's really an impressive feat, I think, and something I'm very proud of. But whatever else it means, it also means that many stories have already competed. There are still some great older stories out there, and many newer stories as well, but they *can* be a little harder to find.
This naturally leads people to want to recommend some author or other that they think may be underappreciated or under-recognized. Authors who have been nominated, too, may want to brag about this fact. However, the MEFAs are a competition and we don't want to give anyone an unfair advantage (or make those people whose work isn't being recommended feel left out. There's a right and a wrong way to make people aware of the good stories out there, and to *squee* over your own nominated fic. This week, I want to talk about some of these issues.
First, the business. There is one rule that you should keep in mind when talking up the MEFAs:
"Members may not solicit votes from other MEFA members, or encourage friends to join the MEFAs to vote on particular stories. They are permitted and encouraged to recruit new voters, but this must not be for the purpose of obtaining more votes for specific stories."
This means that, once a story is in the competition, you can't post to a list like this and ask people to go vote for it specifically, and you can't ask your friends to join up specifically to vote for a particular story. It's just not fair. Everyone gets ten points that they can give an author by reviewing it, and when you ask someone else to vote for it, you're really trying to give that story more than your twenty votes. (Or at least, that can be the practical impact, even if it isn't your intention.)
The same philosophy applies to nominations. You are limited to twenty nominations, and part of the reason is so no one person's favorite stories dominate the awards. Now, there's nothing wrong with me telling my friend and fellow MEFA-member about a good story I read, perhaps even hoping that my friend will nominate the story (when I've already used up my twenty nominations). In that case I'm trying to introduce my friend to a story they may not have known about, and am hoping that friend will like the story enough to want to nominate it on her own.
You can even make these kind of recommendations publicly. Some groups allow you to write up recommendations for old stories, and even run recommendation challenges. Certainly if you have a blog you could post there pointing out a story you particularly enjoyed. And if you see a recommendation for a story you like, by all means see if it's eligible, and if it is consider nominating it. But posting those recommendations here is going a step too far. The one thing everyone reading this has in common is that we're interested in the MEFAs. It's more appropriate to post that recommendation to your personal webspace (where people follow because they want to hear your thoughts), or to a website or listserv dedicated to that character or genre.
[As a sidenote: there have been a few nominations withdrawn, because they were already nominated this year: when you nominate a story, please check both www.mefawards.net/mefa-archive/ and www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/ , to make sure no one has nominated it yet.]
For many people, the problem isn't so much being aware of stories to nominate, as it is remembering what you've read. Everyone has their own strategies for dealing with this, but here are two I've found particularly helpful.
First, many archives give you a way to see the stories you have reviewed there. If you review a story when you find it, this is a good way to see a review of your reading habits. Similarly, if you recommend your favorite stories somewhere, often you can find the posts you have made in the past wherever you make the recommendations. (At blogs like LJ, you can even "tag" certain posts, making it even easier to find your old reviews.) This way, you can review those stories you found particularly interesting, see which ones are eligible, and nominate them if you'd like to.
On the authors' side, I know some authors put together a list of the stories they wrote that they will accept nominations for. These lists often include links to a preferred version as well as brief summaries and other basic information. Doing this can serve many useful purposes, not all of them MEFA-related. It lets people see what you've written lately, whether they are involved in the MEFAs or not. It also lets people know what link you prefer. This is not nomination-soliciting, so long as you *make it clear* that you're not grubbing for nominations. I know when I have done this, I've encouraged people to nominate whatever eligible authors they most like, and have said I only put the list together for the convenience of other people.
These approaches may not be everyone's style, and that's okay. These are just suggestions that I have found useful. If you have your own suggestions, that's fine, too. The important thing is that these suggestions all try to introduce people to new interesting fic, or try to remind people of what they've read in the past. The goal isn't to get people to nominate what I like, but to help them find things that *they* like. And that's fine re: the MEFA rules.
****************************
So much for finding stories to nominate, without running afoul of the MEFA rules. :-) Say you've been nominated, and want to tell all your friends. It's good news, and it's quite natural to want to share it. You just have to be careful not to ask people to vote for your story in particular. By all means, thank the people that nominated you. It's even okay to explain what the MEFAs are and tell people how to sign up to vote. But if you do that, you need to be careful that you tell your friends to vote for *all* the participants, not just your stories.
Don't do that to this list. That's getting a bit too close to soliciting votes, for the same reason you shouldn't recommend specific stories to this list. So far, that's not been a problem, but it bears mentioning so it doesn't *become* one.
Another way to advertise that you've been nominated is through banners. We have some very talented and industrious fanartists working with our banner coordinator, Neume Indil, making banners and buttons for the nominated authors. You can view the 2010 nominee banners at
http://picasaweb.google.com/MEFABanners/NomineeGraphics
and are free to use any you like with your nominated stories. Some are character-specific while others are more generic, to be used with any story you like. If you are artistically inclined, we also encourage you to let us share any banners you create, so other members can enjoy them.
*********************************
It's always a bit tricky discussing specific stories when it comes to awards. It's a fine line to walk, between having a good time and taking it a step too far, and thereby making others feel excluded. We also don't want to influence the awards unfairly. I hope these suggestions will help you see how to enjoy the awards, without stepping over that line.
Marta
(Mefa Admin.)
2010 is I think the MEFAs' sixth year running. That's really an impressive feat, I think, and something I'm very proud of. But whatever else it means, it also means that many stories have already competed. There are still some great older stories out there, and many newer stories as well, but they *can* be a little harder to find.
This naturally leads people to want to recommend some author or other that they think may be underappreciated or under-recognized. Authors who have been nominated, too, may want to brag about this fact. However, the MEFAs are a competition and we don't want to give anyone an unfair advantage (or make those people whose work isn't being recommended feel left out. There's a right and a wrong way to make people aware of the good stories out there, and to *squee* over your own nominated fic. This week, I want to talk about some of these issues.
First, the business. There is one rule that you should keep in mind when talking up the MEFAs:
"Members may not solicit votes from other MEFA members, or encourage friends to join the MEFAs to vote on particular stories. They are permitted and encouraged to recruit new voters, but this must not be for the purpose of obtaining more votes for specific stories."
This means that, once a story is in the competition, you can't post to a list like this and ask people to go vote for it specifically, and you can't ask your friends to join up specifically to vote for a particular story. It's just not fair. Everyone gets ten points that they can give an author by reviewing it, and when you ask someone else to vote for it, you're really trying to give that story more than your twenty votes. (Or at least, that can be the practical impact, even if it isn't your intention.)
The same philosophy applies to nominations. You are limited to twenty nominations, and part of the reason is so no one person's favorite stories dominate the awards. Now, there's nothing wrong with me telling my friend and fellow MEFA-member about a good story I read, perhaps even hoping that my friend will nominate the story (when I've already used up my twenty nominations). In that case I'm trying to introduce my friend to a story they may not have known about, and am hoping that friend will like the story enough to want to nominate it on her own.
You can even make these kind of recommendations publicly. Some groups allow you to write up recommendations for old stories, and even run recommendation challenges. Certainly if you have a blog you could post there pointing out a story you particularly enjoyed. And if you see a recommendation for a story you like, by all means see if it's eligible, and if it is consider nominating it. But posting those recommendations here is going a step too far. The one thing everyone reading this has in common is that we're interested in the MEFAs. It's more appropriate to post that recommendation to your personal webspace (where people follow because they want to hear your thoughts), or to a website or listserv dedicated to that character or genre.
[As a sidenote: there have been a few nominations withdrawn, because they were already nominated this year: when you nominate a story, please check both www.mefawards.net/mefa-archive/ and www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/ , to make sure no one has nominated it yet.]
For many people, the problem isn't so much being aware of stories to nominate, as it is remembering what you've read. Everyone has their own strategies for dealing with this, but here are two I've found particularly helpful.
First, many archives give you a way to see the stories you have reviewed there. If you review a story when you find it, this is a good way to see a review of your reading habits. Similarly, if you recommend your favorite stories somewhere, often you can find the posts you have made in the past wherever you make the recommendations. (At blogs like LJ, you can even "tag" certain posts, making it even easier to find your old reviews.) This way, you can review those stories you found particularly interesting, see which ones are eligible, and nominate them if you'd like to.
On the authors' side, I know some authors put together a list of the stories they wrote that they will accept nominations for. These lists often include links to a preferred version as well as brief summaries and other basic information. Doing this can serve many useful purposes, not all of them MEFA-related. It lets people see what you've written lately, whether they are involved in the MEFAs or not. It also lets people know what link you prefer. This is not nomination-soliciting, so long as you *make it clear* that you're not grubbing for nominations. I know when I have done this, I've encouraged people to nominate whatever eligible authors they most like, and have said I only put the list together for the convenience of other people.
These approaches may not be everyone's style, and that's okay. These are just suggestions that I have found useful. If you have your own suggestions, that's fine, too. The important thing is that these suggestions all try to introduce people to new interesting fic, or try to remind people of what they've read in the past. The goal isn't to get people to nominate what I like, but to help them find things that *they* like. And that's fine re: the MEFA rules.
****************************
So much for finding stories to nominate, without running afoul of the MEFA rules. :-) Say you've been nominated, and want to tell all your friends. It's good news, and it's quite natural to want to share it. You just have to be careful not to ask people to vote for your story in particular. By all means, thank the people that nominated you. It's even okay to explain what the MEFAs are and tell people how to sign up to vote. But if you do that, you need to be careful that you tell your friends to vote for *all* the participants, not just your stories.
Don't do that to this list. That's getting a bit too close to soliciting votes, for the same reason you shouldn't recommend specific stories to this list. So far, that's not been a problem, but it bears mentioning so it doesn't *become* one.
Another way to advertise that you've been nominated is through banners. We have some very talented and industrious fanartists working with our banner coordinator, Neume Indil, making banners and buttons for the nominated authors. You can view the 2010 nominee banners at
http://picasaweb.google.com/MEFABanners/NomineeGraphics
and are free to use any you like with your nominated stories. Some are character-specific while others are more generic, to be used with any story you like. If you are artistically inclined, we also encourage you to let us share any banners you create, so other members can enjoy them.
*********************************
It's always a bit tricky discussing specific stories when it comes to awards. It's a fine line to walk, between having a good time and taking it a step too far, and thereby making others feel excluded. We also don't want to influence the awards unfairly. I hope these suggestions will help you see how to enjoy the awards, without stepping over that line.
Marta
(Mefa Admin.)