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Found this contest!

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Suave View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Found this contest!
    Posted: 18 May 2023 at 9:34pm

A friend sent me the link as I bug them a lot with posting my contest stories on FB.
Now, I don't know much about this, though I did do a bit of a look about on Google. 
Seems to be a new site, about 4 months old, and not too much other info other than that.
A lot of money offered for ten lucky writers and no entry fee.
Can't help feeling there is something not quite right with it.



Edited by Suave - 18 May 2023 at 9:35pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jennifer.quail Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2023 at 3:16pm
I don't know it's not legit, but my concern is while $20,000 is MONUMENTALLY generous as an advance against royalties, it comes with a very, very long contract that automatically renews for another ten years if the rights get sold for another medium. I would be interested to hear a professional agent's opinion, though otoh I would take the money and run if I won. 

Sci fi, however, is not my genre. I'd have to spend more time learning how a Dyson Sphere works than I could writing. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jimiflan2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2023 at 4:17pm
I had a look, and it is definitely interesting. I’m a big fan of Cixin Liu, and this looks like it is coming from his agent. Basically they are looking for novel length stories about Dyson Spheres. It’s very niche. The rights as described seem a bit iffy to me, but the section that really made me think was this:  
Please note that SciFidea is not only a publishing website or literature agency but an IP (Intellectual Property) producer per se.”

So, what does that mean? If you come up with a cool idea that they can patent, then you hand that idea over to them?


Edited by jimiflan2 - 19 May 2023 at 4:18pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote td333777 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2023 at 4:50pm
For $20k, I almost don't care about the terms.  If you get a book deal with Tor or some other imprint (as a debut author) there's almost a 100% chance your advance will be lower (much lower) than that anyway.  Take the money, and hope they sell some ancillary rights like TV/streaming, and make money on those too...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote td333777 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2023 at 4:56pm
Originally posted by jimiflan2 jimiflan2 wrote:


So, what does that mean? If you come up with a cool idea that they can patent, then you hand that idea over to them?


My guess (without reading the contract it's impossible to know) is that they essentially become the representative for all associated rights to that particular IP (your story.)  So movie, tv. streaming, international book, audio, merchandising--all of that is theirs to farm out to various movie producers, tv producers, foreign publishers, audio book publishers, etc etc, and they get a cut every time those sales are made.  The people who need to worry are the ones who finish either as a finalist (and get $2000) or those who don't get anything at all.  Do those stories belong to the contest publisher too?  And all associated rights?  That's what I don't know.

TD
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 May 2023 at 12:28am
Well, someone put a lot of effort into building this site, there are real people listed so that they can
be contacted to see if this is real, and despite myself I am becoming interested. So, if anyone 
comes up with any dirt, I hope they will share it here.

When I first looked at the site my reaction was: Why would I want to write something that everyone
else is writing about? But my mind is very theoretically oriented when it comes to space. I already have a couple of ideas buzzing around my brain - I wish it would stop because I am going to regret this...

Now, I would be into considering a partner writer on this - something I've never even thought about.
But with this short writing window for that amount of money, the story is going to need to sparkle -
two writers can back and forth really well, much better than beta readers that do not want to go 
over a story from front to back more than once. The science is going to need to be good. 
So, anyone willing to consider this PM me and we can confab for a bit?



Edited by Suave - 20 May 2023 at 12:34am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 May 2023 at 5:29am
I emailed the contest to ask to see the contract that would have to be signed. 
I wrote: 

Hi! I was wondering if you have a copy of the contract being used for this contest? They say the proof is in the details, haha. Sorry, I just like to know what I am getting into before I get into it.

Thanks for your time, Tim


They replied:


Thank you for contacting us. We greatly value your consideration and support.
The contract will not be allowed to show to the public for now. However, we have written the core content on our flyer. If you find that unclear enough, check the detailed explanation on our Facebook.

Q: Can you define what constitutes a net income for your company? Do you mean that you'll deduct your company's expenses, taxes, fees, etc. from the gross earnings, and then give us 30-50% of what's left?
A: Net income refers to the income that is deposited into our company's account from the third party whoever we sell the rights to. Cost refers to the cost of developing the rights itself and excludes our internal operating costs. As for taxes, it depends on the third-party company's algorithm. Most likely, they are included, but not much.
However, we want to clarify that the electronic reading/subscription revenue on our official website will not be shared with the authors. We use bonuses as high fees to pre-pay this part of the price. The author's share of earnings mainly includes revenue authorized on other reading websites, and revenue authorized for the development of audiobook products/comic (electronic/paper) products/animations/TV shows/movies.
If you win, you will get prize money of USD20,000. We regard this as a pre-paid royalty, you get it whether or not your work gets published into a paperback.
Then you’ll share half of the net income we have on paper publishing. And then you still get a 30% of the net income from other developing.
With our developing and marketing policies, the work we signed stands a better chance to go further. A 100% of zero is still zero, but a 30% of adaption fee can be a lot.
The auto-renewing will only apply to the works that get developed in the first decade.
You don’t have most of the shares, we admit that, but we do need some money to promote the works into other media types after we sign with you.

Good luck with your writing!

SciFidea


Edited by Suave - 26 May 2023 at 1:01am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jun 2023 at 6:47am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2023 at 12:03am

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