Discussion: Q4 Volume 36

Hi I’m new here. I entered the contest for the first time last quarter and received an HM. Can’t help thinking it was a fluke and that I will just get a rejection for my entry this quarter!

Not a fluke. And if you can do it once, you can do it again. : )

Keep writing. Keep sending.

Moon

Thanks, I’ll keep trying!

Welcome to the forum Woodstock. Congrats on your HM.

Welcome to the forum Woodstock. Congrats on your HM.

Thank you

Hello everybody and congrats to the finalists and HMs! So just a few days ago, I decided to randomly check on the winners of Q4. I resubmitted a story from Q3 that was rejected. Naturally, I expected another reject in Q4. As I scrolled down that gigantic list, I almost had a heart attack when I spotted my name under semifinalists! They must have forgot to email me! So this story leads up to my two questions:
1. Now that I made semifinalist, can I no longer submit stories, ever?
2. I can personally pat myself on the back for making it so far, but how good will this look to publishers? Is it worthy “street cred?”

Hello everybody and congrats to the finalists and HMs! So just a few days ago, I decided to randomly check on the winners of Q4. I resubmitted a story from Q3 that was rejected. Naturally, I expected another reject in Q4. As I scrolled down that gigantic list, I almost had a heart attack when I spotted my name under semifinalists! They must have forgot to email me! So this story leads up to my two questions:
1. Now that I made semifinalist, can I no longer submit stories, ever?
2. I can personally pat myself on the back for making it so far, but how good will this look to publishers? Is it worthy “street cred?”

Wow, congrats on being a semifinalist! That's fantastic!! If they still haven't emailed you, I would try to get in contact, because that means you should end up receiving a critique from Dave Farland.

You are certainly allowed to continue submitting! You just can't resubmit the story you got SF for. The only things that disqualify you are a) winning and b) "proing out" (based on their guidelines in the contest rules).

I personally would not use this in a cover letter or anything like that, but I'm also a total newbie, so if other more experienced forumites have a different answer, I'd listen to them over me.
Congratulations again! Semifinalist is a HUGE deal!!!

Like swift said you can’t resubmit that story, but you’re not barred from entering. You’ll get a critique from Dave Farland so definitely reach out to Joni!

General consensus is that anything but a finalist is still a rejection - and there have been mixed results from people using finalist in cover letters even. I wouldn’t use it in my cover letters but I’d definitely feel pretty good about my story!

Congratulations on the semi-finalist Chad and welcome to the forum.
Your story must be a good one to finish that high.

There's another lil bonus to making Semi.
I'll send a PM.

Putting WotF credits in Queries:
In case it helps, here is my experience with adding the WotF credits. I began adding the following sentence to my queries last year:
"I am a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and have placed as Semi-Finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest with my YA time travel, SLIPPING TIME."

With this addition, a better crafted query, and hopefully a clear story premise, I began receiving several requests for FULLS. (FULLS = the agent asks you to send your full manuscript for consideration) I do not know how much the WotF credit helped, and I did craft it to show how the winning story related to the interests of the agent ("YA time travel"), but it definitely did not hurt to add it.

Note: No offers of representation yet.

Well done, Chad! Congratulations! Semifinalist in this contest is HUGE! It means you were in the top 16 or so out of thousands of entries for the quarter from around the world. That is an amazing accomplishment, considering the competition and caliber of writing. Write Joni at Author Services, as others have said. You want that beautiful certificate AND Dave's critique! Treat that critique like the gold it is. Dave is a bestselling author, and he's a guru editor. He will reveal what worked and what did not work in that story. Apply the counsel and send it back out. I sold one of my semifinalists because of Dave's critique. It is a great unsung gift of the Writers of the Future contest.

Like Liquid Luck, use it wisely. Send in your next story! You nicked the bullseye!

Cheers!

Wulf Moon

Congrats Chad!!!

... I sold one of my semifinalists because of Dave's critique. ...

Me as well.
Dave said to chop the last few pages off. I did. It sold next time out.
You can read it free here if you'd like (if you have an e-reader).
Issue #7.
https://coeurdelion.com.au/dimension6/

Hello everybody and congrats to the finalists and HMs! So just a few days ago, I decided to randomly check on the winners of Q4. I resubmitted a story from Q3 that was rejected. Naturally, I expected another reject in Q4. As I scrolled down that gigantic list, I almost had a heart attack when I spotted my name under semifinalists! They must have forgot to email me! So this story leads up to my two questions:
1. Now that I made semifinalist, can I no longer submit stories, ever?
2. I can personally pat myself on the back for making it so far, but how good will this look to publishers? Is it worthy “street cred?”

Wow, congrats on being a semifinalist! That's fantastic!! If they still haven't emailed you, I would try to get in contact, because that means you should end up receiving a critique from Dave Farland.

You are certainly allowed to continue submitting! You just can't resubmit the story you got SF for. The only things that disqualify you are a) winning and b) "proing out" (based on their guidelines in the contest rules).

I personally would not use this in a cover letter or anything like that, but I'm also a total newbie, so if other more experienced forumites have a different answer, I'd listen to them over me.
Congratulations again! Semifinalist is a HUGE deal!!!

Phew, good to know! Thank you and a super congratulations to you winner of chicken dinner :)!

Thank you everybody! You guys are awesome and really helpful! I’m going to make it a priority to be more active on this forum. It’s one big writing team in here! Now that I know I’m still in the game, it’s time to prep another worthy story. It’s going to be a challenge to top my last submission(it was my bread and butter), but I think I might be able to brew a decent story up without hurting myself for next quarter. Thanks again everyone! Write on!

So, has anyone received certificates yet for Q4?

So, has anyone received certificates yet for Q4?

Not yet over here.

At least we're on the same wavelength. I was going to ask that today since I haven't received mine.

So, has anyone received certificates yet for Q4?

Nope, me either. Last year I received one certif as soon as 2 months later, the other as long as 6 months later. Joni's pretty good about following up. If you don't see one by the time the next results come out you can probably safely ping her.

So, has anyone received certificates yet for Q4?

Nope, me either. Last year I received one certif as soon as 2 months later, the other as long as 6 months later. Joni's pretty good about following up. If you don't see one by the time the next results come out you can probably safely ping her.

Thanks for the reasurance. But my concerns have more to do with the postal service here than Joni. Ha ha ha.

Thanks for the reasurance. But my concerns have more to do with the postal service here than Joni. Ha ha ha.

No worries. I've just always wanted an excuse to use the morning / coffee smiley.

I got my certificate a couple days ago.

I got my certificate a couple days ago.

Wonderful! For the rest, please be patient. They will come. Joni is working overtime trying to keep up with organizing the event and all the calls coming in from guests. Try not to add to her work load.

Thanks!

I got my certificate a couple days ago.

Oooh it’s coming yay! My first Silver!

LOl. I forgot all about it.

Got it in the mail today!