#VSS365 Anthology

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Why have an anthology?

As the original creator of #vss365, many people have proposed an anthology to me over the last few years.

Why? In short, because it’s something to celebrate. Many people have found a supportive, encouraging and nurturing space to call home every day. Many have found confidence, friendship and creativity. Many have gone on to develop bigger stories or become more involved in the running of the prompts. So many amazing stories to tell that it’s time we stopped and recorded some of the fine talent in a format that goes beyond the walls of Twitter.

Original thoughts were focused on capturing stories over the space of a year, thus fitting with the 365 concept. However, this is a long time to wait and there are many reasons why this wouldn’t work well.

The idea of basing an anthology on 365 very short stories is naturally appealing. Something which I believe we should stick to.

The new plan allows for this to be done in the space of just over a month.

The Basics

Starting on 1^st June 2019 (subject to change), the anthology will consider story submissions for the total period of 37 days.

Each day, apart from the last day, 10 stories will be selected for publication.

The anthology will initially be eBook format, on Kindle, via Amazon. With the potential of a paperback book to follow.

Dates	Number of entries selected	Selector
1st to 5th June	10 per day (50 total)	Ambassador 1
6th to 10th June	10 per day (50 total)	Ambassador 2
11th to 15th June	10 per day (50 total)	Ambassador 3
16th to 20th June	10 per day (50 total)	Ambassador 4
21st to 25th June	10 per day (50 total)	Ambassador 5
25 to 30th June	10 per day (50 total)	Ambassador 6
1st to 6th July	10 per day (60 total)	Ambassador 7
7th July	5	Ambassador 7

Ambassadors

It is too much burden on any individual to act as selector for all the stories. Having people share the load also allows a greater range of styles and voices to be selected (as each person will, naturally, come to different conclusions on what they select).

Ambassadors have been selected based on their contribution and positive support for the #vss365 community and the project itself.

The list of Ambassadors for the first Anthology is below (no order):

Irene @_Irene_Dreams_
DeRicki @derickijohnson
Kelvin @KelvinROfficial
SpringySteve @PatchieSteve
Alva @Alva1206
Levi @LeviKrain
Arthur @ArthurUnkTweets

If you were not selected as an Ambassador, it doesn’t mean that you are not valued (you are – and thank you for everything you do), it’s just that we are in the extremely fortunate position of having dozens of people to pick from. If there are future anthologies, it is highly likely that these people will change.

Brief Ambassador rules:

• Ambassadors are prevented from being selected (either by themselves or other Ambassadors). This is to prevent any favouritism. Ambassadors will be offered up to five stories in the Bonus Content section (more on this later).
• While Ambassadors can select the same author more than once, they are encouraged to find a diverse range of authors. The popularity of an author, or the number of interactions on a submission should have no bearing on selection.

General Terms and Conditions:

• The anthology will publish 365 selected stories from the community
• We cannot pay contributors for their work, sorry
• Contributors retain the rights to their individual work
• Any profit from the anthology will go to The Book Bus (a children’s literacy charity), the anthology itself is not endorsed by any organisation or charity but we wanted you to know where the money was going.
• An Ambassador, selected in advance, will select ten eligible stories for each day (the last day only five stories will be selected)
  • During the period an Ambassador is selecting, they are not to be influenced on their selection, nor are they to comment, like or R/T stories
• It will not be a popularity contest. Stories with few likes and R/Ts will have just as much chance as those with hundreds
• While authors can appear more than once, Ambassadors will be encouraged to select from a wide range of stories, contributors and styles
• Only eligible stories will be selected
  • The story must contain the #vss365a hashtag and be relevant to the prompt of that day.
    • The ‘a’ appendix allows us to identify which stories wish to be considered, and that the participant accepts the Ts and Cs. It also has the benefit of only taking one more character than normal (it all helps). Another reason for selecting this is that #vss365 searches should still work and include those with ‘a’ appended, but #vss365a searches should only pick up the correct ones.
  • The story must fit on to one standard-sized Tweet (hashtags included), content beyond one Tweet is not eligible.
  • Two stories per day limit for consideration. If you post more than two stories using the hashtag then only the first two will be eligible for consideration. This is to prevent unfair advantage for those posting large numbers of submissions.
  • For the purpose of anthology selection, the term ‘day’ refers to a 24 hour period after the new prompt is posted, regardless of the time zone you are in. For example, if the prompt is issued at 02:00 BST/GMT+1 then only entries posted in the following 24 hours will be considered (they must use the related daily prompt).
  • Ambassadors and publishers have the right to refuse any story that is deemed to be offensive (graphic violence or sexual content will be rejected). We will not consider stories that are bigoted, intolerant, or judgmental to individuals or groups of people (for example, race/gender identity/age/sexuality/faith (or non-faith)/disability/political stance etc.) If we happen to notice something that breaks laws or Twitter rules, we have every right to report it.
• All stories must be original. The author/poster of the story must be the sole owner for the entirety of the story. There must be no copyright infringement in any region where the anthology will be published (at this point in time, the primary markets are: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Europe).
• By submitting, you verify that you are over the age of eighteen (or that you have obtained specific permission from your parent or guardian to submit, and if selected, to appear in the anthology under these terms and conditions).
• Data: We will need to process your name, tag and story if you are selected. This is purely for the purposes of publishing and supporting the anthology. We may ask for a biography and a photo (feel free to decline). We will delete all data after a period of one year from publication. We will delete any electronic data that we store before this time if you get in touch with us [@making_fiction on Twitter]. Deleting physical words or pictures on a written page will be impossible for books already published – you need to accept this limitation. We will not sell your details to any third party.
• We have the right to reject an individual based on their online behaviour. While we have no control over who uses the #vss365 hashtag, we want the anthology to represent the spirit in which the hashtag was created – a supportive, safe and nurturing place to practice daily short story writing.
• While producing an anthology takes a great deal of effort and dedication, we will not ask you to pay a fee or to buy a copy (obviously, we hope that you will be proud to buy one and proud to promote it – but it’s not a condition).
• We can’t guarantee that the formatting on the final product will look like the Tweet you have submitted. For instance, it’s difficult to replicate an artistically structured Tweet on the written page or in an eBook. If you submit for consideration, then you understand the risk that your work may differ in format and/or structure to the work originally submitted.
• All media other than plain text will be omitted (for instance images, videos, URLs, gifs and emojis)
• Those selected for inclusion will not be notified immediately. Please have patience. We will allow the selection period to finish. There will be a consolidation period after which we will announce the selected authors and stories, we don’t know how long this will be, but a few weeks after the last day should be sufficient.
• If you are not selected, please don’t take this as a judgement on your work. We encourage you to keep playing and contributing. We hope you feel as welcome as ever still. Should the anthology perform well, then there is always the possibility of further opportunities in future.
• We reserve the right to withdraw or postpone the anthology.
• We reserve the right to make amendments to the Ts and Cs (if you have submitted and there are changes, we will let you know via a Twitter announcement).
• All decisions made by the publisher and Ambassadors are final and you accept this when you enter.

Bonus Content Chapter

The Ts and Cs also apply to those selected for the Bonus Content Chapter.

A special bonus chapter will be included to recognise the work of individuals in the making of the anthology or in the creation of #vss365.

How this will work:

• A random word generator will be used to generate 5 words (these may have been words used previously on #vss365, they key is that they are completely random – and consistent for all contributors in this section)
• Ambassadors will automatically be offered spaces in the Bonus Content Chapter to write for all 5 of these prompts
• People that were instrumental in the forming of #vss365 may also be invited.