1. No entry fee is required, and all rights in the story remain the property of the author. All types of fiction are welcome with the exception of poetry.

2. All entries must be original works, in English. Plagiarism, which includes the use of third-party poetry, song lyrics, characters or another person’s universe, without written permission will result in disqualification. Excessive violence or sex, determined by the judges, will result in disqualification. Entries may not have been previously published in professional media.

3. To be eligible, entries must be works of prose, up to 10,000 words in length.

4. The Contest is open only to those who have not had professionally published a novel, short novel, short stories, or other mediums which would deem them an author.  Professional publication is deemed to be payment for work with at least 5,000 copies sold.

5. Entries must be digital and submitted through our webform.  Upon submission, HardMagic Publishing retains all rights to any story, part of story, or idea submitted.  Stories which do not win in our competition may be published in our other publications as runner-ups and credit will be given to authors.

6. All entries must be written by students of english or writing classes in an accredited university between 2008-2010 who are able to provide transcripts of enrollment.

7. Applicants may only make one submission for the contest.

8. All entries are final. No revisions are accepted.

9.  Entries will be judged by professional authors. The decisions of the judges are entirely their own, and are final.

10. Winners in each quarter will be individually notified of the results by email.

11. This contest is void where prohibited by law

Submit Your Story

There are no boundaries as to what can be written for this competition. Simply write a short story 2,000-10,000 words and submit with our form below. Deadline for entries is Nov. 1st 2010, though the earlier you submit your story the more editors’ eyes will get a chance to see it. The style of writing is for entertainment and our demographic caters to the same audience who would read Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men.

Winners will be notified by January 10th, 2011 and will receive one copy of their book once it is published. All entries must be from college students enrolled between 2008-2010 for English classes & we will verify this with the winners’ English teachers.

Make sure to read our rules before submitting.

Check out Sustainable Cleaning Services to see an example of a page on a similar package.

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• Fast Turn Around Time
• High Search Engine Ranking
• Business Owner Learned how to update on own
• Custom Logo
• Slogan & Branding Design
• Google Optimized

The MOVFitness website is recognized across the United States as a top search result for fitness content from it’s dynamic blog with recipes, fitness tips, and wellness info – to it’s information regarding signing up for races, buying books, or getting certified as a personal trainer. On the back-end, the company is capable of running a hidden training interface for its personal trainers, keep track of clients’ information, and logs statistics of the use of the site.

• Dynamic Content
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• Averaging 200,000 hits per month
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The third site is the actual classroom. This is based on Moodle and was fully customized by our staff to have a unique look and feel. This section cannot be seen by the public and requires users sign up. Statistics on how often the student logs in, what section they go to, and more can all be done from this site. There are quizzes available, video & written tutorials, PDF books, and more. Such an elaborate website that you’d never guess was part of the design had you just seen the front page!

Students may conveniently log in to the classroom right on the main page of the KIWI Website. Since designed with Moodle, teachers may upload course material in the convenience of their home-office and may learn how to design their classroom as easily as they might learn how to use WordPress. Ease of use for the end-user & business owner is of utmost importance with our web design.

• Custom Logos & Branding
• 3 Sites combined in 1
• Classroom Setting with videos, quizzes, and tracking
• News site that automatically posts to front page
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• Teachers teach remotely & classes hold hundreds of students

If you’re interested in an online magazine, then we can design a similar site for you.

• Over 30,000 views per month
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He can also opt to make a post on his site simply by typing an email to the website and it will automatically post his email right on the main page – it’s that simple!  You can also see Youtube vidoes posted on the main site and links to his myspace, facebook, twitter, model mayhem, and more.  This is a one stop tool for anyone interested in professional social networking.

• Hands Free Updating via Facebook & Books
• Professional Social Networking
• Author can send an email to update site
• Great Electronic Business Card
• #1 Internet Search Result for “Matt Hackney”

To be a successful writer, you often have to follow a path unknown to most.  Our society would tell you that becoming a writer involves going to college and getting a degree in Creative Writing, then voila – you are a writer.  Contrary to this belief, few collegiate writers actually see their work published.  It is the professionals in other fields who end up writing content you see in publications whether it be a book, magazine, or newspaper article.

While a college degree in literature will surely expand your vocabulary, polish off your grammar, and extend your ability to comprehend proper english, it will do little to actually get you published in our society.  As a published author in a multitude of mediums, I am here to show you the fastest and sure-fire way to get the public interested in your writing.

Different Types of Writers

First off, you need to become a ghostwriter.  As a ghostwriter, you will be the author of the work, but get no official credit.  You will write in first person about a subject and do extensive research as if you are the author.  When published, the professional will get full credit for this work.  Ghostwriting is a much needed job in our society.  Many professionals hate writing or don’t have the vocabulary to turn their knowledge into  a written piece of art.  You can capitlize on this by ghost writing for various professionals and be compensated by them for doing so.

Here is an example of a ghost-written article: The Nutrition Label Deception

This article was written by Genevieve, but when published in my book I will have full credit for it.

“That is absurd!?  I want to get credit for my hard work!” you say. Well, read on.  It pays off in the end.

After Genevieve has ghostwritten several articles, she now has a pretty good feel for what a professional usually talks about on a given subject.  If she continues to ghost write on the same genre – health & fitness for example – she may even consider herself closer to a professional.

Now it’s time for her to move on to the next form of writing, being a Content Writer.

As a content writer, Genevieve will write another article on Nutrition Labels, but this time it will be in 3rd person.  She will write the article as if she is interviewing me or as if she has talked to me about the subject at hand.  Throughout the article, you will see anecdotes and references to my advice.  She is simply relaying the information on a peer level with the reader.

Here are two examples of Content Written articles:

Why do our stomachs rumble loudly when we’re hungry?

by: Dave, Commerce TWP., MI

You’re referring to borborygmus. That’s the medical term for the gurgling in your gut, which usually isn’t a sign of hunger. Rather, it’s your gastrointestinal system’s house-keeping after your previous meal, says Sita Chokhavatia, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. A few hours after you eat, a 90-minute cycle of contractions- the interdigestive phase- moves any remaining bits of food from your stomach and your small intestine. Then the “migrating motor complex” noisily shuttles the mostly gas-and-fluid mixture onward. “It’s like squeezing and shaking a balloon filled with water and air,” says Dr. Chokhavatia. If you need to stifle the sound in your stomach because of, say, a meeting or date, munch some popcorn (for the insoluble fiber) or a piece of chocolate, which will immediately shift your GI system back into its quieter initial digestion mode.

Break Your Slump

Slouch in your office chair and you won’t just look like a slacker – you may become one. How you sit can help make or break your work performance, say Colorado College researchers, who found that male students with the best sitting posture scored significantly higher on a logic exam than those who slouched. An upright posture makes people feel dominant and successful, which in turn improves their ability to relax and focus on problems, says Tomi-Ann Roberts, Ph.D, the lead study author. To fine-tune your posture, sit and tie a string from an upper shirt button to your belt buckle so that the string is taut when you sit tall. If the string goes slack, you’re slouching.

As you can see, neither author claimed to be an expert on the subject.  Yet, both gave enough statistics and evidence from respected institutions or individuals to validate their article.  This is the benefit of only being a writer.  You may use someone else’s authority to write on any subject.  This is the concept known as content writing and is the most popular in the industry.

Lastly, you will want to author your own work.  This means you are the authority on the subject.  Your first time being an author, we recommend to use statistics and other anecdotes.  After you have established yourself as a successful writer, feel free to use your own words as subjective authority.  A book written by an author on a subject they are well respected in is an example of an author.  The Fire Within by myself is a great example of this.

Both articles from March 2008 Men’s Health Magazine

Different Types of Writing Styles

In addition to the three types of writers, there are four types of writing styles.

The Blurb

The Blurb is 25-200 words and barely whets the readers appetite.  Both examples given above are excellent examples of blurbs.  In our fast paced society, it is easy to read this amount of information on a topic without getting bored.  It is important to give at least one statistic and or author but no more than two in a blurb.  A small picture can be used as well to spice up this type of writing.  A common mistake most writers make is to try to write an article before attempting the blurb.  A blurb is easier and requires less credibility.  Read the author name on the stomach rumbling blurb for example.  All we know about him is that his name is Dave and he is from Michigan.  This is the appropriate way to give credit to a content writer such as Dave since he has no authority on the subject.

The Article

The article is 200-500 words and is written by a seasoned author or content writer.  It is recommended not to attempt writing an article until you have first written a few blurbs.  An article can be text based or picture based.  A great way to write an article in today’s magazines is with bulletin lists.  Many entries you will find on the MOVFitness Blog are articles.  The 5 Top Overlooked Protein Shake Ideas article is a great example of how to write in this fashion while maintaining the readers’ attention.  Notice how your eyes catch the numbered list and skim through the article as you are reading it.  Magazines love a writer who can utilize a catchy title plus subtitles that stand out.  Utilize this and give enough information to get your point across, but don’t elaborate or exhaust your point.

The Story

The story is a 500-5,000 word description that spreads across a few pages in a magazine.  it is important to catch the readers attention and then deliver some hard facts or description and repeat this process throughout your work.  This work is a story.  We start out with a catchy title and then we let the reader know why the article is important.  We quickly deliver information and show why this article is important to the reader.  We move on to the next subtopic or we move on to the next type of learning style, implementing the Visual, Mechanical, and Analytical learner in the article, but we don’t do both – that would be overkill.  The story should not be attempted until you are published in at least 5 articles.  It is difficult to maintain the reader’s interest for this many words, so be careful jumping to a story too fast.  However, the story is the best value in that magazines will pay very well for this article while keeping your word count relatively short compared to writing a novel.

The Novel

The novel is 5,000-60,000 words and by far the most daunting.  This should not be attempted until you have successfully created many stories and feel comfortable capturing the readers’ attention for at least 5,000 words.  Instead of worrying about capturing their attention for 60,000 words, just try to write 12 stories with the same theme.  This is easier said than done.

Different Types of Writing Mediums

Now that you know the different types of writers and writing styles, you need to know where you can publish your work.

The Blog

The easiest of any place to get published is the blog.  You need no credentials, you need no formal training, and you need no permission.  Simply go to www.wordpress.com and register for a blog.  It’s really that simple.  You can rant and rave or you can practice for your first real submission.  We recommend writing a blurb as a content writer for your first ten entries.

The Newspaper

The newspaper is a little more formal than the blog, but with daily deadlines and a lack of interesting topics to report on after writing the same thing for years, most newspapers will take articles from almost anyone willing to write to them with a decent vocabulary.  With this in mind, your first submission should be to a newspaper as a content writer or ghostwriter.

The Magazine

Some magazines are ran as chaotically as a newspaper, while some have a seasoned staff and require more thought and creativity before submitting.  Most local magazines are short on staff, lacking creative content, and lacking a strong budget.  You won’t be compensated initially, but start publishing your work in a local magazine and you’ll surely get your work in.  Though, we recommend only submitting work if you have been published in a newspaper, have your own blog, or are an authority in your field.  You can also put some more thought into a content written article or blurb after you have written a few solo articles on your blog.

A more prestigious magazine like Men’s Health requires more thought.  They get so many inquires, they actually have a list of requirements they send to prospective writers.  Most national publications have such lists as the Men’s Health Requirements document.

The Book

After you have been established in your field for quite some time and have been published in a number of magazines, newspapers, and have your own blog – now it is time to write your first book.  (Inquire here) info (at) hardmagic (dot) com for more information in how to do this.