FAQ
- How will my story be promoted and where?
- Where will my short story be marketed?
- Where do you sell these downloads, other than "on the internet" - it's a big place?
- Will I be compensated for my short story?
- The author gets paid 8% of what? In other words, at what price do you sell the stories and does the author receive 8% of the retail price?
- What is the average royalty payment to the author for each short story audio sold?
- Who owns the copyright for my short story?
- Will my short story be published in text as well as audio?
- What is the time period between being my short story selection and having a short story on audio for sale?
- Are you interested in short children's fiction?
- Can poetry be submitted as well?
- You state only short stories, might you reconsider?
- So why not offer two stories per download? Rather than limit the range of quality fiction you'll receive by offering only this narrow window of story length, why not match two shorter stories together?
- Is there a phone number where you can be reached? I am somewhat reluctant to send stories to a site where no possibility of human contact.
- Do you have any need for stories that are targeted toward the teen/young adult audience?
- Do you have any plans to accept stories with lower word counts, perhaps to include anthologies?
- My story is slightly less in word length than 8700 words. Should I send it?
- I have a story in my head. What or can you offer any advice?
Q. How will my story be promoted and where?
The story will be published to audio and marketed on the Internet, through one of the leading search and advertising companies.
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Q. Where will my short story be marketed?
If your short story is selected, it will be published and marketed on the Internet.
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Q. Where do you sell these downloads, other than "on the internet" - it's a big place?
Mind Wings Audio is a newly established company and is planning to open its web store for sales early next year. Currently, we are seeking submissions.
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Q. Will I be compensated for my short story?
Yes. An author who is notified that his/her story has been selected will receive royalties based on the sales volume of their short story once a contract is negotiated and the story is published.
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Q. The author gets paid 8% of what? In other words, at what price do you sell the stories and does the author receive 8% of the retail price?
An author will receive 8% of the retail price. The retail audio digital downloads price and CD audio media would be, $3.99 and $5.49, respectively.
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Q. What is the average royalty payment to the author for each short story audio sold?
The royalty payment is 8% for each one-hour story audio sold.
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Q. Who owns the copyright for my short story?
You, the author, will retain the copyright for your short story. Mind Wings Audio will need publishing rights from the author to produce and market the short story.
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Q. Will my short story be published in text as well as audio?
Yes, your story will be electronically published along with the audio, providing the consumer with two choices for mediums of enjoyment.
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Q. What is the time period between being my short story selection and having a short story on audio for sale?
The maximum time period between selection and audio for sale is twelve months. Please be assured that every effort will be made to complete all required tasks in a shorter timeframe.
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Q. Are you interested in short children's fiction?
Our interests are in publishing commercial short fiction audios for adults.
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Q. Can poetry be submitted as well?
Poetry is not accepted as a consideration for audio publishing.
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Q. You state only short stories, might you reconsider?
At Mind Wings Audio, our focus is on producing one-hour audios (CDs and downloadable formats) which is a break from the traditional production and sale of audio books. Our focus is in market interests for shorter, one-hour, commercial fiction audios.
We would possibly be interested in short fiction episodes, with the same characters, one-hour in length (8,700 – 9,300 words in length). Each episode then would have all the elements of a short story. All submissions require review. Stories selected for publishing are entirely a MWA management decision.
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Q. So why not offer two stories per download? Rather than limit the range of quality fiction you'll receive by offering only this narrow window of story length, why not match two shorter stories together?
I realize the word count range is tight but it is required to stay within a range that will produce a one-hour audio of entertainment. Our primary goal is to produce audios that are brief and entertaining. There will be variances where a story narration might take, for example, 65 minutes or 58 minutes but it is important to stick close to the original word count.
Optimistically, this will be an opportunity for you and other authors to write a longer short fiction manuscript and create a new niche with audios—an area that is continually showing increased popularity.
Two short stories as a one-hour audio might be something to consider at some future point. However, for our debut, we prefer to use stories that are one-hour in narrated length.
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Q. Is there a phone number where you can be reached? I am somewhat reluctant to send stories to a site where no possibility of human contact.
Yes, our contact information is shown below and can be found on MWA web pages: About Us and Contact.
Office: 301.537.9888
Conferences can be scheduled:
Mon-Fri 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
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Q. Do you have any need for stories that are targeted toward the teen/young adult audience?
Our short fiction audience is for adults, eighteen and up.
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Q. Do you have any plans to accept stories with lower word counts, perhaps to include anthologies?
Mind Wings Audio publishing focus is to produce one-hour story audios, and since anthologies are generally book-length, they would not fit within our publishing scope.
Consideration might be given to one-hour length episodes with the same principle characters where each audio is produced as a standalone story.
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Q. My story is slightly less in word length than 8700 words. Should I send it?
Unfortunately, your story is most likely too short for consideration. The minimum length needs to be approximately 8700 words for a one hour narration. However, if your story is 8500 plus words in length Mind Wings would consider its potential.
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Q. I have a story in my head. What or can you offer any advice?
Write it down [Suggested Reading: Strunk Jr., William and White, E.B. The Elements of Style.; Browne, Renni and King, Dave Self-Editing for Fiction Writers]. Proofread it. See the Submission Criteria and the section, What We’re Looking For.
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