FAQ (Read only)

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Forum system

What is "Karma", and what does it mean to "applaud" or "smite" someone?
Karma is a measure of how your participation on the forums is appreciated, a community-policing tool to encourage participants to be nice and helpful. If someone is being helpful, you can raise their karma by clicking applaud. If someone is being unpleasant or counterproductive, you can lower their karma by clicking smite. You can only applaud or smite people once you have made at least 10 posts.
I've lost my password. How can I recover it?
You can recover your password if you know either your username or the email address you used to sign up: CLICK HERE FOR PASSWORD RECOVERY.
I have published a story but my forum status still reads 'lurker' why?
It is a manual process to upgrade your forum status. Please contact us with the story you published and your username on the forums

Web site

How is the top story list generated?
That's a trade secret. But what I can tell you is, it's automatically generated by an algorithm that is based off of unique views, comments, star rating, incoming links, popularity and divination.
How do I get in contact with you?
Feel free to contact us.
When did the site start?
Every Day Fiction began soliciting submissions in late July 2007, and started publishing stories on September 1st, 2007.
Every Day Poets was added to our family in the fall of 2008 and began publishing poems on November 1st, 2008.
Flash Fiction Chronicles was created in early 2009 and was officially launched on March 22, 2009.
How do I update my author page?
Author pages are unfortunately currently disabled while we work on that part of our site; we hope to have them back up soon. You can, however, update your author bio in your author info page.
Are you associated with Everyday Weirdness?
No. The ezine everydayweirdness.com is NOT in any way affiliated with Every Day Fiction, Every Day Poets or Every Day Publishing.
What is OpenID?
More information

Email Subscription

I signed up to receive the daily story by email, but am not getting it. What should I do?
When you signed up, you should have received an automated email from Feedburner (our subscription service), asking you to click a link to activate your subscription. If you did so, and you're still not receiving subscription emails, please check your spam/junk mail folder and add no_reply@everydayfiction.com to your contact list (see below). This resolves 99% of most people’s.
roblems.
I was receiving the daily story by email, but I didn't get one today, even though you have a new story up on the website. Help!?
We use a third party subscription service called FeedBurner to handle our subscriptions. They sometimes have hiccups in their service which we have no control over. If you don’t receive a new story in two or three days, we suggest that you unsubscribe and then re-subscribe as a first step to resolving the problem, and please CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER to make sure your email program hasn't identified it as spam – this can happen even after you've been receiving subscription emails for some time. If none of these steps work, we suggest that you contact your email provider and ask them to look into the issue.
What is FeedBurner and why do you use it?
FeedBurner is a website that provides email and RSS subscription with statistics. Feedburner occasionally has minor service hiccups, but overall it does a satisfactory job, and at this time we have no evidence that competing services would offer an improvement. We currently do not have the resources to set
up our own in-house daily subscription system to match what FeedBurner does for us.
How do I add EveryDayFiction to my email whitelist
It depends on what email service you use. Most of the time it is as simple as adding 'no_reply@everydayfiction.com' to your contacts. I added instructions for some of the most common web email clients below.

Google users.
- Click on “Contacts” on left side bar.
- Click on the single person icon for “New Contact”
- On “email” type, “no_reply@everydayfiction.com”
- Click on the save key just above it, and you’re done.
- Click on “settings” in the top right corner
- Click on the “filters” tab
- In the main window, click on “create a new filter”
- In the “from” window, type “no_reply@everydayfiction.com” then click on “next step”
- Select the button that says, “Never send it to spam.” Then click on “create filter.”
Yahoo Users
- In your Yahoo mailbox, go to the left column and click on “add” beside the word “contacts”
- In the email field, type "no_reply@everydayfiction.com"
- Click on “save”
- Click "Options" in the top right corner
- Click "Filters"
- Next, click "Add Filter"
- In the top row, labeled "From Header:" make sure "contains" is selected.
- Click in the text box next to that drop-down menu, and enter “no_reply@everydayfiction.com” in the "From" line of our e-mail message (Please select the e-mail address from the list provided)
- At the bottom, where it says "Move the message to:" select "Inbox" from the menu.
- Click the "Add Filter" button again.
AOL Users
- Click on “Contacts” in the left sidebar
- Click on “New” in the top title bar
- From the drop down menu, select “new contact”
- Under “email” type “no_reply@everydayfiction.com”
- On the top title bar, select “Create”
- In the top right corner select “settings”
- On the left side bar select “spam controls”
- In the main window select “spam filters by addresses” click the down arrow on the drop down menu and select “custom”
- Click the button that says, “allow mail from”
- In the window immediately below the button, type "no_reply@everydayfiction.com"
- Click the green “+” sign and you’re done.
Hotmail Users
- In the “Mail” screen, at the bottom left corner, click on “Contact list”
- Near the top left corner, click on “New”
- Under “Email Address” type “no_reply@everydayfiction.com” then click “save”
- Click the "Options" tab
- From the drop down menu, click on “More Options”
- Under “Junk Email” click on “Safe and Blocked” senders
- Click on “Safe senders”
- In the box, type "no_reply@everydayfiction.com" and click on “add to list”

Star Ratings and Story Comments

What is the star rating system?
The star rating system is a voting system that allows us to see how well a particular story is received by our readership. It helps us understand our readership's interests and preferences.
How does the star rating system work?
Below every story, underneath the text "Rate this story", there are five stars outlined in grey. Some of them may or may not be filled in with dark gold, depending on whether votes have already been placed. When you hold your mouse pointer over the stars, they become highlighted in bright gold – one star (to the left with only the one star highlighted) is the lowest vote you can give, and five stars (to the right with all five stars highlighted) is the highest vote you can give. When you click, your vote is recorded.
Can I change my vote?
No, vote-changing after you've clicked is not an available feature of the system. Please click carefully.
I see that readers can comment on the stories. Does that mean EDF is a critique group or place to workshop stories?
No. EDF is a magazine. We allow reader comments because many authors appreciate the feedback they receive.
Should I use the comments to nitpick and point out typos?
We would prefer that you contact us about small grammatical errors and simple typos so that we can correct them without drawing other readers' attention away from the story, but you're welcome to start a discussion about an author's choice of, say, dialogue formatting or the use of a particular point of view.
Are the comments only for praising stories I like?
Certainly not. We don't expect everyone to like every story. Differing opinions are a given, and criticism is welcome, otherwise the comments would become a praise parade rather than a true discussion. The vast majority of our commenters are helpful and supportive even when delivering a less-than-glowing opinion, and we value that.
Do you censor the comments or can I say anything I please?
We do not tolerate inappropriately foul comments, aspersions cast on authors' future careers, or mockery and nastiness of any sort. The comments are NOT intended as a place for gratuitous cruelty and hurtful put-downs, and while we don't like to censor anyone, we find ourselves occasionally forced to delete mean-spirited remarks that cross boundaries of respect and common courtesy. Unfortunately, we have had a few of these incidents at both EDF and EDP, and would like the community to know that people who abuse the privilege of commenting can and will have their nasty comments removed (and, if necessary, their IP addresses flagged as a source of spam).
My comment isn't showing up! What should I do?
Comments that don't show up immediately were probably snagged by our spam-catcher; in order to prevent the comment threads from being flooded with spam, we have fairly stringent parameters that cause suspect comments to be held for moderation. You can a) just wait, since we check the spam box once a day to rescue genuine comments, or b) contact us to let us know that your comment isn't getting through.

Submissions
Please read the submission guidelines for the most up-to-date information.

It has been n days since I submitted my story, have you read it yet?
Our response times vary depending on the number of submissions we're getting. The submission guidelines state that we will respond to you within 60 days. If you have not had a response after 60 days, you are welcome to query us about your submission's status.
How do I know that you've even received my submission?
Our online submission system sends an auto-response email confirming that your submission has been received. If you do not get a confirmation email within 24 hours of submitting your story, please contact us so we can check our database for your story.
How many stories can I submit to you at once?
You can submit up to 3 stories to our slush pile at any given time. Once we accept or reject one of your stories you can submit anther one.
Do you accept previously published work?
No, we are not interested in reprints at this time. Please note that if you've published your story on a publicly accessible website of any kind, even your own personal blog, it is considered published and therefore inappropriate for our market.
Do you accept poetry?
Every Day Fiction publishes flash fiction, and Every Day Poets publishes poetry; please see the EDP submission guidelines for more information on submitting poetry. The editorial processes and staff for EDF and EDP are completely separate and cannot share submissions, so poetry needs to be specifically submitted to EDP. While EDF's guidelines don't specifically rule out poetry, any piece submitted to EDF will be judged as a story for plot and character development, regardless of how good it might be as a poem.
What is the maximum and minimum length you're looking for in a story?
Our firm maximum word count is 1000 words, and we reject stories unread if they exceed it. There is no minimum word count, but you should be aware that we are looking for complete stories with plot and character development.
What is the slush?
The terms "slush" and "slush pile" are used in the publishing industry to refer to unsolicited manuscripts. It does not imply any disrespect to you or your story.
I submitted the wrong version of my story. How can I replace it with the correct version?
If you've submitted the wrong version of your story, or if you've revised it since it was submitted, you may withdraw the original version by contacting us, and then submit your revised version. Please note that you will lose your place in the slush queue if you do this, so it's not something we recommend for minor tweaks (you can always update those after acceptance, if they aren't the sort of changes that will make or break our decision).
Podcasting rights
The podcast rights are not exclusive or even restricted to FIRST podcast rights, so feel free to sell those rights elsewhere.
If you do end up creating a podcast of a story published on EveryDayFiction, we would like to know about! contact us, or Create a post in our brag section

Advertising

I have a great website, can we do a link exchange?
Instead of a link exchange we suggest writing a press release or info article and submit it to Flash Fiction Chronicle
I would like to advertise on your site. Where, when, and how much?
We are currently using Google Ads to handle our advertising space, but feel free to contact us to discuss your needs.
There's an ad banner on your site that I find offensive. What should I do?
Please let us know immediately! Since we use a third-party system to handle our ad banners, we don't actually see them until they appear on the site, and while we've put everything we can in place to block inappropriate advertising, occasionally something slips through. We do respond promptly to complaints, though, and will block ads and ban offenders as necessary.
Sponsor stories
more information

Payment

Do you pay for the stories/poems you publish, and if so, how much?
Yes. We pay $3 USD for each story published in EDF, and $1 US for each poem published in EDP, via PayPal.
How does the payment system work?
Once your story is designated as "published" in our administration system (this can happen in advance of the actual publication date), you will receive an automated email with a link to our payment form, where you can type in the email address associated with the PayPal account where you'd like to receive the payment. Please type carefully to be sure the email address is correct, as we will copy it exactly to send payment.
Can I donate my payment back to the ezine?
Yes. There is an option to donate on the payment form, and we gratefully appreciate any donations.
Does choosing to donate or accept payment affect the way my future submissions might be read?
Not at all. The payment process is completely unconnected to the slush reading process.
When can I expect to receive my payment?
Our contract states that you will be paid within 30 days of publication. We typically process payments in two or three batches a month. Please note that if you haven't responded to your payment email, we can't pay you; payment requests sent more than 30 days after publication will be processed with the next batch.
What if I don't have a PayPal account or don't want to use PayPal?
Unfortunately, since we deal with authors around the world, PayPal is the only cost-effective means we have of making payments – the service fees and mailing costs for cheques and money orders would be prohibitive. If you wish to receive payment from us, it is your responsibility to establish a PayPal account. If PayPal is a problem for you, please contact us to discuss the issue before submitting your work.
Why is the incoming payment amount $3.43 US for a story published in EDF or $1.36 US for a poem published in EDP?
Because PayPal charges the recipient of any payment a fee. There is no option for the sender to pay it in advance. Because we are in Canada, it's a cross-border payment to the majority of our authors: PayPal takes $0.30 plus 3.9% of the total payment. We send out $3.43 for a story and $1.36 for a poem so that you can keep all of the amount owed to you.
Why don't you use something else instead of PayPal?
Unfortunately, there is currently no other cost-effective option for international online payment that we know of. If you have a better solution for us, please let us know!
I was charged a recipient fee by PayPal and didn't get to keep all of the money owed to me – why is that and what can I do about it?
PayPal did not notify us when they changed their fee structure. We do not know exactly when they started charging these fees, and we didn't know about it until a couple of concerned authors brought it to our attention. If PayPal took some of the money we owed you, and you would like to be paid that balance, please contact us (please note that proof will be required).

I have another question that was not answered here, where should I ask it?
Feel free to contact us, or create a post in our forums.