Yahoo Forum Archive

On 14 Sep 2005, at 19:32, Linda Dawson wrote:

> I'm wondering if I should have waited until next year before nominating
> my fic and sent it through another beta reader or somthing. No one
> seems to have notices it or cared enough to post a review.
>

Hi Linda,

Thank you for taking the time to post your concern.

I'm sorry that you feel that your story is not getting the attention we
hope all stories entered in the MEFAs will receive. Yours is not the
only story with no reviews as yet. Unfortunately, this is a natural
consequence of having so many stories and relatively few reviewers.

Many people have put in quite an effort reviewing stories -- and
several have reviewed a significant number. Thank you! We all
appreciate your hard work.

Unfortunately there were over 1200 pieces nominated this year. Granted,
many of those are short pieces like drabbles, but it's STILL an awful
lot of fic to get through. I've been reviewing as much as I can, and
I've only managed to get to about a third of the database; I think
that's more than most people have time for. We all have RL (some of
them more busy than others), and we all do our best.

One of the most important factors that affects what stories I try to
read and review, and which I don't, is story length. I can read twenty
shorter pieces in the time it takes me to read a twenty-chapter novel.
Therefore, if I haven't already read the longer piece I most likely
will not have time to do this during these awards. I suspect this may
be the case for other reviewers as well.

This has been true even for many many authors whose other work I have
read in the past and whom I respect greatly. For example, I have
actually apologised to one of my favourite writers, a truly gifted
author, who writes primarily longer pieces: I know her stories would be
a fun read and deserve the points I would give them, but I simply don't
have the time. The sad truth is that it's even harder for me to make
time to read new authors. Some people do like to read longer pieces,
but even they can get around to less of these pieces because each piece
takes longer to read.

Another thing to consider is the people who are doing the reviewing. We
each have our own preferences for how we spend the limited time we have
to review. I like Gondor-centric stories best, and those are the
stories I will try first. Many people will also first review the
stories they nominated and others they would have nominated if someone
else hadn't got there first, and only then branch out into looking for
new stories.

Where do you usually post your stories? Do they have a forum, or are
there key people who you know who already read your work? Have you seen
those people writing reviews? If not, you may want to nudge people who
you know like to read the type of story that you write, and suggest
they review some stories at the MEFAs. You could just make a general
post at the forums of that group, explaining what the MEFAs are, why
you think it's a good idea, and how people sign up to vote. If you
aren't getting reviews it may be because people who tend to like your
type of story aren't participating. There are still around two weeks
left during which votes can be submitted, and we welcome new reviewers
at any time.

Also, please do bear in mind that voting season isn't over. It's
possible that someone will review the story before the end of voting
season, or that they already have cast a "tentative" vote (which isn't
visible yet). I don't know whether this is the case, but I know that
lots of people have cast tentative votes that will only be visible at
the end of voting season.

Hope that helps!

Marta

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