STORYSTAR SUBMISSION AGREEMENT
Summary of Agreement:
(Note that stories which do not comply with this agreement may be removed, and users who do not comply with this agreement may be blocked from future use of Storystar.)
1. No porn, 'adult', racist, malicious nor offensive content, no spam, and no advertising materials may be published on Storystar. Please also avoid the use of what many would consider 'foul' language, which parents might object to their children being exposed to.
2. No plagiarism. All stories must be your own original creation, not copied from others. IF you have used content written by another author in your story, please provide written credit to that author. If your story is 'inspired by' another author's work, please give credit to the source of your inspiration.
3. Only stories written in English are accepted, because we (Storystar Admin) cannot read stories in other languages, and therefore cannot approve the content.
4. Only completed short stories (or novels) may be published on Storystar. Series/Serials are accepted only when each part is a complete story within the whole. 'To be continued' stories, as well as chapters and parts of stories, are not accepted, unless the entire series is published within a pre-determined time frame and has been pre-approved by Admin. So, if you would like to publish a series, please submit your proposal to [email protected] first.
5. Novels can be posted only in the novels section of Storystar and must be complete, not partial.
6. Please proofread and correct your writing BEFORE you publish your story on Storystar. Be respectful of readers by putting your best effort into your story writing so that it can be fully appreciated by those who will read and judge you, and who will rate your story accordingly.
7. Please limit yourself to no more than one story per day, at most, to avoid overwhelming readers and overshadowing other authors. (We will or will not enforce this rule subjectively at our discretion, on an individual case by case basis.)
8. Be kind. When you rate stories and make comments, please be kind and follow the Golden Rule: 'Treat others the way you wish them to treat you'. Malicious or harrassing comments and ratings will not be tolerated.
9. When you publish your story on Storystar you still retain all copyrights to your story, but it does become a permanent part of the Storystar archive. Your story may also be selected for publication in a 'Best of Storystar' short stories collection in the future, for which you will be given full credit, and may also receive some compensation in the form of profit sharing and/or Storystar related rewards.
10. Do not abuse the priviledges you are given when you become a member of Storystar, a free site for all ages of short story writers and readers around the world to enjoy. As a registered member you will receive Storystar Rewards Points for your comments and ratings of the stories you read. Please earn your points honestly and fairly, and with respect for others. Those who abuse their priviledges will lose them.
Storystar is FREE for everyone. There is no charge to submit your story for publication on Storystar. All stories posted will be read and screened for content and language. We reserve the right to remove any story that we believe is inappropriate for the purposes of this website. (Or we may ask you to rewrite/correct your story and re-submit it if we feel it has merit but needs some work, or some changes, before we are willing to accept it for online publication).
Storystar is a family oriented website seeking to appeal to writers and readers of all ages and ethnicities around the world. We will remove any story which is pornographic, racist, or overtly offensive in nature, so please do not waste your time nor ours by submitting such stories. Please do not use foul, racist, nor sexually explicit language in your story as this may result in the removal of your story, and may also result in your being blocked from future use of this website.
We want Storystar to be a fun and safe place for everyone to enjoy. We will do our best to keep this website free from obviously offensive and potentially harmful content. That said, people around the world all have different beliefs, morals, values, sensibilities, etc.... Please understand that we cannot possibly determine all potentially offensive story content, and it is not our job nor purpose to please everyone, nor to avoid offending anyone. By visiting and using this site you agree not to hold Storystar, nor any of those associated with us, responsible nor liable for any story which you find objectionable, nor for any consequence you may incur from a story you have written that offends one or more persons.
It is assumed that all stories submitted here are original works by the authors who have submitted them. Those who write and submit stories for publication on Storystar promise that their stories do not contain any content taken (without attribution) from someone else's work, and that their story is entirely their own original creation.
Storystar does not accept any responsibility for, and cannot be held liable for, the content nor consequence of any story published here, whether for plagiarism, nor libel, nor offense, nor any other reason, legal or otherwise. However, if it is brought to our attention that a story contains plagiarized, libelous, extremely offensive, or fraudulent content, and such can be reasonably proven, we will promptly remove the story from our site.
By submitting your story to us you agree to allow your story to be read, judged, discussed, and rated by anyone who visits this website. Story ratings are solely for the benefit of readers with limited time who are only interested in reading stories that are highly recommended by other readers. Anyone who reads a story is given the opportunity to rate it for the benefit of other readers. Ratings are a subjective judgment about a particular stories' merit and appeal. Different readers may give very different ratings. The same story may get a 1 star rating by one reader, and a 5 star rating by another reader. For this reason, ratings are not meant to be a judgment regarding your talent nor potential as a writer, nor the quality of your story, and should not be taken personally. That said, it hurts to get a low score. Everyone wants others to think their work is special and brilliant, and every single person who submits their story to this website will want and hope for high ratings from all those who read it. It will hurt if you submit your story here, and someone rates it poorly. Please be prepared for this possibility and understand that the majority of the stories submitted here will likely be given low to average ratings. Please also understand that Storystar cannot take any responsibility for poor and hurtful ratings given to your story by those who read and rate it.
Keep in mind that only the most well written and exceptional stories will receive consistently high scores from readers. To improve your chances of a higher rating, please make sure that you carefully proofread your story before you submit it. You might even ask a friend or family member to help you improve it before you submit it for publication here. Nothing will hurt your stories' rating more than bad grammar, spelling errors, and poor writing that makes your story difficult for others to fully appreciate. If you get a bad rating from more than one person, please consider it an opportunity to improve your writing skills and try again. Remember that every brilliant professional writer started out as a bad amateur writer first. Study the stories that get consistently high ratings and find out what they are doing that makes their stories special. Learn from them, and keep writing. The more you write the better a writer you will become.
Note that Storystar is very concerned with providing the best reading experience possible in order to keep readers coming back for more. Therefore we reserve the right to reject stories that are filled with problems that make them difficult to read, and too costly/time consuming to correct. That said, if occasional errors in spelling and grammar, and sometimes punctuation as well, are discovered as we are reading, we will correct them. In some cases, the Storystar version of a story which required numerous corrections may differ significantly from the writer's original version. The writer agrees to allow Storystar to make whatever corrections are necessary to allow for a better reading experience of their story. We will not edit out content from your story without your direct permission. We will simply correct glaring imperfections if we find them as we are reading. There is no charge to you for this service.
The writer understands that by submitting his/her story to Storystar, he/she is agreeing to having the story printed in whole or in part on Storystar and also potentially used as a promotional tool for both the writer's benefit and that of Storystar. The story may or may not be used as a topic of discussion on Storystar, or on other sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. The story may or may not be promoted on the front page of Storystar, and in the Storystar blog. The writer understands that there is no compensation for these uses of the writer's story.
The writer affirms that he or she is the legal copyright holder and original creator of the Story. The writer retains full rights to his or her story, but acknowledges that by publishing their story on Storystar it then becomes a part of Storystar and will remain as such in perpetuity. Further, the writer agrees to allow their story, if it is chosen, to be included in a 'Best of Storystar' anthology. If the writer's Story is to be included in the anthology, the writer will be contacted by Storystar and formally asked to allow the publication of the Story in the anthology with full credit to the writer. It is the responsibility of the writer to keep his/her contact information current for this purpose. If we are unable to reach the writer for formal permission, then this agreement itself shall be constituted as the writer's permission for Storystar to feature and promote and publish their story in any way they see fit, without financial rewards nor compensation, other than credit to the writer. Note that if we are able to share profits with writers chosen for publication in one of our anthologies we will do so, and we will endeavor to provide other rewards to chosen writers as we are able, so that it is truly a win-win for Storystar and the writers who contribute to making it great.
Thank you for sharing your story with us. Please invite your family and friends to visit Storystar to read, rate, and share your story, and please help us spread the good news about Storystar. Thanks so much!