Blog of Monica Valentinelli, Writer & Content Consultant

Posted on July 24, 2008 - by Monica Valentinelli

Announcing the “Help me Design a Contest” Contest

Hi everyone, well? It’s been over six months since the redesign of my blog and I’ve been very happy with the results. I’ve made some great contacts and new friends, found some fellow writers and editors (whose work just blows me away) and started growing my RSS readers. (Waves “Hi” to the RSS readers).

My initial goal for this blog was provide a look into my experiences as a freelance writer and game designer and promote a sense of community by saying “This is what has worked for me, hope this sheds some insight so you can figure out what works for you.” In addition to writing, I’ve also shot semi-professional photography, sang songs, and performed on stage. There are some days where I struggle with myself, wanting psychic powers to know what readers want to read. Instead I look away from my crystal ball, and simply write what I think is worthwhile.

I wanted to run a “reader appreciation” contest as a way of encouraging feedback and rewarding all the great participation, comments, and feedback I’ve already gotten this year. Unfortunately, I’ve tried the contest thing on other sites–even something as simple as “post a comment here”–but only ended up with a few entries and a lot of promotional legwork.

So I put it to you, please help me design a contest by either contacting me directly or posting a comment on this blog. My goal is two-fold: a) reward readers for sticking with me and b) see what it is they’d want to read.

What you Get for Participating

Contest participants for the “Help me Design a Contest” contest will get their blog featured in an upcoming post on this blog provided it’s related to a topic that fits the theme of my blog, Words on the Water. Examples of topics relevant to my blog are: gaming, game design/writing, agents and publishing, freelancing, blogging, editing, tools and resources, etc. If you’re not sure whether or not your site fits, please feel free to ask me. That’s free promotion at no cost to you just for brainstorming!

My ability to feature blogs for contest participants within a reasonable amount of time will greatly depend upon how many people participate. If, by some bizarre twist of fate, I get 100 responses in a week–then it may take me a little bit to sift through all those blogs.

If you promote my contest in any way, shape, or form, I will feature your efforts and shower you with link love in an upcoming “contest update” post. Contest promoters do not have to be as “on-topic” as regular participants, simply because I’m trying to stay true to the spirit of the contest and transparent to my readers.

The idea I end up going with will be based on a ten point scale identifying ease-of-installation, ease-of-participation, achieving the two aforementioned goals, and bonus points for “fun.” Winner will either get a $30 gift certificate to Borders new online store or a gift (not to exceed $30) from The Hunger Site.

Contest ends August 31, 2008 at midnight. Winner will be notified via email and mailing address will be requested at that time. Once I receive your address, I will be happy to ship your prize to you within the week at no cost to you. If you have an international address, I hope I can make arrangements with you to email you an online gift certificate instead due to customs and shipping headaches.

I’d wish you good luck, but I’m probably more nervous about this one than you are! Instead, may all your projects be well-written and may all of your publishers pay on time!