So I am running a contest here, and maybe I should be promoting it a little more, but I have to say I am a little disappointed at the response so far. The Viking themed contest was so successful I thought that themed contests were sure to be a hit, but maybe I was wrong. My Mongol contest was a bust, I only got one entry. I suppose I should have just declared him the winner of all three top prizes, but I figured nobody wants to win by default. Mongols were somewhat specialized though, so I thought Ancient Rome would be a good theme, easily as popular as Vikings, if I can believe film and literature.
But now the contest is half over and I still haven't received any entries, which is probably a bad sign; and nobody sending me a progress report, which is a worse sign.
So I have to wonder, is it the themed nature of the contest, or did I make the rules too open? Do people just not respond to the Ancient Roman theme? Something else entirely?
Will I be inundated with contest entries as the deadline approaches? I am curious, I generally receive a lot more feedback than I am getting now, and this contest has been advertised to a much wider audience, so I would have expected more rather than less.
Anyway, there are a bunch of cool prizes at stake.
Comment if you have an opinion about my contests, whether it's the theme, the way I run them, whatever; I can handle constructive criticism.
Maybe next time I'll put up a poll to vote on a theme.
Normally I'd be all over this contest, but unfortunately I'm up to my eyeballs editing the Adventures Dark and Deep Players Manual.
ReplyDeleteI missed out on the last few, so I'm working on an entry. I'm not as familiar with Ancient Rome as perhaps I should be, so I spent a lot of the time doing random research.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize you expected status reports, should I get on that?
I don't actually expect status reports, I just get them from a lot of people usually. Their lack this time around got me worried.
DeleteI may enter yet. I've been overburdened with real life job work and home life. I haven't even had the chance to work on the "Equipment & Encumbrance Manual" since before Christmas, and haven't gotten a blog post up since the first of the year! I might have a bit this weekend to put something together, however...
ReplyDeleteOkay. I had a long response written and when I hit "publish", freakin' Google told me I wasn't logged in so I lost it.
ReplyDeleteRECAP of lost comment...
I finally got my Roman idea yesterday (almost emailed you directly to let you know I was working on it). I should be done with rough draft tonight, and then proofing tomorrow night.
As for contest response, I think the main thing that jacked with me the most on these last two were that the Mongol contest stretched over Thanksgiving, and the Roman one over Christmas/New Years. Between that (various family and personal commitments from the season) and a head/chest thing the last week, my personal schedule has been whacked. Also, I'm bad with schedules. Maybe look at launching at the beginning of a month with the end of the month as the deadline. It's easier for me to think that way, rather than say from the 17th to the 17th. Maybe take Roman thing through end of the month, and relaunch the Mongol thing in Feb? (Just a thought; not necessarily a suggestion).
I hate it when Google does that, I've lost blog posts that way. I mostly write them offline now in Libreoffice Writer and then copy/paste when I am done. I am glad that you will be participating. I did extend the deadline to the end of January because of the Holidays in between, but I think you are right about announcing on the 1st of the month and ending on the last day of the month. I am not positive there is enough Mongol enthusiasm to make a contest work, but I'll definitely think about it. I still have a bunch of unfinished Mongol themed stuff I was working on too and I wouldn't mind a little more inspiration coming at me from the OSR community to kickstart my "Yassa: Legacy of the Khans" project back up.
DeleteI love contests but I am short on time right now. BTW. I'm doing a giveaway on my blog and I have zero entries also.
ReplyDeleteLet's see if we can fix that. Everybody head on over to Ned's blog and sign up for the free book give-away. My blog will still be here when you all get back. Now go here-
Deletehttp://sphereofannihilation.blogspot.com/2013/01/free-book-giveaway.html
I really like the contest ideas, but I've been completely swamped the last few months with work and other obligations, and I'm looking at a similar outside-the-hobby pounding for the next few months to come. I really do wish I had the time an energy to participate -- time and energy really are the only reasons I haven't done so.
ReplyDelete(Argh... Blogger ate the first version of this comment...)
ReplyDeleteLike many, I've been short on time, too, but just today I got the kernel of a neat idea, and I intend to start fleshing it out. I hope to make the January 31 deadline, but I can't guarantee.
Is a single PDF okay for submission format? (Tables and images make it too complicated for plain-text like a blog post...)
Sure, PDFs are fine. I actually prefer them.
ReplyDeleteI just sent you an email (directly) about a prize contribution. If you get it tonight, email me back and I'll blog about it tomorrow morning.
ReplyDelete