Calling all Artists: Haven Story Collection looking for Covers
So here's the deal;
As many are aware, the Haven is attempting something new with our fundraising by creating a product to be sold offsite, and to potentially anyone who considers TG/TF and interest (see thread [url=http://www.rachelshaven.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=41&topic=70781.0]Calling all Writers: Haven Short Story Collection looking for submissions[/url]for more info). But with this medium a cover is required.
So why turn to our resident artists? Well, it comes down to making sure what will go on sale is 100% legal. We need to know we have the right to use anything within the collection, and that applies to the artwork as well as the stories themselves. For that reason we can't just grab random images off the web.
So, as the plan is that each story will be sold separately as well as in a discounted collection we'll need a cover for each in order to put it up for sale. To try to maintain some consistency final covers will be black and white, even if it's sent to me in color. As each story goes through editing, I'll place enough info to create a cover to match the story.
[b]To make sure no one wastes time working on something someone else is, cover assignments will be on a first come, first serve basis. However, if someone does not produce anything within a week I will open it up for someone else to claim.[/b] Finished covers can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for final approval, and will be posted. Each artist will receive an award token featuring their cover art and an artist credit for their own name or a pen name in the story collection.
If you're interested in helping out, please click the 'Notify' link at the top of the thread to sign up to be informed of new posts or keep an eye on this thread for updates.
You can find the official thread by clicking here .
Calling all Writers: Haven Short Story Collection looking for submissions
As you're no doubt aware the Haven Quarterly became a big part of this site's fundraising for more than a year under the completely amazing guidance of Steffie. However, since life made her slip away from here we've been continually running into obstacles in producing an issue without her. Though Issue 5 is not yet dead, my own situation opens the doors wide for a completely different path.
Everyone round here tends to enjoy a good story or several, and while there have been a few TF/TG novellas produced and sold, there are very, very few collections of them from a variety of authors. I see this as a challenge to us, a challenge to produce a collection or several and place them for sale with the proceeds going to the Haven whether it be sold on Amazon, Lulu, or Barnes and Noble.
Now, what we're looking for is stories of at least 5000 words in length, preferably something new and never before seen, however existing works will also be considered as we are going to hit a market that may never have seen them. The collection will be sold under the Haven Bookworks publishing label, with each story being sold separately as well as in a volume of collected works at a discount. Stories will be credited as authored by either a pen name of your choice or your real name if you choose. Keep in mind this collection will be sold off of the Haven to individuals who may never have heard of this community.
Editing will be provided by the publisher in order to ensure quality of content, but feel free to have a trusted friend run through it first if you like. Edited copy will be provided to each author. Don't worry about font, font size, or any other formatting as it will be standardized for the book.
Finally, send your story to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., preferably attached as a text file, Word Document, or Open Office Document. If we receive more stories than anticipated for the collection you may be asked if we can defer a story to the next volume. Send as many or as few stories as you like, contributors will receive an award featuring the cover on their Haven account as well as a copy of their story in either epub or mobi format.
We hope to be able to put the first volume up for sale in January, but also see this as an ongoing project for the future spanning multiple volumes. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I will do my best to provide an answer.
To leave a comment or feedback, please visit the topic on the Forum's news board.
Deleting your Blog on Blogger? Here's how you prevent it from being hijacked!
As many are aware, Blogger has shown some serious holes in their protection of users in the past year and a half, mainly in regards to blogs removed by their owners (If you hadn't been aware, click here to be redirected to a topic on the Haven listing hijacked Blogs). In order to prevent your own blog from suffering the same fate if you choose to delete it, there's only one simple step in order to prevent it:Transfer the Blog to a new owner willing to make sure it stays dormant.
Why? If the blog's URL is still considered to be active, Blogger will not allow anyone to re-register it, thereby 'stealing' your followers since Blogger does not remove a deleted blog from anyone's subscription lists. The only secure way with the still unplugged holes in Blogger's system is to transfer it to a new owner. You'll likely find several prominent bloggers who would willingly accept ownership of the domain in order to prevent it from being hijacked, then all you have to decide is whether or not you want to delete any content or not. I do suggest posting a final message stating the blog to be dead, even if you write it and ask your new holder to post it.
For the record, I will happily take ownership of any Blogger URL in order to prevent it from eventually being used for clickjacking or phishing. You only need to contact me and I will help you get the ball rolling. Anyone who changes their mind later would only need to reach me again to regain control of their blog.
Site has suffered a data loss
As many of you have already noticed, sometime last month many attachments started to post 404 errors. After spending the weeks since tracking down the cause, fixing the software to prevent it happening again, and trying to locate backups I unfortunately have to report we apparently have no surviving back-ups of the site since 2009.In 2009 our web host began an 'automatic' backup system, something we even used once to restore the site after a previous issue in a fraction of the time since we didn't need to re-upload the files. Unfortunately, sometime in the past year and a half they changed their policies regarding their backup system rather silently, limiting it to sites which have less than 1 GB of data. As a result of this covert change, no backups have been taken recently and as they do not keep any beyond a month they have no files to provide.
The last backup I took of the site, in early 2010, was lost in a hard drive crash over a year ago. I have reached out to individuals who also used to backup the site on occasion but unfortunately no one still has the files. Most deleted them when our host began their backup program.
So what does this mean exactly? To put it simply, the only way any files can be restored is if new copies can be provided. This means that unless creators kept copies, posted them elsewhere, or others saved them to their computer an affected attachment is likely unrecoverable.
The only good news is that only the Forum is affected. The Gallery is completely intact. So if a copy was uploaded there as well, it still exists.
Hopefully you're asking yourself how you can reupload missing content, and for that I have 2 answers:
Captioners can reupload attachments to the affected post by simply editing their post and following the normal attachment process. Just remember to uncheck the original, now missing attachment. As moderators of their own trading folder, anyone can also do this for attachments for trades given to them that they may have saved to their computer.
Anyone else, or any captioners unsure how to edit their posts and reupload missing attachments Can upload them to the following threads:
Missing Trade Attachments Restoration Thread
Missing Contest Attachments Restoration Thread
Missing Showcase Attachments Restoration Thread
Any post should include the following:
1. A link to where an image was originally posted.
2. The missing image attached OR a direct link to acquire it from. Links to blogs or the Gallery will work just fine.
As I said before, restoration of any file lost will not be possible without your help. Working together we can fill this hole a bug in our software dug for us.
To leave a comment, click here to jump to the thread in the Forum.