On clicking through, there's a huge page of bumf about why this particular award is SO VERY GREAT AND IMPORTANT, YOU GUYS. It's a "limited entry contest with monthly award winners," but also somehow EXCLUSIVE.
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And then, when it asks you to click the genre to which your story - now called a book - belongs (provided entries in your category haven't already "sold out"!), up pops a "reading fee" request of $14.95 US.
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To say the least, this reads as a shoddy, ill-advised business practice at best and an outright scam at worst. For starters, you don't send someone an email telling them they've ALREADY BEEN NOMINATED when what you MEAN is, "we want you to nominate yourself and also pay us."
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What feels even shadier is the fact that the *preview* of the email they send contains ENTIRELY DIFFERENT INFORMATION to what's contained in the actual body.
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Here is how the email shows up in my inbox: with text that suggests a "friend, reader or relative" has nominated my work, but with the sentence sadly tailing off before we can learn just WHAT has been nominated.pic.twitter.com/9zmJove7vX
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But when you actually OPEN the email, NONE of that text appears. Instead, you get this:pic.twitter.com/Oj2m9oYXHD
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Note in particular the emphasis on the fact that, according to this email, YOU ARE ALREADY NOMINATED, such that you can put it in your bio. But when you click the link? A COMPLETELY different story.
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NOT ONLY is there a whole section on “Why Should You Join Our Contest?” - which, given the claim that you’re ALREADY nominated, is a flat-out contradiction - but they also want to charge you for the privilege.pic.twitter.com/2TlEXQJqTn
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Currently, the “reading fee” is “discounted” because CHRISTMAS. Makes you wonder what they’re charging the rest of the time.pic.twitter.com/peVkfT3oo2
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