FAQs

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Affiliates

  • What is an affiliate program? How does it work?
    An affiliate program is a revenue sharing program where the affiliate (that's you!) drives traffic to a merchant's web site (that's us!) in exchange for referral commissions. When a visitor to your site clicks on the affiliate link to our site and completes a purchase, you get a commission on every item they buy! Once you sign up for and are accepted to our program, you will be given a link to access your dashboard. Here you can log in at any time to get our banners and links, find out about commissions earned and even learn about how many impressions each of your links has received.
  • Who can participate?
    Just about anybody! Whether you run a large commercial web site, a small personal blog, a non-profit site, or anything in between you're welcome to apply to join the program. We also welcome owners of opt-in e-mail newsletters. All applications are manually reviewed, and we reserve the right to refuse any application, especially if the site or e-mail list contains objectionable material, participates in unsolicited e-mailing, or if it violates the eFiction India’s   Service Agreement.
  • Does it cost anything to participate?
    No! As long as you are an active affiliate, all you need to do is keep linking and collect your commissions.
  • How are sales tracked on the site?
    Once your application is accepted, you will be given a unique affiliate ID as well as custom-formatted links that will ensure that traffic coming from your site is properly tracked. For all sales generated by visitors through your link. That money comes out of the payment for the magazine, not the writers, so writers still receive full compensation. Visitors can use your link, check out the website, and not make a purchase for up to 90 days before your link expires.
  • There is no one else paying such high commissions? How does that work?
    We offer such a high commission because we believe that we are building a writing community first and foremost, and a business second. We want everyone in the community to benefit from the magazines. Readers get great stories, writers get royalties, and now our biggest fans, our promoters, can receive adequate compensation for their passion for eFiction.
  • Sounds good. Anything else I should know since this is my first time as an affiliate?
    We love first timers as they bring in fresh perspective and also get to learn from the doyens of online marketing. Acceptance into the program will also grant you access to the affiliate group on eFictionIndia.in where you can ask questions, discuss promotional techniques, and get advice.

Editorial Mentor

  • Who is a Writing Consultant / Mentor / Coach?
    Writing Coaches are typically objective professionals who read your work at a micro level, form an opinion, give you honest feedback and make suggestions that will benefit your writing . Let’s break-down the key words that define writing consultants:

    Writing mentors are ‘Objective’

    According to The Oxford dictionary, the word ‘objective’ means: not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts. That is exactly the kind of opinion you need for your work. Face it, when you take your work to a family member or friend, especially somebody who cares about you, their feelings are going to get in the way. They might not want to hurt you and might sugar coat their criticism. (Or, they might shed tears of joy and break into a dance while singing, “Mera beta author banega!”) Or a particular nasty aunt might tell you that you have inherited your mother’s genetic composition and therefore have no talent whatsoever. Ah, now you know what I mean? Bottom-line: Not objective.

    Writing coaches provide a ‘Third-party’ view

    You need to, therefore, get your work read by somebody who preferably does not know you. I say preferably because I don’t want to discount the fact that there might be the odd family member or friend who could give you objective feedback. But there’s one more question left: is he qualified enough to do that?

    Writing consultants are ‘Professional’

    Somebody who is a voracious reader with an eye for detail might be able to give you the feedback that you are looking for.  But, the same feedback could be incomplete because feedback without corrective action and suggestions to improve its quality is of no use to anybody. For instance, a close friend (a finance professional who meant well) read my work and told me, “You need to flesh out this character.” Great. But, neither he nor I (at that point in time) knew what “flesh out” actually meant. It was just a fancy (clichéd) terminology that is often used. So, how does one “flesh out” a character? These are aspects of writing craft – a body of study in itself and it requires more than achacha, a mama or a well-meaning friend to help you.
  • What else do writing consultants do?
    Writing coaches will understand the writer’s personal vision and ask the following questions:
    • What is it that the writer wants to convey with his or her writing?
    • Is there a story at all in the book?
    • What genre would the novel best fit into?
    • How does the writing process work for the writer?
    • What is the final product going to look like?
    • Who is the intended audience for the book?
    • Who are the other authors who write similar themes or in a similar writing style?
    • What sort of timeframe does the writer have in mind? Is it realistic?
    • Is the work too ambitious? Sometimes writers have grandiose ideas but their language skills don’t keep up with the ideas. The coach could help break up the work into manageable chunks of writing with a clearly envisioned end result.
  • Who needs a Writing Coach?
    You do. If you have a story to tell or if you think you have a treasure trove of ideas and experiences that others might benefit from. Non-Fiction: You could be a teacher or a counselor who might want to pen your experiences about educating children or you might have insights about parenting – something new you tried and something that worked. Or you could be a doctor who wants to write a self-help book. Fiction: You might have a great story idea but you don’t entirely know how to take it forward. You stumble with words, you miss self-set writing deadlines, you don’t what’s going to happen next, your characters are mouthing inane dialogues…You’re struggling. But, you want to persist. Whichever genre you are writing in, you might have the ideas and the experience and you may be entirely serious about your writing. But, you realize that you do not have the time or you are unable to articulate your ideas on paper.  You, my friend, need a mento
  • What Are The Benefits of Hiring a Writing Mentor?
    A book mentor not only asks the questions (as above) but is committed towards taking your work to a logical conclusion and helps you achieve the (realistic) vision goal that you have set for yourself. A writing coach will apart from other things:
    • Understand what works for you in terms of the writing process itself
    • Understand your vision for the work undertaken. By vision, I mean, what is that you as a writer see the work become – the end product: A lyrical prose poem? A chic-lit fun caper of sorts?  A business book that de-mystifies FEMA guidelines for the layman? A chilling who-dunnit-detective novel that is going to become the next big movie?
    • Help you arrive at a realistic and sustainable vision
    • Diagnose writing problems such as the famed writer’s block or the no-time-to-write issues
    • Brainstorm with you and aid both imaginative thinking as well as self-analysis.
    • Will help you understand what works, what doesn’t and what needs to be done to align it to your vision
    • Help you address weaknesses in the writing craft and help you overcome those weaknesses by giving you craft exercises to work on
    • Help you strengthen your own writing skills
    • Help you develop structure to your writing (chapterizations, use of index cards, back-stories etc)

General Website Account

  • What is the point of registering on the site?
    Limited content is available for non-registered users on the site. Upon registering, which is free, you get access to not only more content, but a free pass to everything that goes on in eFIction India. A non-registered member is more like a person standing outside a nightclub figuring out what’s going on inside.
  • I Am Not Getting Emails From eFiction India
    As an online marketplace, we communicate with customers primarily by email. Order confirmations, submission confirmations and notifications are all sent via email. We strongly advise you to inspect your Junk Folder before letting us know on our chat window.
  • I Forgot My Password
    If you have forgotten your password, you will need to create a new one. Follow these steps to create a new password for your account.
    • Click on Login (at the top right hand corner)
    • Click on Lost Password
    • Enter your email id/username that you used to register with us.
  • How Do I Change My Email Or Shipping Address?
    • Login to the Website
    • Go to My Account
    Here you would find all your personal details –
    • Orders
    • Downloads
    • Wishlist
    • Address Book
    • Change Password
  • What’s a heart at the bottom of each post?
    A heart is a way of showing you enjoyed a story. Hearting a story boosts its status and helps it gain popularity. You can only heart a story once.
  • Why can’t I leave anonymous comments?
    We have disabled anonymous commenting in an attempt to reduce inflammatory and derogatory statements. By maintaining a certain level of culpability, we hope to keep comments honest and respectful.
  • What’s the difference between a comment and a review?
    While a comment is just a short post--maybe just to say you liked the work or a couple of lines about your favourite parts--a review is a longer, more in-depth critique of the work.
  • What’s the difference between registering and subscribing?

    Registering allows you to sign up for any of our free emails, participate in polls or comment on stories. If you are trying to get to subscriber-only content, or wish to receive monthly copies of eFiction India, then you'll need to subscribe. We offer several different packages, so click here for all of our subscription options: Subscribe

Premium Services

  • Who is a Writing Consultant / Mentor / Coach?
    Writing Coaches are typically objective professionals who read your work at a micro level, form an opinion, give you honest feedback and make suggestions that will benefit your writing . Let’s break-down the key words that define writing consultants:

    Writing mentors are ‘Objective’

    According to The Oxford dictionary, the word ‘objective’ means: not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts. That is exactly the kind of opinion you need for your work. Face it, when you take your work to a family member or friend, especially somebody who cares about you, their feelings are going to get in the way. They might not want to hurt you and might sugar coat their criticism. (Or, they might shed tears of joy and break into a dance while singing, “Mera beta author banega!”) Or a particular nasty aunt might tell you that you have inherited your mother’s genetic composition and therefore have no talent whatsoever. Ah, now you know what I mean? Bottom-line: Not objective.

    Writing coaches provide a ‘Third-party’ view

    You need to, therefore, get your work read by somebody who preferably does not know you. I say preferably because I don’t want to discount the fact that there might be the odd family member or friend who could give you objective feedback. But there’s one more question left: is he qualified enough to do that?

    Writing consultants are ‘Professional’

    Somebody who is a voracious reader with an eye for detail might be able to give you the feedback that you are looking for.  But, the same feedback could be incomplete because feedback without corrective action and suggestions to improve its quality is of no use to anybody. For instance, a close friend (a finance professional who meant well) read my work and told me, “You need to flesh out this character.” Great. But, neither he nor I (at that point in time) knew what “flesh out” actually meant. It was just a fancy (clichéd) terminology that is often used. So, how does one “flesh out” a character? These are aspects of writing craft – a body of study in itself and it requires more than achacha, a mama or a well-meaning friend to help you.
  • What else do writing consultants do?
    Writing coaches will understand the writer’s personal vision and ask the following questions:
    • What is it that the writer wants to convey with his or her writing?
    • Is there a story at all in the book?
    • What genre would the novel best fit into?
    • How does the writing process work for the writer?
    • What is the final product going to look like?
    • Who is the intended audience for the book?
    • Who are the other authors who write similar themes or in a similar writing style?
    • What sort of timeframe does the writer have in mind? Is it realistic?
    • Is the work too ambitious? Sometimes writers have grandiose ideas but their language skills don’t keep up with the ideas. The coach could help break up the work into manageable chunks of writing with a clearly envisioned end result.
  • Who needs a Writing Coach?
    You do. If you have a story to tell or if you think you have a treasure trove of ideas and experiences that others might benefit from. Non-Fiction: You could be a teacher or a counselor who might want to pen your experiences about educating children or you might have insights about parenting – something new you tried and something that worked. Or you could be a doctor who wants to write a self-help book. Fiction: You might have a great story idea but you don’t entirely know how to take it forward. You stumble with words, you miss self-set writing deadlines, you don’t what’s going to happen next, your characters are mouthing inane dialogues…You’re struggling. But, you want to persist. Whichever genre you are writing in, you might have the ideas and the experience and you may be entirely serious about your writing. But, you realize that you do not have the time or you are unable to articulate your ideas on paper.  You, my friend, need a mento
  • What Are The Benefits of Hiring a Writing Mentor?
    A book mentor not only asks the questions (as above) but is committed towards taking your work to a logical conclusion and helps you achieve the (realistic) vision goal that you have set for yourself. A writing coach will apart from other things:
    • Understand what works for you in terms of the writing process itself
    • Understand your vision for the work undertaken. By vision, I mean, what is that you as a writer see the work become – the end product: A lyrical prose poem? A chic-lit fun caper of sorts?  A business book that de-mystifies FEMA guidelines for the layman? A chilling who-dunnit-detective novel that is going to become the next big movie?
    • Help you arrive at a realistic and sustainable vision
    • Diagnose writing problems such as the famed writer’s block or the no-time-to-write issues
    • Brainstorm with you and aid both imaginative thinking as well as self-analysis.
    • Will help you understand what works, what doesn’t and what needs to be done to align it to your vision
    • Help you address weaknesses in the writing craft and help you overcome those weaknesses by giving you craft exercises to work on
    • Help you strengthen your own writing skills
    • Help you develop structure to your writing (chapterizations, use of index cards, back-stories etc)

Privacy

  • Do you follow Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance?
    Yes we are in compliance with the requirements of COPPA (Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act), we do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.
  • Do you disclose any information to outside parties?
    We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.
  • Do you use cookies?
    Yes (Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computers hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the sites or service providers systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information.
  • How do you protect our information?
    We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order or enter, submit, or access your personal information. We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our Payment gateway providers database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. After a transaction, your private information (credit cards, social security numbers, financials, etc.) will not be stored on our servers.
  • What do you use our information for?
    Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways: ; To improve customer service (your information helps us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs) ; To process transactions Your information, whether public or private, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the purchased product or service requested. ; To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other site feature ; To send periodic emails The email address you provide for order processing, will only be used to send you information and updates pertaining to your order. Note: If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, we include detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email.  
  • What information do we collect?
    We collect information from you when you register on our site, subscribe to our newsletter or write to [email protected] When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your: name, e-mail address, shipping address, financial card information for successful subscription/issue. You may, however, visit our site anonymously. Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on your site. Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to your users based on their visit to your sites and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy..

Submissions

  • I am 15 years of age and love writing and am aspiring to be an author. Does being young with very little experience of the publishing world affect the possibility of being represented? Would you represent a teenager?
    We would! If the writing is wonderful, we certainly want to be the agents who helped bring it into the world, and guide and protect the author. Most of our writers don’t have any experience of the publishing industry either. It’s not something we worry about.
  • I read one and want more! Where’s the next issue?

    Each Issue goes LIVE for public consumption by the 4th of every month – each magazine is first made available to our contributors and subscribers.

  • What are the deadlines?
    The deadline for submitting is the 15th of every month. You can have a look at all the deadlines here
  • What type of writing are you looking for?
    The only “requirements” for written works are that they be of substance and authentic. That said, here are a few ideas for potential submissions to get your gears turning:
    • Fiction (short stories, book excerpts, poetry)
    • Opinion pieces
    • Poetry
    • Feature stories
    • Personality profiles / interviews
    • Film, book or music reviews
    We have some of our best content online which would give you a fair idea as to what goes into print.
  • How should I submit my work?

    We accept all submissions via the submission manager. All you would need to do is login/signup and start uploading. It is imperative to note to include a short bio with your submission. A short bio, which will appear on the “Contributors” page of the magazine. 75-150 words that tell about your background and what you’re doing now. Be sure to include any contact info that you want readers to have: website URL, email address, etc. Readers who like your work will be able to follow the link directly to your website/blog!

  • What is eFiction India’s rating? Are there guidelines with regards to violence, sexuality, language, etc.?

    To put it simply, I’d like the pieces in eFiction India to adhere to a mild R rating. Sexuality, violence and unsavory language are acceptable, as they represent significant aspects of the drama that constitute this human experience of ours — which, of course, the magazine exists to showcase. But I ask that contributors avoid the explicit and the gratuitous. We believe the aforementioned aspects of our humanity can be expressed effectively without diving into such detail that an NC-17 rating could be applied.

    While erotica has its rightful place in writing, eFiction India is not that place. We don’t want contributors to feel their work has been watered down in a wash of Puritanical censorship, but we also don’t want eFiction India to stare defiantly in the face of its readers, daring them to take offence.

  • Who owns the rights to work I submit?
    We want one month exclusivity for your story, as well as first publishing rights. So when your story runs in one of the magazines, from when the day the issue comes out for one month it cannot be up anywhere else online. After that one month exclusive period, you can republish the story elsewhere to publications that accept previously published work. If you are submitting previously published work, please mention it in your notes.
  • How will I be credited for my work?

    We will give full credit to you, both next to your work and in the “contributors” section of the magazine. In the contributors section, we will include a brief bio and the contact information of your choice: website url, email address, phone number, YouTube channel, Facebook profile, etc. Consider this a great opportunity to disseminate your work and connect with people who want to see more of it. If we choose to publish it on our website, the same as above would apply.

  • Who reads my submissions?

    Stories are voted on by a peer committee of volunteer writers and readers known as curators. Editors make the final call using feedback from curators. One is encouraged to join our curator team. Submissions are also read by our editorial interns, who hold an equally competitive position and are extensively vetted. Finally, most of the magazine’s editorial staff read submissions on an ongoing basis, as well.

  • Will you edit my submissions?
    We may edit written works for grammar and spelling. We would also communicate with you regarding the fine-tuning your submission. Please do not take this feedback personally; it is editorial collaboration as per the journalistic tradition.
  • How long is the response time?
    Response time will vary (usually within 1 month). Reading submissions is an enormous part of our job that pleases us very much. We read as fast as we can, which sometimes isn't very fast, but we promise we will get to each submission. We give individual feedback/comments regarding your submissions from our curators when its in queue. Once we’ve decided on the submission you will receive a notification from our end.
  • May I submit more than one work?
    Certainly! Please feel free to submit as many times as you like. However, we cannot guarantee inclusion of all submissions.