As The SFT matures and ideas develop, we’re able to post more information about our curation protocols and share how this process will work. We’re in the experimental stage now, and it’s likely that our strategy will change as we learn what works and what doesn’t.
It’s very likely that our curations will be low in number. We hope to release one curation post a week. Ideally, we’ll curate posts that have at least four days before payout, although this could fluctuate. We’re not only looking for highly entertaining fiction, but work that has been edited to professional standards. Once it’s locked down on the blockchain, grammatical, syntax, spelling, and execution failures are permanent. Careless proofing is not what we want to show the world about Steemit.
Readers will notice that we often curate the same authors. We’ve discussed this, and understand this may cause ripples of dissent in the Steemit community. A word of explanation is needed. We’re not playing favorites. We’re not using the buddy system. What our choices amount to is that certain authors routinely subject their work for rigorous peer review and editing in the Fiction Workshop, and by the time those posts go live, they are in a condition fit to show mainstream readers. Many authors post at Steemit that we’d jump at the chance to curate—were it not for formatting and editing problems with their post. These things matter. We cannot stress that enough.
We will absolutely curate whale posts, dolphin posts, witness posts, minnow posts—if it’s on Steemit and it’s good fiction in publishable condition, it’s fair game. Once a week, we’ll make a post requesting links in the comments for curation nominations. If certain authors are being nominated and never curated, there may be an explanation waiting in the Fiction Workshop, as well as a simple solution. Our editors will help anyone who brings questions about this to the forum. They will also be brutally honest. It’s up to the author whether or not they want to take the advice.
We’ll curate short stories, flash fiction, and first chapters of a new series. These links will be collected and archived in the SFT Library. We will not consider poetry or nonfiction, although we’d love to see more curation trails develop for those forms of writing.
Right now, we are a new trail with limited voting strength. Eventually, we hope that the monetary rewards of being curated by The SFT will be a strong motivation for authors to edit according to mainstream publishing standards. Our goal is to not only put a solid dollar value on good fiction that will benefit the authors directly, but for Steemit to compete with online literary publishing platforms across the industry. We can’t do that if we don’t insist on quality.
Stay tuned for more information about the Steemhouse Fiction Trail!
This curation trail is a project made possible by @aggroed 's PALnet @minnowsupport channel, conceptualized by @andrewgenaille, @rhondak, @mk40, and @swelker101. Logo created by @pegasusphysics. If you would be interested in lending your support through delegation, please contact @mk40 or @swelker101 .
