How It Works

Chinese Decoration Upload your own short-story or poetry manuscript PDF for a $6 entry fee by July 24, 2013. Then, vote within your genre to decide the three prize-winning manuscripts of $1000, $200, and $100, and all the manuscripts published in each issue of Sixfold.

Sixfold is a collaborative, democratic, completely writer-voted journal. The writers who upload their manuscripts vote to select the prize-winning manuscripts and all the short stories and poetry published in each issue. All participating writers’ equally weighted votes choose what's published, instead of the usual decision-making of one judge or small group of editors. With an open and transparent process, all writers involved decide with fair, rule-based voting (i.e. you never vote for your own manuscript, or for the same manuscript twice). Everyone's vote finds the best writing and prints the short stories and poems everyone wants to read.

In addition to voting manuscripts into publication, you give and receive workshop feedback on your and your fellow writers’ work. By the end of three rounds of voting, you read, evaluate, vote, and write comments on 18 other writers’ manuscripts, and receive up to 6, 24, or 78 votes and comments on your own manuscript from other writers, depending on how far it progresses through the three voting rounds.

Join a community of writers engaged in a fair manuscript judging process. Read your fellow writer and the variety of short stories and poems out there. Read, vote, give comment, get comment, and so better your own writing. And connect! If you wish. Be anonymous during the entire voting process, or opt-in to connect and network with other writers after the secret-ballot voting rounds are over. Opt-in to make your name, profile, and/or manuscript publicly viewable on a post-voting results page that lists all participants’ manuscripts ranked by voting score. If you like, give your e-mail, Facebook, or other link to the writers you vote for and give feedback to, made available to them only after voting is over.

How To Enter and Vote

Upload your own fiction or poetry PDF manuscript for a $6 entry fee by July 24, 2013. Then, vote within your genre to select the three prize-winning manuscripts of $1000, $200, and $100, and all the manuscripts published in each issue of Sixfold.

Read, vote, and give feedback during three rounds of 12-day deadlines (36 days total). For each round, you read six other writers’ manuscripts in your genre of short story or poetry (18 manuscripts total).

Round 1 Aug. 1 to Aug. 12 Read, vote, give feedback on 6 manuscripts in 12 days.
Round 2 Aug. 13 to Aug. 24 Read, vote, give feedback on 6 different manuscripts in 12 days.
Round 3 Aug. 25 to Sept. 5 Read, vote, give feedback on 6 different manuscripts in 12 days.

Per round, you vote on 6 randomly assigned manuscripts in rank order (score of 6 to the best, 5 to the second-best, 4 to the third-best, etc.). Likewise, your own manuscript is read and voted on by 6 different writer-voters. The highest-voted one-third of all manuscripts per round advance to the next round.

After the three rounds of voting find the best manuscripts with everyone's vote, you receive up to 6, 24, or 78 votes and comments on your own manuscript from other writers, depending on how far your manuscript progresses through the voting rounds. You can see how your manuscript compares to others on a post-voting results page that lists all participants’ manuscripts, ranked anonymously by final voting score. Opt in before, during, or after voting to display your name, profile, and/or link to your manuscript PDF alongside the final ranked public voting results.

Together, all voting writers find the best manuscripts very precisely and with everyone’s vote counting equally. The three highest-voted manuscripts of the final round in each genre win the first-, second-, or third-place prizes of $1000, $200, or $100 . The 20 highest-voted short-story manuscripts and the 40 highest-voted poetry manuscripts are published as two separate issues. Each issue is free to read online, downloadable as PDF, and free as e-book for iPhone, Android, Kindle, Nook, and others. Paperback book available for about $10, at production cost including shipping.

Manuscript requirements
Short story 1 short story in 1 PDF file of up to twenty pages, 5,000 words maximum. 1-inch margin, 10 to 12-pt. font.
Poetry 1 to 5 poems in 1 PDF file. 10 pages maximum. 1-inch margin, 10 to 12-pt. font.
Upload by July 24, 2013, 11:59 p.m. EST/EDT.
Only one manuscript per writer is allowed to enter each short story or poetry issue's voting rounds.
Your name on your Sixfold account profile must be your name as writer of the submitted manuscript.
Your name on your credit card payment must match your name on your Sixfold account profile.
You must not include your name or information that identifies you within the manuscript file PDF.
Upload 1 PDF file of text characters only (no scans/pictures of pages within PDF).
PDF file only; no other file type accepted.
You must be at least 18 years old to enter a manuscript.
The manuscript must be written solely by you, in English, and unpublished.

Entry Fee Payment Terms
$6 payment accepted only through Sixfold’s online PayPal portal. Payment can not be accepted by e-mail, postal mail, phone, or other method.
Your name on your Sixfold account profile must be your name as writer of the submitted manuscript.
Your name on your credit card payment must match your name on your Sixfold account profile.
Unfortunately, there can be no refund of entry fee after each issue’s voting rounds begin.
If you do not vote by any of the three rounds’ voting deadlines, then your own manuscript is withdrawn from voting, from receiving voting scores, from advancing into any following round, and you can not vote in any following round.
Unfortunately, there can be no refund of entry fee if you do not vote by any of the three rounds’ voting deadlines.

How the Voting Process Works

For all 3 rounds, Sixfold’s database randomly distributes all participants’ entered manuscripts, following these rules:
1) You never receive your own manuscript to read and vote on.
2) You never read and vote on the same manuscript twice.
3) If you do not cast a vote by any of the three rounds’ deadline, then your own manuscript is withdrawn from voting, does not receive voting scores, does not advance into any following round, and you can not vote in any following round.

For all 3 rounds, each voter receives 6 manuscripts to read, vote on, and write feedback for. Your vote is secret ballot and is cast on a secure server. For each round, you vote on your 6 randomly selected manuscripts in descending rank order. That is, you must give a score of 6 to the best manuscript of your 6 manuscripts, a score of 5 to the second-best, a score of 4 to the third-best, etcetera, and a score of 1 to your least favorite. For round 1, each of your 6 assigned manuscripts is also read and voted on 6 times by 6 other voters who have also received randomly assigned sets of 6 manuscripts. Together, you and all other voters select the best manuscripts: at the end of round 1, the average rank score of the 6 votes received by each individual manuscript is calculated and compared. The best one-third of all individual manuscripts’ average rank scores then advances to round 2. The voting process repeats for the second and third rounds, with the best third of the second round advancing to the third round, and the third round's top-scoring manuscripts calculated as the prize winners and published manuscripts.

Hypothetical voting numbers:
The 3 rounds find the best manuscripts using an increasing number of voters’ opinions in subsequent rounds. The result is very precise, since in each round the best one-third of manuscripts advances while the total number of voters remains the same. For example, assume 600 total manuscripts and voters in the first round. After each manuscript in round 1 receives 6 votes, the best one-third (the best 200 out of 600) advances to round 2. Since there are still 600 voters to vote for these best 200 manuscripts, each manuscript in round 2 now receives 3 times as many voters as in the first round. Each manuscript in the round-2 manuscripts distributed from the 200 round-1 manuscripts receives 18 votes. Again, the best one-third of manuscripts from round 2 is calculated, and the best 67 out of 200 advances to round 3. For round 3, each manuscript again receives 3 times as many voters as in round 2: each now receives 54 votes. These final best 67 out of 600 manuscripts are very precisely ranked by 600 voters as the prize-winning and published manuscripts, since each manuscript receives 54 votes.

By voting’s end, manuscripts that have advanced to round 3 have each received rankings from a grand total of 78 different voters. Most important, the 600 writers select the best manuscripts together, with everyone involved and with every vote counting equally.

Publishing the highest-scoring manuscripts:
The three highest-scoring manuscripts of the final round win first-, second-, or third-place prizes of $1000, $200, and $100 in each genre. The top 20 of the highest-scoring short stories and the top 40 of the highest-scoring poetry manuscripts will be published in each 200-page print and e-format issue of Sixfold. If print space allows more than the top 20 short stories and top 40 poetry, then as many of the highest-scoring manuscripts in each genre as will fit into the 200 print pages of each issue will be published, depending on the page length of the highest-scoring manuscripts. In the unlikely event that there is a tie among any of the prize-winning manuscripts or published manuscripts, the tied manuscripts will be randomly selected to establish their rank (i.e. if two manuscripts tie for first place, one is randomly selected for first place and the other for second place).

Additional Voting and Manuscript Information
Missing votes.
Per round, any missing vote ranking (vote data missing from any writer who does not vote by each round’s deadline) is not included in the averaged rank score of any manuscript assigned to the missing voter. Each manuscript’s averaged rank score for each round is calculated from the available vote rankings received by each round’s deadline.

Per-round manuscript distribution exceptions.
Per round, a few individual manuscripts may receive 1 vote less than described above. If the total number of manuscripts in each round can not be equally distributed to the total number of voters so that each manuscript receives 6 votes in round 1, 18 votes in round 2, and 54 votes in round 3, then the system will distribute manuscripts to voters so that the distribution is as equal as possible for each round (for example, 5 votes in round 1; 17 in round 2; 53 in round 3; etc.) Each manuscript’s averaged rank score for each round is calculated from the available vote rankings received by each round’s deadline.

Number of issues. Minimum and maximum entrants per issue.
One short story issue and one poetry issue of Sixfold are published every 3 months.
Each issue’s voting process will have a minimum of 200 entrants and a maximum of 3,000 entrants. If there are fewer than 200 entrants at the beginning of any issue’s round 1 voting, those entrants are rolled over into the next scheduled issue's voting and notified by e-mail, at which point they can participate in the subsequent issue’s voting, or withdraw their manuscript and receive refund on its entry fee.

Voting integrity.
Only one manuscript per writer is allowed to enter each short story or poetry issue's voting. All PDF file manuscripts per issue are searched for duplicate or similar content; any duplicate or similar manuscripts uploaded subsequent to the original manuscript will be removed from the voting process. All credit card billing names and addresses per issue are analyzed for duplicates and similars; any manuscript uploaded subsequent to the original manuscript associated with duplicate or similar payment information will be removed from the voting process. Results of each issue's vote are made public at the end of voting rounds, with each manuscript's rank and individual votes displayed. Writers voted for prize winnings and/or publication must submit identification as part of the winnings/publication contract. Manuscripts that do not follow the submission guidelines of the Manuscript Requirements and the Entry Fee Payment Terms will not be allowed winnings and/or publication. Sixfold reserves the right to remove any manuscript or voter from the voting process that conflicts with the integrity and fairness of the vote.

Simultaneous submissions. Withdrawing and replacing submissions.
Simultaneous submissions (submitting the same writing to another publisher) is OK with Sixfold.
You can replace your submission PDF with another up until each vote's entry deadline. (Log in, click "Dashboard" link up top. Click "Edit Submission" link for any fiction or poetry file already uploaded to replace your PDF.) If the writing you place into Sixfold voting is published elsewhere, you can replace the submission up until the vote's deadline to enter, or e-mail sixfold@sixfold.org to withdraw the submission and receive refund on entry fee. After the deadline to enter, the submission can not be withdrawn and will go through Sixfold's voting process. If voted into Sixfold publication, the submission will not be published by Sixfold if the writer chooses another publisher for it. Please note, there is no refund on entry fee after the deadline to enter has passed.

During the process of reading and voting for any issue, you may read content that includes profanity, depictions of violence, depictions of sexual situations, etc. as part of the integral, artistic context of the short-stories and poems submitted for your reading and voting.

Sixfold’s web pages are coded in good faith to interact with all site browsers, but it is the entrant’s responsibility to use a browser that is able to interact and function with the site, including a browser able to upload a PDF file and submit voting data online by deadline. After any issue’s voting rounds begin, there will be no refund of entry fee due to entrant’s inability to cast a vote because of browser inability to interact with the site.

2013 Issue Read and Vote Deadlines
All deadline times are Eastern Standard/Daylight Time (EST/EDT)
Spring | Enter by 11:59 p.m. Jan. 24, 2013 | Read and Vote Round 1, from 12:00 a.m. Feb. 1 to 11:59 p.m. Feb. 12 | Round 2, from 12:00 a.m. Feb. 13 to 11:59 p.m. Feb. 24 | Round 3, from 12:00 a.m. Feb. 25 to 11:59 p.m. Mar. 8
Summer | Enter by 11:59 p.m. Apr. 23, 2013 | Read and Vote Round 1, from 12:00 a.m. May 1 to 11:59 p.m. May 12 | Round 2, from 12:00 a.m. May 13 to 11:59 p.m. May 24 | Round 3, from 12:00 a.m. May 25 to 11:59 p.m. June 5
Fall | Enter by 11:59 p.m. July 24, 2013 | Read and Vote Round 1, from 12:00 a.m. Aug. 1 to 11:59 p.m. Aug. 12 | Round 2, from 12:00 a.m. Aug. 13 to 11:59 p.m. Aug. 24 | Round 3, from 12:00 a.m. Aug. 25 to 11:59 p.m. Sept. 5
Winter | Enter by 11:59 p.m. Oct. 24, 2013 | Read and Vote Round 1, from 12:00 a.m. Nov. 1 to 11:59 p.m. Nov. 12 | Round 2, from 12:00 a.m. Nov. 13 to 11:59 p.m. Nov. 24 | Round 3, from 12:00 a.m. Nov. 25 to 11:59 p.m. Dec. 6

The Sixfold Mission
Sixfold’s mission is to publish a collaborative, democratic, transparent, and completely writer-voted quarterly journal. Only the writers who upload their manuscripts vote to select the prize-winning manuscripts and the short stories and poetry published in each issue. All participating writers’ equally weighted votes act as the editor, instead of the usual editorial decision-making organization of one or a few judges, editors, or select editorial board. The journal fosters a community and writing workshop environment where writers can evaluate and write feedback on other writers’ work, and where writers can find writers and connect with one another.

Publication and Distribution
Sixfold’s issues of the highest-scoring manuscripts are free to read online, download as PDF, and to read as various e-book formats for iPhone, Android, Kindle, Nook, and others. E-formats are distributed through Smashwords and Amazon Kindle Direct. Paperback book is distributed through Amazon.com. Each issue is submitted for review at prize anthologies such as The Best American Poetry, The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The O. Henry Awards, and The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, and for review and promotion sites such as Poetry Daily and NewPages.com.

Under Sixfold’s publishing contract, authors sign a creator-friendly agreement in which all print, electronic, and internet publishing rights belong to the author.

Writing Feedback for Writers
After voting begins, writers can write feedback to any of the 6 writers’ manuscripts they vote for in each round.

Need a prompt to write feedback for your fellow writer? You can begin with two good, basic questions that can praise and constructively criticize any manuscript: What’s good about a part of the manuscript that’s working well? and What’s a not so effective part and how could it be better? Remember that a real live writer reads your comments. As Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, “Works of art are of an infinite loneliness and with nothing to be so little appreciated as with criticism. Only love can grasp and hold and fairly judge them.”

Want to connect with a writer to discuss a manuscript more? Post your e-mail, Facebook, or other link in the feedback box if you wish. Feedback text is available to writers only after voting is over.

About the Publisher
From 2000 to 2012, Garrett Doherty was Editor and Managing Editor of Crazyhorse literary journal, for which he published and promoted the journal's fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. He edited Crazyhorse with different group editorial selection processes in mind: the journal used working groups of six to eight fiction and poetry editors per issue to select content, and he taught a literary publishing practicum for Crazyhorse in which one of the assignments for students and interns was to organize, as a group and on their own initiative, a manuscript reading and selection process to find the best manuscripts for publication. The groups naturally organized selection processes that included everyone and used democratic, nonhierarchical decision-making. And so Sixfold was born from that ideal: give writers the experience of the editorial process and create a way for all writers to discover and publish the best writing, each with an equal and collaborative voice.