MOD NOTE: You may skip these older messages and floo directly to the updated procedures.

We're keeping these old messages nonetheless for history and reference. Actual conversations also often give insights to members and staff.

~gal-texter 9 Jun 2008


Hey Gal-Texter,
I have another question if you have a sec. I have a user name and a user id#, is there something else I need to do or fill out to be an author? I e-mailed James about a week ago but I haven't heard back yet. Also, if I have a story and wanted to post it where would I e-mail it? If I'm asking too many questions please let me know. If not, than any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated by this Newbie. Thanks, SHOULDBEHHR

Sure, no problem. (To other PK-ers, feel free to help out too.)

The process is a bit complicated; and I lack the tools to post updated screencaps and procedures. But the basic steps are:

1. Make sure that you open an account in the fanfic side. That's different from your account here in the forums, as the fanfic section has its own database of member info.**

2. Choose sample/s that meet Portkey's criteria, and choose a method of showing your sample/s to the fic mods.

3. Submit an electronic application form for a Portkey author account, indicating where the fic mods can find your sample/s.

Let's check first if you have already done step #1 above, ie, if your user name and id # are for PK's fanfic side. Here's how you can tell:

1-a. Go to http://fanfiction.portkey.org/ (either by entering that url in your browser, or by clicking on the Fanfiction Icon on the top right of this screen you're reading right now.)

1-b. After doing #1-a, enter your user name and password on the top right of the screen (in the fanfic section). Hit Go.

1-c. Please tell me if you see the boxes get replaced with the words Logged in: [your username]. If you see those words, then you have successfully opened an account on the fanfic side; I can then refer you to the steps #2 and #3. If you don't, then I'll list the procedures for you to do #1.


**As an aside: here's why fanfic accounts are in a separate database. On the other hand, the forums/message boards (the screen you're reading right now), fanarts gallery and fanfic recommendations engine ("fic rec-engine") share the same database.

This means that if you want to log in the fanfic side, you have to enter your user name and password in there even if you're already logged in the forums. But the moment you're logged into the forums, then you're already logged in to the fanarts and "fic rec-engine".

Thanks again Gal-Texter, I'd be totally lost without your help. Yes I do get LOGIN: and my user name, so I guess I have at least successfully done step 1. At your convenience I guess I'm ready for step 2. And I can't thank you enough. SHOULDBEHHR

Good to see step 1's done; that had confused plenty of people before.

Thanks for your patience too. Might take me until next week to post updated procedures and screencaps. (Evil tax deadline!) I figure I might as well update those FAQs now.

In the meantime, you can test the waters by posting your ficlets in the appropritate Ficlets section: H/H, L/J, D/G, R/LL. Many PK authors started there, as I explained here.

There should be pinned threads in those sections that explain the ficlet guidelines.

Hey Gal-Texter,
Once again thank you for the advice. I was going to try to post my story as a ficlet but it's way too long, almost 11,000 words so I can't acording to the guidelines. Sorry to keep bothering you for help. Don't mean to constantly burdon you with my questions. But I have sincerely appreciate all that you've done for this newbie. SHOULDBEHHR

Hi. PK-ers can post the first 5,000 words of each story, as long as those parts comply with the rest of the guidelines. We imposed that max word count back in 2004 for a number of reasons. Thanks for bringing it up, nonetheless. First chance we get, we mods will rewrite the guidelines to clear up things like that and to adapt it to current posting trends in PK.

Thank you too for being so patient and polite. See, the mod team is working on other things at the moment. NAPPA (the site's co-founder) and I spent hours yesterday on some mod issues, but tech'l issues keep cropping up.

I'll come back here as soon as I can. I already drafted something when you first asked for help with the author app process.

To SHOULDBEHHR - I've added a fourth basic step. Please bear with some repetition of details in this draft. I and/or other mods will polish it when we get the chance.

How to Apply for an Author Account in Portkey
(rough draft v2 - CHECK THIS THREAD'S FIRST POST FOR LINKS TO NEWER VERSIONS)

BASIC STEPS:

1. Make sure that you open an account in the fanfic side. That's different from your account here in the forums, as the fanfic section has its own database of member info.**

2. Choose sample/s that meet Portkey's criteria, and choose a method of showing your sample/s to the fic mods.

3. Submit an electronic application form for a Portkey author account, indicating where the fic mods can find your sample/s.

4. Check these indicators of your application's status.


(Skipping details of Step #1 for now)

2-a. Choose fics that meet Portkey's hosting criteria:

2-a-1. Comply with the minimum word count, currently at 3,000 words. Details here: "I. What samples do we accept?" and "II. How long should samples be?" and here.


2-a-2. Make sure all of your samples (and all of the stories/chapters you upload to Portkey later on) meet our criteria for content. Now admittedly this fine print has always been a pretty confusing read, so I suggest you start with this post then go back to the messages before and after that one.


2-b. Choose a method of showing your samples to fic mods.

THE SHORT: either email them to ficmods@portkey.org, or upload them somewhere then put their URLs in step # 3's application form. If you email your samples, be sure to put your pen name in the subject line.

THE LONG: skip to "III. How can you show us your sample/s?"


3. Submit an electronic application form for a Portkey author account, indicating where the fic mods can find your sample/s.

Follow this message and the two posts that follow it.


4. Check the indicators of your application's status, whether pending, accepted or declined.

Details are in here. The screencap and messages might be outdated; I haven't had time yet to check and make screencaps of how they look now.

The most important indicator is the "author applications" menu when you log in http://users.portkey.org/. Once you see that menu, you can start uploading your stories yourself to Portkey's fanfic side. Ie, your application has been approved by a fic mod.



**WHY PORTKEY MAINTAINS TWO DATABASES OF ACCOUNTS INFO:

here's why fanfic accounts are in a separate database. On the other hand, the forums/message boards (the screen you're reading right now), fanarts gallery and fanfic recommendations engine ("fic rec-engine") share the same database.

This means that if you want to log in the fanfic side, you have to enter your user name and password in there even if you're already logged in the forums.


Okay, as I said, thanks for patiently waiting for my reply.

- Pen

Hey Gal-Texter,

Hey Gal-Texter, Sorry about that, hit the enter key by mistake. The new post you put up made it much easier to follow. I was able to submit my story and author application. Anybody else looking to submit an application to be an author follow the above post from Gal-Texter. Thank you so much for your help and patience.

No problemo. I had actually written many of those confusing how to's over the years. I guess this is one way I can make up for making PK-ers go or Hehehe.

This is still a rough draft but it'll do until I or my co-fic-mods find time to polish it.

How to Apply for an Author Account in Portkey
(rough draft v2.1)

BASIC STEPS:

1. Make sure that you open an account in the fanfic side. That's different from your account here in the forums, as the fanfic section has its own database of member info.**

2. Choose sample/s that meet Portkey's criteria, and choose a method of showing your sample/s to the fic mods.

3. Submit an electronic application form for a Portkey author account, indicating where the fic mods can find your sample/s.

4. Check indicators of your application's status.


Now for the details:

1. Make sure that you open an account in the fanfic side.

Fill up this form to open an account. Validate it by checking for an auto-email from Portkey.

To check if you've done it right, scroll down this post to the part where I had said, Let's check first if you have already done step #1 above, ie, if your user name and id # are for PK's fanfic side. Here's how you can tell:


2-a. Choose fics that meet Portkey's hosting criteria:

2-a-1. Comply with the minimum word count, currently at 3,000 words. Details here: "I. What samples do we accept?" and "II. How long should samples be?" and here.


2-a-2. Make sure all of your samples (and all of the stories/chapters you upload to Portkey later on) meet our criteria for content. Now admittedly this fine print has always been a pretty confusing read, so I suggest you start with this post then go back to the messages before and after that one.


2-b. Choose a method of showing your samples to fic mods.

THE SHORT: either email them to ficmods@portkey.org, or upload them somewhere then put their URLs in step # 3's application form. If you email your samples, be sure to put your pen name in the subject line.

THE LONG: skip to "III. How can you show us your sample/s?"


3. Submit an electronic application form for a Portkey author account, indicating where the fic mods can find your sample/s.

Follow this message and the two posts that follow it.


4. Check the indicators of your application's status, whether pending, accepted or declined.

Details are in here. The screencap and messages might be outdated; I haven't had time yet to check and make screencaps of how they look now.

The most important indicator is the "author applications" menu when you log in http://users.portkey.org/. Once you see that menu, you can start uploading your stories yourself to Portkey's fanfic side. Ie, your application has been approved by a fic mod.



**WHY PORTKEY MAINTAINS TWO DATABASES OF ACCOUNTS INFO:

Here's why fanfic accounts are in a separate database. On the other hand, the forums/message boards (the screen you're reading right now), fanarts gallery and fanfic recommendations engine ("fic rec-engine") share the same database.

This means that if you want to log in the fanfic side, you have to enter your user name and password in there even if you're already logged in the forums.


*whew*

EDIT MAY 2009: There are several ways by which members may post their HP fanfiction in Portkey.org. Read this for a brief overview. The rest of this thread (that you're seeing right now) tackles the method of applying for an author account.

NOTE May 2009: For authors who have apostrophes in their Portkey pen names: I'm drafting slightly different procedures for you guys. If you can't wait for me to put it up, post here so we could give you further instructions.




How to Apply for an Author Account in Portkey

(v3.2 - completed as of Jun 9 2008, latest minor edits on Apr 6 2009)


BASIC STEPS:

I. Open an account in Portkey's fanfic section, taking care to spell your email address correctly. That's different from your account here in the forums, as the fanfic section has its own database of member info.**

II. Write a story (or stories) that meet Portkey's criteria for content and minimum word count, then select a method of showing those sample/s to the fic mods.

III. Submit an electronic application form for a Portkey author account, indicating where the fic mods can find your fic/s.**

IV. Check indicators of your application's status.


**Related topics:

-- Easily Avoidable Reasons for Declining Applications - read this doing Step III above!

-- More related topics listed in our fanfic FAQs list

-- Why Portkey Maintains Two Databases Of Accounts Info

.

Now for the details:

I. Make sure that you open an account in the fanfic side.

Follow this thread: How to register in Portkey's Fanfic Side (and benefits of doing so)

.

(I use the phrases "criteria for content", "hosting criteria" and "hosting rules" interchangeably.)


II. Write a story (or stories) that meet Portkey's criteria for content and minimum word count, then select a method of showing those sample/s to the fic mods.

II-A. Make sure all of your samples meet our criteria for content.

Now admittedly this fine print has always been a pretty confusing read, so I suggest you start with this post then go back to the messages before and after that one.

-- As much as possible, submit stories that you do intend to upload to Portkey.

-- Each story must focus on at least one of our supported ships.

-- Please note that if you write non-shippy stories (or stories that contradict PK's ships), then it would be pointless for fic mods to read them as they don't meet our criteria.

-- Once a fic mod enables author permissions for your fanfic account, you have the freedom to upload stories or chapters at your convenience. In exchange for this privilege, PK's mods trust that you will take it upon yourself to upload only stories that meet PK's hosting rules.

.

II-B. Comply with the minimum word count for samples. It's currently at 3,000 words COMBINED for all compliant samples.

EDITED March 2009

-- This minimum number of words applies to applications, ie, samples submitted to PK fic staff. Once writers get their Portkey author permissions, then they can post chapters and stories that are as long or as short as they want.

-- Before we started requiring this minimum word count for applications, we had many applicants who simply wrote that they're good in writing fanfics (without giving us samples) or would simply write a sentence or two. How could fic mods judge those applicants' fic writing skills?

-- Fic mods will instantly reject applications whose sample sizes go way below the minimum required.

-- The minimum number of words applies to all compliant samples COMBINED, not for individual fics or chapters. But see everything else written here.

-- Fic mods will NOT include non-compliant stories in checking the word count. "Non-compliant stories" include non-shippy ones or those that focus on characters other than our ships, or those that break our other criteria (as linked in II-A above). This means that applicants can't submit a 300-word H/H fic then bundle it with a 4,000-word fic that centers on another character.


-- The fic team would need to evaluate applicants' ability in developing their plots and characters. That's why we prefer that the 3,000-word COHERENT sample come from 1 or 2 stories; much better if they all come from the same story. By "coherent", we mean chapters that flow smoothly from one to the next, NOT a hodgepodge of scenes, poetry &/or whatever that were randomly thrown together simply to meet our threshold sample size.


-- The word count excludes song lyrics, poems, author's notes, disclaimers, or excerpts from works by JKR or other writers.

-- The fic team might require a bigger sample size if your story/ies don't have enough shippy interactions between PK's pairings or have yet to meet our other criteria.

-- Read this and its succeeding posts for more info about how strict or lenient PK mods could get with that minimum number of words, or whether authors must observe that limit after they've been licensed to upload stories here.


Example A:

Story A may be a 500-word one-shot while story B has 1,600 words. To meet our minimum word requirement, both stories A and B should be submitted as samples AND each of them must focus on at least one PK ship.

Example B:

You have one story with at least 3,000 words excluding song lyrics, poems, author's notes and excerpts from JKR's work (as well as other people's). You can submit that.

Example C:

You have three or more Portkey-compliant stories that combine for 3,000 words or more. You can submit those but bear in mind everything else that's written on this post.

Word counting tools, courtesy of some Mods:

• In Microsoft Word, copy and paste your story to a blank document, then go to the Tools Menu > Word Count, OR
  
  
• Google for "online word counter", such as this one.

.

Edited Feb 2009

us = fic mod team

II-C. Select a method of showing your COMPLIANT stories to the fic mods.

SHORT EXPLANATION:

Either email them to ficmods@portkey.org, or upload them somewhere then put their URLs in step # 3's application form. If you email your samples, be sure to put your pen name in the subject line.

LONG EXPLANATION:

If you've posted your story in another site, then give us its URL. If you haven't posted them anywhere, then email it to us.

It is important that you provide us the following info:

--the URL to your samples (Case A below), or
--the information required in Case C below.
You put the above info in the box screencapped in the previous post.


CASE A: You've posted your story in another site.

-- Please give us the direct URLs to your fics. The sooner we locate them, the quicker your application will be processed. We will instantly reject your application if it takes us more than a few clicks to locate your story. This is so we could process other applications in the queue.

-- Mods will reject applications with URLs that require us to log in. That means we will not accept applications that link us to a YahooGroup. Read this, too.

-- If you have more than one story in your site, be sure to tell us the specific titles of the stories that you feel meet our criteria.

-- Be sure to read this, particularly if you've put your samples in sites like fanfiction.net.

-- If your fics are in your online journal (like livejournal.com), then kindly make a public entry that compiles all the links for the various parts of your stories. (Here's an example.) Put that entry's global/direct URL in your application form AND enable public / anonymous viewing of the entries containing your story chapters.


CASE B: You've your fics in a message board, including Portkey's forums.

It's difficult for Fic Mods to hop from one story part to another when they're posted in message boards. So please give us the direct links to each installment of your story by doing:

-- one of the methods explained here OR
-- the procedures for Case C below.


CASE C: If you haven't posted your fics anywhere, then email them to us at ficmods@portkey.org.

-- Generally though, Fic Mods find it faster to process fics uploaded elsewhere.

-- Put your pen name in the subject line. This will greatly aid Fic Mods in quickly matching your email with your application form (which has your pen name).

-- Email your samples as in-line text, ie, copy and paste the text of your story onto your email's message body. Do not send them as attachments as your email program might send them as a bunch of codes.

-- Take note that even when you've emailed the samples, you'd still need to "submit an electronic application form" to us, which is explained in the next post.

.

(If you haven't read PK's fanfic rules yet, then do so BEFORE doing any of these steps!
Click the screenshots below to magnify them.)



III. Submit an electronic application form for a Portkey author account, indicating where the fic mods can find your sample/s.


III-A. Log http://users.portkey.org

Either copy that URL onto your browser's address bar, OR

hit the Control Panel link after you log in PK's fanfic side. The words Control Panel will appear right below Logged in: [your user name], as seen in this screencap.



III-B. Hit the Submit Author Application link in the User Panel.



Scroll down until you see the electronic form, which is comprised of a blank box, two tick boxes, a Ships Category dropdown menu and a Submit button (form's screencapped in III-C-2 and III-C-3).



III-C. Fill up the form.


III-C-1. DO'S & DON'TS:

DO NOT:
-- Copy your story or parts of it on the box.

DO PUT IN THE BOX:
-- your method of showing sample fics to the Fic Mod Team: either by giving a URL or emailing it. Read this IMPORTANT related info;
-- state specific story titles that you think best fit PK's fanfic rules;
-- state what other pairings (Portkey-compliant or not) are featured in your fics;
-- give warnings or other useful info for the Fic Mods, e.g., ships or scenes (including chapter number and a brief description) that you're not quite sure would comply with Portkey's rules.


III-C-2. Here's a sample of what to put in the application box if you've already posted the story outside Portkey:



(gal-texter's note: I had copied the above text from an actual application after altering the URLs. The full text can be read in part III-E's screencap below).


III-C-3. Here's a sample of what to put in the application box if you've emailed it to the Fic Mod Team (at ficmods@portkey.org).




III-C-4. Select your ship from the dropdown menu. Tick the two I agree options then hit Submit.



III-D. You'll know you've submitted the form when you see the following:

III-D-1. Soon after you hit Submit, you see a message that says Your application was successfully submitted. Take me back to where I came from!

III-D-2. When you hit User Panel > Submit Author Application again, you'll see the message: You already have an application pending. You will recieve an e-mail when this application has been resolved. (Yeah, "recieve" was spelled incorrectly. )




III-E. Whatever you've put in the box will appear in the Fic Mod control panel as follows, with the URLs appearing as clickable links (ignore the portions I've blacked out):



Author permissions are usually enabled through this Fic Mod control panel. Filling up the application form (through the Submit Author Application link) is the only way for an applicant's name and story details to appear in this control panel. Ergo, you have to fill up the form as detailed earlier in this post.

Had you put all or part of your story in the box, it would've eaten up more than a screenful of the Mod control panel, making it difficult to process other applications in the queue.

For those who've emailed their samples, keep in mind that the Fic Mods' email inbox looks just like any other email inbox. It's important that you state your email address in your application form, then put your Portkey Pen Name in your email's subject line. This way, the Fic Mods can quickly match your email with your application form in the Mods' control panel.

.

Last edit: Apr 6 2009

IV. Check indicators of your application's status.

That's all been explained here. When fic mods approve or reject author applications, their comments get sent from a portkey.org email address. Better make a filter for this to ensure it doesn't end up in your spam or bulk mail folders.


IF your application was rejected, please fix the issues noted by the fic mod in the auto-email, then do all the steps again starting from Step II on this thread. Those who re-email their edited samples must hit the "Submit Author Application" link again.


I'll close this thread now to keep it neat. Please post any questions to the relevant FAQ thread as listed here.


*wipes sweat off brow* <-- from updating the procedures, I mean.

.

Last edit: Feb 2009

I'm now going to list

EASILY AVOIDABLE reasons for declining applications
Including excerpts of the Fic Team's actual comments in some rejection emails.
.
.
.
REASONS FIC MODS QUICKLY REJECT WITHOUT MODS READING THE SUBMITTED STORIES:

• No sample fic provided
  
  
  CODE
  Every applicant must submit a 3,000-word (or longer) coherent sample preferably from one or two stories.  Click the Read Me Before Author Application link in users.portkey.org, then follow the instructions in the "How to apply for a Portkey author license" thread.  It has detailed explanations for our procedures.  You must read them all before you submit the Author Application page again.
  
  
  
  
• Sample story was copied onto the application box itself, in whole or in part
  
  
  CODE
  The left size of PK's application box says: "Do Not paste in part of or all of your story.  You must provide links."
  
  Read this for more information: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=26972&view=findpost&p=394295
  
  
  
  
• Samples fall far short of the minimum word count
  
  This persists to this day, despite the fact that we've imposed a (3,000-word) minimum since 2004.
  
  
  CODE
  Your sample falls way short of our 3,000-word minimum.  Please go over this message:  http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=26972&view=findpost&p=394292
  and all related procedures listed in that topic before you re-apply.
  
  
  
  
  
• Story is posted on a site that requires fic mods to search for the first or succeeding chapters, or to register or log in
  
  
  CODE
  The link you've provided requires us to register for an account or to search for your story.  Sorry but our team cannot spare the time to do that.  Kindly follow the instructions here and in its next post:
  http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=26972&view=findpost&p=394294
  
  Before you reapply, make sure you follow all instructions in that "How to apply for a Portkey author license" topic.  It's also listed in the "Read Me Before Author Application" page in your users.portkey.org > user panel.
  
  
  
  
  
• Some story URLs lead to "access denied" errors,
  most likely because they can only be accessed by the writer:
  
  
  CODE
  The link you've provided doesn't take us directly to your story.  Kindly follow these instructions:  http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?act=findpost&pid=399671
  
  Before you reapply, make sure you follow all instructions in the "How to apply for a Portkey author license" topic referenced in that post.  It's also listed in the "Read Me Before Author Application" page in your users.portkey.org > user panel.
  
  
  
  
• Applicant said they emailed their sample to us, but we couldn't find it in our ficmods@portkey.org account.
  
  
  CODE
  We could not find your email to ficmods@portkey.org.  Be sure to follow the instructions here:
  http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=26972&view=findpost&p=394294
  and read all other related instructions in there.
  
  You would need to fill up the Submit Author Application page again, but before you do, make sure to comply with all other instructions as linked above.  They're also listed as the "How to apply for a Portkey author license" topic in the Read Me Before Author Application page in your users.portkey.org > user panel.
  
  
  
  
• Applicant emailed their stories to us but failed to submit the Author Application page in users.portkey.org:
  
  Please read this. Also take note of Part III-E's explanations about why some emailed samples often experience unnecessary delays. That is, if you email your story, then be sure:
  
  -- to submit the application form AND
  -- to put your pen name in the email's subject line

.





Avoidable reasons for declining REPEAT APPLICATIONS
.
.

• Failing to re-submit the Author Application page
  
  
  CODE
  We received your story by email, but you'd need to submit the Author Application page again in users.portkey.org.  That's the only way for fic mods to enable your author permissions.   You'll have to follow the procedures here again:
  http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=26972&view=findpost&p=394295
  
  
  
  
• Ignoring comments in prior rejection emails:
  
  I'm not going to quote actual letters. But FYI, some people reapply within very soon after Fic Mods reject their earlier attempt. I guess they do this hoping to get another mod/admin. Here's the thing:
  
  Any fic team staff can see the comments put by their teammates in earlier rejection emails. Applicants who reapply WITHIN HOURS (of the rejection) obviously do so without fixing errors. They not only waste both parties' time, but they put themselves at risk of getting blacklisted by the team.
  
  Fic mods can justifiably suspect the same motive for repeat applications made only a few days after having been declined.

.

Latest edit: Feb 2009

Here are common reasons for declining applications based on writing skills. Fortunately, our Polishing The Quill's subforums store many resources contributed by various Portkey-ers. The Fic Team does allow for some errors, but do reject samples that have too many of the following:

• Spelling mistakes:
  
  -- Check out the lists of commonly misspelled homonyms and Potter words. A PK-er has kindy provided (on that latter thread) a link to a Potter glossary on Scholastic Books' website.
  
  
• Punctuation issues:
  
  -- Here's a guide to punctuation and capitalization rules for quotations or spoken lines. Other topics in that area discuss verb tenses and commas.

.
.
On a related note, Portkey's rejection emails provide a link to the Beta Reader Volunteers section.

.