Tag: Tellables Writing Contest

  • A Valentine’s Writing Contest – 560 words MAX -Win Cash Prizes and Promotion – Tellables

    A Valentine’s Writing Contest – 560 words MAX -Win Cash Prizes and Promotion – Tellables

    When you’re in the chocolate business—even if it digital chocolates—it’s never too early to start planning for Valentine’s Day. So, Tellables is ready to announce their Valentine’s Writing Contest. They are looking for double chocolates stories that tell a tale of romance, love, or affection and that come in two delicious parts.

    As with Tellables  Holiday Writing Contest, they’re looking for stories they can publish in their  “My Box of Chocolates” voice / audio experience on Amazon Alexa. And they are  offering cash prizes! No entry fees! 

    They’re looking for delicious double chocolate stories to include in our special Valentine’s assortment. Double chocolates are two-part stories, each part a maximum of 280 words, with conversational elements sprinkled in to engage the listener.

    Selected stories will be featured in Tellables My Box of Chocolates voice app on Amazon Alexa. Check out this link for details and official rules on our Valentines Writing Contest.

    Amazon Alexa – Is It Really For Authors?

    We often hear authors say they don’t have a smart speaker and they don’t trust them. We understand. But smart speakers and voice assistants are growing tremendously popular. Now’s the time to begin experimenting with the possibilities.

    You might have access to an Alexa-enabled device and not even know it. Alexa isn’t only available on an Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Show. You can access the Alexa voice assistant from most newer model Kindle Fire tablets, from your Fire TV, and from the Amazon Alexa or Amazon Shopping mobile app. The common requirement is that you need to be logged in with an Amazon account.

    If you do have access to Alexa,  try out our “My Box of Chocolates” voice app. Ask Alexa to “open My Box of Chocolates.” If that doesn’t work as expected, try saying “Alexa, enable My Box of Chocolates” first.

    Note from Kiffer:  This is a great way to experiment with engaging readers with Voice-Driven Devices. Also, the Head of Amazon’s Alexa Code Labs (more than 100 million Alexa devices are in use), Paul Cutsinger, will present at the Chanticleer Authors Conference in April.

    The My Box of Chocolates Voice App – Stories on Alexa

    You can find out everything you need to know about Tellables’ conversational storytelling voice app experience by reading through our Author Tips page and the blog post on Writing a “Transformational” Story for the “My Box of Chocolates” Voice App.   

    The Valentine’s “Double Chocolate” Writing Contest

    The individual chocolate stories we publish in our voice app are “bite-size,” with a maximum of 280 words. Sometimes we publish stories in two parts. Part 1 and Part 2 are each represented in our virtual chocolate assortment by two pieces of the same type of candy. The listener needs to hear both candies in order to get the full story.

    Visit this link for more information and to submit your stories:  https://tellables.com/2019/12/writing-contest-valentines-double-chocolate-stories/

    Here are links to previous Tellables winners: 

    https://www.chantireviews.com/2019/12/13/and-the-winners-are-chanticleerians-take-home-the-tellables-holiday-box-of-chocolates-stories-contest/

    https://www.chantireviews.com/2019/10/30/tellables-voice-driven-stories-selects-4-chanticleerian-authors-for-spooky-halloween-micro-stories/

    Please feel free to forward this to any authors you know. Amy Stapleton is happy to answer any questions you might have. Just email her directly.

    Thanks and good luck!
    Amy Stapleton
    amy@tellables.com
    Tellables

  • CASH PRIZES $$$ for HOLIDAY 560 words MAX – WRITING CONTEST with TELLABLES on Amazon’s Alexa

    CASH PRIZES $$$ for HOLIDAY 560 words MAX – WRITING CONTEST with TELLABLES on Amazon’s Alexa

    Tellables is accepting stories with a HOLIDAY theme for any holiday occurring between November and January 1st in any country!

     

    The WINNING HOLIDAY DOUBLE CHOCOLATE STORIES will be published on Amazon’s ALEXA and will receive CASH prizes! There is NO entry fee.

    Tellables is seeking individual chocolate stories on their My Box of Chocolates voice app.

    My Box of Chocolates voice app pairs delicious virtual chocolates with bite-sized stories.

    The stories in the My Box of Chocolates voice experience run less than two minutes. Each one is narrated by an imaginary chocolatier, using a synthetic text-to-speech voice (not human recordings). The storylines generally revolve around interesting or humorous occurrences involving the customers in the chocolate shop.

    Conversational Stories – a new voice-driven platform in story telling.

    The stories Tellables publishes in their voice app are not “audio stories.” They are “conversational.” What’s special about these stories?

    Conversational Storytelling is made possible by platforms such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The underlying technology allows a storyteller to pose questions to the listener and understand the listener’s spoken response. For us, conversational stories are spoken narratives where the narrator interacts directly with the listener. This interaction can take many forms, but it generally involves drawing the listener into a conversation by asking a question related to the story.

    See Tellables’ blog post on What’s a Conversational Story? for more details.

    Now, finally, on to the Holiday writing contest!

    We are excited to announce the Tellables Holiday writing contest. As with their Halloween Writing Contest, they are looking for stories they can publish on their “My Box of Chocolates” voice/audio experience on Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant’s Okay Google app.

    Here is a link to the Chanticleer authors who won the Halloween contest for micro-stories https://www.chantireviews.com/2019/10/30/tellables-voice-driven-stories-selects-4-chanticleerian-authors-for-spooky-halloween-micro-stories/

    And Tellables is offering CASH prizes. 

    The individual chocolate stories Tellables publishes in their voice app are “bite-sized,” with a maximum of 280 words. Sometimes, however, they publish stories in two parts. Part 1 and Part 2 are each represented in our virtual chocolate assortment by two pieces of the same type of candy. The listener needs to hear both candies in order to get the full story.

    For the Holiday Writing Contest, Tellables is looking for two-part stories. Each part (piece!) should have a maximum of 280 words. Visit the Tellables’ website for more information and to enter! http://tellables.com/blog/

    Voice technology offers new and exciting opportunities for storytellers and readers. Passive listening is no longer the only option. Now two-way communication between the storyteller and listener is possible. 

    This is a great opportunity to dip your toes into the emerging world of voice technology!

    A little bit more information about the Emerging Voice-Driven Devices and the Opportunities They Offer for Writers

    Voice assistants like Amazon Alexa are equipped with powerful speech recognition and language understanding. We leverage these technologies to help authors and storytellers engage audiences in new and exciting ways.

    While it’s still early days for voice technology, sales continue to grow for both the Amazon Echo and the Google Assistant line of smart speakers and smart displays. Consumers seem unfazed by media reports of privacy infringements, so it appears these devices are here to stay.

    Here is an article with 22 Takeaways for Authors from the Silicon Valley Annual Internet Trends Report – Kiffer Brown

    Voice technology offers new and exciting opportunities for storytellers and readers. Passive listening is no longer the only option. Now two-way communication between the storyteller and listener is possible. 

    Tellables has created a platform for “conversational storytelling,” where brief stories are followed by interactive questions. This two-way communication draws the listener more deeply into the story.

    I met Amy Stapleton, the CEO of Tellables, at the 2019 Digital Book World that took place in Nashville, Tenn. The Tellables’ exhibitor booth was adjacent to ours so we met and chatted. When she informed me about their contest for content, I knew that it would be a perfect opportunity for some Chanticleerians to experiment with Voice technology. So without further ado…

    VOICE-DRIVEN CONVERSATIONAL STORIES FOR TALKING DEVICES

    For those of you who are not familiar with the Digital Book World conference, it is mainly a business-to-business conference that specializes in content distribution and platforms that include books, ebooks, digital books, audiobooks, podcasts, audiovisual delivery, blockchain, voice, and other media delivery systems.

    And since Chanticleer prides itself on expanding the digital footprint of the authors who use our services, we’ve found DBW to be indispensable for keeping us updated on the latest in publishing technologies so we may inform you, dear writer and reader.

    “Publishing is at the epicenter of digital disruption.” Paul Michelman, MIT & MIT Sloan

    As always, please email us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions. Or leave a comment below.