1.  The website says the author is granting to Potential Heights LLC (owner of StoriesThatLift.com) a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to publish the story.  What does this mean?

2.  If my written story is accepted for publication, can I provide the audio version of the story?

3.  How long before I can expect to hear back from you regarding a story I submit?

4.  If my story is accepted, how long before I can expect to be paid?

5.  Why does StoriesThatLift.com pay so little for written and audio stories?

6. Now that my story has been accepted, I want to send you an MP3 file with the audio version of my story.  How do I make an MP3 file?

7.  I submitted a comment but it does not show up on the page. What has happened?

Question:  1.  The website says the author is granting to Potential Heights LLC (owner of StoriesThatLift.com) a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to publish the story.  What does this mean?

Answer:  Each author of a story that is accepted for publication on the website receives a payment from Potential Heights LLC (owner of StoriesThatLift.com).  With this payment the author is agreeing to grant to Potential Heights LLC the right to publish the story on its website, in book form, or audio form for free access or for sale.  The non-exclusive portion of the agreement means that the author can use the story for any purpose they see appropriate and legal.  Thus, Potential Heights LLC is not getting an exclusive right to use the story.  The royalty-free portion of the agreement means that Potential Heights LLC can use the story on their website, in published books, or published cd's without paying royalties to the author.  The author has agreed that the initial payment from Potential Heights LLC has compensated them for allowing Potential Heights LLC to use their story in a non-commercial or commercial product.  Thus, anyone can download, read, and listen to the story at no cost and StoriesThatLift.com does not pay any royalty for access to the story.  

Potential Heights LLC agrees that the author and storyteller will have the byline for the story and where appropriate a short bio will be included in any published forms of the story.

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Question:  2.  If my written story is accepted for publication, can I provide the audio version of the story?

Answer: We provide authors the opportunity to submit the audio version of their written stories after we have accepted the written version.  We will consider the audio version for publication on the website.  We reserve the right to have another storyteller put the story in audio form.

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Question:  3.  How long before I can expect to hear back from you regarding a story I submit?

Answer:  We commit to responding to all submissions within two months.

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Question:  4.  If my story is accepted, how long before I can expect to be paid?

Answer:  If your story is accepted you will receive email communication concerning the rights you are granting to Potential Heights LLC (owner of StoriesThatLift.com) and the amount Potential Heights LLC is agreeing to provide in return.  Once we receive your email agreeing to the conditions and the payment, we will send your payment.

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Question:  5.  Why does StoriesThatLift.com pay so little for written and audio stories?

Answer:  We are just starting the website as a family operation.  We have very little capital and don't expect to have any positive cash flow for the first two years.  If the site generates positive cash flow, we intend to revisit the amount of payment we offer for accepted stories.  We fully understand that authors want and should expect fair compensation for their creative works.  We have examined many websites that offer no compensation and we have examined websites that offer substantial compensation.  In general, the sites that offer substantial compensation provide only commercial use of their products - charging for access, downloading, or sale of products.  The sites that offer no compensation allow mostly free access to their works.  We want free access to the stories on our website.  We decided to compromise between the two extremes - we have free access to the stories but have intentions of selling some popular stories commercially.  For stories that we judge to have a potential to be included in works for sale, we will offer a payment above our minimum.  

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Question:  6.  Now that my story has been accepted, I want to send you an MP3 file with the audio version of my story.  How do I make an MP3 file?

Answer:  There are many different recorders and recording software that can be used to create the audio version of your story.  We have had success in using AUDACITY, a free sound editor and recorder.  It can be downloaded from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ 

This program enables you to use a Windows based computer as a recorder and editor.  You will need a good quality microphone to plug into your mic input jack on your computer.  To successfully create MP3 files you will also need to download the file "lame_enc.dll" and place it in the same directory that you have placed the audacity program.  You can find lame_enc.dll at:   

http://www.dlldump.com/download-dll-files_new.php/dllfiles/L/lame_enc.dll/-/download.html

or here

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?lame_enc

Once you have recorded your story, you will need to export the sound to an MP3 file.  This is done by selecting the "file" option on the top menu, then selecting the "export as mp3" option.  Open your newly saved file just as you would a music mp3 and validate that you are satisfied with the recorded story.  Once you are satisfied with the recorded story, you can email us the saved MP3 file. 

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Question:  7.  I submitted a comment but it does not show up on the page. What has happened?

Answer:  Not every comment that is submitted will be accepted and placed on the website. There are various reasons that a specific comment may not be approved for the website.  We desire the site maintain its overall theme to provide uplifting messages.  If we view a specific comment as negative beyond what we feel is constructive criticism, then we will not clear that comment for inclusion on the site.  We do not intend to have the comment section become a vehicle for debate between registered users and/or authors.  The final decision to include or exclude a comment rests soley with Potential Heights LLC, owner of the StoriesThatLift.com website.  If you feel your comment should not have been excluded, you can submit your question to us at admin (at) storiesthatlift (dot) com.

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