Sta.sh
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What is the criteria for an author/work to be considered for the Literary Compass?
Literature - Your series must be primarily literature based. There are many works which now incorporate different mediums such as lit, art, comics, music, etc. to create a rounded entertainment experience. For this article, the featured author/series must have a strong literary focus. We do not accept web-comics or other primarily visual-art works.
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`Ravenswd and I are proud to announce our 2nd annual Relativity contest! 
Welcome
If one is looking for Literature, you don't need to go far on deviantART. There is a large community of writers and a plethora of work to peruse. Featuring genres such as fantasy, mystery, horror, and romance, one would be hard-pressed to find an area not covered. However, due to the nature of the site, shorter works tend to get more focus. It's easier to quickly read a poem or a short story, and thus many of the feature articles on dA showcase those works. However, there are many novelists and serial writers among the mix, oftentimes fighting an uphill battle to have their works seen and appreciated. With that in mind, I have started an article to spotlight some of those artists and their literary-worlds. The works covered in this feature will exclusively be long-form fiction such as novels, trilogies, etc., or fiction serials.
Editor's Note
Sadly, the author featured in this issue left deviantART and no longer hosts her works on the site. There are many other great novels and series featured. Check out the link below to read other issues of the series.
More Compass?
You can view past editions of the series here ---> [link]If you would like to recommend a novel or series to be considered for Literary Compass, please drop me a note. A series or novel must have a deviantART base , be fairly established, have supporting art, and offer some 2-3 excerpts/literary pieces for reading. You MAY self-suggest your own work.
Guidelines and FAQ for the series can be found here ---> [link]
Credits
Commissioned journal CSS and map background created by `GillianIvy Coding modified and formatted by `RavenswdIf you would like to recommend a novel or series to be considered for Literary Compass, please drop me a note. A series or novel must have a deviantART base , be fairly established, have supporting art, and offer some 2-3 excerpts for reading.
Great job, Mirz.
Do you have any more specific guidelines about "supporting art" when suggesting things to feature? It's definitely not the first thing I think about when considering good literature, though it is a nice bonus. There's at least one thing I might like to suggest (once I'm done reading it myself!) but I have a feeling that if a lack of excerpts doesn't disqualify it, a lack of art probably will.
A dA hub was vital. Many of these series have offline sites and just link to it from dA. That's well and good, but this is a dA article and many people don't want to go off-site, and I respect that. So, that was first and foremost requirement.
An excerpt is obvious. Again, some people want to force readers to go to their site to read. I think they should have the option of getting a first taste here and then deciding.
The choice to have art was aesthetic. Whether we like it or not as writers, the main allure of this site is the visual art. People are drawn-in by pictures. It makes the article look prettier and gives the reader a rounded look at the literary piece. So, I felt it was important to have that inclusion in some form. Also, having art for the series was also another filtering criteria.
That said, I am not going to be an art-snob. I'm not looking for a certain quality. Hand-drawn art, sketches, photo-manips, etc. are very acceptable. As long as it portrays the series, then I believe it's good to showcase. Also (and I probably should add this), the author should have a cover image, as if it were a book. Though, honestly, that could be a text cover done in Photoshop.
Anyhow, thank you for your kind words. I hope the series takes off. As a novelist myself, I know the struggle of trying to get your works seen, so I hope this will help some of the great series here on dA.
As for the links, I leave that up to the authors to provide me with. But I'll see about adding the UK one.
One further question, though. With the excerpts, would it be acceptable for them to be posted specifically for your series of articles? I've noticed people just promoting their books in journals, and based on the comments it seems as though they have a following here (even if the book's just on Amazon). Assuming the author is an active deviant and ticks all the other boxes, would it be acceptable to suggest their work on the understanding that they post some excerpts if featured (or get them to post excerpts before making the suggestion)? It seems as though it really depends on whether you want works that are merely available on dA (so, as you say, people don't have to leave the site to have a read), or those that are already well established here.
To a lesser extent I wonder the same thing about the supporting art, but it doesn't seem like such an issue. I expect that if people have it, they'll already have posted it (unless it's, say, illustrations included only in the complete book).
In any case, I've checked the particular book I was thinking of and I don't think it's got everything you're looking for. I'll keep an eye out for things to suggest, though!
And, I actually will be featuring a few series that are established but don't have completed novels. WIPs, yes, but still fleshed out and with a substantial following. So that is something to keep in mind when viewing a work as "established."
I am pretty much of the mind that if an author wants to post art here exclusively for the series, that's fine. They don't have to house their whole body of work here. Part of the reason I started this series is that I, too, have a fiction serial. Our main hub is off-site, but we have a substantial portion (about 90%) of our work also hosted here on dA.
Thank you for your support. If you are in question about a suggestion, send it my way and I'll be happy to look at it. It doesn't hurt, and the worst I will say is that it doesn't fit.
Thank you for posting,