Rules:
1. Write a short story about love—be it platonic or romantic—that deals with the Internet in some significant way. (Maybe the characters discuss Facebook or meet on Skype or write blogs. It’s up to you.)
2. Submit your story to us on our submissions page before January 31, 2012. Make sure to fill out ALL sections of the given form.
3. There is no page minimum or limit for submissions, but a good guideline is between 3 and 12 double-spaced pages, or about 1,000 to 4,000 words.
4. Submissions must be fictional. If you wish to base your story off real life, please change the names of characters who represent actual people.
5. Understand that your story is not guaranteed to be chosen for publication in the book. If it is selected, you will be notified before March, 2012. If not chosen, you maintain the rights to your story and can do with it as you please.
6. If your story is chosen to be included in the book, you will be sent a waiver to sign, forfeiting your own rights to your story (meaning you can’t submit it to a magazine or other contest, nor can you post it on your blog, etc.). You will not receive any monetary royalties from the book, but your inclusion in a published work will look great on a college application or résumé. If you are under the age of 18, a guardian must be able to sign the waiver on your behalf.
7. If your story is chosen, you will work with the editors (mainly Hayley Hoover and Kristina Horner) to revise and fix up your work to prepare it for publication. After the changes are made, you will have the final say as to whether or not you still wish to have your story included in the book.
8. Do not worry about censoring your work. If a certain word or theme doesn’t fit with the tone of rest of the book, that can be addressed in the editing process.
9. Never make “Have fun!” the last item on a list of rules, because that’s cheesy.
FAQ:
1. How long should my story be?
We do want variety in the length of stories submitted, but you should aim for 6-8 pages, or so.
2. Can my story be about friendship or can we ONLY write about stereotypical love?
Yes it can be about friendship! We’re hoping for variety in the stories and we want all sorts of internet-based relationships.
3. What if my story is dark, or not so happy?
The story doesn’t have to be sappy and stereotypical, but we ARE doing this to show that making friends online can be okay. It’s alright if the story doesn’t have a happy ending, but we don’t want any stories showing “the dangers of online dating” because there’s enough of that on the news. We want the book to be real so there can be some stories that are darker, but overall we want the story to have an underlying positive message about meeting people online, even the relationships don’t work out.
4. Am I allowed to mention real websites and events and things? Like Neopets and Vidcon?
Yes, you can. We only asked you to change the names of people your stories may be based on to protect their identity.
5. Can I swear in my story?
Yes.
6. How fictional is fictional? Can I write about zombies and vampires and stuff?
You can submit anything you’d like, but be warned we’re going to be more likely to pick the stories that are more based on real-world experiences.
7. Can I submit poems/songs/art?
You can send us anything you want, but again, we’ll probably still only pick our favorites of the stories, unless something really wows us.
8. What POV does it need to be in?
That’s totally up to you! We’ll accept anything!
9. How do I incorporate the Internet in my story? I don’t know anything about the Internet.
If you have to ask us that, you might not be right for this project. 
10. Maybe I submit more than one story?
Yes! Though we will probably only choose one per person for the final project.
11. Can you read my story and tell me if it’s good enough before I submit it?
Sorry, we will only be reading stories already ready for submission. Get your friends and family to read over your stories before sending them to us if you need a second opinion!
12. You know that technically it should be “fewer than three” for your title to be proper grammar. Also, I don’t get it.
That’s not a question! Less than three is an internet joke, because putting the “less than” sign next to a number three makes a heart. <3 So yes, generally you’d be right, but not here.