Shirley Link & The Treasure Chest is her most exciting adventure yet. Tantalizing clues, buried treasure, and pirates; the story has it all (if I do say so myself). From meeting Mrs. Smiley, to travelling through the tunnels below Shelburne Falls, to that feeling of getting close, so close, so very close — it was a blast to write.
If you’d like to have a softcover of your own, then go ahead and enter my Goodreads contest! It’s easy and I’m giving away 10 copies. Enjoy, and look out for Shirley Link & The Black Cat, number four in the series…
If you’re searching for the best way to submit to fiction writing contests, you may be a bit overwhelmed. There are hundreds of options that range from scams to high-exposure, free-to-enter blockbusters. Through a lot of trial and error, some research and a propensity to have strong opinions about one thing or another, here’s what I’ve discovered.
(Please note that I focus on contests that offer the widest range of entry requirements. None of the contests, as of this writing, require your story to be about food, technology, zebras or any of the other rules that contests force upon us.)
The top 5 writing contests
Here are the top 5 writing contests, as measured by BANG! for buck.
Independent Book Publishers Association runs this one. I’m a member, but don’t get any dough for recommending them. The cost is $225 for non-members (which includes one year membership to IBPA). While there is no cash prize, the competition has a lot of cred. It’s been around for 25 years. First call deadline: September 30th, 2016. Final deadline: December 15th, 2016.
Writer’s Digest has a pretty good rep as a place for authors to find useful advice and tools/services. Their contests have thousands of dollars in prizes, but more importantly, they have clout. Not Klout. Real clout ;-)
All the contests, except the Your Story writing contest, cost something — but not more than $110. Prizes include cash, up to $3000.
Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition (their catch-all contest which allows almost everyone to enter).
Short story Competition
Self-Published Book Awards
Popular Fiction Awards
Your story (this one is free and the winner’s 750 word story is published in their magazine) Rolling submission deadlines, so enter away
Entry per category for the first book was $75. Winners get a nice flood of exposure, notably through Publisher’s Weekly publications and emails. Deadline, February 25th, 2017.
These guys have been around forever. Lots of cred, a little on the stuffy side, and a nice, big deal if you place in the competition. They’ll take books from small publishers, but no self-published books are allowed. The cash prizes are up to $10,000 They have $125 fee per submission, which they’ll take off your hands during the submission process. (Thanks to Jennie Goutet for pointing out a rule change)
This is a bit more specific than the other contests but Romance is eternally hot and I want all of you to know about it. The Inkitt Amour contest is more like a publishing deal. A good one. In fact, I thin it’s where traditional publishing is going. Check out the perks:
$6,000 in Book Marketing A dedicated marketing team Professional editing & cover 25% Royalties
The 25% royalty means that this is a contest for talented newcomers who want to build a fan base. You can do better in percentage profit on your own. But will you have your own marketing team dedicated to making your book a success?
Okay, looks like this post is now the Top 6 contests!
Amazon’s back in the game! After phasing out their annual literary award they’ve launched the Kindle UK Storyteller Award. Here’s the deal:
Competition entry period begins at 00:01 (GMT) on 20th February 2017 until 23:59 (BST) on 19th May 2017 (the “Entry Period”). To enter, during the Entry Period you must go to the Kindle Direct Publishing (“KDP”) sign-in page at (https://kdp.amazon.com) (you may select the language for your region in the upper right corner of the page) and follow the instructions to upload and publish to KDP an original, previously unpublished, English-language book authored solely by you (the “Book” or the “Entry”), and include the exact phrase “StorytellerUK2017” in the “keywords” metadata field in order for us to identify your Entry. Entry into the Competition also requires that you have an Amazon account and a completed KDP account and you have accepted the KDP Terms of Service and the Terms and Conditions for KDP Select Program located at (https://kdp.amazon.com/terms-and-conditions)
The prize? A cool £20,000 and a prize ceremony in London. Classy.
Go shopping!
Don’t see a contest that you like here?
Browse two local booksellers!
Skim the shelves where your book will one day be prominently placed (if there’s any justice in the universe). You’ll find stickers or emblems on some books with contests/competitions that the publisher felt were worthy of mentioning up front. These are usually the big boy awards, but you’ll also find some niche awards this way, too.
Try it, it’s fun! You get to scour books and work at the same time!
Gotchas!
Be careful of two things.
One, rights. Make sure the fine print doesn’t lay claim to your work. You’re not giving them the right to anything, except the privilege of giving you an award for your great writing. A number of contests offer publication of your work as a prize, and if that’s what you want then go for it. Just be careful they don’t overreach.
Two, rules. You don’t want to prepare your submission and then find that your story exceeds the limit by a thousand words!
Don’t rush in. Read the teeny, tiny, itsy, weeny print. It’s adorable!
Free or fee?
Should you pay, or should you go for the free contests only? That’s a tough one, since most of us are made of 90% water, and 0% money.
The bottom line is that if the contest is perfect for you, and you’ve checked your writing with a pro editor, then it’s worth paying something.
Important point: It’s best to set out with a budget for contests before you start looking for which ones to enter. You don’t want to go broke when your ambition starts arguing with your income. In my experience, ambition can be a hell of a debater.
Finally, when you have a list of five contests, STOP! One way to make sure you never catch a bunny is to chase two at the same time, right? So focus on your top five. No more for now. You can get to more when you’re done submitting to the ideal choices.
You won! Now what?
If you win, or earn a finalist/honorable mention title, then the hard work starts.
Announce it everywhere. Tout it on your Twitter/Facebook/ G+/Amazon author/Goodreads profiles.
Post a press release with the award name next to your name in the H1 of your site. This way Google will make the association between you and the award. If enough people pick up the story (don’t forget to leverage friends and fans!) your chances of having your name attached to the award’s name in search results grows.
Add the award to your email signature.
Resubmit the story to any agents or editors you’ve reached out to. Winning an award usually pushes the reset button so it’s worth a shot.
Conclusion
Contests are a great way to hone your craft and show the world how much better you are than that other dude writing over there. The one with the empty coffee cup, who’s been hogging the electrical output,
Now head on over to Poets and Writers website and dig into their awesome list of writing contests! You can also see a current list of contests here. And good luck.
Wait! More!
I’ll add to this list as I run across reputable and influential contests. Be sure to these check out, too.
The Guardian is now doing a monthly contest for self-published novels. UK authors only. Who in the USA has the guts to match this? The Atlantic? Reader’s Digest? New Yorker? Anyone?
Welcome to a New Year, my friends! This will be a good one with a number of Shirley Link books slated for release, including the next edition in the series, Shirley Link & The Treasure Chest! I can’t wait until you and your kids read this one. I’m really proud of it!
What better way to start the year than with a contest for kids? The holiday is over. The plastic stuff has been cast aside. What better way to refuel the soul, than with a book? By entering, you’ll be eligible to win both books in the Shirley Link series, in softcover. That’s right. Real paper and ink! I spent so much time on the print edition that my family probably wished I’d stuck with ebooks only! I’m glad I took the time, though. Seeing Robin’s art on the shiny cover for the first time was a moment I’ll always remember.
Shirley Link is a kids book series from the heart. I love writing about her. Thanks so much for supporting the books and spreading the word! Keep an eye open for an announcement about book #3 soon…
Disclosure: Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
