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.

Benjamin Franklin Awards

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 Writing Competitions

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

The IPPY Awards

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.

 National Book Foundation

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)

Inkitt Amour

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 Kindle UK Storyteller Award

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.

• Discovery Awards by IndieReader.com. The IRDA entry fee is $150 per title per category + $50 fee for each additional category entered.
• 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?
• The Kindle Book Awards are run by The Kindle Book Review.  
• I also stumbled on this list of contests that are friendly to Indy authors! 

by Ben Zackheim

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