For Authors
This week: Contests: Your Ticket to Publication Edited by: Crys-not really here More Newsletters By This Editor
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Hello, I'm Crys-not really here and I'm proud to me your guest editor for the For Authors Newsletter this week! |
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Contests: Your Ticket to Publication
For anyone who wants to publish their writing or just get their name out there as a writer, contests can be a great start!
University literary journals, websites, small presses, and even major magazines like Writer's Digest sponsor writing contests on a regular basis. Contests exist for any and every type of writing you can think of, from poetry manuscripts to short stories and everything in between. If you look hard enough, you might just find a contest that fits your writing style.
Why enter contests
If you're a poet who has published a few poems here and there, chapbook contests are one of the best ways to get a book of poetry published. Many poets resort to self publishing poetry manuscripts, but chapbooks are usually seen as the "gateway" into the poetry publishing world. Since many university and small presses only publish chapbooks that have been submitted to their contests, this is definitely a good way "in."
If you write poetry, short stories or non-fiction, winning a well-known contest for a single piece of work can definitely give your name as a writer more credibility. Not to mention, it can give you a major ego boost as a writer! When I was in college, one of my poems placed in the Writer's Digest Poetry Competition, and I got to see my name published in a national magazine! As you can imagine, my productivity and enthusiasm for poetry soared after that.
Entering contests can be a fun change from simply submitting work to publications. It's competitive, but depending on the contest may not be as competitive as submitting to a magazine or journal. Plus, many contests have interesting themes. Even if you don't have something that fits that theme currently, you could always use the theme to jumpstart a new project!
Some things to remember:
Some (even legitimate) contests charge entry fees. It's up to each writer to thoroughly research how the contest will be using the funds collected. Entry fees are NOT the same things as reading fees. It's perfectly fine for an organization to charge an entry fee if that money is going to be put toward paying for prizes. But if an organization is using that money to pay the people who are reading the manuscripts-- look out! Don't expect much in the way of prizes.
As always, use common sense. If the organization sponsoring the contest is well-known and well respected, such as Random House or the University of Pittsburgh Press, it's probably safe to assume that they're using your money responsibility. If it's a no-name small press with a grand prize of only five published copies of your book, think twice before sending them your money!
It's up to you to decide how much you're comfortable paying for entry fees, or if you even want to pay them at all. There are plenty of contests out there that do not charge fees if you know where to look! |
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