I was just recently window shopping at one of my favorite online stores when I noticed something I had not previously recognized. There was a link on Amazon.com for a competition of sorts in which writers attempting to make a name for themselves could upload a digital copie of their manuscripts and have them critiqued and voted for. The Grand Prize is a publishing contract with Penguin, amongst other great prizes. Entries are all fiction, and any kind of fiction at that.
I thought to myself, this would make a great personal goal of mine to really work on my piece and possibly enter in to the competition next year. No word yet if there is one next year. I was curious to see if anyone else has heard of this or if anyone has entered? I was also wondering if they do this every year? I think this could be something else that could be used as motivation to get writing and also to make names for ourselves through the exposure to the general public. This could be a nice addition to the Writer's of the Future competition that happens every year.
I just thought I would throw that out there and get some feedback. If you like to check it out just go to Amazon.com and there should be a link on the homepage.
Posted by SchamMan89 (Member # 5562) on :
The main problem I see with this is that if you don't win, you've just exposed your story to the whole world. At that point, I doubt any publisher would take it.
That's just my guess from what I can tell. I'd check more into it, but I'm at school and about to head to Philosophy.
~Chris
Posted by JeanneT (Member # 5709) on :
Yeah, I think you would use up the epub rights and many publishers want those these days. I don't want to enter any contest where that's the case.
Posted by Phillip L (Member # 7699) on :
That's a very good point. That would be something worth finding out. I do know, however, that they will only show part of the entire manuscript on-line for voters, like 5000 words or so. I am unsure if that makes any difference, but at least it's not the entire piece.
Posted by JeanneT (Member # 5709) on :
Usually publishing one chapter doesn't affect publication rights. I sold mine with a chapter online with no problem. But it's something I would check into first to be sure.
Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :
There was a discussion of this very issue at a conference I went to recently.
More and more, online novel publication is not an issue when converting to print publishing.
Print readers are not hugely likely to read online, so landing a print publication after online self-publishing doesn't really effect the print marketability.
The same is likely NOT true for short story publication, mainly because the market for short stories is hugely smaller than for novel length work.
Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :
This is Amazon we're talking about - they're in the business of selling books. I don't see anything on their FAQ page specifically addressing the electronic rights issue: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200183200 But they do mention that you retain "all content rights."
I also believe they only post the full MSs of the top 10 semi-finalists, though I haven't dug into the rules very deeply to be sure.
It looks to me like a worthwhile contest. Good luck!