I haven’t entered any contests yet, but I’ve been toying with the idea in the past week or so. Every time I look at RWA’s monthly newsletter, I find another contest that requires only the first 25 pages of your manuscript. They offer all kinds of enticements: valuable feedback, cash prizes, notoriety, and the possibility of having your work read by people in the business. And, the story doesn’t even have to be completed if you only send the beginning. I’ve got plenty of beginnings!It sounds like writer’s heaven to me.
If you don’t win, it sounds like it could maybe leave you with feedback (maybe useful, maybe not), less money in your pocket, the same lack of exposure, and that horrible feeling of being a loser because now people in the business saw what you are left believing to be a giant pile of crap with your name all over it.
And, that my friends, sounds like writer’s hell.
That’s why contests remind me of foreplay. The nice dinner, the movie, and even some heavy petting, can still give no firm indication of what the feature presentation will hold in store. The package might look provocative, but that doesn’t guarantee a satisfactory end result.
Although, if I mention the fact that most contests cost money (in some cases a lot of money) and try to make that leap to my analogy, I flirt with prostitution parallels and well, that’s nowhere I wanna go. So, consider simile over.
I know that many people have gotten their start from contests. Requests for fulls or partials, even book deals from judges. There are also ways to polish up your work to make it contest ready. But, I’m not certain it fits my goals right now.
Any experienced wenches out there? (Boy that sounded dirty). What have you found to be the upsides and the downsides to contests? Any war stories/sage advice? If you’re not a writer, ever won anything good? (I won a Senseo coffeemaker once. They said I had to pay for shipping and handling though. I opted out. Hey, that hardly feels free to me.)
47 comments:
I entered one contest last year on a whim. Even though I didn't final I did receive awesome feedback. One judge had asked a question that made me rethink my MS. She confirmed what I already knew, my beginning wasn't my beginning at all. If I could remember who she was I'd probably bow down and kiss her feet just for that confirmation.
I set a goal this year to enter at least three contests. Not only was the entry fee a little high, but I had to pay for 100 copies which adds up at 11 cents a copy then I had to pay for postage both ways so that I could get feedback. I don't know if the feedback is worth the price yet. We will see.
Right now, I'm crunching two of the contests I originally wanted to enter have deadlines this week. They require a synopsis, which I have no experience at.
The third I found and decided I wanted to see how my heroine stood up next to other brassy gals. This third contest is due in a few days too and it's not too expensive so no big loss either way. Unless I get some negative feedback on her.
I think if you want to enter a contest, be as prepared as possible. And be picky. Look at the final judges in your category, is it someone you can openly query or do they not take open submissions? If it's an agent is it one you wouldn't mind working with or are they someone you've never heard of before?
Good luck with you decision. I haven't stepped over to the contest whore side yet. I hope I don't. I just want some constructive unbiased feedback.
Last year I entered 3 with 3 different books (the Golden Heart, which gives no feedback, the First Kiss and Southern Heat). My Kiss entry did not final, but I got great feedback. I placed first in the Southern Heat (!!!). The judging editor requested the full, but the guidelines for her house made me really rip the book apart---which it desperately needed. It was my sophomore effort and loaded with all sorts of fatal mistakes (cheating hero, for example---he's pure as the driven snow now, and still grovels well). I'm almost finished w/ the revisions, and it's much better. I'm not sure I'll enter anything this year---I have another book to revise and one to write. If either one of them shape up, then maybe. But I'll never be a contest junkie. Good luck w/ whatever you decide, Marnee!
Renee - I'm so glad you got some good feedback! That's definitely what would cause me to consider entering contests. Writing a synopsis does look difficult. I think maybe I've got to look into that too, if I'm going to consider entering anything.
And I completely appreciate the advice, about checking out the judges. I think being selective is the key.
Maggie - congrats on your 1st place, by the way!! And stories like that, getting requests, are what really draw me. LOL!! I'm glad your revisions are nearing the end and I hope that it goes well!
Shortly after I started writing I entered a contest just to get enough feedback to know if I was wasting my time. The feedback was great, basically said I needed work but had potential, so I got what I wanted.
Now, speaking from experience, DO NOT enter a contest trying to win without having the MS completed. DO NOT pitch an unfinished MS either. Trust me on this, I know what I'm talking about.
And even when the MS is done, I can't see any reason to enter a contest unless the point is to get your work in front of the right eyes. Renee is right, research the final judge to see if this is a person you would query anyway. And if they're an editor who doesn't take unsolicited MS, jump all over it!
Ter - so you think that the whole send in the beginning thing is just a ploy? Though, I think it'd be great if you were just looking or feedback, but if the judge asks for the full and it's nowhere to be found, then you end up looking like an idiot. Hmmm....
Marnee - it's not a ploy on their part it's just a trap that can tie a writer up something awful. You spend three months (or whatever) cleaning up those first 25 pages or three chapters until they sparkle. Then you try to write more and it doesn't seem as good as the first three so you keep polishing until you never get anywhere.
Sound familiar? LOL! Yep, that's me!
If it's early in your writing and you really want to see where you are, then enter one that offers great feedback. But I wouldn't put lots of effort into winning one if the MS is not finished and in a state that you'd feel comfortable sending off.
Ah, gotcha. :)
I see where you're going. I guess it depends on what I'm looking for.
I'm a downright whore with contests. I've entered many. I've placed in one, lost plenty, and gotten so great feedback, and some terrible feedback. It's hit or miss, it's testing your luck, but I like them and I aim for the ones with win's that get reads by big people/editors that I would want. Yeah probably not the way I want to go, but I am a sucker for punishment.
I've gotten feedback that made me ask myself, am I kidding myself--I suck as a writer. So be forewarned.
To save on cost... I try and only enter e-submit contests.
I'm a hit or miss with judges... I can tell you in one contest my score was 269/270 pretty freaking awesome right? well... the second judge gave me 70 out of 270 and highlighted every adverb and that in my 30 pages. and then proceeded to tell me I needed a course in comma's. Actually there wasn't anything wrong with the comma's, maybe a few... but whatevah... my point in rambling is just be aware, not everyone will like you.
And I wouldn't enter a contest w/o finishing the ms. So much changes from draft one to two... that you'll only kick yourself wondering what you were thinking.
I've decided I'm not doing anything until I devote myself to writing the whole damn thing. I'm one of those procrastinators that think that "well, I've got the first chapter written. I might as well revise it now while it's open." Bah humbug on me.
Good luck Renee!
Maggie that's fabulous!
Tiff - thanks! After you and Terri's advice, I think you guys might be right in waiting for a completed MS.
That's so weird about the contest with such different responses. I think that would be terrifying. How do you figure out what that means?
Sin, I think you might be right about that. I'm afraid I would fall into that trap too. If I got feedback, I feel like I'd just keep revising the beginning.
It is so tempting though...
I just take it to mean, some people love my work... some don't. The one's that do love it are more forthcoming in advice to help polish it more. I'm also a genre that some para writers HATE... so I'm bound to have people loathe to read a para that starts England 1794...
I haven't entered any contests but I've toyed with the idea. Thanks for this blog Marnee, it produced some very valuable feedback!
Thanks everyone:)
Tiff - have you read Colleen Gleason's Gardella Chronicles? She's Regency and vampires, but I just finished the third and I'm really getting into it.
And I think that's the best attitude. Especially when you're doing something outside the box.
Lis - I agree. Thanks everyone so far for your input. I just wanted to be informed. The last thing I need is anything that would halt my progress.
Marnee... not yet. I'm waiting for the HEA... if I don't I lose interest fast in some books. So I wait...
Yeah I've gotten so much feedback on my stuff--good and bad--that contests don't always 'hurt' my feelings.
My typing so sucks today. I meant marnee... I lose interest in books fast and if i have to wait years for the HEA I'll never finish it....
I'm cold, I'm blaming my bad typing on frozen fingers.
It's important to remember that you can never write something that will be for everyone. There's a couple best selling author that I can't really get into but I have friends that rave about them. And then there are authors I adore and friends don't like them at all.
Contests are like a very small survey group. The fact you get a judge who didn't *get* your stuff is always possible but it doesn't necessarily mean that same MS won't be a bestseller someday.
*ROTFLMAO* That's the perfect analogy! And very apt.
I've lost more writing contests than I've won, but let's just say when you win one, you forget about all the losses from before. (At least until you lose your NEXT contest.) Once you've won, you ride high for quite a while. Years even. *LOL*
Best thing I've won from a contest? A trip to Washington D.C.
Tiff - I understand that about the HEA. I'm already anxiously awaiting the next book.
Ter - That's true about it just being a small survey. I suppose that it would be good though, if I entered a few, to watch for any common themes. Dunno....
Hellion - I think that it would be a good boast to do well in a contest. Although, it would be a downer to lose too. And yay trip to DC. Did you like it? I actually always hated DC. The streets are lettered one way and numbered another and they run north, south, AND diagonal. I get confused easily; that did not help.
Yeah, I forgot all about that trip to good old D.C. I didn't want to enter that contest at all. I hate being told what to do. Eventually I will enter another contest. Maybe.
Did you hear that Yount is retiring this year, Hellion?
Yount said she was retiring the year I graduated--and that was *calculates, coughs* years ago. I bet she threatened to retire when you graduated as well!
Marnee, I loved DC (but admittedly didn't have to drive or navigate.) We were 17; we weren't allowed much free reign. Okay, Sin apparently tore the town up--but I was an anti-rule-breaker at the time and wouldn't have DREAMED of it.
I'd go to DC again in a heartbeat. All that history and stuff to look at? Though I'd rather go revisit Boston first. (The only town I've truly hated is NYC. I'm like the only person I know who is not impressed with NY...well, other than my Dad, but nothing impresses him.)
She's always threatened it, but my best friends little girl was in yesterday (*sigh* Okay she's not little anymore) and said that she's actually retiring. She's got the new English teacher shadowing her for the rest of the school year.
*sly grin* I was bad. I was very very bad. I was almost afriad for a second there they were gonna send me back to MO before I got to make out with the Georgia boys in the elevator..
Gotta get the stickers. Gotta do whatever it takes.
Lord I was a bad teenager.
LOL! I've been to DC a few times, once for an interview with Merrill Lynch. But, it was such a disaster, I decided against moving there.
Go you Sin!
I've been to DC but it was our sophomore trip in HS so like Hellion, I didn't have to do any driving.
But unlike Hellion - I might have gotten into a bit of trouble. Nothing on Sin's level but then I still haven't reached Sin's level in anything. LOL! And I've had many more years to work on it.
Sin, aren't you happy everyone wants to be you?
I'm not even thinking about contests until I finish TLWH, an event I hope will be soon.
Sin, I wonder if I taught any of your Georgia boys. When I was teaching high school, I lived in terror of what my students would do on our annual teks to Atlanta. Most of their shenanigans I learned about after the fact. Among the most memorable are the group who slipped off to visit a gay bar and the guys who encountered a lady of the evening, pooled their money to invite her into their room, only to be told, "Honeys, that won't even get you a look."
I blame such escapades for the grat hairs that appeared before I left my twenties. :)
I pulled a Brockway! Sorry! That should be "gray hairs."
LOL Janga! I can completely relate with some of my teaching escapades. I think kids live for causing heart tremors.
Pooled all their money! *squawking with laughter* Boys! They never learn...bless them.
Janga--how close to the end are you? *eager look*
I entered a total of five contests. My first results were my worst - I placed in the bottom third of my category and got a lot of really harsh feedback. I had a mini-breakdown and a large crisis of confidence, considering my manuscript was already with some agents and editors by then... but then I got over it, and I did better in subsequent contests. (And I eventually sold the book.) So I was glad to have that initiation to rejection and tough criticism, because I know I'll probably hear some of those same reactions again when my book comes out - you'll never please everyone.
Contests can be fun, and they can sometimes give you useful feedback, but they can also be a huge drain on writing time and your checkbook. And worst, they can make it tempting to sit back and wait for contest results rather than querying and submitting your mss. That's my mantra, whenever anyone brings up contests: They're not a substitute for querying!
Tessa says: "That's my mantra, whenever anyone brings up contests: They're not a substitute for querying!"
This is a wonderful piece of advice. I can see how they could be a distraction.
*pausing to check Tessa's website* You won two firsts and a third, correct? Did you find those wins caused agents/publishers to take more notice or do you think it didn't make a difference in the end?
PS Tessa, I'm glad you stopped by to give us the post contract view of this....
So true, Tessa... but they are a substitute when you get a lot of form rejections when you query. Another reason I've stopped querying ITN and I'm planning on a handful of contests and their feedback to see if I they can pinpoint the something 'wrong'...
I feel, right now, like a bull that's rushed into the china shop horns away... I don't want to screw up all my chances until I have more positive contest results (I ignore those who hate historic paras)...
Very good advice Tessa!
And Marn, I dunno why everyone wants to be like me. I'm a nerd. To the tenth degree. I used to be wild and dangerous. Now I'm like one of those old matronly ladies you see in the knitting circles. I sowed my wild oats. Ran hog wild.
Thank goodness it's over. I couldn't go back to the nights of worshipping the toliet gods.
Though there were some good times at dawn's early light. *dreamy look*
Tiff - you make a great point. If a certain agent or editor has rejected your query, and they're the final judge in a contest, it's absolutely a great strategy to enter and get your pages in front of them. Contests are also great for finding out whether your opening hooks the reader or not.
Marnee - Of the contests I placed in, none of the results were available until after I sold my book. That's why I'm not a fan of waiting on contest results, lol! I got full requests from a few of those contests, but the book was already sold. And sold in a much better deal than I'd have gotten if I'd sold on the basis of a contest request. When I signed with my agent, I hadn't finaled in any of those contests yet, so I can safely say it didn't influence her one way or the other. That's not to say an agent wouldn't be impressed by contest wins, especially if the contest is a prestigious one.
And of course, none of my caveats apply to the Golden Heart. Anyone who's eligible to enter the GH should enter, no doubt.
*laughing hysterically at Sin being a lady in a knitting circle* OMG. Do I get to bring up the crocheting lesson? *wipes tears from eyes*
*moves 2008 Resolution to actually QUERY to top of list* Tessa, you have a great point...though with the feedback from the last contest I sent to, I'm just thinking: "What if they're right? They probably are right...maybe I should forgo querying and fix the book again...."
Which on one hand is ludicrous since this was ONE contest.
But at the same time, it's not like I don't think the book is perfect as is. I just feel overwhelmed by what I need to do to fix it...like it's impossible. How do you get around that? Prozac? Paxil? What?
Maybe the book doesn't have to be perfect in order to query it. Maybe it just has to be well done enough for the agent/editor to want to rep/buy it.
I can't believe they expect it to be ready to send to the printer the day you sign the contract. That would put the editor out of a job!
Tiff - I think your strategy is a good one. Using contests to feedback when querying isn't going as you'd hope, before burning bridges with the book, definitely sounds like a good plan. BTW, I said I'd read if you were looking for someone. (*resolving to get back to Elyssa with TACOM feedback as I've been a bad reader to her and she probably is hatin on me.*)
Tessa - I think you make phenomenal points here. Thank you for your input. The Golden Heart is on my to-do list this year.
Hellion and Terri - I think it doesn't have to be perfect. It just seems like they want to find something fresh, something to fit a niche, or something they can count on being a success. In no submission guidelines has it mentioned perfect.
A side note, perhaps directed at Tiff? - if I'm writing a paranormal Regency, would I submit in historical or paranormal? I'm just thinking of the GH.
Hey Hellion -
You know, I totally understand what you're saying. My book was not ready to sell when I first started querying it. It had serious problems in the second half, and I was vaguely aware of them but didn't know what to do about it. I limited myself to five queries to start with, just so I wouldn't burn all my chances in one pop. At the same time, I was entering contests and soliciting friends/authors/strangers on the street to read my manuscript. I think no less than 15 people read the whole book, and that doesn't count contest judges.
What happened was, I got rejected by the first few agents who requested my manuscript. One of them was nice enough to send a note explaining what worked for her (voice, characters) and what didn't (complete absence of conflict in the second half of the book). Around the same time, I got back my devastating contest feedback, and then some critiques from people I knew would give it to me straight...eventually it all clicked into place that if I wanted to sell the book, I needed to do a major rewrite of the middle. So I did - I tore up the book from about the 40% mark to the 80% mark, rearranged some stuff, cut some scenes, wrote new ones, all with the aim of strengthening the conflict. Then I got another nice rejection that again pointed out all the problems I'd since been working on (so I knew I was on the right track) with the additional suggestion I clarify h/h motivations throughout. So then I worked on that. By this time, I was getting manuscript requests from the agents who'd been slower to request the manuscript or had been sitting on partials - and I had a much improved manuscript to send them. That's when I started getting requests.
So I'm not down on contests - they were definitely a piece of the puzzle for me. But I also think the feedback I'd been getting from them wouldn't have sunk in unless it had been bolstered by the agent/editor rejections and the independent critiques.
And really - I was just insanely lucky, too.
I think it's more than insane luck. *LOL* CLEARLY you *finished* what you started; put yourself out there despite the odds; then thoughtfully and maturely put the advice to good use to make your novel sellable.
Yes, Julia Quinn touts the line of it take perseverance, talent, and luck--with some emphasis on the luck...but the first two are highly important to me.
marnee... in my contest sends... the historical people LOVE me WAY MORE...same with critiques I've won or paid for at auction, I aim for historical and give them a heads up that it's the hairy beasty type. Paranormal people I think feel whacked upside the head when they get an historical paranormal...
Technically you are paranormal once you add the otherworldly creatures... if you want historical feedback (that's why I entered it in the historical category) you'll get great feedback--at least this as been my experience, they seem to be less--venomous--sad, eh?
And marnee, I haven't forgotten, but I needed to finish book two first, now book three is looking at me longingly... ITN edits still need to happen, and they will soon! I haven't forgotten!!!!!!! So one day--probably when you've forgotten about little 'ol me---you look in your inbox and be like, what's this? *g*
Tessa - I agree with Hellion, I have feeling it isn't just insane luck. :)
Tiff - I was wondering about that. Particularly because my voice isn't standard paranormal stuff. Meaning, I'm really not dark. Even the stuff that's kdna scary isn't dark. If anything, I'm fluffy and my witch is more bumbling than bad-ass. I thought it was more like a historical with paranormal tendencies than a paranormal that happens to be set in a historical setting. Knowhatimean?
And just let me know! :)
Post a Comment