Finished your book? Amazing. You can either start looking for a literary agent to represent your book to publishers, or try another route and enter it into a competition. These are especially good for collections of short stories, as not many agents or publishers are keen on them in the UK. It’s also just as good for novels and works of creative non-fiction, particularly nature writing and memoirs.
Here are some good places which list competitions:
Competitions which are specific to you in some way (such as where you live, for women only, of a certain age range) or fit your work thematically can be better to go for, as there will be somewhat less competition. Judges whose work you really love and have been influenced by can be another thing to look for, but ultimately all competitions are looking for your best work.
It’s also worth noting that most competitions charge a submission fee to offset their costs…choose carefully and set yourself a realistic budget for how many you can afford to enter. Some are more prestigious than others, and some have higher cash prizes; others include publication or similar.
Formatting Your Work
- Always read the guidelines and follow them in terms of length, format, topic and so on
- Put the piece title at the top of the first page, and your name (unless stated in the guidelines not to)
- Always use a standard serif font (like Times or Garamond) rather than a sans-serif font (like Calibri or Arial)
- Double space and use 11 or 12 point type
- Include page numbers
- Always proofread and get someone else to proofread–to find the small errors software doesn’t catch
- Never use colours or strange fonts, or include photos/illustrations unless indicated otherwise in the guidelines that these are accepted
- Don’t add ‘© your name’–it’s automatically copyrighted
Keeping Track & Keeping Going
- Set up a simple list or chart to keep track of what work you sent where and when.
- Contests will always state when the winners will be announced and/or all entrants contacted, so you’ll have an idea when you’re likely to hear–do BE PATIENT and don’t query them unless they don’t make any announcement until a month or more after that date.
- It is almost always OK to submit the same work simultaneously to different contests, but always check the guidelines.
- That being said, don’t blitz everywhere…try and send different work to different places.
- If your work is accepted for publication or wins a prize, do immediately withdraw it from anywhere it’s been simultaneously submitted. (They will not be mad about this! It’s not only one less thing to read, it’s courteous and professional, and shows they missed out on something good.)
- Competitions are highly competitive! Don’t give up after a handful, and send new work to competitions you like and admire more than once–you’ll need to be persistent.
Good luck on getting your work out there–it’s an essential first step!
