Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Opportunity

Just in case my fellow aspiring writers haven't seen what Amazon with Penguin and HP are up to here's the link https://abna.createspace.com/. The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award -interesting. Are you up for it or with the Daily Mail, Miss Write ect. comps have you had enough?

I am in two minds as I think sending another work delays the process of submitting to agents etc but it seems less threatening in a away. It's out there and chances are no will really read it and yet you have sent it into the big bad world....... don't know but better make up my mind soon as they are only taking 5000 entries.......

12 comments:

Lisa said...

It will be very interesting to see how this progresses. It reminds me of a reality TV show.

Unknown said...

Yes, I think that's a good comparison.......

Ray-Anne said...

I personally feel uncomfortable about this type of contest.
1. First you have to have a complete polished manuscript to hand. If you have one of those lying around, may I suggest that you send it to an agent/publisher who will turn it around in less than 3 or 4 months.
2. These folks are not going to offer you any sort of critique or help you improve your work unless you are in the winning team amd even then they want commercial. And you already know whether your work is commercial or not.
3. If you truly believe that this is the very best work that you can do, then ask yourself why you are not sending your baby out to earm their living.
Yes, I know you want them to hang around your hourse making mess and eating pizza with their funny and entertaining friends, but is keeping them trapped in the same state ad infinitum the best thing for them in the long run? Or is it 'better the thing you know than the thing you don't know' syndrom?
So no, not for me.
Take care, Ray-Anne

Unknown said...

Thanks for the insight Ray-Anne. I agree with you but something niggles and says why not go for it but that may the part of me that afraid to sub to agents at the moment:-)

CL Taylor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CL Taylor said...

I was going to enter this but read the Terms and Conditions before I pressed the submit button and changed my mind. By entering the competition you are agreeing to Penguin having 1st option to publish your novel until April 2008. That means that, if you get an agent, they can't sub it to publishers until after April. Personally I can't wait that long particularly after I did something very similar with the MissW competition.

I'm also not keen on the idea of random people (who may or may not be qualified to judge how good a novel is) passing comment on it in such a public forum. Getting bad reviews on Amazon after your novel is published is one thing but getting back reviews BEFORE it's published is another!

If you sub to agents and your novel is rejected you can keep it to yourself and get on with your next novel - starting with a blank slate as it were. If you sub your novel to this comp and receive lots of negative reviews that's on t'interweb forever!

Great prizes etc but not for me.

[Last post deleted because of typos!]

Rachel Green said...

I've entered with "Dead Line". I probably wouldn't sub it for another three months anyway, so at least it's at work.

Unknown said...

Cally interesting point about it being out there forever......

Fingers corssed for you Rachel :-)

Michelle Styles said...

Umm, the other part I don't like about hte competition is who judges and how competent are they judge to the genre your work is in?
If you want to enter contests -- try some of the RWA ones where the prize is a final read by an editor, particularly an editor you are targetting.
Otherwise, to my mind, you are better taking the agent/publisher route as any agent or editor who covers the genre you are targetting is searching for the next star.
Personally I think these things are distractions. But then, I never did well at contests and took the submit through the slush route to publication.

B.E. Sanderson said...

Eh, I've been thinking about it. My CP is already registered and is submitting a really good book that hasn't found a home yet. My problem is, I don't have one that isn't already submitted for consideration elsewhere, or ready for public consumption. (Unless you count my first book, which I'm holding out for hardcover publication - because, well, it deserves it.)

Anonymous said...

Liz, I say go for it, as long as you don't get too caught up emotionally in the process. I've entered contests in the past and have mixed feelings. There is something sort of cannibalistic that overcomes entrants, especially when it's conducted in a public arena like this one. You are after all being pitted against other writers and will have access to the comments others will make about your work. It's very, very, very difficult to resist the urge to defend your baby when the unfettered critiques come rolling in. Especially when the critiques contain multiple spelling and grammar errors and are written by people who are the mother, brother, bestest bud of another contestant.

This reminds me of the Gather First Chapters contest.

But I'm still of the mind to do it if you feel a pull to do so. Really, what have you got to lose? They announce the 1000 or so semi-finalist by January so unless you're selected (and you know you will be) you're released then to continue submitting elsewhere.

The danger in contests is that they can suck up a lot of emotional--and creative--energy.

Zinnia Cyclamen said...

Interesting indeed - but not for me, I think. Discussion in comments also interesting. Maybe we'll get a question over on the Novel Racers about the pros and cons of entering writing competitions one of these days (when my turn comes around again, if not before!).