Sunday 20 March 2016

Novel Competitions and the Oddest Book Title...

The oddest book title was announced last week and the Winner was 'Too Naked for the Nazis'. It was nominated by the author himself, Alan Stafford, so it clearly was a good publicity move.

Though the subject of the book is quite ordinary in fact- a vaudevillian trio, Wilson, Keppel & Betty-  that anyone born early in the 20th century would have heard of, and perhaps seen black & white film of them performing.

You can find out the percentage each book achieved in the Bookseller article link above.

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Unpublished novelists have two opportunities to get a publishing deal courtesy of two high profile competitions.

There's the recent Richard &Judy competition, and earlier this week the news about the competition being run between the Daily Mail and Penguin Random House.

They both offer a cash advance, an agent, and publication of the winning manuscript.

Find out more about the Daily Mail/PRH competition via this article.

(EDITED TO ADD: this is the URL they have given for the full terms & conditions and it displays a pdf: www.dailymail.co.uk/novelcomp )

Note you can't have had a novel published before-even self-published (so that will exclude lots of writers to start with); you can't currently be represented by a literary agent, and you must be over 16 years old, resident in the UK or Republic of Ireland.

The Richard & Judy 'Search for a Bestseller 2016' is supported by WH Smith, and the publishing deal is with Bonnier Zaffre.

Generally the terms are similar to the Daily Mail one, but the R&J competition terms specify that the partial novel hasn't been previously submitted to an agent, publisher, or entered into previous R&J competitions, or "released into the public domain in any format"- so bloggers beware.

So those will probably take quite a few entries out.

Sadly it does mean they're going to have to wade through entries from people who think writing a novel is easy.

They will find hidden talent in the end, but it's sad that they are excluding so many talented writers because they have self-published.

If you qualify and enter, then well done and I hope your entry is successful.

15 comments:

Patsy said...

My guess is they're ruling out anyone who might already have readers so they can make a big thing of discovering new talent. I don't think that's a bad thing, but would prefer them to be a little less restrictive.

Carolb said...

I agree with you, Patsy.

I do wonder if they've placed so many restrictions hoping it will reduce the number of entries?

Rosemary Gemmell said...

Great opportunities for unpublished authors - agree it's all about making a fuss about a début writer, though it's a great start to someone's career!

Maria said...

I think they are being a little too strict here. However it's a good opportunity. Thanks for sharing Carol... :-)

Unknown said...

I cannot get the link to work to bring up the full terms and conditions for the daily mail comp so that possibly thins down the number of entries as well..

Carolb said...

Fiona, they haven't made a live link to the address they give for the full terms and conditions, so you need to copy and paste or type into your browser bar, www.dailymail.co.uk/novelcomp - though it does take a moment to load the pdf so give it time, and you should be able to read them then.

Carolb said...

It certainly is a good opportunity, Maria, but sadly they will be missing out on reading some very talented writers.

Carolb said...

Yes, Rosemary, I agree it will be a great start for the winner. And of course raises the profile of the PRH imprint, Century.

Unknown said...

no, as mentioned before it does not work, copying and/or typing it into browser, nothing comes up other than the original news article, but no pdf or any terms and conditions.

Carolb said...

That is strange. After I saw your comment yesterday I wondered if they'd changed the URL, but I opened a blank tab and copied and pasted the link and pressed enter,it was working and displaying the details okay.

It sounds like an issue with your computer or device settings.

Wendy's Writing said...

Why do these competitions only come up the minute you become ineligible? (Mind you, I can't complain really).

Carolb said...

Always seems to happen that way, Wendy. :D

Unknown said...

I've cracked it! I went to the local library and used one of their computers. First I tried using Internet explorer, which is the browser I have on my computer and which still did not work, so I changed the browser to Google chrome and lo and behold the terms and conditions appeared.

Thanks for your help Carol, if you had not replied that you could bring them up I might not have persevered, but it was confusing/annoying as to why I could not bring them up on my computer.

Carolb said...

So pleased you were able to get access at last. And if you enter, good luck. :-)

I do know that occasionally I'll have an issue with part of a web page not displaying properly- a form missing for example- but usually changing browser works.

You can download the Chrome browser onto your computer for free, so you always have a back-up in case you need it.

I found some programs on my old computer used the Firefox browser to do software updates.

Unknown said...

I have just checked out the terms and conditions, and it states that the gross prize of £20,000 will be reduced by the agent's commission of £23,000. Further down in the Ts & Cs it states that the agent's commission will be 15% of any earnings, which would be £3,000 on the advance of £20,000 and not £23,000. Alternatively, as things stand you will have to pay the agent £3,000 to represent you!