Writing Contests: For Winners? Or a Waste of Time?
As writers our main aim is to get our work accepted by a publisher, right? And it’s hard enough sending out all those query letters and neat little packages of partials and synopses, without being bothered sending stuff off to some group with an odd-sounding name who’ll take a look at your work and — gulp! — maybe tell you it’s no good. Heavens, after all, we can get letters from publishers telling us the same thing, and less publicly!
If we get a nice letter praising our work from these contest judges, or better yet, our names appear as finalists or winners, so what? I mean, it’s not like being published, is it?
And contests cost you money, too. So why bother?
Now, gather round, all you ambitious writers, and listen up.
Contests can provide you with a showcase for your work, a chance to bring your work before judges who are also editors, agents, or published writers in their other incarnations. And you don’t have to win the contests to be a winner, either. Many writers will tell about their experiences of being contacted by editors or agents who read their contest submissions and were impressed enough to ask to see the whole manuscript.
So, is it really worth going to the trouble of seeking out contests, packaging up your precious work and sending it off? Many writers think so. Here are some positive viewpoints:
“I entered the Iowa Romance Novelists’ Query and Synopsis contest last year and was a finalist. It was advantageous in many aspects and I’m going to enter a few more this year as a result of my experience with the contest,” says writer Dawn Tomasko, “Contests can open doors for writers. It’s a tight, competitive market and if an editor or agent notices your work through a contest so much the better. It’s one way to get a foot in the door. I very much liked reading the different judges’ responses to my work (I had included the first 30 pages as requested) and not only was the feedback helpful to point out good and bad things in my work, but the differences in their opinions underlined the fact that fiction is SO subjective.”
Dawn is now on her third novel, and adds the contest final as a credit in her query letters alongside her publication credits. “I advocate contests wholeheartedly,” she told WriterInIreland.
Author Laurie Alice Eakes is a first-rate example of how a contest can boost a writer into committing to her craft — and the successes that follow. “In 1993, I won my first writing contest,” Laurie Alice said. “After that, with the encouragement of writer friends and business associates, I got serious and finished my first true attempt at a readable novel. My first sale was actually a nonfiction book entitled Virginia Wine, A Tasteful Guide, published in 1997. In 1999, while I was in grad school at Virginia Tech, I contracted my first novel with Awe-Struck E-Books.”
That first novel, The Widow’s Secret, was nominated for best e-book of 1999 and the Frankfurt E-Book awards, and remained high on the Barnes and Noble best selling e-books list for several months. “When some unfortunate circumstances compelled me to take a leave of absence from graduate school, I began writing again. December 2001 marks the release of the paperback version of The Widow’s Secret. In February 2002, my Regency historical, Married by Mistake, will be published by Novel Books Inc., in both trade paperback and electronic format. Awe-Struck E-Books will publish my Regency suspense novel, Unmarriageable, in April 2002, and Novel Books Inc., will publish my first contemporary romance, Lessons in Love, in August 2002. “Under the Mistletoe,” my Regency Mystery short story, is still available as part of A Winter Holiday Sampler, in trade paperback and electronic formats from Regency Press.”
To emphasize the value of contests further, she adds: ” I have out three books now, two in print, which is nice. I just won a scholarship for my writing, a nicely large one. So that contest paid off, too.”
So, contests are well worth your consideration. Not only can you get valuable credits to add to your writers’ resume, but the judges often offer the sort of constructive criticism that some professionals charge a fortune for — giving you a chance to review their advice and revamp your MS, and all for the entry fee. If you’re not sure whether a certain contest fits with your career plan as a writer, ask. Ask the organizers — most have email contact addresses now. Ask other writers — often contest news is announced on Internet writers’ lists and so other list members may be able to give fast answers to your queries. And if there’s no email contact, then write for more details. After all, you are a writer, aren’t you?
Dawn Tomasko has written and published, articles on writing, book reviews, is a member of Romance Writers Of America, as well as a number of online writing/critique groups; including Aspiring Authors. In the two years since she began writing seriously, she’s completed two novels and is currently working on her third. Dawn believes in the power of love. the fuel of romance. You can visit her website at www.geocities.com/tomasko28
Laurie Alice Eakes, besides the book credits to her name, is also an editor for Novel Books Inc., and for Treble Heart Books.
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Glenys O’Connell is a freelance journalist and author living in Ireland. Her first novel, Judgment By Fire, is available from Puff Adder Books as an ebook — www.puff-adder.com. She is co-publisher of WriterInIreland, a free ezine for writers at http://www.geocities.com/writerinireland2002/ She welcomes visitors to her home page at http://www.geocities.com/glennaconnell/ . She can be contacted by email at oreo@eircom.net
RESOURCES
Lottery Systems That Never Stop Winning
The Freaks Are Winning: The Inner Swine Collection
Promoting Your Books, Products or Services With Contests (Part Two)
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OK, you’ve decided to run a contest. Now you have MORE decisions to make and a few steps to take before you can get started
Choosing the Type of Contest You Will Run
Your first decision is, what kind of contest will you run? You have several choices: a sweepstakes contest, a free skill contest or a fee based skill contest.
Here are the pros and cons of each choice.
1) By law a sweepstakes contest must be free to enter and you must choose the winner through a random draw. If you charge money for this type of contest you have just entered the “realm” of a lottery or raffle and you have to have a state or provincial licence for that.
On the upside, a sweepstakes contest is “relatively” easy to set up. Just collect the names of the participants and when the time comes to choose a winner … make a random selection. On the downside is the fact that you will get a lot of very unqualified visitors who just want to win something. They will not spend much time on your website and they are not likely to explore your product, book or services. However … you will also attract, some qualified traffic. These people will look at your product. Some of them may want it right now and will buy right now.
2) Your second choice is to run a skill based contest with FR>EE entry. You will want to choose a theme for your contest that matches the theme of your product. For example if you are promoting a book on how to setup and run a bed and breakfast, you might ask contest participants to write an essay about their best B&B experience.
The upside for this type of contest is the fact that you will get more qualified visitors. People who enter will be interested enough in your topic to spend some time on it. People who enter the contest may purchase your product before entering the contest just to find out who you are.
On the downside of skill based contests is the fact that you will receive a LOT fewer entries. Any time you ask for “an action” in a contest, you will get fewer entries.
A skill based contest is much more work than a simple sweepstakes contest. You must collect the entries and you must DO SOMETHING with each entry. You will need to develop a way to “judge” the entries. Will you be the judge or will you get an independent “guest” judge? What criteria will you use to choose a winner?
3) Your third choice is a skill-based contest with an entry fee.
Frankly, if you are running a contest in order to get traffic and exposure, charging a fee will make it harder to achieve your goals.
Just “taking an action,” such as writing an essay, limits your audience. Charging an entry fee will narrow it down even further. If you choose to run this type of contest, you will have to balance the “fee” by offering a prize that is VERY enticing.
If you want to promote your product by increasing your traffic and exposing the greatest number of people to your product, then choose either of the “free” entry options.
Choosing the Prizes
Once you’ve decided on the type of contest you will run, you need to choose your prizes. What are the prizes and how many prizes will you give away?
With a sweepstakes contest, you can offer your book or your product or a “taste” of your services. I would suggest at least two prize offerings … ie two first prizes of the same book, or a first prize that includes a package of two or three different books and a 2nd prize that includes one book
With a skill contest, match the difficulty of the skill with the prize. In the Bed and Breakfast example above, you could offer a first prize consisting of a night at a well-rated B & B and 10 second prizes consisting of a copy of your book.
The Rules Page
You need a rules page for your contest. The best way to figure this out is to check out the rules pages from other similar contests. Don’t break copyright laws by copying other people’s rules pages. Use them as a guideline and develop your own rules page.
The minimum information you need is:
1) Who qualifies? Are there country limitations or will your contest be International? Are there age limitations? Are there any other limitations … such as who “cannot” enter?
2) A list of the prizes along with an approximate retail value.
3) A deadline date.
4) Judging rules. For example: “winners will be chosen by a random draw.”
5) Who the sponsor is.
6) You may want a clause in your “rules” page about what happens if you can’t contact the winner via email or phone.
SELLING Your Contest
You need a page that “sells” your contest. I know you are giving away something for free … but these days that’s not enough. You need to promote your contest and the prizes. Motivate people to enter. Your advertising page is called a “splash” page. Your splash page can be as simple or elaborate as you want it to be. Showing the prizes would be a great idea! If you are design “deficient” hire a graphic designer from one of the freelance job boards to build you a great looking contest splash page.
Some sponsors build the contest entry form right into their splash page. Others have a separate entry submission page.
Entry Submission Page
If you are running a sweepstake contest, make it simple. Ask for a minimum of information. First name and email may be sufficient. The more information you ask for, the less entries you will get.
If you are running a skill contest. You need very clear instructions on how your participants must “submit” their contest entries. Online is best. You will need some kind of forms submission provision either on your site or on a third party site.
Thank You Page
Once someone has entered your contest and clicked on the submit button, you must let them know their submission was successfully received. You can use the Thank you Page to give them more information about your product, to ask them to subscribe to your newsletter, or use it to sell them an affiliate product.
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Melanie Rockett is THE Contest Guru! Her book Contest Guru’s Guide To Winning Sweepstakes has been downloaded by thousands of hopeful winners. Her website proofpositive.com lists hundreds of skill based contests for writers, poets, photographers, cooks and musicians.
(c) 2007 Melanie Rockett
All Rights Reserved
RESOURCES
21 Lucky Lottery Tips For Selecting, Playing, And Winning Lotteries
Writing To Win:: The Colossal Guide To Writing Contests
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Promoting Your Books, Products or Services With Contests
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Contests are proliferating on the Internet. The reason that contests have always been popular is a) because people LOVE winning stuff and b) because it is a great way to promote products, brands, and companies without seeming like advertising.
Take this scenario. You are watching TV and an commercial for a bathroom product comes on. You get up and go do a few minutes of the dishes. You are back in front of the TV and this time a commercial comes on, but instead of trying to sell you toilet paper they are telling you about the great vacation trip that you can win, all expenses paid. Instead of looking at toilets and toilet paper you are looking at a couple enjoying a romantic cruise, or an Island paradise holiday. This time you stay and watch the commercial. You even write down the name of the contest and brand of TP and the website address. It’s NOT a commercial right? It’s a chance to win a trip.
Well, it IS a commercial … a commercial that gets your attention because the focus is on winning. The sponsor gets to say their name, the name of the TP they are selling and they get to send you to their website. This type of advertising WORKS!!!!
The reason that contests are proliferating on the Internet is that they are relatively easy to set up, and they are inexpensive to run. If you have a website, you can get a contest happening within a day or so.
Contests are a great way to get exposure for your books, for your software products, and for your website. If you do it right, you could also build your ezine list at the same time. But a word of caution here … you need to be very careful here because you don’t want to get accused of hijacking email addresses and of spamming.
You will often see contests and sweepstakes that are run by a third party. There are several reasons for this:
1) Running a contest takes time and effort
2) Running a totally “blind” contest takes technology
3) Having a 3rd party running the contest reassures the “consumer” that the contest is above board. After all, it is too easy for “some” companies to award prizes to friend and relatives, or to not award the prizes at all!
If you would like to get more exposure for your product, try sponsoring a contest at proofpositive.com. Send me an email with information on your product/ book/ website and I’ll send you more information about our sponsorship package. It’s FREE.
In conclusion. Contests are a fun way to promote your books, your products, your services. Consider this as one of the tools in your Marketing Tool Box.
RESOURCES
Secrets to Winning at Office Politics: How to Achieve Your Goals and Increase Your Influence at Work
Flatpicking Solos: 12 Contest-Winning Arrangements
resources
Writing Careers
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Many people dream of becoming a writer but think they don’t have the necessary skills. It may surprise you to know that you can actually make excellent money as a freelance writer even if you don’t have great grammar skills, and even if you don’t have the slightest idea of how to create a great plot.
There are dozens of areas of writing where you can pursue your dream of becoming a freelance writer!
Check out some of the following ways writers are making excellent incomes in the freelance marketplace.
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