Of contests and agents

midwife said:

To query now or to not query now?

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If the manuscript is ready, polished, and suitable for publishing, I wouldn't wait on the contest. I'd send out queries now. But, then again, patience is not one of my virtues.

Is your novel ready for submission?

If it is ready, then query it and query widely. Re the contest, check the rules to see whether you can withdraw if you have representation/a publishing contract in place for the manuscript before November. If you can withdraw, then personally I don't think there's any harm in applying for it (depending of course, on who the publisher is with, whether they've shown you their contract before entry and what type of advance they're offering), but your best bet is the query slog if you're serious about publication.

If it's not ready, then don't do anything until you've banged it into a shape where you do feel that you can submit it. Don't even think about querying agents or entering contests because it's just a distraction and it will encourage you to think about cutting corners on the polishing process (that last bit's my own experience but I think it's a pretty common one).

Hope that's some help.

MM

I would query now. Regardless of how you get there, the goal is a contract. If you wait (and I think 5-6 months is a long time to hold off) you will be waiting on one shot, as opposed to the many agents you could have intrigued in the meantime.

I wish you luck, either way.

November is a long time off, and since you are so convinced you won't win anyway (what a negative thought by the way) you shouldn't wait.

If you win you could query the agent again, since winning the contest will change things dramatically in the eyes of the agent.

Do you want to go with what's behind the curtain, or the box in front of Carol Maro?

This is a story I once heard from Isaac Asimov...

When he was young he saw an ad in one of his favorite SF magazine for a contest. The winner would recieve a $25 prize and get published in the magazine. So young little Isaac wrote a short story. When he finished his story he thought a little more about the contest. He realized that everybody and their ghostwriter would be submitting a story. So on a lark, he sent his story off to another SF magazine for their review. They liked the story so much that they paid him $50 and published his story.

($50 was a lot of money to a 15-year-old back in those days!)

Just some food for thought...

Good luck on either choice.

Depends on the contest. Some (Like the Delacorte) specifically state that you are disqualified if you sub it elsewhere during the contest period. Read the rules. If your contest doesn't prohibit it, then sub away. If it does, then you have to choose.