Not A Good Contest

Yeah, if the story is good enough to win the grand prize, the writer is probably better off keeping the rights and getting it published for what it is worth, which is probably more than $5,000. You wouldn't think that such a large corporation would need to be so cheap.

Is the publishing part really that big of an if? Haven't the other winners all been published?

I don't think entering a contest and then winning would automatically transfer ownership. I think you'd need to at least cash the check. But I don't really know for sure.

Either way, good catch Stormie; that's one contest I'll steer clear of. My guess is G.Mills lawyer isn't a literary lawyer doesn't know anything about first rights, reprint rights, etc. and so just claimed the whole damn thing.

I don't know anything about the rights or the financial arrangements, but the current winner, L0ri D3gman's 1 Z@ny Z0o, is being published by S1mon & Shu5ter in July. Lori announced it on Verla Kay's Blue Boards.

ETA: To me, It doesn't seem like a bad deal. Lori's book will be in the hands of thousands of children who might not have it, whose parents might remember her and buy another book. She will probably be attractive to agents, and she has an editor at S&S to whom she can pitch other ideas anyway. Breaking in with picture books is tough. Even if $5,000 is her only compensation (and it might not be), I don't think that that is that low for a first-time picture book, is it? But yeah, I should think Che3rios could kick in a bigger prize.

stormie said:

Last year's winner wasn't pubbed by S&S nor any publisher, as far as I can see. I looked her up on Amazon books.

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According to the contest's registration page, it apparently it takes a couple of years for the winners to be published. 2008's winner is due to show up in cereal boxes this year, and her book is listed as a preorder on Amazon, due to come out in July. Last year's winner is scheduled to show up in cereal boxes next year so I'm assuming that that's when her book will be published:


So apparently Simon and Schuster do agree to publish the winning manuscript, but they don't guarantee to publish other manuscripts by the winners.

Now whether or not it's a good thing to enter the contest, I don't know. However publishing companies pretty much get the rights to your story when they buy them for publication; don't they? If so, how is this scenario different from that?

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kellion92 said:

ETA: To me, It doesn't seem like a bad deal. Lori's book will be in the hands of thousands of children who might not have it, whose parents might remember her and buy another book. She will probably be attractive to agents, and she has an editor at S&S to whom she can pitch other ideas anyway. Breaking in with picture books is tough. Even if $5,000 is her only compensation (and it might not be), I don't think that that is that low for a first-time picture book, is it? But yeah, I should think Cheerios could kick in a bigger prize.

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This is what I was thinking. It really doesn't sound like that bad of a deal to me.

I dson't like that 'without further compensation' statement. Does that mean if it goes on to sell a million copies you wo't get a penny?

That doesn't sound right to me.

Wait - your story becomes the sole property of General Mills?

How can you then sell publishing rights to S&S?

shaldna said:

I dson't like that 'without further compensation' statement. Does that mean if it goes on to sell a million copies you wo't get a penny?

That doesn't sound right to me.

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According to the rules:


The rules state that any further compensation will be negotiated between the winner and Simon & Schuster so I'm guessing any royalties from the book will be spelled out in the publishing contract. It's General Mills themselves who won't give you any more compensation on the story.

stormie said:

As for the contest itself--S&S does not have to publish the book. SO--if you are the grand prize winner or first place, and S&S doesn't decide to publish the book, that person's PB will just be in the cereal boxes, since Gen Mills owns all rights.

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But S&S is providing the book that will be in the cereal boxes so they will be publishing it in at least one format.

A new writer would be far better off getting a lit agent. If they're that good to win a prize, then they could get an agent.

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And if he's good enough to get an agent, then his winning story is probably good enough to publish and S&S won't turn it down. And if his story wins and is published by S&S, he'll probably have an easier time (at least slightly easier) hooking an agent - assuming he's interested in a writing career.

stormie said:

No they don't have to. Reread the contest rules.

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I have, and it still sounds to me that S&S has agreed to publish the winner's story and will forge a contract directly with him/her. Apparently they've published or are in the process of publishing the other winners without any problems. I don't see why any should be anticipated this time around.

And you don't know what the contract with S&S is. Could be the contract from h**l.

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I suppose that's certainly possible.

I think it could be a good step up for a beginning writer.

I submitted my book, Pickles, Pancakes and Pirates a couple of months before I got a contract for my romance novel.

My only complaint is that the judges seem to only pick stories with animals or rhyme, ah well. I should have researched the past winners before hashing out my story.

Anyway, I don't think there could be many negatives to going from unknown and unpublished to winning a contest like this. At the least a writer could mention the prize when querying other books.

TnTexas said:

The rules state that any further compensation will be negotiated between the winner and Simon & Schuster so I'm guessing any royalties from the book will be spelled out in the publishing contract. It's General Mills themselves who won't give you any more compensation on the story.

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It sounds like GM may not have intended to take all rights (or at any rate, didn't realise what it meant). If they had, they'd be the ones selling it to S&S and getting the royalties.

However, it doesn't change the wording of the agreement, which says they get the copyright and become the owner of the work. All it'd take is a manager change at the company and they could be taking those authors to court for any payments they received from S&S.

At the moment, the only reason it hasn't gone horribly wrong is GM hasn't tried to enforce that part of the agreement. That's an unstable position for the authors.

I was the 2008 winner of the contest and it's the best thing that's ever happened to me - other than my kids I thought I’d set the record straight - here’s what happened:

- In November, GM called and told me I won the contest.
- In December, I signed a standard contract with S&S, totally independent of GM.
- Throughout the year, I worked with the editor at S&S and the book went to press.
- Fast forward to this month - GM contacted the media and I’ve already done newspaper and magazine interviews, next week I’m doing TV and radio interviews and they tell me there will be many more to come.
- The book comes out in July and the illustrator and I each get the same royalties other first-time writers and illustrators receive.

This has been an unbelievably amazing experience and I’m so grateful to GM and S&S! I would recommend it to all picture book writers - I don’t see any down side to doing it!

Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Lori, and clearing up the misconceptions. Congratulations! I'll look for your book in cereal boxes and bookstores...

ETA: I think the most valuable part of the contest that you wouldn't get with a standard debut picture book contract is the publicity. A) You have thousands of mini books out there, in the hands of children now, but also serving as promotion for other works and editions and B) You're doing media interviews! THAT is valuable and rare prize.

Stormie - the Cheerios marketing people read these posts and they have informed the people at GM about the confusion and I think they will rewrite the rules in the furture to make them clearer. It really is a great opportunity!!

Sorry, I just don't see any downside in this.

If you're unpublished--and you'd have to be, to enter the contest--we all know how hard it is to get a picture book published. So this would be a great opportunity.

I bought a Cheerios box with a winning story in it, and now that story is in my house, where my children can read it. How can that be bad? And the author has access to a publishing house, and perhaps an agent, where they can submit more books under separately negotiated contracts.

We're talking about a 500-word story here, max (their rules). It's not like it's your life's work that you're letting go for cheap. I think it's a wonderful opportunity. And if S & S and/or GM rewords the rules, so much the better.

Lori, congratulations! What a wonderful thing for you. I'm totally jealous!