Hyperion Books contest - no fee; April 30, 2005

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Stephanie

Subject: book-length (100-240 pages) manuscript of contemporary setting or historical fiction set in the United States that will be suitable for readers ages 8 to 12.

Prize: a book contract on the publisher's standard form, covering world rights including but not limited to hardcover, paperback, e-book and audio book editions with an advance against royalties of $7500 and a $1500 cash prize.

Who: U.S. writers who have not yet published a novel.

Details: www.hyperionbooksforchildren.com/contests.asp
 

Risseybug

Delacorte Press is also running a contest for unpublished authors of YA novels, for ages 12-18.

I can't remember the website, just Google Delacorte Press, you'll find it.
 

lucyishome

The one for Delacorte Press a division on Random House has already ended. The deadline to get it submitted was the end of December. I would imagine later this year it will open again. I beleive the they start accepting manuscripts for this contest is in October. I think they also have another contest that is for readers 8-12 that has a deadline for submitting to of the end of March but I will be darned if I cannot locate the information on it.

Anne
 

lucyishome

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Renee I did not know you wrote for YA. My first book of course was non-fiction and for adults but I decided to move forward and write for kids because that seems to come easier to me at least as far a fiction goes. Anyway are you thinking of entering something? I am currently working on a project that I would like to submit but right now I do nto know if I will be finished in time.

Anne
 

Ivonia

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Just a few quick questions, are there any restrictions as to what we can put in our story? I have talking animals in mine, and was wondering if this was a no-no for this contest (and yes, I try to explain why the animals can talk).

No real violence or anything, other than having the animals fight (not terribly graphic or anything, just some get smacked around) and some hunters trap some of the animals with nets.

I suppose if it were a movie, it'd be no worse than Disney cartoon violence (since I'm sure kids that age don't want to read a war story book).
 
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Mark

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I submitted my YA Novel to the Delacorte press contest in December(including a SASE and an email address). I went to their website and there isn't any info on this year's winner. I was wondering if anyone knew if there even was a winner (some years don't have a winner) or if anyone knew when they announce their winners or send out rejections.

Thanks
 

lucyishome

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Mark,

This is from their website.

Contest results will be announced no later than April 30th 2005.

Good luck.

Anne
 

lucyishome

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Mark,


Sorry to hear that. Are you considering any other contests or maybe entering another work for this one next year?
You got way further that I did. Heck I have not been able to work on any of my manuscripts for about 3 weeks. I am suffering some major writers block. There is no way I will even come close to being finished with the one I wanted to enter. I am still on the first chapter. Yikes.
Anyway keep up the hard work.

Anne
 

Mark

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Anne,

Let me give you my quick background (I probably should do this in the other forum). Last year, I wrote a novel I had wanted to write since the mid-nineties. Every day on the way in and home from work on the train, I grinded it out. It was 330,000 words. The general theme from my rejections was "too long for a new author". I couldn't really get any agents to even read samples. Of course I attracted all kinds of scams, but thanks to this board, I didn't fall for any.

So, I decided to take another route. I worked on an idea I had for a young adult novel. Only 35,000 words. I sent out some queries and got a few nibbles. One reputable agent had me do a little rewriting and liked it. However, after a little bit of time, she passed for another project. Close, but no cigar. So I threw it into the contest.

Now that I lost, I am back to agent queries. But, I do plan on sending it into the Delacorte Dell Yearling contest this April.

While waiting, I wrote a Middle grade baseball book (50,000, but needs editing) and my current WIP is a mainstream novel about the Erin Express (a big Saint Patty's Day pub crawl in Philly). Note the irony of tomorrow's date.

My plan is still to focus on this YA book as a step into the publishing world, while my long novel collects dust. I also thought about breaking it down into a few books or maybe a TV series (it's very dialogue driven). I also have my WIP to work on.

But, all that has taken a back seat lately. My wife gave birth to twin girls in July (Madison and Maggie), so I have my writing hands quite full.

That's my story, so I am sticking to it. As for your writers block, three things that help my get the juices flowing.

1) Read a good book. It inspires me to write. Just like when you watch a sport, you want to play.

2) Write on this board. Any writing is good writing.

3) Take a walk and just let your mind wander. Don't force it, just let it wander. Even if you don't think about your WIP, you may come up with a new idea for another book. It happened to me a few time while writing the long one.

Good luck to you and thanks for the wishes!
 

Vipersniper

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It sounds good but.

:faint: The idea sounds good on the first but I have an novel published through oh groan PA in 2004 but I was thinking about the child's viewpoint of World War II because of some old letters that I found. Would there be another place to do this sort of thing? At least I would hope they would not hold going with that publisher against me.
 
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