Short story contests

I have a question for all you wise writing gurus: What is the value of entering short story contests targeted at new writers (such as L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future, and Glimmer Train). Should I just concentrate on submitting to mags instead?

Thanks to everyone for all the advice and patience with newbies such as myself!

Well, I think entering in contests in general isn't always the best thing to do. Especially if it costs money. After all, I'm sure there are many writers entering the contests you are interested in and what are you chances of winning? The contests won't show your true abilities and talent, so I suggest submitting to publishers or agents instead.

Thinkin'

A writing contest has a larger purse than a standard submittal, but the odds of winning a contest are more against you compared to a standard submittal. If you're a prolific writer go both ways. If you're not I'd make my choice based on what you feel would best serve your interest. A contest winner (that is, assuming your talking about GT or other reputable pubs) would get more attention when you send a cover letter to other pubs--although a GT or a Rosebud acceptance of any kind would be nice to have in a cover letter.

Re: Thinkin'

If you were to win a prestige competition it would be a huge boost -- but I think it is only worth entering if that is a realistic prospect. i.e. if a major writer or editor 'rates' the story.

Contest vs. Paying Markets

Another good purpose served by contests is that for some genres, the paying markets are so few in number that you can't turn it around and submit it somewhere else--there isn't anywhere else.

However, you can still enter it in a contest. The best writer in our critique group (not me!) won a trip for two to Los Angeles, two nights in a posh hotel there, a case of champagne worth over $500, use of a limo, and tickets to a Johnny Depp premier (although the cad failed to notice her). There was no cash option for the prize, but our guess was somewhere around $4000 - $5000--way, way more than she's ever been paid when she sold a story.

Good for her, huh?:clap

Maryn, who won less than $100 and a book she hasn't read

contests

Most writing contests are a complete waste of time and energy, even if you win. But there are some good ones, and the two you named are very near the top. Winners of these two quite often go on to bigger and better things, and some very good professional writers have emerged from winning them.

You just have to pick and choose carefully. If you've never heard of the sponsor or the judges, then editors and agents haven't, either, and just won't care. Mention a win in one of these no name contests can't hurt a writer more than it helps.

Here is one for horror Reality Check. I wrote a story for this one.

Pay attention to the ratio between entry fee and prize money. A small entry fee is common, but if the fee is $10 and the winner will get $50, the contest is a scam. I didn't make up those dollar amounts. I saw them on a Web page promoting a "contest."

Notice how the page mis-spells the word "Sponsoring".....Scam. :grr

I doubt that they are good. They made some typos and I've never heard about them and there is no information about their past.

contests

Thanks for the advice, everyone. There seem to be so many scams out there targeted at new writers (why are us newbies such a naive, desperate bunch?) that I'm trying to be cautious. You all are helping tremendously in that regard!

contests

There are a great many scam contests, but even honest contests are seldom worth entering, often detrimental, and nearly always take far more time and energy that they're worth. Just because a contest is honest doesn't mean it will do a writer any good if he wins it, and migght, in fact, do him considerable harm.

Re: contests

Just because a contest is honest doesn't mean it will do a writer any good if he wins it, and migght, in fact, do him considerable harm.

What sort of harm do you mean, please? Just being plain curious.

contests

When a writer wins a contest, even a no-name, meaningless contest an agent or editor has never heard of and doesn't care about, the writer has a tendency to stick the fact that he won in cover letters and query letters. Not only do such wins not impress agents and editors, they can actually harm the writer's chances with an agent or editor. This is a bad idea.

Re: contests

I seldom enter them, especially if they have an entry fee - I'd rather submit it for money - but I have entered a few, just for fun. I won a journaling book once, and I won 2nd place in a poetry contest ran by an on-line group I belong to (I then sent the poem to a writer's magazine, where it sold for cash). IF I wrote fiction and wanted to start up the ladder to publication, I'd go for a Glimmer Train or Rosebud or Writer's Digest contest, because those are big deals to put in your resume. But I don't, and my poetry tends to be too down-to-earth to appeal to most literary-type poetry contests.

I did just send off a poetry contest entry with a $5 check this week, though, just to prove I'm not always logical. It's being run by a newspaper in a nearby big city and would bring me some local attention if I won, which I need in order to get a few projects going. And since people entering it are more apt to write down-to-earth stuff than literary-style verse, I think I have a good chance. And it seems worth the $5 gamble, even though the only prize is an intangible one.

Actually, I've worked with this paper before for other articles, too, and if my poetry catches the editor's attention, maybe he'd use some of it from time to time. That would be cool!

Bottom line: If a contest is free and the prize appeals to me (especially if I already have something written that is perfect for it), I'll enter (i.e. a Chicken Soup book, where the prize is $$$$ and publication in a CS book.)

If the contest has a small (less than $10) fee and a big or impressive prize or outcome ($$, a trip, publication in a prestigeous magazine or book, or so on), I'll enter.

Otherwise, I'll spend my time submitting queries and writing stories for which I am guaranteed money. (Or posts in here... <sigh> Too bad that doesn't pay... I'd be in Aruba right now!)

Re: contests

I only entered once, a yearly contest organised by Writers Bureau, a British writing school. I mistakenly assumed if it was a school (and the judge was a guy I learned short story writing from once), it wasn't as serious. Also, it's not at all popular -- I don't think anyone's heard about it. The prize was small, the entry fee rather high, so I was upset I didn't get anything but only until I saw the winning entry. Gosh, that was a flamin' masterpiece. The other winning entries were just as good -- not good, plain brilliant. There had been no way my pig ear of a story could have gotten anything.

Which raises another question: okay, the contest was unknown, the prize not big, but the judge was excellent and the winning entries every year were truly brilliant. If it was meant to be the face of the writing school, nothing could be better publicity. I would consider entering it again, but definitely not now... I still have a lot to learn before I can compete with their winning intries. How about this kind of contest?

contests

If the agent or editor has never heard of the contest, or has never heard of teh jduges in the contest, or has never heard of the sponsor of the contest, they have no way of knowing that the winning stories are brilliant.

But if the stories really are of this quality, odds are high that the agent or editor does know the sponsor or the judges, in which case such a win is a real plus.

contests

Just a note, The kind of contests you really don't want to mention are those sponsored by writing groups to raise money, etc. But if the sponsor or the judges are relatively well known, it's a plus to mention a win.

Re: contests

I would never mention the contests I've won in any bio or cover letter (maybe to my mom, but...) since they were no big deal and the competition wasn't too intense. Winning was fun, but not a big deal at all. I do list them on my web site, but I list EVERYTHING on there, so...

Sometimes it's easier to get published than to win a contest

I've never won a contest. The two short stories I entered into national contests didn't even make the finals, but I did eventually sell them. Contest money is always more than paying markets, but all I want is to have people read my stories. You really have to decide whether the fee is worth it.

Deborah

contests

Actually, very, very few contests pay as much as the national magazines pay for short stories.

There is one good thing about a short story competition. It gives a new writer a goal and a deadline.

It takes a long time to learn about which markets to aim for so often a beginner needs that carrot on the stick -a specific goal - to keep them writing. A competition can do that. And if you make the short list you know you've written something publishable. That's quite a bit of reassurance for a nervous newbie.

Re: contests

"It takes a long time to learn about which markets to aim for so often a beginner needs that carrot on the stick -a specific goal - to keep them writing. A competition can do that. And if you make the short list you know you've written something publishable."

I don't know. If you need a carrot on a stick or a goal to keep writing, you're probably writing for the wrong reasons.
The reason to write is because it's the most enjoyable way of spending your time.

As for writing something publishable, even the winners of many, probably most, contests, aren't publishable in very many magazines.

It shouldn't take a beginner long to learn the markets. It's faster and easier than finding contests that are worth entering.

amen, james!

no more need be said... m

No more to be said...except perhaps you and JR sound just a tad dogmatic? Isn't there room for another opinion?