Choosing a Writing Contest
New writers want to get their name out in the public eye, but also don’t want to waste money on scam contests or competitions unlikely to get them noticed. I posted the question on Ask Metafilter: How do you choose a writing contest? Some of the advice:
Entering contests actually takes a lot of logistical effort and money, so I think you should think about four things: (1) difficult of contest (i.e., chance that you’ll win); (2) the degree to which the contest is worthwhile (here, look at award money or prestige); (3) the cost of entering (most poetry book contests require you to pay $15-35); and (4) fit. Categories 1 and 2 are contradictory: prestigious contests are generally recognized to be lotteries. If you don’t have very much experience, you might want to just try middle tier contests that few people will be entering. I think the publisher is important: there are a lot of prestigious contests with fat purses that I think are not worth entering: when’s the last time you’ve seen any of the winner’s in bookstores? I usually only enter “prestigious” contests if I’ve heard of people who’ve won it before.
Fit – This is very important. For lower level contests, it means that you are a black skateboarding doctor and that’s what the contest is asking for. For higher level contests, it means that you google the publishing house, journal, judge, and past winners and see how close you come to their aesthetic. If you don’t like the stuff they publish, don’t enter.
I didn’t get tons of responses so if you have your own two cents on how you know what type of competition to enter (and this is open to all kinds of writers: fiction, non, screenwriting, poetry, etc), please share.
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