Gain More Money From A Writing Award - How To Optimise Your Competition Success

So you have won a writing award? Congratulations! What else could you do at this moment to capitalize on the award, so that it might bring you even more cash?

Smart award scheme promoters will do anything that they can to promote the achievement. Without a doubt, your writer's name, and maybe your successful story, ought to appear in their online site or some other public place to recognize you and also - not least - to inspire potential writers to enter in upcoming contests.

All money aside, to view your entry circulated and readable by countless numbers of story addicts can be a delight by itself. Countless prize winners in a creative writing contest declare the fame is a lot more gratifying than the cash. Without a doubt, numerous contest organizers have questioned why they bother to offer prizes at all.

Note this tip: have a 'personal biog' kit readily available for all those occasions, most likely many of them, when the contest organizer will ask you: 'please email us a photo and around one hundred words explaining your profession, age group, spouse and children, hobbies, recently printed story achievements and also any writers' periodicals or web groups you take part in.

These details are very important to a publicity-savvy promoter. If you read a writing periodical or online blog, they will lust to promote your win in that place to attract future entrants. Some may even alert your regional newspaper or radio stations.. (Do make it crystal clear to your publicists, when they approach you, whether you are comfortable with this.)

Compile that kit as a readily accessible record on your pc along with a suitable digital image. If however you have your own web or blogsite that boasts of your creative work some promoters will be glad to announce its address. That should attract extra visitors to your online site.

Of course, there's also income to be found by compiling your entries - whether they gain a prize or not - in to an e-book or other electronic item then promoting the stories directly from your web site. You could also market them in the form of a traditional print publication, manufactured in modest quantities by means of a print-on-demand company.

It's easy to obtain the how-to's of electronic book production via the web.

Do be aware that a few organizers of story writing contests ask you to enter wholly unpublished narratives. And they may possibly consider tales you promote on your web site as 'previously publicized' stories. Check the rules!

What could you gain from entering story contests?

You're not likely to exceed the net income of J K Rowling by going into writing contests by themselves, though your narratives are likely to be a lot better. Never mind. Let's do the maths...

Suppose you enter no more than a hundred competitions a year, you will likely gain around $5000. That's provided you are a proficient author, of course.

In time, you'll do a lot better when your writing improves and you gain a feel for the things judges want. If your hit rate goes up, you'll be able to notch up $10,000 or maybe more each year.

That is if you don't win a truly serious win in four or five figures. Nonetheless, chances are, if you persist and your writing improves - you certainly will. You'll probably acquire quite a few major awards every year.

At this stage you may choose to raise your commitment to the amount of stories you submit and your earnings will increase accordingly.

Indeed, by then you will be dedicating virtually every leisure hour to working for competitions. However, many hundreds of people do just that! Various popular journals and websites appeal to dedicated competition entrants. Nearly every single day they are sent prizes, ranging from a chocolate snack to $1000 or some exotic vacation.

Needless to say, at this stage you may not need to enter any more contests!

How come? You will at this point have a portfolio of countless excellent proven tales along with a glittering list of contest wins to brag about. You can approach a literary agent with a larger project that you have recently been engaged on, such as a collection of short stories.

For sure, a single win every now and then in some obscure contest won't win over a discerning agent. Nevertheless twelve or even more serious awards certainly will, especially if they feature a few highly renowned contests. Then an agent actually might examine your project and provide you with a contract. And then your way of life could change. Most enjoyably.

You will have hit upon your very own win-win contest workshop. The initial step on the way to a rewarding fiction future is very frequently to work as a systematic contest entrant.


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Dr John Yeoman, PhD Creative Writing, is founder of the writing award centre Writers' Village. A university lecturer in short story writing, he is a veteran contest judge. Enjoy hundreds of ingenious plans to gain cash prizes in his 7000-word guide How to Win Writing Contests for Profit. Claim it entirely free now at:
http://www.writers-village.org/writing_award