Should You Enter a Contest for a Book Deal?

Important Questions and Answers

Hey friends!

Let’s talk about writing contests! There are lots of different kinds of writing contests but today I want to talk about the ones where a publisher offers a book contract as the prize. This is not new (and I’m not talking about the TV show they’re trying to cast—we don’t know enough about that yet). Gah, I can think of a half dozen publisher-led writing contests where the prize was a book deal, with an advance, just off the top of my head. But the most recent one that crossed my feed was this one from Simon & Schuster, Books Like Us; First Novel Contest, for adult novels (sorry kidlit and non-fiction writers).

I’m sure you’re thinking this is going to be a long list of why this contest is shitty and rigged—but that’s not what I’m going to do here. I do not think it’s shitty or rigged. First, here are the good things. (And below, I will tell you the things to watch out for.)

It cuts out the middleman—namely me.

When you enter a contest, you do that without an agent, and you don’t have to pay anyone 15%. This is ok! I mean, I always think you should talk to an agent, but this contest specifically set out to invite “underrepresented writers” so S&S can “celebrate the diversity of readers [they] serve.” By “underrepresented” they don’t mean “doesn’t have a literary agent” lol. They mean writers from marginalized communities grossly and historically overlooked by the publishing world, which of course included literary agents.

The focus of this contest is good. This is a small step in the right direction. Let’s make it easier for underrepresented writers to be seen, even if it cuts me out. I’m ok. No one needs to think about me in this case. If this gets an underrepresented writer a book deal, then great. (Of course, there’s only one winner for this annual contest so……… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ on how much it’s actually doing and how much it makes S&S¹ look like they’re doing something good for the community.) I am choosing to see this as upside, however small.

The prize is a $50,000 book deal!!!

That’s amazing! That’s real money! Of course, it’s not immediately quit your day job money, but I’ve seen other contests where the prize is a $10,000 or $12,000 book deal and that is just bullshit.

I read the fine print so you don’t have to.

And now we get to the other stuff. I read the fine print, a thing I enjoy lol, and honestly, it’s normal from what I have seen, fine-print-wise.² One thing it does NOT do is say it owns all the submissions they get. Well, it says it own the submissions, but it explicitly says the writer retains all intellectual property in the work. That’s important, and not all contests do that. When they say they own the “submissions” that means they own the emails? entries? but not the rights to use those entries. It’s easier to think of this in terms of paper submissions. They would own the physical pieces of paper your work was printed on, but they don’t own the right to publish or use your story. That’s another good thing.