Our brand new short story writing competition is now officially open, and we need your entries!
Enter up to two short stories each month.
400-1500 Words
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| Courtesy of Grandfailure FreedigitalPhotos.net |
The competition is now closed. We will be taking a break, while I publish the second anthology, and while I take some maternity leave. I hope to have the competition back up and running sometime between September and December 2017. Please follow us on Facebook to keep updated.
About the competition:
- Each month you will have two chances to enter our free online short story competition based on a chosen theme or topic. International submissions are accepted, but must be written in English.
- Each month The Writer’s Notebook will select three finalists. Those stories will be posted in full on The Writer’s Notebook blog, and we will ask our readers to vote for a winner.
- The winning entry for each month will be published at the end of the year in The Writer’s Notebook Anthology. The Anthology will be available as an e-book for digital download, or a printed paperback copy will be available to order via Amazon. As a winner, you will receive one Kindle edition of the Anthology upon publication.
- Winners will also receive free promotion for any future short stories or novels they publish, or any other writing related news they would like to share. All they have to do is send us an email and we'll add their news to our homepage
And here is where it gets really interesting…
- Winners who have their story published in the Anthology will receive a monthly prize of an equal share of the sales profits!
That’s right, each and every month following the publication of the Anthology (Feb/Mar 2017) we will email sales reports to the twelve winners and we will pay an equal share of the sales profits to their Paypal account, for as long as the Anthology remains in-print. I have looked online, and no other writing contest without an entry fee has the same offer (at the time of writing this - Dec 19 2014).
Of course how much the winners receive depends on how many copies are sold each month, and the total profit has to be divided into thirteen equal amounts (twelve authors and The Writer’s Notebook), it could be pounds or pennies. However YOU can help to raise awareness of the book and increase sales by sharing information and links on Facebook, Tweeting about the group and the Anthology and by using other forms of social media.
So whether you are a creative writing student, a published author or you just enjoy writing for fun, send us your short stories for a chance to be part of this exciting new writing competition.
Because our competition is free to enter, we are opening doors for novice writers - people who have never written before, and are put off by entry fees are having a go at writing and submitting their work for consideration because here they have nothing to lose... and they are discovering that not only do they enjoy writing - but actually, they are rather good at it.
If you're short story is unsuccessful, you will immediately be able to submit it elsewhere, with our quick turnaround there will be no unnecessary waiting.
If there isn't time to enter this month, make sure you add our upcoming themes to your calendar, or add us to your favourites on your toolbar so you can always find us.
Who can enter?
Our competition is for writers of all abilities, from creative writing students to published authors, and while we are based in the UK we welcome writers from all over the world. The only requirement is that your story must be in English. So if you want to be part of this exciting new online group for writers and take part in our short story contest all you need to do is take a look at the upcoming themes, and add The Writer's Notebook to your calendar or list of upcoming Writing Competitions.
For your absolute best chance of being selected as a finalist please ensure that your story has been proofread for errors. Please also ensure you read the rules below and copy the terms and conditions text as described in the How to Submit your Story page. Stories that are not accompanied by the t&cs will not be read.
Competition Rules:
1. Submitted stories should be previously unpublished work
2. Minimum of 400 words
3. Maximum of 1500 words
4. Only two stories per person to be submitted each month
5. All submissions should be emailed to writersnotebook.sandra@gmail.com by the 28th of each month please check the How to Submit Your Story page.
6. Each month will have a set theme, you are free to stick firmly to the theme or interpret it as loosely as you like
7. Finalist's work will be posted in full on the blog for our readers to vote on
8. Comments left on finalist stories should be constructive. Trolling and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Such comments will be deleted and will result in the offender being removed from the group
9. To submit your work you MUST copy the terms and conditions text and email it with your attached entries, this is to show that you agree to the terms and conditions and rules set out by The Writer's Notebook. Entries received without a copy of the terms and conditions will not be entered into the competition. Terms and conditions text can be found on the page How to Submit Your Story page
10. All stories must be submitted in English
11. All entrants must have a Paypal account
12. All submitted stories should be proof-read by the author and sent ready for publication, please see our House Style
13. Sorry no stories specifically for children
14. While stories should be aimed at an adult readership, please refrain from entering overly offensive writing... Swearing is acceptable if it 'fits' the story, but no erotica.
15. All entries should be original work, entries will be checked for plagiarism and originality.
16. While we actively encourage finalists to share a link to the poll with their friends, family, followers and fans - we do frown upon posting links to websites designed specifically to generate votes. We do monitor incoming traffic, and if we notice such sites being implemented we will ask the poster to remove the link - repeat violations, or failure to remove such links upon request will result in disqualification.
17. This one is for voters - please note that only one vote per reader is allowed, multiple votes will be disallowed by the poll server.
So whether you are a creative writing student, a published author or you just enjoy writing for fun, send us your short stories for a chance to be part of this exciting new writing competition.
- The deadline for this month's entries is TBC.
- The finalists will be notified by email.
- The three short stories comprising the short-list will be posted in full on this blog along with a reader's poll to determine the winner
Because our competition is free to enter, we are opening doors for novice writers - people who have never written before, and are put off by entry fees are having a go at writing and submitting their work for consideration because here they have nothing to lose... and they are discovering that not only do they enjoy writing - but actually, they are rather good at it.
If you're short story is unsuccessful, you will immediately be able to submit it elsewhere, with our quick turnaround there will be no unnecessary waiting.
If there isn't time to enter this month, make sure you add our upcoming themes to your calendar, or add us to your favourites on your toolbar so you can always find us.
Who can enter?
Our competition is for writers of all abilities, from creative writing students to published authors, and while we are based in the UK we welcome writers from all over the world. The only requirement is that your story must be in English. So if you want to be part of this exciting new online group for writers and take part in our short story contest all you need to do is take a look at the upcoming themes, and add The Writer's Notebook to your calendar or list of upcoming Writing Competitions.
For your absolute best chance of being selected as a finalist please ensure that your story has been proofread for errors. Please also ensure you read the rules below and copy the terms and conditions text as described in the How to Submit your Story page. Stories that are not accompanied by the t&cs will not be read.
Competition Rules:
1. Submitted stories should be previously unpublished work
2. Minimum of 400 words
3. Maximum of 1500 words
4. Only two stories per person to be submitted each month
5. All submissions should be emailed to writersnotebook.sandra@gmail.com by the 28th of each month please check the How to Submit Your Story page.
6. Each month will have a set theme, you are free to stick firmly to the theme or interpret it as loosely as you like
7. Finalist's work will be posted in full on the blog for our readers to vote on
8. Comments left on finalist stories should be constructive. Trolling and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Such comments will be deleted and will result in the offender being removed from the group
9. To submit your work you MUST copy the terms and conditions text and email it with your attached entries, this is to show that you agree to the terms and conditions and rules set out by The Writer's Notebook. Entries received without a copy of the terms and conditions will not be entered into the competition. Terms and conditions text can be found on the page How to Submit Your Story page
10. All stories must be submitted in English
11. All entrants must have a Paypal account
12. All submitted stories should be proof-read by the author and sent ready for publication, please see our House Style
13. Sorry no stories specifically for children
14. While stories should be aimed at an adult readership, please refrain from entering overly offensive writing... Swearing is acceptable if it 'fits' the story, but no erotica.
15. All entries should be original work, entries will be checked for plagiarism and originality.
16. While we actively encourage finalists to share a link to the poll with their friends, family, followers and fans - we do frown upon posting links to websites designed specifically to generate votes. We do monitor incoming traffic, and if we notice such sites being implemented we will ask the poster to remove the link - repeat violations, or failure to remove such links upon request will result in disqualification.
17. This one is for voters - please note that only one vote per reader is allowed, multiple votes will be disallowed by the poll server.
