Rejection/Calls for Submission

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations.  ~ Ralph Charell 

REJECTION

The next time you’re having trouble dealing with rejection, read about the story accepted by New Yorker and subsequently rejected by a long list of literary journals and finally by the New Yorker.

A-MINOR PRESS is open for submissions until April 30, 2013.

Seeks 15,000 to 40,000 word novella, flash or short fiction collections and 60 to 120 page mixed-genre or poetry collections. For fiction, they prefer surrealist dreamscapes. Realist fiction is welcome if it's dark and quirky. Their poetry leans toward the “lyrical, eccentric, ambivalent and wildly imaginative.” Pays "industry standard royalties and author's copies."

HENRY HAZLITT CONTEST FOR BUSINESS FICTION
Deadline: April 30, 2013
Prize: $500 and an offer of a publishing contract with a $2,000 advance

No entry fee
You must be an unpublished author and your novel must have a pro-business theme related to business, finance, entrepreneurship or economics.  The novel’s target audience can be any age from middle-grade to adult. The contest is sponsored by Fiscal Press, “an independent publisher of unique and entertaining books related to business, economics, entrepreneurship and finance (BEEF).”

Accents and Novel/Novella/Nonfiction Contest

ACCENTS

What kind of American accent do you or your characters have? A friend of mine and I both tried this quiz which correctly identified where each of us grew up. Something to think about when we’re writing dialogue.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl3/american-accent-quiz.html

TARCHER/PENGUIN NOVEL/NOVELLA/NONFICTION CONTEST
 
Deadline: March 2, 2012. No entry fee.

Writers residing in the USA are invited to submit an unpublished novel, novella, or narrative nonfiction. (Limit one entry per person.) The top prize is $5,000 and a manuscript review by a Penguin editor.

Thought for the week: The question is not what you look at -- but how you look and whether you see.  ~ Thoreau

Amazon No Fee Novel Awards/The First Line

Thought for the New Year: The road to success is not a path you find but a trail you blaze. ~ Robert Brault

THE FIRST LINE
 
Spring deadline: February 1, 2012
Spring Prompt: "There are a few things you need to know before we start."

All stories must start with the appropriate first line, and you cannot change it in any way unless otherwise indicated. Stories chosen are paid $30 and published online and in a chapbook by TheFirst Line. The story should be between 300 and 3,000 words. “We are open to all genres. We try to make TFL as eclectic as possible.” Also pays $20 for 500 to 800 word critical essays about your favorite first line from a literary work.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

No Fee to enter. Jan. 23 – Feb 5, 2012 submission period.

This award brings together talented writers, reviewers, and publishing experts to find and develop new voices in fiction. The 2012 international contest will award two grand prizes: one for General Fiction and one for Young Adult Fiction. Each winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance. Manuscripts submitted as entries to the Contest cannot be actively shopped by agents during the contest period, which runs from January 23, 2012 to June 16, 2012.

Got a Yarn? and Anderbo No-Fee Novel Contest

Writer’s Smile for the Week: There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.  ~ William Somerset Maugham

The Yarn web site http://yareview.net/  targets writers of young-adult literature. (They define young-adult as age 14 and up.) The web site includes interviews with published authors. If you have published a young-adult book, you can request an interview by e-mailing the editor at kerri@yarereview.net.

They also publish fiction, essays, and poetry but currently offer no payment.

ANDERBO NO-FEE NOVEL CONTEST
http://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/andernovelcontest-02.html

Deadline: September 21, 2011

Submit the first 36 pages (up to 9,000 words) of your unpublished novel. The contest will be judged by the anderbo.com editorial staff; they guarantee to choose and use one manuscript-excerpt. The sponsor of this contest, Mercer Street Books & Records, will pay an honorarium of $500 to the winning author upon publication on Anderbo.

A win may or may not lead to full publication of your novel, but it would be a plus to mention in a query letter.