Alyce Wilson's Blog: Dispatches from Wonderland - Posts Tagged "contests"

As many who know me are aware, I have competed three times in an online writing contest called The Real LJ Idol. The first year I competed, I placed fifth out of about 200. The second year I competed, I placed in the Top 25 out of about 250. This past season, I finished six out of more than 300.

Whereas LJ Idol is a grueling competition with twists and turns and weekly votes over a period of more than six months, I'm currently participating in another contest, America's Next Author, with relatively simple requirements. Roughly 220 writers are competing at the moment for a top prize of $5,000, and I'm ranked 83 (up from 131 early yesterday). Still, I've got a long hill to climb if I want to place in the top three.

This is a very different contest than LJ Idol in many ways. Rather than write a different piece every week, which can be in any genre, contestants are only allowed to submit one fiction piece, 2,500 to 5,000 words. Whereas LJ Idol results always came from voting (although the groups who were allowed to vote varied from an open vote to community-only vote, to a contestants-only vote, to a jury-only vote), America's Next Author also incorporates social media mentions. This means that in addition to convincing friends and associates to vote for you, you need to convince them to share the link to your author page, as well.

In actuality, this might be a more realistic real-world model than the voting required from LJ Idol. People may like your writing, but unless you can motivate people to share their interest in your work, you stand little chance of finding new readers. And, as many writers will attest, it's sometimes harder to make a sale to friends and associates than it is to strangers. Friends often take for granted the fact that they can pick up your book sometime in the future. Strangers, however, are more likely to pick up a book the minute it strikes their interest.

As someone who had trouble selling Girl Scout cookies as a girl, this contest is proving to offer valuable lessons in the real-world marketing techniques I need to further my success.

Here's a short video with more information on how to support me in the contest: How to Vote for America's Next Author.

You can read my story, "Dating Safari," at my official page: Alyce Wilson author page

Thanks to a friend, I learned early this week about a video contest about early childhood education held by an organization called Baby Steps. Thanks to my broadcast/cable undergraduate degree, I was able to work from existing video and shoot a little extra B-roll to put together an entry for the parenting/caregivers category. It helps that I have been engaging in creative learning activities with my son on a regular basis and have also compulsively photographed them and captured them on video.

According to the contest rules, a panel of judges will award the top three winners in each category based on specific criteria. As a special perk, they will also present a cash award to the video that receives the most votes.

I can use your help. Please follow this link, scroll to the bottom, and view my video (you'll see my son with two puppets). Then, to vote, first close the video window and then click the box at the upper right-hand corner of the preview box for my video. Please note: Clicking LIKE on the page does NOT count as a vote.

http://on.fb.me/1c22MbO

I've also uploaded an image that shows you exactly where to click, to make it clearer: http://www.alycewilson.com/aimages/20...

Winning this prize would help us greatly with my son's preschool tuition for the rest of the year. I would appreciate any help!

Lately, I've felt so far behind it's ridiculous. In addition to personal projects, a large editing/design gig, and competing in the online contest, LJ Idol, along with, of course, all of my mothering duties, I can barely function. No matter what I am doing, I'm thinking of the million other things I should be doing.

Add to that the pressure of writing three articles a week for the Yahoo! Contributor Network, which has begun offering me open assignments, presumably because of my excellent track record and above-average monthly hit count. And, of course, there's my two "American Idol" recaps I also write for YCN each week.

All of this means that I haven't put in nearly enough time promoting something that really matters. That is the Baby Steps video competition, where I'm competing for an audience cash prize that would pay for my son's tuition for the rest of the year. We've been living paycheck to paycheck, so that's an enormous thing. It deserves attention, much more than I've given it.

Please take a moment to go to the voting page and cast your vote for me. My video is the first one on the first page, showing my 3-year-old son with two puppets. You can vote every two days, so please bookmark the page and vote as many times as you can until March 28.

In return, I will gladly help you promote any personal project!

For years, I've been participating in an online writing contest called LJ Idol. The prize is simply bragging rights, but it's been a great way to build my skills and keep writing even on weeks when I have no ideas. The current season is taking a bit of a different approach, with an added "Survivor" style component, and the poll is up for week 4 of LJ Idol Survivor.

https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/...

As before, our votes are being averaged with the other members of our tribe to determine which tribe is safe. If you're interested, I'm alycewilson (of course), and my fellow tribe members are:

bleodswean
bsgsix
murielle
n3m3sis43 (She didn't post an entry, so I don't believe that votes for her will count towards the total).

You can log in with a LiveJournal account by using the OpenID option. You can also log in from some other blogging platforms, like perhaps from Wordpress, or you can start a free Dreamwidth account.

There aren't many entries to read, so it can be a fun way to occupy yourself. The deadline is 7 p.m. tonight. Read and vote!